Contact Centre Association of Singapore

2nd Regional Awards 2005

Our Judges & Awards Chairman

Simon Kriss

Welcome to the fifth annual Singapore Call Centre Awards and the second Asia Call Centre Awards programme. As the new Awards Chairman my first order of business must be to publicly applaud the incredible efforts of Siva Submaranium. Siva has left a legacy of absolute credibility and regional leadership in the Singapore call centre industry.

In 2005 the Awards programme will build on the success of the previous years whilst focusing on the core driving principles of Credibility, Validity, Relevance, Fairness, Equity, Simplicity and Repeatability.

The regional Award has grown significantly this year. With the return of Hong Kong and Malaysia , we also welcome entrants from Thailand and China .

The concept of the awards programme is not just about the final trophies, it is more about what we all learn and experience along the way. Our industry will only succeed if we are all learning and growing together across the country, across the region and across the globe.

The 2005 judges have been carefully selected from overseas to ensure that they have relevant knowledge and experience in call centre management to foster a greater focus on testing the management principles behind great call centre operations.

This year entrants in the Singapore Awards will be judged by peers who prove themselves everyday in their own call centres, whilst the judges for the regional Awards hold Executive or Board level positions within their corporations and will be looking at the overall award with a more senior focus.

On behalf of the Contact Centre Association of Singapore , and our sister associations across the region, I would like to encourage everyone to participate in this year's exciting awards programme. I welcome comments or questions from anyone in the industry about this year's awards programme.

Finally, I look forward to seeing everyone at the final award gala evening where the air will be electric with excitement and enthusiasm. Good luck to each and every entrant.

Simon Kriss
Chairman
Awards Committee Contact Centre Association of Singapore

Simon Kriss is the CEO and President of Sagatori, a Hong Kong based call centre specialist consulting company.

Widely regarded as one of the regions most respected thought leaders and commentators on call centre issues, Simon has over 15 years of experience in the call centre industry. Simon has personally operated the well-known Asia Pacific Call Centre News ( APCCN ) service on a complimentary basis for over six years.

Simon launched the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) in Australia some years ago and was honoured as the first inductee to their Hall Of Fame. Simon acts as a strategic advisor to the Call Centre Associations in Hong Kong , Singapore and Malaysia .

Simon was one of three initial judges for the Asia Call Centre Awards in 2004 and is the Awards Chairman in 2005.

Simon has seen call centres all around the world in Asia, Europe and the USA .

Simon has appeared on television and radio speaking on the topics involved with call centres and their management. Conferences and Symposiums have seen Simon presenting on call centre topics in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and right across Asia from New Delhi to Beijing (and beyond).

On several occasions, National Government bodies have asked Simon for assistance in attracting call centres to their region.

Michael Brennan
Manager, Contact Centre Services
VicRoads , Australia

Michael is the Manager, Contact Centre Services at VicRoads the Australian state government road agency responsible for managing the road and traffic network with a customer base of over 3.6 million licensed motorists.

In 1993, Michael was appointed manager of VicRoads only call centre, an under performing 67 seat centre identified to be outsourced. Twelve years on, the business is a showpiece for the organisation operating two contact centres (160 seats) handling over 3.2 million contacts annually.

A member of Australia 's two major contact centre associations CCMA and ATA for many years (and working for a government enterprise) has provided Michael access to many of the countries leading centres. Current projects underway include: speech recognition, call recording and expansion of the centre's IT service desk.


	Darren Smith Head, Customer Contact Centre Qantas Airlines

As Head of the Customer Contact Centres of Qantas Airlines, Darren manages the needs of the airlines' inbound and outbound worldwide sales and servicing calls from Qantas customers and agents across 14 contact centres from Tokyo to Jakarta .

Darren has worked in the Contact Centre industry for 15 years in various roles - as a Call Centre Consultant, Systems Coordinator, Account Manager as well as in Operational and Strategic Management.

In his current role as Head of the Customer Contact Centres, Darren has been heavily involved in managing large technology changes. These have included the implementation of the first customer airline booking system using Speech Recognition technology &and supported by Customer Telephony Integration (CTI), complete call centre technology upgrade, and change of infrastructure to a 'managed' service model with a local telecommunications company. He also succeeded in attaining massive growth of customers using the website to address customer service needs.

Darren also plays a prominent role within Qantas in the area of Crisis Management. He and his team have successfully addressed resulting urgent customer service needs of the numerous world crisis of the last four years which included the attacks of September 11 2001 and the Tsunami of December 2004.


	Anne Marie Cupples Senior Project Manager Swinburne University of Technology's Industry Consulting Service

Anne-Marie has lived and breathed the Contact Centre business for the past 19 years. In that time, she has developed a passion for the people, work and the industry that only true Contact Centre Managers have.

Starting her career as a Customer Service Consultant back in 1986, Anne-Marie has worked with a number of employers including NRMA Insurance, NEC, ANZ Bank and Swinburne University of Technology. Through the various roles within these companies Anne-Marie has become highly skilled in all facets of Contact Centre operations, management, training and technology.

Anne Marie is currently working as a senior project manager for Swinburne University of Technology's Industry Consulting Services (ICS). ICS aim to offer innovative and practical learning and development solutions to industry organisations. Prior to this she was the managing director of the niche market Velocity Revolution contact centre-consulting group and was responsible for business processes re-engineering, people management coaching and contact centre technology use.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Request for Endorsement of Event