Frost & Sullivan Announces 2016 Customer Service Excellence Recognition Program

By Stephen Loynd
Global Program Director - Customer Engagement
Digital Transformation Practice
Frost & Sullivan

In response to great interest from our customers, Frost & Sullivan is pleased to announce the launch of our 2016 Customer Service Excellence recognition program. This program will identify and recognize best-in-class companies, organizations, and leaders for excellence in customer experience strategy and implementation.

Digital transformation of customer experiences is a major strategic initiative for B2C and B2B organizations across industries. Based on our research, we have identified five key areas that businesses are looking at to drive differentiated customer experiences in 2016 and beyond. These are:

1. Omnichannel Customer Experience
2. Mobile Customer Care
3. Web Customer Care
4. Social Media Customer Support
5. Customer Engagement Analytics

Best-in-class brands continue to raise the bar for highly personalized and effortless customer experiences in these areas. These experiences help cement long-term customer relationships and build greater brand loyalty and advocacy. As a result, these companies are able to attract, retain, and grow more customers than their competitors, while keeping service costs lower.

Companies will be vetted through a rigorous two-stage evaluation process. The first stage will involve completing an application questionnaire. The questions posed will cover a range of customer engagement capabilities and business outcomes.  Responses will be scored and graded against other applicants within each of the five categories.  Companies can choose to apply in one or more categories, provided responses are complete for each section.

Companies that qualify will then move to the second stage for evaluation by a judging panel. The panel of judges will include experts from the industry and Frost & Sullivan research analysts.

Selected winners will be recognized at the Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact West Executive MindXchange in October, 2016.

Brief Description of Recognition Categories

1. Omnichannel Customer Experience: This category will recognize companies for excellence in Omnichannel Customer Service strategy and implementation. This takes into account current and future customer engagement capabilities in traditional and digital channels.
2. Mobile Customer Care: This category will recognize companies for excellence in customer care in mobile customer interaction channels. These include mobile apps, messaging, and integrated self-service and assisted service capabilities.
3. Web Customer Care: This category will recognize companies for excellence in online customer engagement. This includes web self-service, chat, and integrated customer collaboration and support capabilities.
4. Social Media Customer Support: This category will recognize companies for excellence in social media customer service. This includes internal channels such as customer communities and support forums, as well as external channels such as Facebook and other social media sites.
5. Customer Engagement Analytics: This category will recognize companies for excellence in leveraging analytics to deliver differentiated customer experiences, while driving improvements in operational KPIs for the organization.

To apply or learn more, please contact Caryn Brown at:
caryn.brown@frost.com
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Stephen Loynd, Global Program Director, Digital Transformation Group, Customer Contact, Frost & Sullivan, will be leading a VISIONARY INSIGHT session on Game Changing Technologies on the Horizon at our 12th Annual Customer Contact 2016, East: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange. Click here to register or learn more: www.frost.com/ccs
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