Press Release

NS&I TELEPHONE SERVICE WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

25 November 2005

Financial Services Award goes to Siemens Business Services for NS&I call centres

Siemens Business Services (SBS) has won the Best in Sector - Financial Services award at the annual Call Centre Association (CCA) Excellence Awards 2005 for outstanding service to National Savings and Investments' (NS&I) telephone customers. Siemens Business Services provides customer contact centre and back-office operations for NS&I, the government-backed savings and investments provider.

NS&I believes exceptional service is a crucial part of meeting the needs of the 21st century saver and investor. 

The CCA Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate both individual and organisational achievements from across the customer contact profession.  The awards ceremony was held on 9th November at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.  This award follows the partnership between NS&I and Siemens Business Services being highly commended at the European Call Centre Awards for best outsourced call centre partnership in September.

NS&I sales director John Prout said: "The quality of service we provide our customers is what sets us apart from our competitors.  Today's busy lifestyle demands a fast, friendly and informative telephone service - great service delivered with a human touch.

"Our aim is to be recognised as the UK's leading and most trusted savings and investment organisation, so delivering top service to the millions of customers who contact us by telephone every year is a major priority for us".

A key point of difference in NS&I's call centres is the minimal use of touch tone and pre-recorded service - calls are answered and managed by real people wherever possible.

NS&I has three customer call centres in Durham, Blackpool and Glasgow.  Siemens Business Services has been providing call centre capability to NS&I since 1999, and many staff involved in Siemens Business Services' call centre today have a long history looking after NS&I's customers, having worked in various parts of NS&I's business before moving to Siemens Business Services. Staff employed more recently by Siemens Business Services undergo specialist training to ensure that all call centre representatives are expert in NS&I's products and services. 

NS&I has more than 26 million customers with £70 billion invested.  In recent times it has experienced a significant increase in customers using the telephone for both information and sales, especially since late July when it began its first television advertising campaign in six years, featuring Sir Alan Sugar.  Between August and October this year, £638 million worth of its products were sold through the call centre alone.

During the last financial year it experienced a sharp increase in telephone sales overall from £790 million a year to £1.4 billion and Siemens Business Services taking, on average, nearly 9,000 calls a day.

Ian Tait, Operations Related Services Director at Siemens Business Services, commented: "Winning this award is testament to the hard work put in by both NS&I and Siemens Business Services staff. It is a satisfying reflection of the fact that we are successfully supporting NS&I's objectives to make their products and services more accessible than ever, and delivering a great service at that."

The contract between NS&I and Siemens Business Services was recently extended through to 2014.