Over 2500 attendees, 200 sponsors and 250 expert speakers have descended on The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas for the opening of the 19th annual Customer Contact Week (CCW). Started in 1999 as Call Center Week, CCW is the world's largest customer contact event series. CCW focusses on customer care, CX, and aims to bring contact centre leaders together. Sin City's bright lights and 24 hour entertainment offer supplementary attractions to those who are focused on CX and enhancing their provision with innovative platforms.
Vendors and attendees are welcomed to examine the industry and look at new technology platforms, and practices, to enhance and improve global customer service. Premium sponsors include Genesys, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Five9, Microsoft, Vonage Business, IBM Watson, Avaya, Zailab. The event, which is managed by the Customer Management Practice, comprises a two day exhibition, conference, interactive discussion groups and an awards dinner. Gahwui Kim, Marketing Director at Customer Management Practice spoke to UC Today to discuss this year's event.
"Our customer retention increased by 10%, from last year. We started small and we've been growing it, we still have more room for growth and try every year to make the event better than the last. The interactive discussion groups were a new addition to the show this year, aiming to create that intimate environment for customers to learn about over 60 different topics."
One of the event's biggest attractions is the wealth of speakers attending all focussing on CX related topics. This year's speaker roster includes Barbara Corcoran, Best Selling Author, Business Mogul and Leading Shark on ABC's "Shark Tank"; Jeanne Bliss, President of Customer Bliss and Author of "Would You Do That To Your Mother?"; Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, LLC; Kelli Durkin, VP Customer Service at Chewy.com; Janelle Sallenave, Head of Customer Support North America at Uber and many more.
The highly anticipated CCW Excellence Awards evening and gala, hosted by Five9, recognised participants in over 13 different categories. A prestigious judging panel decided the winners based upon the full spectrum of customer contact operations. Entertainment at the event was provided by renowned ventriloquist and America's Got Talent Season 10 Winner, Paul Zerdin.
Award Categories
Customer Contact Leader of the Year
Winner: Ann Moreth – UPMC Health Plan Member Services Runner-Up: Tarun Gupta – Adobe
Honorable Mentions: Scott Stavretis – Acquire BPO Deb Brown – Guardian Timothy Miller – Sitel Alan Winters – Teleperformance
Best in Class Contact Center (under 99 seats)
Winner: Gant Travel Runner-Up: Sign-Zone LLC.
Honorable Mentions: Liberty Utilities Central MDwise, Inc. Nationwide
Best in Class Contact Center (100-199 seats)
Winner: Pier 1 Imports Runner-Up: ezCater
Honorable Mentions: Horizon Services NexGen Agency Valvoline
Best in Class Contact Center (200+ seats)
Winner: UPMC Health Plan Member Services Runner-Up: UPMC
Honorable Mentions: Hunter Douglas Kromtech Prudential
Best Training & Development Program
Winner: Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Runner-Up: Barclays Bank Delaware
Honorable Mentions: Calendly Hotwire Newegg Inc.
Best Contact Center Culture
Winner: UPMC Health Plan Member Services Runner-Up: DISH – Direct Sales & Retention
Honorable Mentions: Crisis Response Network Dollar Shave Club Marina Bay Sands