CRM Magazine Names Its 2017 Service Award Leaders

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Information Today, Inc.

Mar 27, 2017, 09:30 ET


NEW YORK, NY (PRWEB) March 27, 2017 -- CRM magazine is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s CRM Service Awards in its April 2017 issue. The 14th annual CRM Service Awards honor the leading vendors across eight customer service technology segments, the client companies that have used those solutions to reap very impressive rewards, and the vendors—both emerging and established—that have left an indelible mark on the industry in the past year.

In total, 31 vendors are honored in this year’s CRM Service Leader Awards across the eight categories evaluated: customer case management, contact center infrastructure, interactive voice response systems, web support, workforce optimization, contact center search, enterprise feedback management, and contact center outsourcing. In each category, the magazine names one winner, denoting the company receiving the highest overall score; four CRM Service Leaders; and a “One to Watch.” Recipients of the CRM Service Leader Awards are determined through an extensive process and proprietary rating formula. The editors survey the leading industry analysts and consultants for their impressions of the vendors’ products, company direction, customer satisfaction, and overall cost. Company financial data is also factored into overall scores.

Additionally, CRM magazine honors six Rising Stars for their innovative technologies and three customer companies with CRM Service Elite Awards for their customer service technology deployments.

“The CRM Service Awards provide our readers with a snapshot of the companies that have performed at the highest levels, reshaped the industry, and used technology to dramatically benefit their operations, and ultimately, their customers,” says CRM editor Leonard Klie. “We were surprised to see vendor costs become such a consideration this year, but it is clearly something that technology providers will need to address going forward.

“This year has seen some really impressive work with machine learning, artificial intelligence, predictive and prescriptive analytics, natural language processing, and real-time capabilities. All of the vendors listed in this issue have taken the lead in these and other areas. We congratulate them on their awards and thank them for their contributions to the industry,” according to Klie.

Recipients of the 2017 CRM Service Awards are listed below in their respective categories. Leaders in each category are listed in alphabetical order:

Customer Case Management

  • Winner: Salesforce.com
  • Leaders: Microsoft, Oracle, Verint Systems, and Zendesk
  • One to Watch: Pegasystems

Contact Center Infrastructure

  • Winner: Cisco Systems
  • Leaders: Five9, Genesys, NICE (inContact), and West
  • One to Watch: Serenova

Interactive Voice Response

  • Winner: Verint Systems (Contact Solutions)
  • Leaders: [24]7, Aspect Software, Cisco Systems, and Genesys
  • One to Watch: Avaya

Web Support

  • Winner: Microsoft
  • Leaders: Nuance Communications (TouchCommerce) Oracle, Salesforce.com, and Zendesk
  • One to Watch: Freshdesk

Workforce Optimization

  • Winner: Verint Systems.
  • Leaders: Aspect Software, Calabrio, Genesys, and NICE
  • One to Watch: ZOOM International

Contact Center Search

  • Winner: Salesforce.com
  • Leaders: Coveo, eGain, Oracle, and Verint Systems (Kana)
  • One to Watch: IBM

Enterprise Feedback Management

  • Winner: Qualtrics
  • Leaders: Confirmit, IBM, NICE, and Oracle
  • One to Watch: SurveyMonkey

Contact Center Outsourcing

  • Winner: Convergys
  • Leaders: Sitel, Teleperformance, TeleTech, and Working Solutions
  • One to Watch: LiveOps

The six companies named as Rising Stars for the year were the following:

  • Cogito
  • Freshdesk
  • Jive Software
  • NICE
  • Verint Systems
  • Zappix

This year, the three customer companies that won CRM’s Service Elite award for their customer service technology deployments are the following:

  • NCR Silver, a provider of point-of-sales systems, which deployed Salesforce.com’s LiveMessge technology to provide customers with a chat option
  • OwnerListens, a provider of customer contact center outsourcing, which implemented Zang to allow customers to use text messaging as a support channel
  • Salt River Project, an Arizona water and electricity provider, which installed virtual agent technology from Interactions to handle customer call overflows

The 2017 CRM Service Awards have been published in the April 2017 issue of CRM magazine—available in print and online at destinationCRM.com.

About CRM Magazine
CRM magazine is the leading publication of the customer relationship management industry, covering sales, marketing, and customer service strategies. The magazine also produces the annual CRM Evolution conference. For more information about the magazine, its editorial calendar, or CRM in general, please visit destinationCRM.com. The monthly magazine and the destinationCRM.com website are properties of CRM Media, a division of Information Today, Inc.

Chelsea Sharpe, Information Today, Inc., +1 8592782223 Ext: 103, [email protected]