The fifth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards will be presented at Hong Kong's Mira Hotel on Friday, June 1.  A sell-out crowd of more than 280 executives from across the region will attend for the presentation of the Grand, Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards.  Winners were announced last month.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only regional program to recognize innovation in every facet of the workplace, from management and product development to customer service, human resources, marketing and more.

The 2018 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 15 markets including Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S.A. and Vietnam. More than 800 nominations about innovative achievements in the APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

Entries for the 2019 edition of the awards will open in October. 

Here is the list of organizations that will be represented at Friday's awards banquet in Hong Kong.

AD STARS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
amc asia!
APAX Group
APPCO Korea
Azeus Convene
BIBOTING INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Binary Digital Advertising, Inc.
BoardPAC (Pvt) Ltd
BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited
BRCom
Busan Metropolitan Police Agency
Busan, Saha-gu District
Cisco Systems
Clariti Group
CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
DANI Communications (LOTTE FOODS)
Darktrace
Dell Technologies
EASTGOLD CO., LTD.
eDENT
Eduwill Co., Ltd.
EPIS
E-STATE ONLINE
FOREST INTERACTIVE SDN BHD
FrieslandCampina (Hong Kong) Limited
Gangwon-do Office
Globe Telecom, Inc.
Green Bulb PR
Gyeonggido Job Foundation
HANAROADCOM
Hanoi Small and Medium Enterprises Association
Hanyang University
Hong Kong Tourism Board
Hotel Soulhada
HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd
HPI CS APJ CC
HP PPS Indonesia
IBM
Interplan International Corp.
IRPC Public Company Limited
JCDecaux Transport
KBCA
KEB Hana Bank
Ketchum Shanghai
Korea Electric Power Corporation
Korea Energy Information Agency
Korea Land And Geospatial Informatix Corporation
Korea Press Center
Korea Resource Circulation Service Agency
Korea Seven Co., Ltd.,
Korea South-East Power Co., Ltd,
Korea: BORAMAE
KT KBN Center
Kumsung Publishing Co., Ltd
LAB360
LafargeHolcim
Leap Agency
M800 Limited
Manage Damage
Manila Electric Company (MERALCO)
Megaworld
Metro Pacific Water
Ministry of Health and Welfare
Morris Cookies (Asia) Limited
MyTaxi.PH / Grab Philippines
NCC Ad
NS Home Shopping
Ortigas & Company
PCCW Solutions Limited
Petronas
PITSTOP MOTORS INC
PR Newswire Asia
PSG Global Solutions
PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero)
Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali
PT Petrokimia Gresik
PT Petrosida Gresik
PT PP Properti Tbk
PTTEP Indonesia
PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited
Seegene Medical Foundation
Semyung University
Seocho-Gu
Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation
Shinyoung
SID Corporation
SIDM
SITEL Philippines
SM SUPERMALLS
SolarWinds
SOOHYUN Inc.
Strategic Public Relations Group
Studio Aup
Supercom
Telkom Indonesia
The K Yedaham
The Korea Coast Guard
ThermoBrush
Toothlife Co., Ltd.
Travellers International Hotel Group Inc
Treasure Collection
Tuan Chau Hanoi JSC
Uniplan
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Vamp
Vinci Construction
VNPT VinaPhone Corporation
VOK DAMS CHINA
W·Design Convergent Center Dankook University,
Weber Shandwick
Wharf China Estates Limited

Riva CRM Integration earned top customer service scores, ranking with 98% client satisfaction across thousands of ZenDesk support tickets and retaining 95% of their clients in 2017!

This tangible success has earned them two Silver Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service in the Department of the Year - Computer Software division and Frontline Customer Service Team of the Year categories. 

Riva CRM Integration is based in Edmonton, Canada and services the international technology market. Launched in 2008, the company has found popularity with growing organizations to globally operating companies, including 50 Fortune 500 companies and 15 of the world’s largest banks.

Over the last few years, Riva has made investing in customer support development a major part of its ethos.  The goal is to offer multifaceted customer service to continually meet or exceed customer expectations.

“We strive for customer delight every day,” says Riva’s Tawny Mergel, Content Marketing Manager. “It’s one of our core values.” 

Recent customer service initiatives include:

• Hiring additional staff and investing in more and better training resources and processes
• Using technology, including Microsoft Office 365 groups and Microsoft Teams, to improve internal communications
• Increasing access to internal test environments and demonstration accounts for nearly all supported systems
• Sharing product release notes consistently
• Releasing website enhancements frequently
• Investing in advanced tools to improve troubleshooting and project management capabilities
• Improving priority support and escalation through ZenDesk triggers and documented processes
• Increasing support coverage hours (currently 22 hours per day globally, from Sunday through Friday)
• Refining team management processes including annual reviews, monthly check-ins, clear communication, performance metrics

The company has also fostered a team-based environment to ensure every member is working together toward the same goal. Riva’s practices prove little things help glue a team together. For example, several members of Riva’s Customer Success Team helped form a hockey pool to introduce some friendly competition. “It’s a lot of fun and helps build camaraderie and team spirit among our members,” says Mergel.

Striving for “Customer Delight”

The result of Riva’s customer-first message is an unusually high level of loyalty among clients. This is evidence that making clients happy is not only the right thing to do, but a sound business decision.

“Winning a Stevie Award allows us the opportunity to show our customers that we are dedicated to their success and achieving our goal of customer delight,” says Mergel. “Our entire team takes great pride in this achievement.”

Used by more than 1,200 companies around the world, Riva’s platform connects dozens of customer relationship management systems to popular software applications like Microsoft Office 365 and Exchange, G Suite and Gmail, IBM Notes, GroupWise and Marketo. This enables advanced CRM data integration and provides a broad view of customer data.

“Technology is advancing at a very rapid pace,” Mergel says. “Customers and prospects live in an ‘always on’ world, where the Internet of Things, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and artificial intelligence are no longer buzzwords, but reality.”

“Companies are applying these new technologies to better serve their customers,” she adds. “As these tools evolve, there’s more and more demand for solutions like Riva that are designed to quickly surface relevant information from multiple sources in order to deliver a smarter, faster, and more personalized customer experience and make the most of every customer interaction.”

The Stevie® Awards announced today the Grand Stevie Award winners in The 16th Annual American Business Awards^® competition. Winners will be presented their Grand Stevie Awards trophies at the ABA’s gala banquet on June 11 in New York.

FIS, the Jacksonville, FL-based leader in financial services technology, will be presented the Grand Stevie Award for Most Honored Organization of the Year. FIS earned 70 award points, more than any other entrant. Stevie Award-winning organizations are accorded three points for each Gold Stevie win, two points per Silver Stevie win, and one-and-a-half points for each Bronze Stevie win.

10Fold Communications, with offices in San Francisco, the Bay Area, Southern California, Texas, and Colorado, has won the Grand Stevie for Most Honored PR Agency of the Year with 29 points earned on behalf of clients including Agiloft, Attack IQ, and Versa, among others.

Other top ABA Grand Stevie winners include George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (Auburn Hills, MI) for Most Honored Interactive Agency of the Year with 21.5 points and Merkle (Columbia, MD) for Most Honored Marketing Agency of the Year with 18.5 points.

Grand Stevies were also awarded to the 10 other organizations with the most points in the 2018 competition.

The Top 10 winners are:

1. PAIRELATIONS, Centennial, CO, on behalf of clients including Audigy, Beltone, Formativ Health, GN ReSound, Gorilla Safety, Soleo Health, and TekLeaders (48.5)
2. Reltio, Redwood Shores, CA (38)
3. Jeunesse Global, Orlando, FL (27.5)
4. Makers Nutrition, Hauppauge, NY (21)
5. Cisco Systems, nationwide (20.5)

6. (tie) Aflac, Columbus, GA (18)
          John Hancock Signature Services, Boston, MA (18)
7. (tie) Franklin Covey, Salt Lake City, UT (16.5)
           PAN Communications, with offices in Boston, New York, Orlando, and San Francisco (16.5)
            TopSpot, Houston, TX (16.5)

All organizations operating in the U.S.– large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit—are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development. More than 3,700 nominations submitted to the 2018 competition were reviewed and rated in the judging process by more than 200 professionals, whose average scores determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners who were announced earlier this month. The June 11 awards presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

For a complete list of the 2018 Stevie Award winners, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Sponsors of The 2018 American Business Awards include HCL America, John Hancock Signature Services, and SoftPro.

One aim of customer engagement is to continuously build and update knowledge on each individual visitor. Etech Global Services is a leading provider for customer engagement solutions, voice, quality monitoring, chat, social, and email. Etech began in 1997 in Texas in the United States and has expanded to include eight dynamic contact centers across the U.S., Jamaica, and India. Etech won the Silver Stevie® Award for Business Intelligence Solution - Human Intelligence Meets Artificial Intelligence in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
 
Pride in Their Job

Etech's solutions help their clients reduce efforts, enhance customer experience, increase sales results, and increase market share. Chief Customer Officer Jim Iyoob shares how their "servant leader" philosophy has motivated them to achieve success.

“The most evident area of impact is on the frontline employees,” says Iyoob. “The Stevie Award further validates their day-to-day efforts to make a remarkable difference for our clients. Being nationally recognized with a Stevie Award gives them a tremendous boost of confidence and pride in their job.”

Etech started with about 400 employees and now has grown to over 3,000 employees without a merger or acquisition.

An Effortless Experience

As 30-year veterans in their field, Etech's Insights division has continued to grow and now consists of more than 200 field expert data scientists. These experts have navigated a definitive increase of consumer control in today’s marketplace, directly impacting their industry and requiring their adaptability.

“Studies have shown that 89% of consumers have stopped doing business with particular companies after a single poor customer experience,” states Iyoob. “Consumers are willing to pay more for a service if they know they are going to have an effortless and positive customer experience.”

Etech constantly aims to make a remarkable difference in their clients’ lives and their communities.

“Growing as a leader does not occur overnight, but once our employees are presented with the tools of servant leadership, they set goals to start making changes intentionally, consistently and daily,” Iyoob says.
 
A Miracle in the Etech Family

Among all the gains and accomplishments Etech has experienced, one of the most dramatic and personal setbacks happened this past year to Etech's President and General Manager, Matt Rocco. Iyoob details Rocco’s story.

“In December 2016, Matt Rocco contracted a high mortality disease known as ARDS and fell into a coma for over a month. However, despite all the medical and scientific data to date, God decided to perform a miracle with Matt and keep him with us. Now, just hardly a year removed from being in a coma, Matt is back and leading the Etech family, which he has done so well for over 17 years. This event not only strengthened Matt and his immediate family, but in fact strengthened the 3,000+ Etech family worldwide.”

Etech defines adaptability as being flexible and willing to positively and purposefully introduce, embrace, and patiently lead the way through change. Etech has fully embraced this spirit.

The Stevie® Awards, organizers of the world’s premier business awards programs, today announced the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners in The 16th Annual American Business Awards®.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. – large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit - are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development. More than 3,700 nominations were reviewed in the judging process this year by more than 200 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced today, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

2018 Stevie winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala event on Monday, June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. Tickets are now on sale. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

Top winners of Gold Stevies, with three or more each, include Aeye (Pleasonton, CA), Aflac (Columbus, GA), Age of Learning (Glendale, CA), Anthem Foundation (Indianapolis, IN), Blue Wheel Media (Birmingham, MI), FIS (Jacksonville, FL), George P Johnson Experiential Marketing (Auburn Hills, MI), GN Hearing, (Bloomington, MN), GOLD PR (Irvine, CA), Gorilla Safety (Houston, TX), GTT Communications (McLean, VA), I Am Enough (Marina Del Ray, CA), Jeunesse Global (Orlando, FL), John Hancock Financial Services (Boston, MA), Marriott Vacations Worldwide (Orlando, FL), Petplan (Newtown Square, PA), Reltio (Redwood Shores, CA), Rentec Direct (Grants Pass, OR), Rimini Street (Las Vegas, NV), TopSpot (Houston, TX), Vectra (San Jose, CA) and Zenni Optical (Novato, CA).

Among all other Stevie winners, those winning five or more awards include 3D Exhibits (Schaumburg, IL), Accenture (Chicago, IL), ADP (Roseland, NJ), BMO Capital Markets (Chicago, IL), Brighton Health Plan Solutions (New York, NY), Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, CA), DCR Workforce (Boca Raton, FL), EMI Strategic Marketing (Boston, MA), Entercom (New York, NY), Franklin Covey (Salt Lake City, UT), HomeServe USA (Norwalk, CT), LABOV Marketing Communications and Training (Fort Wayne, IN), Makers Nutrition (Hauppauge, NY), Marketing Mojo (Charlottesville, VA), Merkle (Columbia, MD), MWWPR (New York, NY), New American Funding (Tustin, CA), Pacific Life Insurance Co. (Newport Beach, CA), Quest Software (Aliso Viejo, CA), SoftPro (Raleigh, NC), Spark Growth (New York, NY), STYLE Advertising (Birmingham, AL), Tata Consultancy Services (New York, NY), TekLeaders (Plano, TX), Thomson Reuters (Stamford, CT), WebPT (Phoenix, AZ) and Wolters Kluwer (New York, NY).

HCL America, part of HCL Technologies, a $7.4 billion global company that helps global enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age, sponsored the HCL Reimagining Business for the Digital Age awards, in 13 bespoke categories.  Stevie winners in these categories include Allscripts (Chicago, IL), BD (Franklin Lakes, NJ), Citi (New York, NY), Cummins Inc. (Columbus, IN), Deloitte (New York, NY), Merck & Co. (Kenilworth, NJ), Oncor (Dallas, TX), Symantec (Mountain View, CA), The Vanguard Group (Valley Forge, PA) and Verizon (New York, NY), among others.

Every new product or service nominated in The 2018 American Business Awards is included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, a worldwide public vote. Voting is now open at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com and will conclude on June 1. People’s Choice Stevie winners will be announced the week of June 4, and will be honored during the June 11 presentations.

“The nominations submitted for The 2018 American Business Awards were outstanding.  The competition was intense, and those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.