Awards Guidelines

Taking onboard the advice here will enable you to provide the judges with all the information they need to benchmark your submission against other entries in each category.

In this pack you will also find information on:

• Reasons for entering – we’ll share the key reasons why organisations take part in these awards
• Important dates – a full list of what happens when, so you don’t miss any deadlines
• Choosing categories to enter – some hints and tips on selecting which categories to enter
• How to make an entry – a step-by-step guide through the process
• An overview of the two-stage judging process and what’s involved
• An insight into what the judges are looking for in your

Look out for top tips from the judges as you read on.

Why enter?

If you’re not sure about the benefits of applying for an CCMG category, here are some of the reasons that previous organisations have taken part:

• Thank your teams – This is an opportunity to thank those that went above and beyond to support colleagues, customers, and the community during this time.
• Recognise a significant year of achievement – If the last 12 months have been a year of key milestones and deliverables, then take this opportunity to celebrate those achievements. Give your organisation the recognition and prestige given to award winners.
• Get great internal and external PR – Use these awards to let other departments in your organisation know how good the work you’ve been doing is as well as differentiating your business externally.
• Benchmark your operation – Entering the awards will help you benchmark against others in your category. By entering, you will be able to gauge how you compare against the very best across South Africa.
• Opportunity to reflect – We work in a fast changing, busy industry and achievements are easy to overlook. Reflecting on your key achievements allows you to pause and consider what (and who) contributed to your success and to recognise them.

Key dates

The deadlines will not change! To be fair to those that work hard to hit the deadline, if your entry is not submitted by midnight on Tuesday 31^st December 2024 it will not be judged.

The judges will be judging the submissions during January and February 2025. Virtual interviews will be conducted during March and April 2025.  The awards are in May 2025.

Help and support is available throughout the process to assist you to achieve the deadlines, including a hotline and regular newsletter updates. So, get the dates in your diary now!

Is my organisation or team good enough to enter for an award?

Naturally this is where everyone starts from – how do you know if you will be successful in becoming a finalist and winning? Certainly, it’s the right question to ask yourself and here are some pointers to help you.

• The judges are not looking for perfection – nothing rarely is perfect. But if you think your story is leading the way, you’ve made improvements and you think that others can learn from you, then you are probably doing better than you think you are. Remember you don’t have to be perfect – you just need be one of the best to become a finalist.
• Talk to your suppliers about key projects they have been engaged with you on, they often have a good external view of the industry and how you compare.
• Are you an early adopter? You may well already be ahead of the competition even though you are at the beginning of your journey.

If you can tell the story about how your organisation has been innovative, tried something new with encouraging results then you are likely to benchmark well.

• Organisations might think they are too small to take part, but sometimes ‘great things come in small packages. Yes, all the big brands participate in these awards but last year several small organisations walked away as winners. So, don’t be intimidated, you just might walk away with the best award in South Africa.
• How many times have you listened to a conference speaker or visited another organisation and left thinking ‘we’re as good as this’ or even ‘we’re doing better than this’. If that sounds like you then what have you got to lose?
• It doesn’t matter where you are based in South Africa – all entries are equal. The judging process involves panel judging and virtual judging where the judges can meet you. We are happy to advise on choosing which category to enter.

What do we enter:

Deciding which category to enter can be daunting with so many that could be relevant. Of course, it might be right for your team or project to enter more than one category.

• Set aside a team meeting to do a brainstorming session – reflect on what you’ve achieved in the last 12 months. What were the big-ticket items? What are you most proud of?
• Choose your best teams and/or your best initiatives for applications. You should be confident that you are choosing your biggest successes to have the best chance of being a finalist and winning.
• Think about key projects that have landed, or an initiative that has brought about some improvements for your customers, your colleagues or the entire business.
• Ask advice from your key stakeholders on which categories to enter. They may have a broader view of what’s going on in the industry and know where your organisation excels or stands out from the crowd.
• Ask your front-line teams for their thoughts on what they are most proud of – they are the closest to the customer and know what your organisation is good at.
• You might lead a team that has gone above and beyond expectations and be looking to recognise them externally for what they’ve achieved.
• You might consider that your Contact Centre or customer service operation is one of the best in the industry, delivering a great service to your customers through a highly engaged workforce. In which case you should consider entering the Contact Centre Awards categories too.

AWARDS CATEGORIES

OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE

1. Best Workforce Planning team or Individual
2. Most Effective Application of Technology
3. Best BPO Partnership

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

1. Most Effective Customer Service Professional (Agent)
2. Most Effective Collections/Sales (Agent)
3. Best Trainer or Coach
4. Most Effective Learning and Development Individual or Program
5. Best Supervisor/Team Leader
6. Best Operations manager/Contact Centre Manager (Sales/Customer Service/Debt Collection)

Customer Service Categories

1. Best Use of Information and Data Analytics or MIS Team or individual
2. Best Outsourced Contact Centre
3. Best Domestic Contact Centre

What’s the judging process?

The judging process has been designed to be easy for you. There are no obstacles, no trick questions – it’s an opportunity for you to tell your story.

Stage 1 – Online Submission

Applications are submitted through the award entry platform for the judges to read.

Stage 2 – Virtual Interviews

Finalists are announced in February and they will go through to stage two. Finalists will be invited to present to a panel of judges online or to showcase their customer contact operation with a presentation, The judges will be looking for relevant evidence that supports the submission and for supplementary information to help decide on the winners.

The Criteria: What are the judges looking for?

In both the online submission and during the virtual judging, the judges are looking for applications that tell a clear story – the motivations, the deliverables and how the results were achieved. What lessons were learnt along the way and how were challenges overcome? What’s next in your journey?

They are looking for evidence of the impact of what has been delivered and how the submission benchmarks against other entries, with a particular focus on:

Purpose

The judges will be looking for a clear vision for what you have achieved. What is the rationale behind the story and how did you engage stakeholders? Describe the objectives, the strategy and how it aligns to the business.

Impact

What impact have you had? Let the judges know your performance against KPIs, covering customer, employee, operational and commercial metrics. Consider savings made, efficiency gains, changes in productivity, reassignment of resources and increases in revenue.

Experience

Explain to the judges how the customer and/or employee experience has improved. Evidence this with feedback from stakeholders, for example voice of the customer and/or employee feedback. Judges will be looking for a good understanding of customer and/or employee needs.

Innovation

Demonstrate creative thinking. The judges want to hear how you approached things differently. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? Share your plans for the future and how you intend to continually improve.

Best Practice

The judges will be looking for examples of great practice. They want to see approaches and experiences that others can learn from.

How do you really stand out from the crowd?

Who is judging

• Faye Joubert – Ask Afrika
• Paul Morgan – CCI
• Clint Morogan – Metropolitan

Advice on completing the submission form

The submission form is very simple to fill in. There are a number of mandatory fields, but completing the form well will give the judges all the information they are looking for to help them identify the Finalists.

• Assume that the judges know nothing about your organisation or your initiative. Make it easy for them to understand your story. Nothing turns a judge off more than an entry that doesn’t flow and is hard to
• Keep it simple. It’s tempting to tell the judges about everything you’ve achieved, but it’s important to stick to the criteria. If it’s not relevant to the category, leave it out.
• Provide some context for the judges in order to set the scene for them.
• Keep it real. You are not being judged on a fancy presentation or long words. The judges are looking for real people, doing real things. Tell it as it is, it just needs to be authentic.
• Avoid jargon and acronyms. Remember that the judges don’t know your organisation – avoid using internal language.
• Provide metrics to support your submission. For example, ‘Our Voice of the Employee Programme contributed to an employee engagement increase from x to y since the programme began.’
• If you are including supporting information, don’t overload judges with materials that aren’t relevant to your entry. Some good things to include are:
  • KPI charts, reports, measures
  • Colleague engagement results/customer satisfaction results
  • Organisation

• If you are entering with a supplier, please enter the organisationname first and the supplier name second.
• If you are a supplier making a submission on behalf of a client, you must obtain permission from the client in advance in order for the submission to be valid. Quotes and feedback from the client are also worth providing.
• Ensure that you have the permission to make the submission. Talk to your line manager about the programme and ensure that they support the submission.

Creating an entry

It’s really easy to take part and the process is all done online.

Register an account via the CCMG website – www.CCMG.org.za

• You can register an entry, and then revisit the submission form as many times as you like in order to finesse your entry
• You might want to write your entries on a Word document and then cut and paste into the online submission form when you’re ready.