Customer Experience Awards 2013

Last week, some of TeamDJ attended the UK Customer Experience Awards.

We were there to judge one of the award categories, as well as attending the lunch and Awards Ceremony, which this year was hosted by comedian Dominic Holland.

What a fantastic day! The theme; #Loveyourcustomerloveyourself, might have been a bit long for some of the ‘twitterati’ to include in their 140 characters but embodied the thoughts and passion of the day completely.

We mentioned the venue last year, but The Grand Connaught Rooms looked amazing for the lunch, with dancers in light dresses adding to the experience, as they floated around the venue and accompanied the winners.

The event was much larger this year with over 70 judges, 135 finalists and a huge 750 people in attendance for lunch. Due to the significant numbers of attendees, the use of balconies and inter-joining rooms were required in addition to the Grand Hall to seat all the extra diners, (or should we say ‘the plebs’, as they kindly became known courtesy of Dominic).

If the event continues to grow in popularity as it has in the last few years, then a twitter conversation between Ian Golding and Neil Skehel, Managing Director of Awards International, about hiring Wembley Stadium next year, might just come true!

The entertainment was fabulous and came courtesy of ‘The Three Waiters’ which involved three talented opera singers posing as ‘real’ waiters, before revealing themselves and rousing the audience with some familiar opera favourites’, we think Catherine Murphy summed it up with this tweet:

It was great to see so many companies and organisations involved, with many new names and faces this year. The increased popularity of this event is in line with what we have been seeing across our industry; where more brands and businesses seem to be recognising the value of a customer centric approach and the benefits that a focus on customer experience can bring. We have also said this before but the quality of entries, the passion and the commitment shown by all the finalists, really do make the job of the judge very difficult but it is also fantastic to see. Well done to all who were involved and each of the finalists.

On to the Winners:

The Customer Experience of The Year Overall Winner was KC, part of the KCOM Group, who also won the IT & Telecommunications category.

A Huge Congratulations to all of the winners, a list of who can be found by clicking here:

Looking forward to next year, perhaps even at Wembley…??

If you were at the Customer Experience Awards and would like to share your thoughts and comments with us, then we would welcome them here.