Recognised for ambition, innovation and ‘wow factor’ in customer service
Three was recognised for its companies ‘sheer boldness’ in predicting customer needs and David Nason of Sky Ireland for clever ‘Be My Eyes’ app catering to customers with visual impairment
AI – a big talking point in 2023 – is clearly the next major force for business transformation and there is huge opportunity for all customer-facing functions to leverage it for improved customer and employee/adviser experiences, according to Dorothy O’Byrne, managing director, Customer Contact Management Association (CCMA.)
“AI has captured our imagination, particularly with the accessibility of ChatGPT. AI will be a growth area in our industry, fuelling chatbots, agent support and more over the years ahead,” said Barry O’Toole, CCMA chair.
The association is working with members to help identify and develop the opportunities that AI brings, said O’Byrne as the association celebrated excellence within the Irish contact centre and shared services association.
Attracting a record attendance of 700, the 2023 CCMA Irish Customer Contact & Shared Services Awards took place in the RDS recently, with Oliver Callan as MC. Seventeen categories included those that were shortlisted, commended and those that won an award.
The CCMA annual awards is a great opportunity for the CX industry in Ireland to come together to showcase the outstanding talent and teams that are providing world class support to their customers, O’Byrne said.
Congratulating all the organisations and industry professionals shortlisted for this year’s awards, she said that their operations continued to set the standards for CX excellence across the world.
At last year’s awards we spoke about speed of innovation with contact centre technology
Stephen Mackarel, chief executive of gold sponsor Workair, said that Workair was delighted to once again sponsor the CCMA awards ceremony.
“At last year’s awards we spoke about speed of innovation with contact centre technology. This year the conversation has been all about AI,” he said
“Enhanced by machine learning and natural language processing, AI-driven solutions will redefine customer interactions. These advancements promise hyper-personalised experiences, efficient query resolutions, and 24/7 availability.”
Three Ireland won the prestigious Best Customer Experience award 2023, making it the third year in a row that the organisation has been recognised for service excellence in this country.
The organisation was honoured for effectively balancing the delivery of an effortless experience with customers while meeting the demands of the business in terms of growth and margin.
Proactively address
Attendees heard Three had plans in place to use data to predict customers’ needs so that they could proactively address issues and create ‘wow moments’ across all channels and at every step of the customer journey.
The judges highlighted the organisation’s ambition, innovation and ‘sheer boldness’ in raising the benchmark for service distinction in this country.
David Nason of Sky Ireland, was unanimously selected by the adjudicators as Industry Professional of the Year – Support Professional. Having progressively lost his eyesight, he embraced and researched technologies that allowed him live independently and work successfully. This gave him a unique insight into how important accessibility was to ensuring that Sky customers could engage easily with the company.
As CX accessibility manager, he is responsible for ensuring that customers with disabilities and alternative needs are considered across all Sky’s customer journeys and products.
In the last year, Nason’s introduction of the ‘Be My Eyes’ app to Sky has been an industry first. It allows service advisers to help customers with visual impairments by ‘seeing’ for them, through the camera on their phone, meaning they can assist customers in various ways, from finding their remote to changing their TV settings.
By putting himself forward in media and as Sky representative in internal and external forums, Nason raised awareness and evoked change, the adjudicators said.
CCMA expressed thanks to all the individual and corporate sponsors as well as the judging panel for their support in hosting the hugely successful 2023 event.
