Specialist motorcycle insurance broker Carole Nash has been shortlisted for four honours at the North West Contact Centre Awards 2009.

Judges have named the Altrincham-based company among finalists competing for the Trainer/Coach of the Year, Best Utilisation of Technology, Team of the Year (under 25 members) and Private Sector Contact Centre (over 50 seats) categories.

Announcing the shortlist, Call Northwest commented: “Competition was very strong this year with many new companies entering for the first time. The overall quality of the nominations was high, with scores extremely close in many of the categories, reflected in the short list.”

Carole Nash is hoping to dial up further success at the awards which are now in their fourth year. At the 2008 awards the company collected the Best Induction Training Programme award whilst in 2006, its senior training consultant, Tracey Mercer, was named Trainer of the Year. This year training consultant Mark Rzedzian is hoping to follow in her footsteps.

Commenting on the company’s success in securing four final places Carole Nash’s head of talent and training, Penny Copeland, said: “As a company we have always committed significant resource to training, personnel development and technology. We do so not to win awards but to ensure we maintain the highest service standards which fuel our growth. However, it’s always fantastic to have your achievement recognised independently by your peers by awards such as these.”

Her point was underlined by the company’s nomination for Best Utilisation of Technology which is based upon its implementation of a new £500,000 telephony and workforce management system. This saw the company completing over just six weeks a radical overhaul of its operations with the introduction of skills-based call routing, an online facility allowing staff to swap or slide shifts, greater flexibility in part time staff’s shift patterns, a significant extension of opening hours, a 50 percent increase in outbound dialling efficiency and dramatically improved call forecasting.

The awards, which are designed to highlight and reward excellence in an industry which employs five percent of the region’s working population, are set to climax at a gala dinner hosted at Manchester’s Palace Hotel on October 15th 2009.