01 September 2006
Media release – for immediate release
Wanted: A Bigger Trophy Cabinet
Bank of New Zealand made it a three-peat when it was named the nation’s best contact centre (over 50 seats) in the CRM
Awards, announced in Auckland last night.
The awards, in their tenth year, recognise excellence in customer service, evaluating companies from 16 industry
sectors. This is the third year in a row that the Bank has won the overall award, and the fifth time it has taken out
the sector award for banking industry.
The award is a fantastic accolade for the work being done by our contact centre team, said Bank of New Zealand General
Manager Direct Sales & Service, Susan Basile.
“This has been a tremendous year for our contact centre. We are delighted to retain the title of ‘best in New Zealand’,
and we were recently awarded best for customer service in Asia-Pacific at the Contact Center World regional finals in
Singapore.”
“It is an achievement that our whole team can share. This award is due to the outstanding work our people do every
single day. This is a challenging business and to do well you have to love what you do. My entire team thrive on serving
customers, and constantly look for ways to improve the customer’s experience.
“We put a lot of emphasis on training, so that not only do our team know all about banking, but more importantly, they
know how to make our customers feel special, every time they call.”
The Bank operates customer contact centres in Auckland and Wellington, employing a total of 470 staff. Such is the
reputation of Susan and her team that there is a queue of people lining up to work in the centre.
The CRM Contact Centre Awards recognise excellence in standards of customer service delivered by contact centres
throughout New Zealand. To evaluate the CRM Award entrants, contact centres were anonymously audited by telephone and
email. The evaluation criteria included answer time, ease of access, product knowledge and operator attitude and
efficiency.
“We’ll celebrate our win, but we will continue to look for ways that we can improve our service to customers. We want to
do just as well next year.”
ENDS