Over the last 10 to 15 years, the way that organisations and companies do business has undergone a seismic transformation, which can be summed up by the term ‘customer experience’. More and more, businesses have had to carefully consider every interaction between their customers and their brand. Because increasingly, it is this that determines whether those customers remain loyal to you, or whether they decide to give one of your competitors a try.
It was in recognition of this that the CX Awards was launched three years ago. After all, as Conor Pope wrote in his Irish Times piece; "Customer-centric organisations are 60 per cent more profitable than companies that don't focus on customers." Fortunately, he goes on to say, the pandemic has forced Irish businesses to become even more customer focused, and; "Just under 70 per cent of brands in the survey saw their rating among customers climb in 2020."
All of which was acknowledged and celebrated at the CX Awards 2021, which were held on Thursday, July 29th. The winners were announced at a virtual ceremony in front of a live, digital audience and the event was hosted by the broadcaster and comedian Colm O'Regan.
There were 14 trophies presented on the day and the event was sponsored by BT Ireland. Shay Walsh, their managing director, said; “We were proud to sponsor this award in this year of all years, when the whole concept of customer experience has never been so challenged or so valued. The pandemic has tested companies in different ways, but I have no doubt that the ones that have forged deep relationships with customers will have been better able to withstand the pressures that lockdown forced upon them.
“Congratulations to An Post, who received the 2021 CX Leader Award, for their accelerated commitment to always put their customers first, which was particularly critical throughout the pandemic. Well done to all other category winners and finalists for their passion and determination to excel in CX, and to the CXIA for delivering an engaging display of customer-centricity at the virtual event.”
The full list of the 2021 winners are:
CX Champion 2021
Winner: Musgrave SuperValu
CX Leader 2021 (Sponsored by BT Ireland)
Recipient: An Post
CX Team of the Year
Winner: AIB
CX Impact in Pharmacy/Health
Winner: Nourish
CX Impact in Retail
Winner: Musgrave SuperValu
CX Impact in Government & Public Sector
Winner: Iarnród Éireann
CX Impact in Financial Services
Winner: Permanent TSB
CX Impact in Specialty
Winner: Nourish
CX Impact in Professional Services
Winner: Fenero
CX Impact in Insurance
Winner: RSA Ireland & 123.ie
CX Impact in Telecoms
Winner: Actavo
CX Impact in Utilities
Winner: Electric Ireland
CX Impact in IT & Technology
Winner: Flipdish
CX Impact in Digital
Winner: AIB
The 2021 judging co-ordinator was:
Agnieszka Anna Jozwiak, Customer Experience Consulting & Advisory, CXPA Ireland
And the judging panel consisted of:
- John Carroll, Jameson Brand Homes
- Ronika Chakrabarti, associate professor in Marketing, Trinity Business School
- Brian Horgan, customer and staff experience consultant
- Colin Kennedy, executive director and CIO, DPD Ireland
- Liam Kenny, chair, CXPA Ireland & manager customer service transformation, Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail
- Marie Lyster, customer lead, Project Horizon, Gas Networks Ireland
- Jenny McCoy, head of customer experience, Irish Management Institute
- Alison Moore, national customer experience manager, Kuehne+Nagel Ireland
- Gerard O'Neill, chairman, Amárach Research
- Thomas Reby, head of hardware, Google Store and Google One, EMEA
- Ifah Sivak, market manager (LATAM & APAC), Global Operations, Facebook
- Maria Svejdar, head of marketing and CX, GS1 Ireland
- Rosita Wolfe, head of marketing and communications, National Concert Hall
[ Find out more at the CX Awards – Opens in new window ]
