Winners of the 5th annual UK Customer Experience Awards celebrated in style at London’s ExCeL last week.
The glittering event – the second biggest business awards in the UK – was attended by more than 800 guests including M People’s Heather Small who treated the audience to live performance.
The 2014 UK Customer Experience Awards are dedicated to recognising the importance business places on customer experience. Winners were selected by a panel of judges made up of over 100 industry practitioners. Top names vying for these prestigious awards included: British Gas, Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd, easyJet, Nationwide Building Society and Visa Europe.
“The event was well organised, superb venue for the event, food was lovely, awards were brilliant, Heather was a hero!! love love loved it!”
“My first awards and I thought it was Brilliant I now look forward to attending again”
“……… the awards were well organised, information before the event was very clear and there were lots of ladies with pink scarves on the day to help and guide you. Heather Small was also fantastic. ”
During the morning finalists in each of the categories presented their entries to the judges. The winners were announced during a gala meal.
After all the Awards were presented, Northern Gas Networks walked away with the title of overall winner of the UK Customer Experience Awards 2014, scooping an impressive five additional awards for their customer experience initiatives.
Mark Horsley, Chief Executive Officer, Northern Gas Networks said: “Providing an exceptional customer experience to both our customers and our own employees is something very important to us, so we are absolutely delighted to have won six UK Customer Experience Awards.
“Gaining these awards reinforces our passion and commitment to putting the customer at the centre of everything we do and underlines just how far NGN has come, setting the benchmark for customer service not just within the utilities sector, but across the retail industry.”
Congratulating the 2014 winners, Neil Skehel, Managing Director of Awards International, said: “We are delighted and inspired by the best practice showcased at this year’s UK Customer Experience Awards.
“We have seen some shining examples from companies who have demonstrated outstanding customer experience and as a result have seen clear benefits in terms of business growth and customer engagement.”
Dr Emma Macdonald, Research Director of the Customer Management Forum at Cranfield School of Management, partners of the UK Customer Experience Awards said: “The UK Customer Experience Awards are a celebration of organisations who are striving to put their customers at the centre of their business and the teams who make this happen. “
“Really well put on and a great day.”
“Heather Small was amazing and we had a fantastic time!”
“The awards were well organised and staffed, upon arrival the registration was quick and easy. The host was humorous and the venue was easy to find and very well labelled.”
Gary Topiol, General Manager International, for InMoment sponsors of the UK Customer Experience Awards said: “It was a true honour to support the 2014 UK Customer Experience Awards. The commitment of everyone involved is remarkable. Hearing the stories of how brands across the UK are innovating their cultures, technology and leadership to better serve their customers has been inspiring. We look forward to becoming even more engaged as a company and colleagues with this dedicated community.”
Nicholas Greig, Regional Director UK & Europe of Global Reviews, partners of the UK Customer Experience Awards said: “We are delighted to have been a partner of this highly valuable event as both a sponsor and a judge. We would like to extend our congratulations to all the finalists and winners – in particular to Julie Tyler, Customer Insight Specialist at Central England Co-operative – winner of the Global Reviews’ sponsored Professional of the Year Award.”
“The whole judging process and being able to present was excellent.”
“Liked the judging process – the ability to enter a written submission in advance and then present to bring it to life with the presentation on the day”
Singer Heather Small is an ambassador for Barnardo’s and the Awards are on track to raise £10,000 for the children’s charity via the raffle, silent auction and generous donations.
Find out more about the winners here