latest call handling & answering news

On Sunday 14th March, Zonja Bunn (Accounts Assistant at Ansaback) competed in a half marathon (13 mile) run! Having to get up at 6 a.m. on the Sunday morning Zonja made the 3 hour drive to Silverstone Racetrack in Northampton to compete in the race.

On arrival, nervous and cold Zonja queued up to start the run in the 10 minute a mile section! The first lap of the race was around the actual race track, then off through the pit lanes, round the car parks and then round the racetrack again for the final lap finishing under the famous Silverstone sign. Zonja said “It was really hard work but I loved every minute, I hit a block at around 8.5 miles (mainly due to hunger) so to get myself back on track I changed the music on my mp3, had a protein bar and a gel stick and then I was back on full charge ”

With a finishing time of just 2 hours 13 minutes it was a fantastic achievement and she now has yet another medal to add to her collection. Zonja is competing in the London Marathon next month, Sunday 25th April.

Zonja will not be running for fun on this event, she will be raising money for Sense, a leading national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. A very worthwhile cause and we wish her all the best for this race and look forward to hearing how she gets on.

Ansaback call centre agent Lora Caie is taking part in a sponsored bike ride in May. Lora is cycling from London to Paris to raise money for the Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is a ward dedicated to caring for sick children who need very close observation from doctors, nurses and other members of the PICU team.

This is a cause that is close to Lora’s heart and she is aiming to raise £1,500.

Good luck Lora!

Friday 5th March saw the return of the much loved Music OFF the Green, which took place in the Douglas Bader pub in Martlesham.

This annual event is a forerunner to the annual Music on the Green village day festival held on the green in Martlesham Heath, Ipswich.

Music OFF the Green, which has two committee members on the IPPlus staff (IPPlus being the parent company of Ansaback), Emma Noye of CallScripter and group Financial Director Stuart Gordon raises funds for local charities by providing a day of fun, entertainment and great music for all who attend.

The evening was a great success, featuring sounds from Blue Wave and Cool Remedy (of which our Stuart is a member) and raised over £180 to go towards their chosen charity for 2010, East Anglian Children’s Hospices (EACH).

The government have created a tax break for all UK taxpayers allowing huge savings on a new bike to encourage more employees to cycle to and from work. Paid through an agreed salary sacrifice with the company (over 12 months), the cost of this equipment is free from Income Tax, National Insurance and VAT, giving a tremendous discount on the purchase price.

The scheme is available to all employees who have completed their probationary period (although there are specific rules relating to the National Minimum Wage and for employees aged 16-17 years old). Employees can save around 35% off the suggested retail price. As the company buys the bike we can immediately recover the VAT paid. The company then hires the bike to you, and this is done by way of a salary sacrifice. This means that you contract to reduce your monthly salary by an agreed amount each month in exchange for renting the bike. By reducing your salary you lower the Tax and National Insurance you would have paid thus making a further saving.

In less than a week after the launch, Ansaback already have 4 people signed up to this scheme, which is great news. This is a saving to them, a greener footprint and healthier employees!

On Saturday 20th February, at 8.43 a.m, Ansaback call centre passed yet another milestone in its 12 year history. Call centre agent Karen Porter took Ansabacks 12,000,000th inbound call, winning herself a Debenhams voucher. It's an exciting time in the call centre when an important milestone is nearing, with all agents wanting to take that all important call. Ansaback awards prizes and fun activities for the call centre agents to mark the celebration of another great milestone.

Ansaback continues to go from strength to strength and we look forward to announcing the 13,000,000th call very soon! Sharon Ball, Operations Director added "This is great news and as we continue to increase our daily averages for calls answered, these milestones come round quicker and quicker each time!"

Ansaback has held the 'Investors In People' accreditation for the past 3 years and continue to adhere to the standards required. A productive and efficient working environment is key to this to achieve continuous business improvement. We know that our staff play a fundamental role to our success and we strive to ensure that they are recognised for their hard work and effort. This includes opportunities to progress and further their careers here at Ansaback.

A recent survey demonstrated that 73% of vacancies and 81% of promoted posts are filled internally demonstrating that we really do invest in our people. A prime example of this is Sharon Ball, who is our Operations Director. Sharon began her career at Ansaback as a call handling agent, she actually took the very first call in our call centre almost 12 years ago!

The RSPCA "Biggest Animal Rescue Ever" campaign (the Donation Line), has been awarded GOLD in the Direct Marketing Association Awards for Best Business Performance or Improvement. The RSPCAs creative and media agencies won the award for their design, promotion and targeting performance, however Ansaback call centre are a big part of making this work for the RSPCA by ensuring that not only do we pick-up every call that is generated by the advertising, but more importantly that the supporters receive an excellent first impression of the charity, improving campaign results dramatically.

Ansaback call centre agents really enjoy handling the RSPCA calls as they appreciate it is for a such worthy cause and every donation really does make a difference.

Whilst some companies struggled during the recent weather conditions, The Ansaback call centre had one of its busiest periods. With many staff across the UK not able to get into their place of work, companies utilised our professional inbound and outbound call centre service to ensure their business did not suffer the consequences of the weather.

Ansaback also introduced various measures to help their own staff, which included hiring a 4x4 to provide free transport to and from the call centre for those unable to get themselves to work during the period of heavy snow. Ansaback also provide their staff with daily, free fresh fruit, to help keep the winter bugs at bay!

After the massive earthquake (which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale) hit Haiti, the loss of life and the widespread devastation was immense. Employees in the call centre were keen to do their bit and raise some money for the HAITI appeal, so Ansaback held an impromptu dress down day on Friday 22nd January, with all participants donating money towards the appeal on the day.

Staff managed to raise a fantastic £300.00! Ansaback generously offered to double the amount donated by the staff, resulting in the total raised by the call centre and CallSctipter of £600.00!! Funds have been donated to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal. A big thank you again to all who donated - every penny helps.

It takes more than a bit of inclement weather to put off members of the Ansaback call centre staff! The game employees braved cold and rain to take part in this years SANTA FUN RUN at Christchurch Park in Ipswich on Sunday 13th December. The event involved dressing up in a well fitted Santa Suit complete with beard and hat and running or walking round the Park. The 3 km course was a piece of cake for the seasoned runners within the group whilst others followed on at a slightly more sedate pace alongside young, old, push chairs and even dogs!! For their efforts all contestants received a medal and hearty congratulations from the organisers at EACH, who are this year's designated charity for the call centre. This resulted in more funds being added to the already impressive total raised by Ansaback - all in a good clause!