Leaders in customer service and digital experience honoured at ‘Gulf Customer and Digital Experience Awards 2016’

Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director General at the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai presented the awards to the winners at the Gulf Customer Experience Awards on 18^th January 2017. The Gulf Customer and Digital Experience Awards 2016 ceremony, second in an annual series, was hosted by Awards International in partnership with the Business Excellence Department in DED.

The Awards celebrate and recognise the very best in Customer and Digital Experience across a broad spectrum of industry sectors and multiple categories. This year, the awards featured the Gulf Employee Experience Awards that recognise the hard work, leadership and focus that goes on behind the scenes to ensure not only great customer experience but great business results too.

“Quality of customer service and integrating digital technology to offer an improved customer experience are both integral to reinforcing Dubai as a leader in service excellence and the smartest city in the world. We are delighted to partner with Awards International in identifying exemplary customer experience and stimulating further excellence in this realm,” said Ali Ibrahim.

Altogether there were 27 category award winners on the day, with RAK Bank, Jumeirah, Etisalat being the big winners in the Overall Best Customer Experience, Overall Best Digital Experience and Overall Best Employee Experience Categories respectively.

Mark Hamill, Managing Director of Awards International, said: "The judging process has been our toughest challenge due to the quality of the candidates from across the region. Having companies from all over the Gulf come to Dubai to share information about their initiatives and share best practice bodes well for Dubai. Congratulations to all the winners and those who have made it to the Finals.” 

The Awards aim to support organisations and businesses as a vehicle for sharing best practice and for promoting continuous improvement, learning and personal development.

The awards are designed to recognise best practice in delivering outstanding customer, digital and employee experience in the Gulf and it provides companies with opportunities to showcase and gain recognition for their hard work.

The winners of the Gulf customer Experience Awards were: Dubai Islamic Bank (Category: Financial/Insurance Services: Banking and Investment); RSA Logistics (Professional Services/SME); Aswaaq LLC (Retail); Saudi Post (Government Services); NMC Royal Hospital, Khalifa City (Wellbeing and Health); Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank –ADCB (Contact Centre); Maersk Kanoo (UAE) LLC (Client Relationship Management); Abu Dhabi commercial Bank (Insight & Feedback); Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Business Change or Transformation); RAK Bank (New Product, Product Improvement); Ziad Elbatal - Saudi Telecom Company (Customer Experience Professional); Emirates NBD (Customer Experience Team)

The winners in each of the Gulf Digital Experience Awards were: Saudi Telecom Company (Best Application); RAK Bank (Best Integrated Approach); RAK Bank (Best Internal Use of Digital); Jumeirah (Digital Strategy); RAK Bank (Digital Pioneer); User Vision (Digital Agency); Rayan Tarraf – Novo Cinemas (Digital Experience Professional); Heba AlSamt -Dubai Media Inc. (Digital Experience Professional Woman) ; Saudi Telecom Company (Digital Team).

The winners of the Gulf Employee Experience Awards were: Etisalat (Employee Engagement); Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Employee Engagement – Financial Services); Etisalat (Employee Insight and Feedback; Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Nationalisation); Ziad Elbatal (Inspiring Leader of the Year); National Bank of Fujairah (HR Team of the Year).

The Winners of the Overall Awards (Best Scores across Customer, Digital and Employee Experience categories). RAK Bank (Overall Customer Experience), Jumeirah (Overall Digital Experience) and Etisalat (Overall Employee Experience).