CAM-X AGM 2021 Award Committee Report

Respectfully Submitted by Deborah Anders, Committee Chair

What a heck of a year! 

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In spite of COVID-19 and all the havoc it has generated for the world and for our call center world, I am very happy to say that in the 2021 ATSI AOE program we saw a record number of participating members achieve the award.  This is pretty remarkable considering all the overnight shuffling most centers had to undertake to go virtual and remain in operation. 

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In the initial days of the lockdown and following some member inquiries, a decision was made by the ATSI board to pause the calls mid-program for 8 week permitting member companies to catch their breath while they adjusted to going from in-house to virtual centers, literally overnight.  The board also permitted any member to withdraw from the program if they felt the need to while not losing either their rank or registration but simply carrying both forward to the next program.  Ultimately no one choose to go this route.

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At that same time, the registrations for the 2021 CAM-X AOE program was just finishing up.  Our board made a similar decision, to permit member companies to opt out of the program, again, without penalty in their ranking or their registration fees should they decide not to move forward.  In spite of this option almost every registered center decided to maintain their participation in the 2021 program. 

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In both cases, it is a huge testament to how important and deeply imbedded the fundamentals of the program are in the culture of this wonderful industry. 

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Keeping in mind that we are considered essential often even under non-pandemic times, we additionally adopted the tag line of EXCELLENCE WHILE ESSENTIAL for this program, borrowing it from one of our Award Committee-member companies who came up with the idea for their organization. 

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I have said it many times in the past as have several others, but given these challenging times, it’s worth mentioning again.  The resilience and strength of the people in the TAS/Call Center world is nothing short of extraordinary. 

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The committee continues to progress on its educational push and will be producing more tips of the month as we hear back from members and are able to zero in on where they lapse in terms of their program knowledge.  Assuming what can happen for one, can happen for anyone. 

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If I’ve learned anything from being on the Awards committee for some years now, it’s that there can never be enough education.  Keep in mind that Linda offers the pre-program FREE webinar to outline all the aspects of the program, from A to Z.  If you think your company knows it all, I would still recommend you participate from time to time in order to prevent losing track of any one important element.  Oftentimes there is a change up of personnel over time where information is not passed forward or simply forgotten over time even by some long-time participants.  I highly recommend you seriously consider this – after all what have you got to lose other one hour of your time, oh, and possibly the award!!   

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Speaking of winning, I look forward to sharing the CAM-X Award of Excellence results which will be announced virtually this year on September 30, 2021.  In spite of needing to be registered to participate in conference, the awards ceremony itself will be live streamed for all members!   

Look forward to ‘seeing’ you up at the podium!

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A big thanks to the Awards Committee members who have worked overtime this year to ensure a successful program for both CAM-X and ATSI.  Those members include;  Deborah Anders, Gloria Tonne, Trish McMaster, Tiffani Leal, Brianna Burke and of course, Linda Osip. 

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