ATA Awards
ATA National Award Winners 2009 - Profiles
Congratulations to all the National ATA Award Winners. Learn more about our winners and share their winner journey.
Centre >120 fte
A&G Insurance Services - QLD
Where is your centre and what does it do?
We have two centres based in Sth East Queensland. One on the Sunshine Coast at Kawana with 280 seats and another at North Lakes (20kms nth of Brisbane) with 180 seats currently & potential for a further 380. We sell & service personal lines Insurance, including Motor & Home and Contents. Our major brand is Budget Direct but we have a number of partners such as Australia Post Car Insurance, Virgin Money Car Insurance, GE Money amongst others.
Why did your centre enter the awards?
We entered to test ourselves against the market place. We have been participating in some direct benchmarking excercises with other centres and believed it was time to have a go at the bigger awards. The process we went through involved both individual nominations for some 20 staff and the centre nomination. This was a great way to allow staff to express themselves outside their normal environment. Through the process we learned a considerable amount about ourselves by working together. It also helped us combine & collaborate with our traditional "head office" departments, such as IT, Marketing and eCommerce
Why do you think your centre won the award? What is your workplace approach and ethos?
We have a strong culture of achievement across both sales & service. We have a strong attention to detail and have access to detailed reporting on all aspects of our business. This includes use of many real time reports which allow us to adjust our business needs on the run. This also allows us to provide our customers with consistent high class service standards. The single customer view of our customers allows our staff to understand better their needs. This is backed up by our customer satisfaction surveys that demonstrate that we are amongst best in class for overall satisfaction levels and balanced with a net promoter score, currently average > +50%. We have a focused training process that includes a college or academy post induction training that allows our staff to "ease" into their formal team over a 30-60 day period. We work continuously with our staff to ensure they participate in developing and providing feedback on all aspects of the call centres.
How did your centre celebrate its win and where to from now?
We had a celebration on the night with some 20 staff traveling to Sydney to be there for the announcement. The majority of those guys had won the right to travel through one of our Reward & Recognition schemes within their own teams. Whilst we have had some very positive feedback from all involved in the judging, we need to gather the feedback, re-look at what we are currently working on and improve by 10 to 20% for next year.
Gerry O'Shaughnessy, Director, Call Centre Operations
Centre between 50-120 fte
IAG Lifestyle and Leisure - NSW
Where is your centre and what does it do?
Lifestyle & Leisure is a customer contact centre within the Insurance Australia Group (IAG), located in Parramatta NSW. We focus on offering quality customer service and superior sales solutions on Insurance for Boat, Caravan, Classic Vehicle’s and Travel.
Why did your centre enter the awards?
Lifestyle & Leisure’s entry into the ATA Awards for 2009 was initiated
and driven by staff.
Representatives have been attending the ATA Awards night for the past few years and after the 2008 awards one of the Telephone Business Consultants Jennifer Steffe decided she felt we were ready to enter.
Jennifer approached Business Unit Manager Matthew McPherson and he agreed. Matthew gave Jennifer the resources and support she needed while allowing her to put a team of consultants together to drive the entry themselves.
The ATA entry was developed by staff and supported by Management. Lifestyle & Leisure thrives on allowing our staff to take the lead and run with their ideas and entering the ATA Awards for 2009 is a testament to this.
What benefits did you see as a result of your participation?
The primary benefit of participating in the ATA Awards was the empowerment of staff, entering was a staff members idea and the entry was a staff driven initiative. Here at Lifestyle and Leisure team members are encouraged to give their input and this was an opportunity to give them the support and freedom they need to explore the idea further.
Once the initial team of staff put together for our nomination and began the preparation, then the next benefit was uncovered, which was the entire call centre getting on board and becoming motivated to participate in the entry. Every staff member on the floor has had contact with either being a part of the entry process or being a part of the celebrations.
Another benefit is that we can leverage this success and align key messages into our marketing material, external media releases and targeted local area marketing.
Networking with other companies has given us some great ideas we have implemented here such as our Lifestyle and Leisure wall.
Winning the award has helped us, being a small part of a large company, to stand up and be noticed.
Of course the largest benefit of this has been staff engagement and customer satisfaction. If we can create an environment where staff look forward to coming to work, feel like they make a difference and have fun while they are here this will be reflected in their level of dedication to our customers, they will hear this in our interactions with them and they will want to deal with us.
Why do you think your centre stood out at both the State and National Level?
We feel Lifestyle & Leisure stood out at both the State and National level 2009 ATA Awards due to our commitment to staff engagement and the development of our people.
We know that the only way to achieve is to have everyone on board and truly work as a team. We ensure that we achieve by setting objectives with a variety of input, be transparent at all times, encourage team members from any level of the call centre to get involved and take action and responsibility.
How did your centre celebrate its win and where to from now?
The Lifestyle & Leisure team came along to the State Awards hoping that we would achieve a special mention for doing well on our first year of entry. To be called up as a finalist was unexpected and exciting, to achieve being named ATA NSW Contact Centre of the Year was an honour.
The ATA team of staff made the decision to put off any official celebration night awaiting the National results.
Our first step to celebrating once we had won the National Award was to communicate it to our team mates and senior leaders of the business. Monday was filled with congratulatory phone calls and emails from well wishers including various “heads of” throughout the business, our department CEO and the CEO of IAG. We also received congratulatory emails from the ATA. Team members were thrilled to receive this recognition.
Now that we were successful in winning the National Award we are arranging a very special event. As we have a new building we are keen to utilize the facilities so we have arranged an after work cocktail function for the Business Unit on our functions level including food and drinks. We will be inviting key figures from IAG and the ATA to help us celebrate our success.
We have been contacted by other call centres asking to come in and see what it is that makes Lifestyle and Leisure so special and we are looking forward to these visits.
Lifestyle & Leisure are entering the ATA Awards again for 2010 and we have already begun work on our presentation which is, even at these early stages, promising to be bigger and better than 2009!
Further comments?
Entering the ATA Awards for 2009 was a great incentive for the team at Lifestyle & Leisure. Our entry into the awards and then our win showcases the determination, drive and enthusiasm displayed daily by all staff in our Business unit.
Matthew McPherson Business Unit Manager, Marnee Rose Team Manager and Jennifer Steffe Telephone Business Consultant.
Call Centre - 50fte
City of Stirling - WA
The Contact Centre at the City of Stirling is located in the State of Western Australia. We represent one of the largest Councils in the Perth metropolitan area which encompasses approximately 100 km2 and over 200,000 in population.
Our Contact Centre services the community at large - ratepayers, residents and commercial customers.
We entered the ATA Awards in 2008 when we nominated for Contact Centre (<50fte) and also individual Awards where we received a great learning experience. We came away from the Awards night with a totally different concept of how Contact Centres should be run.
To this end we worked hard at getting systems and processes into place making sure appropriate measures were taken so that accurate monitoring and success rates could be established. We involved our team members in the whole process and therefore our common goal was to be named the West Australian 2009 ATA Contact Centre of the year(<50fte).
The whole team were invited to attend the Awards night in July 2009 as a thank you for their efforts in the presentation and submission of our nomination. It was an exciting night and everyone was in high spirit of a good outcome. We were thrilled that our Mayor, Cr David Boothman, also attended and celebrated our winning of the award on the night. We are passionate about our customer service level at the City, and as the first point of contact for many of our customers we aim to deliver a minimum of 75% of calls at first point of resolution.
We celebrated our win in a quiet and modest way. We decorated the Contact Centre and had a morning tea and received a multitude of congratulations from various departments at the City.
Suddenly it was September. Our Representatives flew out to Sydney. Then came the news that we had won the National Award. It took some time for this to actually sink in with the team. We could not believe that we are up there with the “high flyers”.
We again celebrated our win with food (I know, unusual for a Contact Centre!) and received accolades from our colleagues in the City.
Although we have won the National Award for 2009, we will not be complacent and will continually strive to improve our systems, processes and train our people to attain the highest level of customer service to ensure that both the City of Stirling and our community benefit.
The team believes in our mission statement that we are “the eyes and ears of the community” and we carry this out in our everyday work at the Contact Centre.
Kylie Stone, Coordinator Customer Contact, Customer Services
Call Centre Manager of the Year
Kylie Chambers - Energex - QLD
Where do you work and what is your role?
I work at Energex and am the Customer Service Manager of the Contact Centre Group
What is it that you love about your work?
It is all about the people!
What benefits did you gain from participating in the Awards program?
It was a great way to benchmark my own performance, and the ENERGEX Contact Centre, against the best of the best in Australia.
What does it mean for you to go all the way and win at both the State and National level?
It was an amazing feeling to actually win and be recognised for my work. ENERGEX had five state finalists and two state winners and then to take out two of the national awards was a fantastic achievement
What are your career or life ambitions?
To win the World Call Centre Manager of the Year - only joking!
Further comments?
I would recommend any Manager out there to nominate their staff and centre . This is a fantastic process to be involved in, it's everyone's achievement not just a personal one.
Team Leader of the Year
Samantha Delaney - Flexirent - NSW
Where do you work and what is your role?
I work for Flexirent as the Settlements Team Leader
What is it that you love about your work?
I love the variety of my role, not only do I get to manage a fantastic bunch of people, but the department itself liaises with all parts of the business and our channel partners, therefore I’m often involved in projects, and new products that help grow the business.
I also love the mentoring side of my role, working with my team, helping them achieve their goals and career aspirations is definitely the most rewarding aspect of my role. They are such a great bunch, they all have very different personalities and different goals, they challenge me as much as I challenge them and the dynamic is amazing .
What benefits did you gain from participating in the Awards program?
I have found the whole ATA experience very rewarding, all the people involved in the program have been very supportive, friendly and helpful, it has given me the benefit of a network of industry leaders.
I’ve also gained the benefit of recognition from my peers, validation of the hard work I have put in and a lot more confidence in general. I think I’m definitely now a role model and hopefully can inspire others to be involved and truly understand what a great industry we work in. I think it's important for people to see that Contact Centres are a place where you can learn and grow and have a successful career.
What does it mean for you to go all the way and win at both the State and National level?
It’s incredible!! I was happy with the nomination from my Manager, I was then really honoured to be a finalist, and then it just kept going! It has been a very humbling experience, and it really represents the hard work and the true passion I have for my role, however it’s more than that…. It reflects the great work and the amazing results that my team have also achieved. I truly believe it was a group effort.
I also feel it was a great win for the Company – Flexirent. We have participated in the ATA program for a few years now as a centre, the last 3 years we have been finalists in the 50-120FTE Category, the contact centre is an amazing environment that is constantly evolving, it's very staff orientated and the management team are very supportive, I feel my win is a thankyou to a great company and represents some of the amazing talent that works here.
I hope my achievement can inspire others to participate in the program and help them realise the greatness they achieve on a daily basis.
What are your career or life ambitions?
I think I have just hit my career high! I might enjoy this for a little while longer, however I would like to be more involved in the operational side of things, I enjoy the holistic view of how a business operates and helping it progress forward.
Further comments?
Thankyou ATA for all the support and recognition you supply to this wonderful industry. It has been an honour to be involved in the Awards Program and hopefully we will see the 21st Anniversary of ATA the biggest one yet……
Teleprofessional of the Year
Ramona Ansell - Energex - QLD
Where do you work and what is your role?
I work for ENERGEX as a Senior Customer Service Representative. I answer calls from domestic and commercial customers, Electrical contractors and internal staff. I'm also the first point of reference for my team on any process questions and referrals.
What is it that you love about your work?
The people that work for ENERGEX are amazing. Not just here in the contact centre but the whole company. Everyone is always so helpful and will do anything to assist you.
I love talking, so working in a contact centre is the perfect job for me. I also love the development opportunities ENERGEX offer. I have participated in a Senior development program and a Team Leader development Program and have been successful in a 9 month secondment as a team leader (which I am loving)
What benefits did you gain from participating in the Awards program?
Participating in the Awards Program gave me the chance to meet so many amazing people from other Contact Centres around Australia.
What does it mean for you to go all the way and win at both the State and National level?
I felt so so proud to be representing ENERGEX as QLD winner and was completely overwhelmed when I won the National Award. It really was completely unexpected. ENERGEX is such a great place to work for and it is definitely due to the fantastic training, support and management that I won. I really wouldn't want to work anywhere else.
What are your career or life ambitions?
I would love to gain a position as a permanent team leader and provide that same support and encouragement that I received to a team of my own. I love working in our Contact Centre and can definitely see myself having a career here. At the moment I am learning so much about all the different areas. The possibilities are endless.
Further comments?
Thankyou so very much to the ATA. What a fantastic night! I am still in shock :)
Call Centre Champion of the Year
Dina Kotsopoulos - BT Financial Group - NSW
Where do you work and what is your role?
I work at BT Financial Group, which is a subsidiary of the Westpac Group. I am currently a Team Manager, however at the time I was nominated for this award I was working in a Technical Specialist capacity. This involved providing technical support to my customer-facing peers, being involved in process/product change initiatives, and quality and productivity coaching.
What is it that you love about your work?
The nature of the Contact Centre world means that my peers are a complete cross-section of people from all walks of life. It keeps things interesting, and I’ve learnt so much about people, their behaviours, needs and expectations. That insight really helps me in my job because we have such a big focus on delighting our customers and earning all of their business. I really believe in the culture and the philosophies we adopt, so that makes work a great place to be.
What benefits did you gain from participating in the Awards program?
I learnt that you have to continuously challenge yourself and keep raising the bar – hard work will be recognised, and that’s great. It keeps me motivated to keep striving for better.
What does it mean for you to go all the way and win at both the State and National level?
I feel really proud to win the National Award. I never expected it, so the whole experience has been great. I know that I was up against great Champions and to take it out is very humbling.
What are your career or life ambitions?
I’d love to travel and see how great the big wide world is! In terms of career – not really sure yet. I think I’ll just wait and see what opportunities I can create for myself and figure out where I’ll be of most value for my peers, customers and business.
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