The Stevie Awards Blog

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Winners to Be Announced in Las Vegas on February 28

Finalists in the 14th Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success, were announced today.

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized in the customer service awards, contact center awards, business development awards, and sales awards categories.

Organizations with five or more Finalist nominations include Achievers, Toronto, ON Canada; Allianz Global Assistance, Richmond, VA USA; Bounteous, Chicago, IL USA; Carbonite, Inc., Boston, MA USA; Cinch Home Services, Inc., Boca Raton, FL USA; Clarabridge, Reston, VA USA; Concentrix, Fremont, CA USA; CoverMyMeds, Columbus, OH USA; Cvent Inc, McLean, VA USA; Dell Technologies, worldwide; Delta Vacations, Minot, ND USA; DenizBank Financial Service Group, Istanbul, Turkey; DHL Express Vietnam, Hanoi; DHL Express, Johannesburg, South Africa; Druva, Sunnyvale, CA USA; GoDaddy, Scottsdale, AZ USA; HomeServe USA, Norwalk, CT USA; IBM, worldwide; John Hancock Financial Services, Boston, MA USA; Mailchimp, Atlanta, GA USA; NCR Corporation, Atlanta, GA USA; RAIN Group, Boston, MA USA; Sales Partnerships, Inc., Broomfield, CO USA; Spinnaker Support, Greenwood Village, CO USA; Sun Basket, San Jose, CA USA; TTEC, Englewood, CO USA; UPMC Health Plan, Pittsburgh, PA USA; VXI Global Solutions, Los Angeles, CA USA; Wells Fargo Treasury Management Client Delivery, San Francisco, CA USA; and WNS (Holdings) Limited, Mumbai, India.

Visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales for a full list of Finalists by category.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists will be revealed during a gala banquet on Friday, February 28 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets are now on sale.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes eight of the world’s leading business awards shows, including the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®, and the Women|Future Conference.

More than 2,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes, in virtually every industry, in 48 nations were evaluated in this year’s competition. Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 180 professionals worldwide in seven specialized judging committees. Entries were considered in more than 90 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; more than 60 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Business Development Executive of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers.

Beginning today through February 14, the general public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service. Voting is open at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Las Vegas on February 28.

Request an entry kit for the
2021 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Companies that consistently rank high on the lists of best places to work often have great work cultures, deep-rooted values, and fantastic employee benefits. They go above and beyond state and federally-mandated benefits and offer their employees generous retirement plans, flexible work hours, tuition reimbursements, ample parental leave, and many other tangible and intangible perks. These companies attract and retain the best talent because they truly care for their employees’ well-being.

What Do Employees Really Want?

While the long list of benefits top companies provide are great, they might not be feasible for most smaller businesses. In these scenarios, companies should identify the “good-to-have” benefits and then investigate what their employees really need and what issues weigh heaviest on their minds.

According to the PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 2019, financial matters cause employees the most stress—more than all other life stressors (health concerns, relationships, job issues, and more) combined. A staggering 30 percent lie awake at night worrying about money, and 23 percent are less productive at work because of financial worries, according to a US employee benefit trends study.

Also, even though the numbers have improved slightly since last year, almost 40 percent of US households still don’t have enough savings to cover an unexpected $400 expense (Report on the Economic Well-Being of US Households).

Investing in employees’ financial health, therefore, is one of the best ways companies can show they care.

Offer Innovative and Affordable Financial Benefits

With the amount of financial stress they are under, one would think employees would opt for pay raises over perks. Surprisingly, though, almost 80 percent of employees chose perks over pay raises in an employee confidence survey by Glassdoor.

Employer-matching 401K, health insurance, financial planning, and student loan repayment are all excellent financial benefits, but corporations (or even small businesses) can also implement several innovative and unique financial benefits alongside these more traditional options.

One good example is Gusto, a human resources management platform based in San Francisco, California, United States, which allows employees to access the money they’ve already earned for emergencies, without having to wait until payday.

Another example of an innovative yet affordable financial benefit is Stevie-winner Cookie Jar by SafetyNet, a financial services company based in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Cookie Jar combines the simplicity of kitchen-table finances with the sophistication of an employer-matched benefits program by rounding employees’ checking account transactions and credit card purchases to the nearest dollar and then saving the spare change in special accounts. These savings can be automatically matched by the employer, and they can be accessed by the employee whenever an emergency arises.

“Cookie Jar is designed for average workers who need to save but don’t feel they have the financial flexibility to do so,” says Vreni Pigorsch, senior media strategist at Cookie Jar. “A salary and a retirement plan are no longer enough to sustain employees, and employers are taking note. Instead, pet insurances; liquid savings programs, such as Cookie Jar; and other accessible financial tools are being incorporated into employee benefit plans. Employees become happier and more focused at work, and employers are able to attract and to retain great talent by setting their benefit structure apart from their competition.”

Cookie Jar won a Silver Stevie® Award in Product Management & New Product Awards in the Financial Services category at the 2019 American Business Awards.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Without their customers even realizing it, many businesses utilize master agents. A master agent works by using the services of a large number of expert partners, such as IT consultants, systems integrators, and technology service providers. All these entities work under one umbrella to provide seamless service to their clients.

Technology Distribution Services

Telecommunications systems are vital to the world of business. As the cloud continues to drive convergence, organizations strive to upgrade their outdated systems and to add fresh ones. Master agents are organizations that perform the back-office duties for their subagents. As such, they take care of tasks like order tracking, commission tracking, and troubleshooting. The benefits of using a master agent are the ability to build partnerships, to offer a range of future-proof solutions, and to safeguard clients with clear and knowledgeable advice.

Ideal Tech Solutions

Keeping current with technology can be a tall order, and the benefit of having an umbrella company that’s committed to helping organizations access telecommunications, cable, and cybersecurity vendors can be invaluable. A master agent matches an organization to the ideal solutions that can help grow that business, and it also offers end-to-end support for companies. The joy of using specialists like this is that they take the time to listen to their clients and then match them with the technologies most appropriate for the development of their companies.

A Strong Team

The telecom industry is continuously evolving in order to keep up with developing technology. Growth opportunities are enormous, and master agent technology specialists are well positioned to take advantage of those opportunities. Currently, only 14 percent of technology businesses take advantage of master agents, but by continually developing and updating the services they offer, there is room to increase that number and to help companies keep ahead of the tech curve.

The president of TBI, Inc., Geoff Shepstone, feels the purpose of a master agent is to ensure it consistently provides value to its clients and partners.

“Provide value or perish,” says Shepstone. “We remain the largest privately held master agent in the country due to the fact that every single business unit within TBI provides free value-adds to our partner community.”

When considering partnering with a master agent, it’s essential to employ a company whose ethos matches your own. It should also have a positive organizational culture and motivated employees who enjoy frequent opportunities for continued professional development, keep relationships active, and keep creative business ideas flowing. A top-quality technology business ensures staff members can network with colleagues from all departments and organizational levels as this promotes a constant flow of knowledge and information. This helps build a strong team and provides excellent support to both customers and partners.

Responsiveness and the ability to keep their customers and partners looped in as the technology industry develops helped TBI, Inc. win a Gold Stevie® Award for Marketing Department of the Year and a Bronze Stevie® for Marketer of the Year at The 2019 American Business Awards®.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for speakers and topics for its third-annual Women|Future Conference.

This two-day event for professional women to connect and hear about business and career topics will be presented in conjunction with the 17^th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business on November 12-13, 2019, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The Stevie Awards is offering $99 registration for the conference through January 17 at https://stevieawards.regfox.com/2020-womenfuture-conference. Registration fees are 100% refundable through early October 2020. The fee will rise to $299 on January 18.

Speaker and topic proposals may be submitted at https://www.womenfutureconference.com/speaker-topic-proposals. The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 1. Questions about the conference, presentation opportunities, and sponsorship options may be directed to Ruslana Milikhiker, Conference & Event Manager, at Ruslana@StevieAwards.com. 

In addition to our call for speakers, we are also seeking young (less than three years) women-owned businesses to showcase at the 2020 event. If you are interested in showcasing your business before an audience of potential customers, investors, and the press, at no cost, click here and tell us about your organization, its products and/or services, and the date you began business.

The mission of the conference is to help women understand and prepare for the changes that will affect their businesses, their industries, their careers, and their lives. Speakers and topics may address impending change in areas such as artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, career management, diversity and inclusion, and the future of work, for example. The conference will also feature case studies from finalists in the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business about how they are achieving success and preparing for the future.

Last year’s conference speakers included Sheryl Connelly of Ford Motor Company, Gail Becker of CAULIPOWER, Shimona Chadha of HCL Technologies, Ashley Brundage of PNC, and Alex Coren of Wambi, among others. Click here to check out the highlights from the 2019 conference.

We're pleased to share with you the first photographs of the 2020 Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award medals.

The new medals will be conferred first at the 14th Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service event in Las Vegas on February 28.

In addition to the Sales & Customer Service Awards (final entry deadline January 9) Silver and Bronze Stevie medals are presented in the following competitions:

• The American Business Awards®
• The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards
• The Stevie Awards for Great Employers
• The International Business Awards®
• The Stevie Awards for Women in Business

In all Stevie Awards competitions, the highest-scoring qualifying entry in a category receives a Gold Stevie Award trophy.  Other qualifying entries receive Silver or Bronze medals, depending on their score.  Learn more about our judging and award process.  

The Silver and Bronzes feature new designs for 2020.  But the medal boxes are new as well.  The boxes themselves are polished silver and copper metal, with impresses of the Stevie Award trophy.

You can't win one of these beauties if you don't first participate in a Stevie Awards competition, so...

It's that time of year when most companies are firming up their PR and marketing budgets and plans for 2020.  Many organizations are budgeting and planning to enter any number of business awards competitions in the new year, because they know that awards are cost-effective tools for a variety of purposes, with brand building and employee relations chief among them.

But here are the three reasons why you and your organization won't win a single award in 2020 - plus the #1 reason it won't matter a whit even if you do.

1. You Don't Enter

On occasion when we suggest to someone that they should nominate their organization in one of the Stevie® Awards competitions, their response is: We don't believe in nominating ourselves for awards.  We plan to do such great work that awards will just be given to us.

Really? we want to reply. Which award are you hoping will make a beeline to your door?  A Nobel Prize? A MacArthur Genius Award?  Get real. 

Hope is not a strategy. If you don't believe that winning awards can help to burnish your organization's reputation, provide a low-cost reward to your employees for their good work, and provide one more incentive to your executives and workers to excel, we could persuade you otherwise, but at least that's your opinion.  But if you do believe that winning awards can offer these benefits, why on earth wouldn't you plan to pursue them?

Sure, it can take hours to prepare entries, and entry fees for a few awards programs can run to several thousand dollars, but the work and the cost are minor compared to the benefits of winning - and leveraging - a prestigious award.

2. You Aren't Smart About Picking Your Competitions

While we think our Stevie Awards competitions are the best there are, we acknowledge there are many awards programs worthy of your attention around the world for corporate awards, PR awards, marketing awards, IT awards, web awards, HR awards, and so on.  Picking those that are right for you and your organization is important.  And picking the categories within those competitions is also key.

When someone calls the Stevie Awards to inquire about whether their organization might be a fit for one of our competitions, we ask them two questions: one, what do you want to be recognized for?  And two, is it important to you in which category you might be honored?  Their answer to the first question is important, because that will tell us which competition, and which category(s), will be a fit for them.  The answer to the second question is also pivotal, because that will tell us whether we should recommend only the most popular (i.e. "prestigious") categories or can recommend secondary categories to them as well.

3. You Don't Tell Your Story Well

It's our experience that most organizations aren't very good at formally summarizing and articulating their achievements in an engaging way.  Storytelling is a vital part of corporate - and career - success.

When someone says to us, I'm not sure we're ready to enter the Stevie Awards, I don't know that we've achieved enough yet, we ask them to give us their elevator speech, their one-minute summary of what they do and what they've achieved.  Without fail their elevator speech is captivating.  It seems that most people have honed their ability to put into a few words the essence of their organization's capabilities and achievements.  But few people can translate that pride and excitement into a longer document that's well written, well structured, and supported with examples, work samples, and the like. 

Until the day when we can transmit our thoughts to one another via telepathy, the written word will continue to be the way to communicate data-intensive information.  So if you can't write well, you don't stand much chance of winning many if any awards.  If you don't write well, hire or contract with someone who does to write your awards entries for you.

Even if you do enter the right categories in the right competitions, and prepare and write your entries extremely well, and win a raft of prestigious awards, they won't mean a thing if you don't translate those wins into meaningful tools, by

* Publicizing your wins to the media and stakeholders
* Congratulating and celebrating your employees for their recognition
* Using the resources provided by awards organizers, such as winners' logos, to create a long-term association between your products and your brand and their mark of excellence. 

Our suggestion?  Get the new year off to a good start by getting and reviewing the entry kits for the Stevie Awards competitions, and consider nominating your organization's achievements in one or more of them.

Online security is a massive concern for businesses because it's vital to be able to store and to access sensitive data safely. There are myriad security products and services out there, but it's crucial to choose a trustworthy network security solution. The cybersecurity needs of small to medium businesses, schools, and charities (all of which generally have limited tech support) can be complicated. When it comes to finding the most appropriate security solution for an organization operating within a limited budget, the prospect can be a challenge.

Stevie®-winner Untangle is an innovative cybersecurity company that was founded in 2003 in San Diego, California, United States. It focuses on providing creative network security solutions. The company ethos is built around four central principles: loyalty, excellence, agility, and determination, or “LEAD,” as they’re referred to. By focusing on listening to both customers and staff, Untangle can develop user-friendly ways for smaller companies to protect their data. They do so through easy-to-use products and great follow-up care and support.

Community Minded

As a company with a social conscience, Untangle is continually on the lookout for ways they can positively impact their communities. This is why they offer Nonprofit Complete. Identical to NG Firewall Complete, Nonprofit Complete is provided to qualifying not-for-profit institutions at a reduced price, and it includes all available updates. Charities, schools, and religious organizations are as vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches as any other institution, and it can be hard for those nonprofits to protect themselves.

Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), based in New Jersey, United States, recently got in touch with Untangle because they desperately needed an update to their web protection, which was relying on basic firewalls only. CPNJ needed Internet security protection for a large number of locations, including two schools, three adult training centers, fourteen group homes, a twenty-four-unit apartment complex, and an administrative office. Their IT director needed to ensure the children were protected from accidentally accessing inappropriate websites but couldn't find an easy-to-install system that was suitable for their needs.

As a nonprofit, CPNJ needed to balance budget issues with a security solution that was easy to deploy and easy to manage. The charity also needed to solve the problem of filtering inappropriate content for the schools while also allowing the marketing and administrative teams access to a wider range of websites and applications, such as social media pages.

Katie Bochenski, the director of information technology at Cerebral Palsy New Jersey, now has complete visibility and can easily keep an eye out for any problems. CPNJ was pleased they could get the Internet security they needed with a support team on hand to advise, all at an accessible price.

Personalized Service

Untangle prides itself on delivering top-quality enterprise-level protection to every client. This protection is also tailored to clients’ specific needs. For example, Untangle was recently able to help its client Bridger Valley Electric Association in Mountain View, Wyoming, United States, securely connect twelve remote locations. The main challenge was to implement regular vulnerability assessments while proactively blocking and protecting the network from threats. Untangle was able to set up real-time compliance reporting and install layer 7 app filtering to block undesirable websites and apps. The client was looking to securely allow third-party access to the network, so Untangle worked with them to create detailed policies that control and monitor outside access.

Dirk Morris, founder and CPO of Untangle, sees the position of the company in the cybersecurity market very clearly.

“Untangle is one of the only network security solution providers worldwide focused on offering SMBs a dedicated solution that fits their needs and budget restraints. We specifically innovate and create products designed for businesses with limited IT resources, ensuring their networks stay secure, no matter who is connecting where.”

International Award Winning

The company’s passion for accessible Internet security has made them a multi-award winner, most recently receiving several Stevie Awards. As a winner of a Gold Stevie Award in the Network Security Solution category at The 2019 International Business Awards® and a Gold Stevie in the Network Security Solution category at The 2019 American Business Awards®, their commitment to providing a world-class product is clear. The company’s Silver Award in Customer Service Department of the Year at The 2019 American Business Awards also showcases their continued drive to provide an excellent customer experience.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

When it comes to the job landscape of the future, much speculation exists about how emerging technologies will affect those just entering the job market. When people ask the specific question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) is going to be a jobs killer, though, it’s important for young people to realize the answer isn’t a simple yes or no. The latest statistics and studies show it’s less about killing or eliminating jobs and more about evolving them.

How AI Could Affect the Future Job Market

When Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, two Oxford academics, came out with a prediction in 2013 that a staggering 47 percent of US jobs were at risk of automation by the middle of the 2030s, this issue of AI as a jobs killer became a hot topic of discussion. Studies, surveys, and op-eds began pouring in on the topic, and the subsequent findings were significant.

For example, McKinsey Global Institute found that anywhere between 40 million and 160 million women across the globe would potentially need to change jobs by 2030. Why? The clerical work done by secretaries, bookkeepers, and schedulers—jobs which are done by women 72 percent of the time—are especially susceptible to automation.

The salient part of the study, however, was not that these women would need to change jobs; it was that they would likely be transitioning into higher-skilled roles. In this way, AI wasn’t depriving them of jobs. Instead, it was pushing them into more advanced roles—positions that require the expertise, understanding, and skills only humans possess.

Similarly, the World Economic Forum estimates that automation is on pace to displace 75 million jobs by 2022, but it’s also set to create 133 million new ones by that date. In another study, Gartner predicts 2 million AI-related net new jobs by 2025.

With such a complicated issue, however, many potential factors come into play, and just as many studies predict an overall net loss in jobs. Forrester, for one, estimates a 29 percent loss of jobs by 2030 and only a 13 percent job increase to compensate.

While there isn’t general agreement about the potential number of jobs displaced and then created by AI, one thing does seem to be clear: AI will push people away from largely automated jobs into more advanced positions, and this transition will require the new job force to be increasingly agile and able to learn core skills and adapt to new working models.

The Company-Level Response to These Changes

Just as young people entering the job market should be cognizant of the changes technology will likely have on the professional landscape, companies should understand this dynamic as well. To stay relevant, businesses within the technology industry not only need to embrace AI and its potential but invest in training their workforces (established and incoming) to adapt to these new technologies.

“IT is a highly innovative and changing industry, and because of this, we’re reinventing education for the era of AI,” says Andrea Knoche, a first-line analytics leader for a subgroup of International Business Machines (IBM) that’s based in Ehningen, Germany. “We’re making it a priority to prepare young people around the world for the jobs of tomorrow.”

As IBM illustrates, success in a changing technology-based landscape is about balancing the adoption of new technology. A company can’t ignore or dismiss new innovations, but it also must prepare its workers to properly harness the power of those tools.

“Our subgroup of IBM is most interested in moving to a cloud-based environment and utilizing big data technologies and analytics strategies,” says Knoche, “but we understand our workers must be trained and prepared to implement those tools into their jobs. When trained properly, employees can make the available technology work for them to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.”

IBM earned a Bronze Stevie Award in the Information Technology Team of the Year category at The 2020 American Business Awards®. They also won several awards at The 2020 International Business Awards®, including a Gold Stevie for Company of the Year - Business or Professional Services - Large.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Registration for November 2020 Women|Future Conference in Las Vegas Is Just $99 Through January 10

What should you give the ambitious, forward-looking woman this holiday season? A gift card, a fruit basket, a sweater she won’t wear? How about two days of networking, keynote sessions, panel discussions, and a showcase of young women-owned businesses, in the entertainment capital of the world, for just $99?

The Stevie Awards is offering a $99 registration through January 10 for its third annual Women|Future Conference, November 12-13 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The conference’s mission is to address the most pressing issues of tomorrow, from the perspective of how they will effect women entrepreneurs, executives, and employees, in all industries. The deeply-discounted registration is available at www.WomenFutureConference.com.

The price will jump to $299 on January 11.

Whether you’re looking for a gift for someone else or yourself, the best gift is an investment in the future. The 2020 Women|Future Conference will help attendees gain insight into how to secure theirs.

The first two editions of the conference were staged in New York, in conjunction with the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Check out the summary of the 2019 conference.

Like all great gifts, this one is fully returnable. Conference registrations fees are 100% refundable through early October.

Top Sales Awards and Customer Service Awards Winners to Be Recognized in Las Vegas

The final entry deadline is rapidly approaching for the 14^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service on January 9, 2020. These are the world’s premier awards for sales and customer service professionals, teams, and organizations.

Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

After all nominations have been submitted, finalists will be notified on January 15 and winners will be announced at a gala awards banquet at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 28.

Eligible nominees include departments, teams, and professionals from around the world who work in customer service, contact center, business development, and sales. New products and services and solution providers used by those professionals are also eligible. The 2020 awards will recognize achievements since July 1, 2018.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service feature more than 150 sales awards, customer service awards, business development awards, new product awards, and solution provider awards categories. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories.

New this year, nominees may submit a video of up to five minutes in length instead of the 650-word essay describing their achievements since July 1, 2018.

New categories for 2020 include Customer Service Training Professional of the Year, Customer Service Training Team of the Year – External, Customer Service Training Team of the Year – Internal, Best Customer Engagement Initiative, Customer Service Training or Coaching Program of the Year, Sales Enablement Program of the Year, Sales Incentive Program of the Year, and White Paper or Research Paper of the Year.

2020 will see the return of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a popular feature of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in which the general public may vote for their favorite providers of customer service, from among all finalist nominations in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories.

Winners of the 2019 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service included Allstate, American Airlines, Birevim, Cvent, DP DHL, Deliveroo, Dubai Police, HomeServe USA, IBM, iHeartMedia, Inc., Michael Kors, Oi, Salary.com, Sales Partnerships, Inc., SolarWinds, Texas Instruments, VIZIO, Zappos, and more.

The 2020 competition will be judged by more than 150 professionals around the world.