One Canadian Firm Believes the Right Software Can Help Governments Become Smarter Shoppers

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Apr 25, 2019 @ 10:49 AM

MTC, the transit planning entity for the area around San Francisco, California, United States, is responsible for ensuring residents of the bustling California community get to work and back home again efficiently. Until recently, though, “efficient” wasn’t exactly the way to describe the agency’s process for managing vendors.

All submissions were still done on paper, making it hard for the MTC staff to score and to aggregate proposals in a timely manner. As a result, it took around two to three months to complete a typical request for proposal (RFP).

That all changed when the commission turned to the Canadian software firm Bonfire Interactive, which was founded in 2012 and specializes in streamlining the procurement process for public sector clients. By converting its antiquated process to Bonfire, MTC was able to reduce the RFP time to around thirty days while improving its reporting capabilities.

bonfire

MTC certainly isn’t the only public entity hampered by wasteful and inefficient internal processes, but the roughly ninety-employee team at Bonfire is trying to turn that around.

To hear the management team at Bonfire talk about it, the company’s mission isn’t merely about gaining market share but doing good for society in the process.

“The people behind Bonfire aren't just building purchasing software solutions; they're enabling organizations to turn the purchasing function into a powerful lever that can improve the world,” says Meghan Hennessey, the company’s marketing communications manager.

Ultimately, she believes, when public entities get more out of every dollar they spend, the public is better served.

“Increased fiscal efficiency means patients in hospitals can benefit from better equipment and receive better care. Municipal citizens can experience safer means of transportation, and schools can have proper resources for a more enriched learning landscape,” says Hennessey.

There Must Be a Better Way

Born out of an incubator in Silicon Valley, a region in San Francisco, California, United States, Bonfire, which is based in southwest Ontario, Canada, has developed an impressive client list that includes the Chicago Board of Education, the University of Massachusetts, and the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. In the process, its revenue has grown an impressive 225 percent annually.

“Through various experiences in my career, I witnessed the time, energy, and frustration that went into thousands of RFPs,” says Corry Flatt, the cofounder and CEO of Bonfire. “Every time I thought, There must be a better way, it turns out there wasn’t. Eventually, in order to address that problem, Bonfire was born.”

By initially focusing on governments, the company bucked a trend within the tech industry, which often tailors products to private businesses. According to Hennessey, however, that’s why it made sense to move in the other direction.

“There’s an entire blue ocean of opportunity when you step away from the commercial sector,” she says.

Through it all, the Bonfire management team emphasizes client satisfaction, helping the company become a Silver Stevie-winner for Customer Service Department of the Year in the Computer Software category at this year’s Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Today, the company’s software as a service (SaaS) solution handles more than $20 billion of procurement activities, and Bonfire expanded its portfolio to include private-sector users, such as the global accounting firm BDO.

In 2018, US-headquartered GTY Technology Holdings purchased Bonfire for $108 million. In an effort to provide a full cadre of services to public-sector organizations, including everything from budgeting and permitting to grants management and procurement, GTY Technology Holdings also acquired five other firms in the government technology field.

“Legally, what’s happening is an acquisition and a merger, but it’s more like they’ve assembled a team of stallions, and they’re letting them all run,” Flatt said in a statement after the deal. “For us, our employees, and our clients, it’s just a really good news story.”

The purchase will ultimately allow the firm to boost its marketing efforts to both public and commercial clients and to develop additional product capabilities, including predictive analytics. It also expects to substantially increase hiring at its offices, which are about a mile west of Toronto, Canada.

For Hennessey, the deal means the ability for organizations to make better use of their financial resources, which she reaffirms is most rewarding part.

“To paraphrase a famous quote, the smartest minds of our generation have spent the last decade figuring out how to get you to click on ads,” she says. “Today, though, that's not good enough. People want their creativity and energy poured into something that matters.”

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service

Collective Health Makes Customers Happy and Healthy

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Apr 17, 2018 @ 02:58 PM

The United States is experiencing a shift in healthcare today and employers are at its center. Collective Health, based in San Francisco, California in the United States, strives to give companies a smarter way to provide healthcare coverage through technology and design. They won in the 2018 Silver Stevie® Awards for Sales and Customer Service: Silver for Customer Service Department of the Year and for Best Use of Technology for Customer Service.
 
Happier and Healthier Customers

collective healthFounded in October 2013, Collective Health is backed by NEA, Founders Fund, Google Ventures, and other leading investors. Erika Alperin is the Corporate Marketing and Internal Communications Manager at Collective Health.

“We’re focused on serving the 170M+ Americans who receive healthcare coverage from their employers,” says Alperin. “We are interested in the shift to recognizing that the member experience really matters when it comes to healthcare. When people get the help they need to understand their health benefits, they are better, happier, and healthier consumers of healthcare.”

They replace traditional health plans with a flexible, data-driven alternative that enables companies to get more out of their investment while taking better care of their people.

Collective Health has become a popular choice for organizations to review their increasing costs year over year, and how to improve long-lasting effects of profits and employee spending not running as efficiently as possible.

An Effortless Experience for Everyone

Collective Health is powered by an all-in-one solution that connects and administers the entire health benefits ecosystem: health plans, benefits programs, spending accounts, and employee support. Their technology delivers a more effortless experience for everyone.

This has led them to achieving an NPS (Net Promoter Score) score that is 10 times greater than the industry average, which is due in large part to their amazing Member Advocate team. Alperin explains why their team has played a pivotal role.

“A few of our MA's joined the role because they have had to navigate health insurance and coverage issues for some of their family members. Not only were they trying to understand their plans, they were translating their coverage to family members from English to Spanish. Upon joining Collective, they helped to start a group on our team to serve our Spanish members and translate complex plan documents.”

Collective Health has also been recognized by The Wall Street Journal Top 25 Tech Companies to Watch, 2017, and Rock Health's Best Digital Health Company to Work For, 2017.

“We offer a rigorous training program, both content and cultural, work with internally built tools and technology that streamline processes, and allow us to focus on doing our job,” Alperin says.

Hiring advocates with a passion for helping others and solving complex issues can provide an important sense of empathy to customers.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, customer service department of the year

A Safer Journey with Safelite AutoGlass

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Aug 28, 2017 @ 12:26 PM

When your windshield is suddenly chipped or cracked, it can quickly become a nuisance and a distraction from the road. A crack larger than a dollar can obstruct the road in front of you, endanger others and lower the integrity the overall safety of your vehicle.

That’s where Safelite AutoGlass comes in—they are the largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services in the United States. In 2017 they won the Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service Innovation in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service for its new one-stop solution to calibrate ADAS cameras after a windshield replacement.

Over Six Million Lifetime Guarantees

With more than 7,800 mobile glass shops and stores in all 50 states, Safelite AutoGlass is the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services. Safelite spokesperson Katie Salvator recalls their previous year’s success in regards to speedy service.

safelite.jpg“Last year, six million customers chose Safelite AutoGlass for its 24/7 national contact centers, advanced online scheduling, superior repair and replacement systems and the industry’s only nationwide lifetime guarantee.”

Safelite AutoGlass is a member of the Safelite Group family of brands, which together make a difference in the lives of 10 million customers annually.

Unbreakable Reputation

As the country’s largest service provider, their new one-stop solution to calibrate ADAS cameras after a windshield replacement made a huge impact in road safety across the nation.

“Winning a Stevie Award offers third-party credibility and recognition of our efforts to create a better customer experience.”

Katie also acknowledges Ed Sprigler, Safelite AutoGlass VP for Strategic Initiatives,, who has largely contributed to Safelite’s success.

“Ed is a problem solver, and no challenge is too big or too complex for him to eagerly roll up his sleeves and tackle it. It’s that kind of can-do attitude that helps make Ed an exceptional customer service award winner for leading the ADAS solution.

People Powered and Customer Driven

Safelite's core success can be attributed to their People Powered and Customer Driven strategy. “Being people powered means that we power our performance by thinking ‘people first’ and by having talented, happy and engaged people who deliver extraordinary results, Katie explains.”

Katie lists their four cornerstones to People Powered:

  • Leadership
  • Focus
  • Talent
  • Caring

Their Customer Driven success focuses on achieving extraordinary results by looking at their business through the eyes of their customer, making it easy for them to ensure their experience is memorable. Katie relays the four elements to being Customer Driven:

  • Listen
  • Focus
  • Create
  • Delight

With nearly 14,000 people employed across the United States, these two core mindsets have helped them continue to create memorable experiences for customers every day by demonstrating their Safelite Spirit.

Greater Than the Task at Hand

Having a greater purpose matters to people. At Safelite, their purpose is to make a difference and bring unexpected happiness to people’s everyday lives. Katie believes their purpose isn’t about what they do; it’s about the way they do it.

“It is something that motivates us to strive to achieve something greater than the task at hand ... and it influences the way we do it. When it comes to our customers, there’s a quote: ‘I may not remember what you said or even what you did, but I’ll always remember the way you made me feel.’"

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, sales awards, best sales practices, Steve Awards for Sales and Customer Service

Not Just B2B, People 2 People, Too

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jun 08, 2017 @ 10:27 AM

With the whole world going digital, many companies have become focused on their online activity, and customer service has become automated and frustrating. But for one of the original outgoing email service providers, SMTP2GO, their dedication to offering a friendly personal service to all clients is one of the many reasons why they won the Front-Line Customer Service Team of The Year award in the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Better Life = Better Business Sense

smtp2go.pngSMTP2GO provides 24/7 international customer support for servers across the globe. They’ve been listed by Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for five years in a row now and believe their success stems from their work-life balance values.

“Our employees' happiness directly affects their work performance and the customers, so we make sure that our team is happy.” SMTP2GO representative and fellow-blogger Louise Feaheny told us, “Our flexible positions, allowing them to work from home, or from a co-working space, means that they have the option to live their life around their jobs.”

Success and Giving Back

SMTP2GO is a business with a heart. Last year, a beach in the Abel Tasman National Park was almost sold and made private. SMTP2GO donated to the “Give A Little” project so they could purchase it and donate it to the people of New Zealand. Flexible work methods have also helped one of their customer support agents volunteer to foster abandoned puppies and kittens from an animal rescue center in Spain. Since she started, over 30 pups and kittens in the last year received loving attention in a home. SMTP2GO heard about what she had done and sponsored the shelter with a portion of the donation paying for a life-saving operation on an old abandoned Podenco dog named Amatxi.

SMTP2GO was pleased to say that Amatxi on the mend and looking for a home.

The Numbers Speak For Themselves

SMTP2GO also speaks to all of their employees on a regular basis to get feedback on anything they think is important. They then conduct annual reviews to make sure they're satisfied with their work. With over 90, 000 satisfied customers in over 140 countries, keeping employees happy is going well to say the least.

“Being kiwis, we're friendly!” Feaheny concluded, “We enjoy life and realize that problems and issues with work can affect your personal life, which is why we aim to resolve them as quickly as possible with little hassle. We get a kick out of helping people!”

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, Customer Service Team of the Year, Sales & Customer Service

Signs, Smiles and Second to None Service

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Apr 11, 2017 @ 10:32 AM

Providing the best customer service for homes and businesses is what Stevie Award-winner Signs.com is all about.

Signs.com is the industry leader in a variety of indoor and outdoor custom signage options for businesses and homes. They also offer one day turnaround time on most of their products. If clients need assistance, they proclaim, “no problem!” by providing free design services and “world-class customer service.”

This is how they garnered such high customer satisfaction rates all the way to win the Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year.

Interested in entering the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? These are the top customer service awards, sales awards, business development awards, and new product and service awards around the world.

Request the entry kit here and it will be emailed to you in June.

Signs.com

No Small Parts

Signs.com believes each of their team members bring unique qualities to the table. Whitney Pikula (nee Matagi) is their “bubbliest” customer experience agent on the Signs.com chat service. Whitney was hired as a temp while she finished school and immediately charmed everyone, leading her to land the Customer Experience position.

“She's helpful, sweet, and endearing...Her vivacious spirit is infectious. She's such an asset to our customer service team!”

Whitney has also been a professional dancer for most of her life. She danced for the University of Utah (her alma mater), the Utah Jazz basketball team and the Arizona Cardinals football team. She also traveled through China cheering on the United States Basketball team. Whitney has made it her mission to always keep clients happy and her co-workers laughing.

Smooth Strides to The Stevie Awards

Signs.com made the UVEF (Utah Venture Entrepreneur Forum) top 25 companies under five years old for the second year in a row, before placing sixth in the top ten.

In 2015, they were awarded "Utah's Emerging Elite," an award that honors Utah's fastest growing companies.

In 2017, they plan on applying to be on the INC 500 list.

“We pride ourselves on being on the forefront of these innovations. Who knows where the future of printing will take us.”

Signs.com considers the Stevie Awards a great place to share their company success.

“What a great place to showcase our amazing company. Upon learning of the Stevie Awards' tremendous reputation, we couldn't think of a better match! We became obsessed with creating the best submission out there!”

All Work and No Play...

Working hard but also playing hard is very important to Signs.com. Team building activities include escape rooms, games of darts, nerf gun wars and frequent pranks keep a sense of play for a company in the business of creative council for signage.

“To shake things up, we always play a game after each meeting! We've done some crazy things we aren't really proud of, including putting nylons on our head, eating donuts from a string and playing aggressive games of Spoons. We even have gold and silver medals to hand out to the weekly winners. Yeah, not competitive at all. And TOTALLY normal.”

Samantha, their resident baker, always makes snacks for meetings and birthday celebrations. Because of this, they have sage advice:

“Invest in treadmill desks.”

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service

Redefining the Average Call Center

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Apr 06, 2017 @ 10:16 AM

A common thread among successful, enduring brands is always putting the customer first. Selling to existing customers is much more inexpensive than attracting new ones. Research shows that companies spend five times more to attract a new buyer than to retain a previous one.

Yet a primary mechanism for delivering customer service – a large call center operation – can be limiting. Often, these facilities are trying to lure local job seekers who have little attachment to the brand. And that becomes evident in their interactions with the customer.

Arise.pngArise Virtual Solutions is trying to fundamentally change that paradigm. The Miramar, Florida-based company provides a cloud-based platform that allows businesses to utilize a network of “micro” call centers around the country. Often, these are semi-retired adults, stay-at-home parents, or even people with disabilities who work out of their homes.

Because the talent pool isn’t confined to a small geographic area, companies can look for individuals who have a higher level of work experience or who possess specific skills, such as the ability to speak a foreign language.

It also enables organizations – whether they’re manufacturers, retailers or service providers – to recruit representatives who share their values and interests. That aspect resolves some of the high turnover issues that plague a lot of traditional call centers. It also turns those individuals into advocates for the brand.

A cycling equipment maker, for instance, is able to staff people who are avid fans of the sport. As a result, they have a clearer understanding of the questions that customers have and are able to suggest products that will fit their needs.

In the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, Arise was recognized for its innovative solution. The company was awarded the Gold Stevie® in the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service - Business Services category.

Want to submit entries in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service? Request your entry kit here and it will be emailed to you when it's available. 

A more flexible workforce

For firms that use the Arise platform, the advantages go beyond the talent level of the customer service workers. The technology also provides a flexibility that traditional call centers don’t offer.

Based on call volume, for example, companies can increase or decrease the number of on-duty reps in under an hour. As a result, users can turn a fixed cost into a variable cost – and save money in the process. The company calls it being “right-staffed.”

Consequently, an industry that was once dominated by large brick-and-mortar operations is undergoing a seismic transformation.  A trade group survey found that as many as 70 percent of call center managers intend to move to a cloud-based infrastructure in the near future.

As one Stevie® Award judge put it, technologies like those offered by Arise offer a “desperately needed” tool that can “accommodate a flexible workforce.”

The array of benefits has led to impressive growth for the company, which was founded in the mid-90s. Today, the Arise network includes thousands of micro call centers throughout the United States as well as in Canada and several European countries. Those individuals provide support for companies in a wide range of industries, from healthcare to retail and banking.

Arise has garnered a number of recognitions over the past few years, including accolades from the Outsourcing Institute and the International Customer Management Institute, or ICMI. Arise CEO John A. Meyer indicated the Stevie Award represents a major achievement for the organization.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by the Stevie Awards and our peers,” Meyer said in a statement following the ceremony in Las Vegas.

Learn more about Arise Virtual Solutions.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, customer service excellence, Customer Service

11th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Announce Winners

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Feb 27, 2017 @ 01:06 PM

Winners in the eleventh annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, were unveiled on Friday night at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada attended by more than 650 executives from around the world.

The complete list of Stevie Winners by category is available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

SASCS 2017 pic.jpgDP DHL, with Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award wins for activities worldwide, in Argentina, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S.A., among other nations, was the most honored organization this year, earning the top Grand Stevie Award trophy for the fourth consecutive year. Other Grand Stevie Award winners, in descending order, include Visualize, HomeServe USA, Delta Air Lines, GuideWell Connect, IBM, VIZIO Inc., Carbonite, Inc., WePay Inc, and Concentrix.

Among other Stevie winners, Carbonite Inc., HomeServe USA, IBM, and iHeartMedia won four Gold Stevie Awards, the most from all organizations. Cisco Systems, ClearVision Optical Company, Optum Consumer Sales and Services, UNOX, Vivint Smart Home, and WePay Inc took home three Gold Stevies. Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards include Ally Bank, CAC 2000 Ltd, Delta Air Lines, Inc., Dow Jones & Co., GuideWell Connect, Imparta Inc., Inci Akü GS Yuasa, Infinity, John Hancock Financial Services, ListenTrust, Network Alliance, Odeabank, VIZIO Inc, and Wilson Learning.

Winners in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 149,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Bombardier Aerospace, Chewy, CommonBond, CubeSmart, Distinguished Programs, FieldEdge, GPS Insight, j2 Global, Inc., Marriott Vacation Club Owner Services, Ultimate Software, Unitrends, and Zelis Payments.

The presentations were broadcast live via Livestream, and are still available to watch online..

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business award shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.

More than 2,300 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2016. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 77 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 61 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; 53 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.

More than 75 members of several specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, that took place January 23 - February 1.

Sponsors of the 11th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships, Inc. and ValueSelling Associates, Inc.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, good customer service

Winners Announced in People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Tue, Feb 14, 2017 @ 10:00 AM

Votes Determined Public's Favorites for Customer Service Excellence

Winners of the 2017 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote, were announced today. Voting was conducted from January 20 through February 10, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 12 industry categories.

PCSAFCSAwardImage_medium.jpgAll organizations honored in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories of this year’s Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, now in their 11th year, are the world’s top honors for customer service, contact center, business development and sales professionals.

This year’s people’s choice winners, who will each receive the coveted crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award, are:

        Airlines, Distribution, Transportation: Bombardier Aerospace                            
        Computer Hardware: Unitrends
        Computer Services: Ultimate Software
        Financial, Less Than 100 Employees: CommonBond
        Financial, More Than 100 Employees: Distinguished Programs
        Healthcare/Pharma: Zelis Payments
        Leisure & Tourism: Marriott Vacation Club Owner Services                
        Retail: Chewy
        Software, Less Than 100 Employees: FieldEdge
        Software, More Than 100 Employees: GPS Insight
        Telecommunications: j2 Global, Inc.
        Other Industries: CubeSmart

More than 149,000 votes were cast this year.

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at the 11th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service awards banquet on Friday, February 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale. More than 600 executives from around the world are expected to attend. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

Sponsors of the 11th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships and ValueSelling Associates.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, stevie awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, customer service excellence

New Product & Services Awards for Your Organization

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Feb 02, 2017 @ 05:16 PM

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT

ABA men 2016-1.jpg

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/abaThe entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15.

There are more than 100 categories for New Products & Services.

These include all product management, product development, product engineering and manufacturing functions. New products and services released in the U.S.A. since January 1, 2016 are eligible to be nominated. Both brand-new and new-version products are eligible.

An added bonus in entering the New Product Awards categories is that you are automatically included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. Every new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards will automatically be included in voting. Voting will be conducted by the general public from May 2 through June 2, and the winners will be honored at the ABA awards banquet on June 20. In early May, entrants in the Best New Product or Service categories will receive instructions on how to promote People's Choice voting to their own customers, fans, and followers. 

The New Product Award category groups are:
Product & Service Categories
Software Categories
Content Categories
Education Categories 
Product Management Categories

Note the new categories for 2017 are highlighted in red and the categories with no entry fee are highlighted in blue.

Products & Services
P01. Business-to-Business Products
P02. Business-to-Business Services   
P03. Consumer Electronics
P04. Consumer Products
P05. Consumer Services
P06. Financial Services 
P07. Hardware - Computer
P08. Hardware - Networking
P09. Hardware - Peripheral
P10. Hardware - Semiconductor or Other Electronic Component
P11. Hardware - Storage
P12. Hardware - Other
P13. Health & Pharmaceuticals - Product
P14. Health & Pharmaceutical - Service
P15. Industrial Products & Services 
P16. Media & Entertainment - Product
P17. Media & Entertainment - Service
P18. Telecommunications - Product
P19. Telecommunications - Service
P20. Transportation

Software
P21. Software - Application Programming Interface (API) Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P22. Software - Asset Management Solution
P23. Software - Big Data Solution 
P24. Software - Business or Competitive Intelligence Solution
P25. Software - Cloud Application/Service
P26. Software - Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution (new category for 2017)
P27. Software - Cloud Infrastructure
P28. Software - Cloud Platform
P29. Software - Cloud Storage & Backup Solution 
P30. Software - Collaboration/Social Networking Solution
P31. Software - Content Management Solution
P32. Software - Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution
P33. Software - Data Visualization Technology (new category for 2017)
P34. Software - Electronic Commerce Solution
P35. Software - Endpoint Security Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P36. Software - Event Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P37. Software - Financial Management Solution
P38. Software - FinTech Solution (new category for 2017)
P39. Software - Governance, Risk & Compliance Solution
P40. Software - Healthcare Technology Solution (new category for 2017)
P41. Software - Human Capital Management Solution
P42. Software - Identity & Access Security Solution (new category for 2017)
P43. Software - Infrastructure as a Service (new category for 2017)
P44. Software - Integration Solution
P45. Software - International Data Protection Solution
P46. Software - IoT Analytics Solution (new category for 2017)
P47. Software - IT Operations Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P48. Software - IT Service Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P49. Software - Lead Generation Solution 
P50. Software - Marketing/Public Relations Solution
P51. Software - Migration as a Service (new category for 2017)
P52. Software - Mobile Development Solution 
P53. Software - Mobile On-Demand Application
P54. Software - Mobile Operations Management Solution
P55. Software - Network Security Solution (new category for 2017)
P56. Software - News Monitoring Solution (new category for 2017)
P57. Software - Payments Solution (new category for 2017)
P58. Software - Platform as a Service (new category for 2017)
P59. Software - Project Management Solution
P60. Software - Real Estate or Construction Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P61. Software - Relationship Management Solution
P62. Software - SaaS Enablement as a Service (new category for 2017)
P63. Software - Social Business Solution
P64. Software - Software Development Solution
P65. Software - Supply Chain Management Solution
P66. Software - Systems Management Solution
P67. Software - Web Services Solution
P68. Software - Other

Content
These categories recognize products, technology and services created by, or for, media, publishers and information services providers.

P70. Content - Advertising or Campaign Management Platform
P71. Content - Aggregation Platform
P72. Content - Business Directory
P73. Content - Business Information Solution
P74. Content - Content Analytics Solution
P75. Content - Content Marketing Solution
P76. Content - Content Rights and Delivery Solution
P77. Content - Crowd Sourced Information Solution
P78. Content - eCommerce & Billing Platform
P79. Content - Financial & Market Data Information Solution
P80. Content - General Reference Service
P81. Content - Health & Medical Information Solution
P82. Content - Information Service Delivered as Mobile App or Platform
P83. Content - Legal Information Solution
P84. Content - Media & Information Monitoring Solution
P85. Content - Multichannel Publishing Technology (new category for 2017)
P86. Content - Sales & Marketing Intelligence Solution
P87. Content - Scholarly Publishing Information Solution
P88. Content - Science and Technology Information Solution
P89. Content - Search Technology Solution
P90. Content - Semantic Technology Platform, Tools and Applications
P91. Content - Service Using Aggregated Content
P92. Content - Solution for Integrating Content into the Workflow
P93. Content - Subscription Management Solution (new category for 2017)
P94. Content - Video Platform for Media & Publishers

Education
These categories recognize applications, products and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services and related technologies across the K-20 sector.

S01. Education - Arts & Creativity Solution
S02. Education - Career and Workforce Readiness Solution
S03. Education - Classroom Management Solution
S04. Education - Collaborative Social Media Solution for Educators
S05. Education - Cross-Curricular Solution
S06. Education - Education Cloud-Based Solution
S07. Education - ELL/World Language Acquisition Instructional Solution
S08. Education - Game-Based Curriculum Solution
S09. Education - Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas
S10. Education - K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution
S11. Education - K-12 Enterprise Solution
S12. Education - Learning Capacity-Building Solution
S13. Education - Learning Relationship Management Solution (new category for 2017)
S14. Education - Mathematics Instructional Solution
S15. Education - PK-12 Personalized Learning Solution
S16. Education - Pre-K / Early Childhood Learning Solution (new category for 2017)
S17. Education - Postsecondary Enterprise Solution
S18. Education - Postsecondary Learning Management Solution
S19. Education - Postsecondary Learning Solution
S20. Education - Postsecondary Personalized Learning Solution
S21. Education - Professional Learning Solution for Education
S22. Education - Reading/English/Language Arts Instructional Solution
S23. Education - Science Instructional Solution
S24. Education - Social Sciences or Social Studies Instructional Solution
S25. Education - Solution for Special Needs Students
S26. Education - Source for Reference or Education Resources
S27. Education - Student Assessment Solution
S28. Education - Virtual Learning Solution

Product Management
P96. Product Development/Management Department or Team of the Year 
P97. Product Development/Management Executive of the Year
P98. Product Developer of the Year: recognizing all non-executive product development or management professionals. There is no entry fee for this category.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, American business awards, new product awards, best new products

Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Announce Finalists in 11th Annual Competition

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Jan 20, 2017 @ 11:00 AM

Finalists in the 11th 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. Among the organizations with the most finalists are Carbonite, Inc. (Lewiston, ME USA), Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, GA USA), Deutsche Post DHL (offices globally), Festival Walk (Hong Kong, China), Guidewell Connect (Jacksonville, FL USA), HomeServe USA (Norwalk, CT USA), IBM (Armonk, NY USA), John Hancock Financial Services (Boston, MA USA), and Vizio, Inc. (Irvine, CA USA).

For a full list of Finalists by category, visit www.StevieAwards.com/Sales.

SASCS winners 2016 7-1.jpgGold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Friday, February 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets are now on sale.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards.

More than 2,300 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2016. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 77 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 61 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; 53 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.

More than 130 members of seven specialized judging committees will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, to begin January 23.

Beginning today through February 10, 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 24.

“We are very pleased with the quantity and quality of nominations received in this year’s competition,” said Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie Awards.  “The final judges are in for a treat, because they’re going to review many remarkable, inspiring stories of workplace success from around the world.”

Sponsors of the 11th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include Sales Partnerships, Inc. and ValueSelling Associates, Inc.

Topics: best customer service, customer service awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, good customer service, best sales team