The Western Cape contact centre industry is preparing for the 2006 Calling the Cape awards, which recognise individual and company excellence.
There were 150 entries for last year`s competition and with two months to deadline this year, the entries are already flowing in, says Luke Mills, Calling the Cape executive director.
"The competition was incredibly strong last year and the judges were deeply impressed by the quality of all the entries and the level of innovation that was happening in the industry. There has been a lot of new investment and expansion since then so we`re expecting 200 entries this year," he says.
According to Mills, R900 million worth of investment was made in the province`s contact centre industry during the 2004/5 financial year. This translates to a rise in the number of people employed by the industry to 14 000 from 11 000.
Event
The winners, to be announced at a winter wonderland themed banquet at Grand West on 5 August, will be entered in the national SA Contact Centre Community awards.
Thirteen awards will be made this year. In the company section, awards will be made for outsourcer of the year, technological and non-technological innovation of the year, international business processing centre of the year, the best outbound campaign, best design and ergonomics, training programme of the year and BEE procurement. There will be two awards for excellence in customer service, one for call centres with fewer than 100 seats and one for those with 100 seats more.
Individual awards include manager, supervisor and agent of the year. In a bid to ensure more agents attend the banquet, Calling the Cape has provided special deals for companies that book additional "agents only" tables. "That`s been a very popular move," says Mills. "We`ve nearly sold out our tables."
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