Global outsourcer Aegis, which has a significant presence in Australia, has again received a Silver MVP Quality Award from US-based Technology Marketing Corporation's (TCM) CUSTOMER magazine.

CUSTOMER's MVP Quality Awards acknowledge organisations with "a true commitment to high ethical quality standards, methodology and business compliance". Aegis Global CEO Sandip Sen said the company has earned the MVP Quality Award for the fifth consecutive year.

"This progression clearly outlines our dedication and commitment to providing the best customer experience while continuously maintaining an innovative approach to quality, and offering cost-effective, high-quality solutions to many of the world's leading brands," he said. TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said Aegis has demonstrated a true commitment to high ethical standards, stringent policies and challenging goals.

Milpitas, CA (USA), and Melbourne, Australia - 14 June, 2013 – BolderView today announced that it has opened its doors in Australia and has become a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Virtual Assistants powered by noHold.

noHold is the developer of the most interactive and diagnostic Virtual Assistant technology and Knowledge Management solutions. With successful Virtual Assistant implementations across multiple industries and on a global scale, noHold has realized the importance of providing a physical office in Australia and New Zealand. Specifically in Australia, one of the largest investor services companies as well as a popular online retailer have used noHold Virtual Assistants to increase First Contact Resolution (FCR) while reducing support costs and increasing customer satisfaction. Virtual Assistants are the future of web and mobile customer interaction.

Global technology market research companies are calling Virtual Assistants (VA) the wave of the future and they are predicting that more than 50% of online transactions will be handled by VAs in the near future. To date, Australian companies have not kept pace with those predictions. None of the leading providers of Virtual Assistant technology have offices in Australia/New Zealand. With no local marketing and sales presence, many ANZ companies are simply not aware of the benefits that Virtual Assistants provide.

BolderView’s founder recognised the opportunity and launched Australia’s first and only company focused exclusively on deploying Virtual Assistant solutions. Opening BolderView’s office in Melbourne means Australian & New Zealand companies have a local source for the world’s leading technologies and reselling noHold Virtual Assistants is a key component of that strategy.

“An existing successful relationship with BolderView’s founder, multiple happy customers and a market propensity to use Virtual Assistants made it very easy for us to decide to expand in Australia. We are happy to work with BolderView and looking forward to our continued partnership,” said Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold.

Dave Brown, Founder and Managing Director of BolderView said, “Companies in North America and Europe have been adopting Virtual Agent technology at an amazing pace. Australian companies are behind the curve – primarily because there’s been no local presence by any of the leading providers. BolderView is changing that. We represent the world’s most advanced Virtual Agent technology and we are very proud for noHold be part of our solutions.”

Bank of Queensland’s contact centre has been recognised as one of the best in the Asia Pacific region, earning a Silver Medal for Best Contact Centre at the Contact Center World annual awards dinner held in Singapore on 7 June 2013.

The mid-sized category, for call centres with 51 - 249 agents, was one of the most hotly contested as the majority of institutions fit into this category, with operations from over 50 nations considered as part of the overall awards assessment process. BOQ's national call centre manager Rod Attrill said his team prided itself on providing excellence in personal service.

"Our ultimate goal is to make sure that every customer conversation is a positive one - as a smaller independent bank, our focus is on meeting our customers' needs not treating them as a just another number or following a process for the sake of it," Attrill said. "We are supported by a broader company culture which encourages employees to put the customer first and gives them the flexibility to solve any problems they might have." BOQ has around 100 call centre employees with the majority based in Perth, Western Australia.

Computershare regional director Australasia Scott Cameron says 50 of the 1,900 share registry services group’s staff in Melbourne will lose their jobs.

The company is moving some contact centre functions offshore to the Philippines and India. The outsourcing is in line with a trend also seen at ANZ Banking, and at the operations acquired by Computershare from Bank of New York Mellon.

Computershare last month completed an 18-month effort to move the Bank of New York Mellon’s shareowner services division to its IT infrastructure after acquiring the business in December 2011. The company transferred some 25 million Bank of New York Mellon records to its core share registry system, SCRIP.

Fifth Quadrant is delighted to be selected as a Finalist in the Telstra New South Wales Business Awards in the Medium Business Award category.

"Being selected as a NSW finalist is a great honour and has been the culmination of our team's unwavering commitment to working with Australian, Asian and North American based enterprise and government organisations to design and deliver amazing customer experience," said Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant. "We're honoured to be shortlisted amongst other fabulous businesses in our category."

Fifth Quadrant has experienced 30% revenue growth over the last five years and has developed at least 20 new products to assist leading organisations design and operationalise customer experience strategy, products and services.

"Our mantra has been that we are 'Better than the Big Houses' and our accelerated growth has come from working with Boards, CEOs and Executive teams to develop customer experience strategy that drives the four traditional strategies of Finance, HR, Technology and Sales & Marketing" said Wallace.

Will Irving, Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Ambassador for the Telstra Australian Business Awards, said the range and experience of New South Wales businesses vying for this year's awards was a positive sign for the growth of the local economy. "The calibre of New South Wales finalists in this year's awards is outstanding and goes to show why small and medium businesses are the backbone of Australia. "It is so important that we recognise the businesses that support our local communities and celebrate the significant contribution they make by creating jobs, driving innovation and bringing their expertise and innovations to customers - locally and all over the world," said Mr Irving.

Following the award submission in April, the stringent judging process included a site visit, management interview and presentation to members of the judging panel. Winners of the 2013 Telstra New South Wales Business Awards will be announced in Sydney at Hilton Sydney on Tuesday 9 July.

Tourism Noosa has launched a new training program to raise the level of customer service throughout the coastal city.

General manager Damien Massingham said service it is a key challenge facing the tourism industry. He said the Welcome to Noosa program aims to educate local tourism operators and restaurants about the importance of giving high levels of customer service.

"Tourism Australia and Tourism Queensland have identified that throughout Australia actually one of the key challenges is customer service," he said. "Tourism Noosa spoke to our members and they again identified that it remains a problem. So the Tourism Noosa team have put together Welcome to Noosa which really will be a whole new benchmark in raising the levels of customer service."

New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has acknowledged increased demand has meant people have not been able to reach its contact centre on busy days.

Customer Services Manager Eleanor Young told reporters the contact centres received over a million calls in April and May this year, almost double the same time in 2012. "While we have answered a similar number of calls as we did this time last year, the increased demand has created challenges for our contact centres, and we acknowledge the difficulties and frustration this high demand is creating for customers trying to contact us.

She said the department is rectifying the strains on its resources by employing 100 temporary workers over the coming months, and shifting some current staff into its contact centre. Young said IRD has also created more voice self-service options for main queries, and is encouraging customers to use online services.

The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) says retailers must educate themselves to avoid misleading consumers about their rights.

The ARA said customer service staff could not be expected to have thorough knowledge of complex legislation. The warning comes in the wake of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s decision to go ahead with legal action against nine Harvey Norman franchises accused of giving shoppers the wrong information about faulty goods and refunds.

"Retailers don't go out to break the law," ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman said. "I believe in 99.9% of cases where wrong information is given, it's the result of ignorance about the rules." The ARA says retailers have a responsibility to seek expert advice to ensure staff can pass on correct information.

Government owned betting agency Tabcorp has won a 2013 Channel Innovation Award from US-based Retail TouchPoints by using the SDL Intelligent Marketing Suite to integrate mobile directly into its overall multi-channel marketing strategy.

SDL was chosen by Tabcorp because the flexibility and breadth of the solution enabled the company to send integrated, just-in-time campaigns to its critical revenue generating events. Retail TouchPoints recognised Tabcorp for its cross-channel marketing campaigns, particularly its mobile strategy, around the Melbourne Cup in 2012. As part of the eight-day Melbourne Cup Week, Tabcorp introduced a mobile registration and dedicated mobile CRM program for the first time.

New customers acquired by Tabcorp during Cup Week made 59% of their bets and spent 60% of their turnover through mobile products including .mobi, native apps and tablets. Tabcorp was also able to capture valuable data through the mobile channel and begin to grow a previously untapped customer segment that prefers mobile devices and uses mobile as a primary purchase channel.

German carmaker Volkswagen has set up a dedicated contact centre to handle customer queries after issuing a recall on more than 25,000 cars sold in Australia.

The vehicles affected were built between June 2008 and September 2011 and include the Golf hatchback, the Jetta sedan, the Polo hatchback, the Passat sedan and wagon and the Caddy van. The recall follows two weeks of pressure from customers demanding their cars be fixed for wide-ranging mechanical faults.

In addition to the official recall, Volkswagen Australia will also call 4000 diesel cars back to dealerships for inspection. Volkswagon subsidiaries Skoda and Audi have also begun a vehicle call back, with their own hotlines.