gem is excited to announce that we have been shortlisted for two awards in the National Outsourcing Association Awards 2009, against competition such as NHS and Capita.
The two categories in which gem have been shortlisted are:
Outsourcing Contact Centre Provider of the Year
Outsourcing Professional of the Year – Louise Bone.
We spoke to Louise about her achievements and being shortlisted for Outsourcing Professional of the Year.
Louise, tell us abit about your background.
After spending 11 years working in retail from cashier to buyer to store manager I decided to try something different and knew I would have to prove myself in a new industry but relished the challenge. I heard about gem through my sister who worked for them in the early days of Amazon and she agreed that the company values and their work ethic was in-line with my own. After working as a Team Manager for 1 year I was promoted to OSM in McAfee and a year later as Business Manager for Clearwire. I feel that the development culture within gem allowed me to grow as a person and use all of my previous experience in my roles as I progressed through the company. I have also has the pleasure of working with amazing teams in all of my contract and had great support from the other managers within gem.
Clearwire, a supplier of instant wireless broadband, is one of your clients. How does gem enable Clearwire to offer exceptional customer support?
As Clearwire hadn’t outsourced before coming to gem, we were integral in helping them set up processes and procedures that helped their business to function more effectively. We were also able to handle more work with almost 50% less FTE.
What would you say has been your key achievement at gem?
Growing the Clearwire account and helping to bring across the extra business from their account services team.
How do you feel to be shortlisted for a NOA award?
Surprised and delighted! It feels like a real recognition for the effort I have put in over the last 2 ½ years and to be honest is recognition for the team that I have worked with both in operations and business support.
The winners will be announced on Thursday 15th October 2009 at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London.
gem has also been shortlisted for “Best People Practice” in this year’s European Call Centre Awards. The awards will be held in Hilton Birmingham Metropole on the 22nd September in conjunction with the Call Centre Focus & Customer Strategy Conference. With hundreds of entries received this year, this is a great achievement for gem.
CCF European Call Centre Awards will formally recognise professional excellence right across Europe. Now in its 14th year, the Awards have become a firmly established annual event rewarding the individuals and companies that have made a real impact over the previous 12 months. The key USP of the awards program is the site visit each of the short listed companies receives. The judges spent a day with each of the finalists to get a better understanding of their company.
Ben Clarke