2019 Auscontact Association Award Winners

The winners of the best call centres in Australia for 2019

The 2019 Auscontact Association National Award Winners for call centre excellence in Australia have now been announced at a gala event in Brisbane on 18 October 2019. 

Now in their 4th year,  a panel of expert judges assess both individuals and centres to determine the best of the best within the contact centre industry.

The award process follows the same of previous years, with state winners announced first, and then from the state winners, the National Winners are announced at a gala event that will be held this year in Brisbane on the 8th October.

The judging process consists of an online application and a 30 minute phone interview with the judges for the individual awards, or a 30 minute presentation (via teleconferencing) followed by a 10 minute Q&A session with the judges for the organisational categories.

There are no face to face or on-site visits. 

This year, the judges were:

Organisation Award Judges

  • Darren Sutton
  • Sally Forde
  • Rachel Azix
  • Kerri McCaw

Individual Award Judges

  • Anthony Dimo
  • Marie Andriopuoulos
  • Malcolm Angel
  • Ankit Poothia

The 2019 Auscontact National Award Winners and Finalists:

Below are each of the different award categories, with the respective winners for each state and the overall winner.

2019 Auscontact Award Winners
All the 2019 Auscontact Award Winners

Customer Contact Professional

This category covers people who are using the voice channel as the primary method to communicate with customers. It includes frontline customer service representatives/officers/associates, sales consultants, help desk consultants, collections consultants, inbound and outbound roles.

State Winner Organisation
WA Kristy Botica Department of Communities
SA Brenton Kain Philmac
Vic Ankit Malhotra RecoveriesCorp
NSW Mark Francisco HCF
QLD Ross Gladwin Auto & General
National Winner Ankit Malhotra RecoveriesCorp

Digital/Omnichannel Professional

This category covers people who are providing/delivering ‘assisted service’ on the web or are communicating with customers via digital channels, for example, social media, chat, video, virtual assistant, chatbots or any other digital channel. The role has limited use of the voice channel in interacting with customers.

State Winner Organisation
WA No winner  
SA Jess Kroll Allianz Australia
Vic Billie Lay GM Holden / Aegis
NSW Sean Macleod-Jones Teachers Mutual Bank
QLD Russell McNaull Smart Service QLD
National Winner Jess Kroll Allianz Australia

Operations Champion

This category covers people who support the business operations through analytics, projects, technology and business acumen. The roles include Reporting Analyst, Administration/Support Officer, Facilitates Manager, Telecoms Specialist, Business or Process Improvement Officer, Business Analyst, Compliance Officer, Scripting Analyst/Officer, Project Manager, Business Transformation Manager/Officer etc.

State Winner Organisation
WA Louis Pan Spotless
SA Iro Kupeckyj MyBudget
Vic Heny Modh RecoveriesCorp
NSW Michelle Pascoe Prospa
QLD Travis Toppin Allianz Australia
National Winner Travis Toppin Allianz Australia

Workforce Management Champion

This category covers people whose role matches, manages and delivers the balance of the business needs and employee needs to customer behaviours irrespective of the customer channel. Roles include Workforce Manager, Workforce Planner, Workforce Scheduler, Workforce Forecaster, Real-Time Analyst etc.

State Winner Organisation
WA No Winner  
SA No Winner  
Vic Bruce D’Costa Australian Taxation Office
NSW Emily Laugalis Stellar
QLD Lisa Mayer Smart Service QLD
National Winner Lisa Mayer Smart Service QLD

People Champion

This category covers people who are responsible for the development/growth of people within the business and do not have direct responsibility for the day to day leadership of frontline/customer-facing team members. Roles include Trainer, Learning and Development Officer, Team Coach, Human Resources Manager, Recruitment Officer/Manager, Employee Experience Manager or Officer etc.

State Winner Organisation
WA Joycy Ng Spotless
SA Kate Graney Allianz Australia
Vic Koimana Raea RecoveriesCorp
NSW Megan Maddigan PeopleCare Health Insurance
QLD Kristen Phillips Brisbane City Council
National Winner Kristen Phillips Brisbane City Council

Team Leader/Team Manager

This category covers people who have direct/key responsibility for the management, development and leadership of Customer Contact Professionals or frontline staff or traditional back-office, WFM teams, Digital/Omni Channel teams etc.

State Winner Organisation
WA Tracy Mullally Department of Communities
SA Matt Bradbrook Allianz Australia
Vic Grant Evans GM Holden / Aegis
NSW Totolua Lemalu Service NSW
QLD Jarryd Formosa Auto & General
National Winner Matt Bradbrook Allianz Australia

Customer Experience Champion

This category covers people who are responsible for driving the customer experience, typically they do not have direct leadership of the people delivering that experience. Roles include Chief Customer Officer, Customer Experience Officer, Quality Manager/Analyst/Advisor, Voice of the Customer, Customer Experience Manager etc.

State Winner Organisation
WA No winner  
SA Steven Bailey MyBudget
Vic Culum Grieve GM Holden / Aegis
NSW Sakshi Sharma Service NSW
QLD Kate Thorley Smart Service QLD
National Winner Sakshi Sharma Service NSW

Contact Centre Manager

This category covers people who are responsible for the management, development and leadership. They are the leader of leaders and have overall responsibility for the business unit’s operation. Titles include Contact Centre Manager/Director, Call Centre Manager, Help Desk Manager, Operations Centre Manager, Collections Manager, National Manager, Executive Director, Digital Operations Manager etc. Direct reports are typically Team Leader/Team Managers.

State Winner Organisation
WA No winner  
SA Amelia Zander Philmac
Vic Luke Jamieson First State Super
NSW Nick Rumpff Prospa
QLD Duncan Graham Allianz Australia
National Winner Duncan Graham Allianz Australia

Best Talent

Entry into this award is automatic. For organisations with less than 50 FTE in the business unit, three (3) nominations in any of the individual categories need to be made for entry. For organisations with more than 50 FTE in the business unit, five (5) nominations in any of the individual categories need to be made for entry. The individual nominations must be from the same state.

State Organisation
WA Department of Communities
SA Philmac
Vic RecoveriesCorp
NSW Service NSW
QLD Auto & General
National Winner RecoveriesCorp

Operations

This category recognises excellence in operational performance demonstrated across one of 3 core functions, including Workforce Optimisation, Performance and People Capability. People Capability includes L&D, Leadership Practices, Succession Planning and Employee Engagement.

State Organisation
WA Department of Communities
SA Allianz Australia
Vic Yarra Valley Water
NSW NIB Health Fund
QLD Allianz Australia – Workforce Optimisation
National Winner Allianz Australia (SA)

Change, Innovation & Improvements

This category recognises excellence in the implementation and results of change initiatives or improvement programs, and innovative approaches to business-as-usual activities. This category is judged on the impact of the change to your business, not the size, scale or complexity of that change.

State Organisation
WA Department of Transport
SA MyBudget
VIC First State Super
NSW Peoplecare Health Insurance
QLD Smart Service Queensland
National Winner Smart Service Queensland

Customer

The customer category measures excellence in customer outcomes including approaches to deliver and drive customer experience inclusive of evidence of customer-centricity. The customer is defined as the end-user.

State Organisation
WA Bankwest
SA Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
VIC Probe Group – Coles
NSW Service NSW, Parammatta contact centre
QLD Brisbane City Council, Customer Services Team
National Winner Brisbane City Council, Customer Services Team

Outstanding Achievement Award:

For the first time since 2013, the judging awarded a discretionary award for outstanding achievement – congratulations to Ankit Malhotra, Recoveriescorp for this prestigious honour! 

Congratulations to all the winners! To see photos from the awards nights please visit the Auscontact Association Facebook page.

You can find previous award winners and details on the other call centre and customerservicee awards in Australia here

If you’d like to nominate next year get involved with the Auscontact Association and if you’d like a hand geting your individuals or organisation in good shape to win an award search our business directory for specialist call centre consultants that can help. 

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