First and foremost, I would like to thank the Contact Centre Association of Singapore (CCAS) and the numerous sponsors for hosting the 4 th Annual Call Centre Awards 2004 to recognise and showcase the contributions made by the many men and women in the contact centre community. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the panel of judges for taking time to be in Singapore for the assessment of the entries in this year award and that through such interactions with these industry gurus that I too have learnt a great deal from.

Winning the Call Centre Manager award is definitely more than just an individual success. My achievement is attributed largely to the hardwork and commitment of all the individuals in Call Centre. It has truly been my honour to have the opportunity to work with an excellent team in MobileOne (M1), a team that faces challenges with courage and determination. A special word of thank must be given to a close colleague of mine - Denise Lazaroo - who has given me her support and encouragement through the years.

It has been a great experience working in M1, a world-class company that envision innovativeness and dedication to its customers, people and shareholders. To accomplish this, we believe in having a superior delivery of service excellence as well as achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction in each and every contact.

There will never be a dull moment working in a Call Centre. Everyday, I look forward to strive for the better, to seek process improvement no matter how big or small, to find new ways to motivate the managers and agents. And all these require lots of efforts and perseverance. My formula for success in life is simple: To succeed in whatever tasks in any fashion, you must have Passion, Passion, and more Passion!

Participating in the Call Center of the Year 2004 was an exciting and rewarding experience. Last year was the first time we had participated in the awards and we were overwhelmed by our triple gold success which was a spectacular achievement for MCI and our Asia Pacific Customer Contact Centre team.

MCI's number one priority is to deliver superior service and responsive support to each of the customers we serve. The application process and rigorous judging was a great way to measure ourselves against the industry to confirm that MCI is meeting critical business objectives in the Asia Pacific region. Participation and the valuable experience we knew we would gain by being put to the test by the panel of international judges was a key objective of our participation. But our ultimate award success that we shared together as a team was a momentous event. The glamorous CCAS gala awards dinner was a credit to the CCAS.

The Contact Centre Association of Singapore's (CCAS) achievement in driving the industry's inaugural regional awards, as well as the 4th annual awards epitomizes the Council's commitment to continually raise the level of professionalism amongst Call Centre industry members in Singapore and the region. 

Our key objective in participating in  the CCAS Awards is to benchmark ourselves against the industry's best, both locally and regionally.  Being a first-time participant in the CCAS awards has provided us with a perspective of what we have been doing right. At the same time, new ideas on how we can do things better have also been generated.

The  awards that I received - Team Leader of the Year 2004 under 50 seats and the Judges' Perfect Score  -   are  not an individual achievement;  they  reflect the success of every team member of UOB Call Centre. The journey has just begun; receiving the awards has spurred us on to aim for greater efficiency. As a team leader, I am a firm believer that when we run with our teams  and  stay on track, every member will grow from the experience and be ready to conquer different terrains in the ever-changing business landscape.

As the industry's importance  is augmented through various strategic and prestigious programmes championed by CCAS, I believe the Council will continue to play a significant role in driving service excellence and scale greater heights in promoting Call Centre Best Practices amongst Call Centre professionals in the Asia Pacific region.