Ansaback News

This is a 120 mile bike ride, overnight from Hackney in London, to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast.

Christian Pawsey, Commercial Director of Ansaback contact centre, Ipswich took part in the Dunwich Dynamo on Saturday 24th July – Sunday 25th July.

 

Christain said 'It sounds extreme, but is an experience never to be forgotten. Bikes on the train from Ipswich to Liverpool St and then a short cycle to the start point by a park in Hackney. There were 1,400 cyclists at the start, wearing all manner of brightly coloured cycle clothing so it must have looked quite strange.. We were told it wasn’t a race and the organisation was relaxed as some cyclists drank a beer or two in preparation and the photocopied instructions were handed out. Bikes started drifting off North from around 8pm and we started soon after.

As soon as we thought there would be enough ahead to show us the way. And that is how it turned out; we followed each other out of congested, dirty and noisy London streets, over the M25 and into Essex as it grew darker. Lights on in Epping Forrest and we joined the endless stream of flashing red cycle lights as it got darker. I can’t remember all the villages and towns but through the Essex night and places like Finchingfield and Sible Headingham, (a nice village hall open for tea and sandwiches around half way) before Sudbury on the Suffolk border and onto Needham Market, Framlingham and finally, sign posts for Dunwich.

We arrived some time before 5am, a little weary but surprisingly fresh. The queue for breakfast was already getting longer as groups of new finishers joined the growing crowds. I’ve had many English breakfasts, but few so well-deserved as this and several cups of tea later we took a short walk on the beach before driving home to catch up on our sleep! We had left our car there on Saturday but many London cyclists were swimming in the sea whilst waiting for trucks and buses to take them and their bikes home. I thought the cycle ride was enough, but already looking forward to a repeat performance next year'.

 

 

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!

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!

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.

On the 11th March the company passed yet another landmark in its 11 year history. Ansaback set up shop in 1998 & now employs 175 staff, achieved through steady performance based growth. Constant investment in new technology has seen the recent instalment of a new state of the art phone switch, helping them to handle calls 24 hours a day 365 days a year for a client base in excess of 1,000, including many household company names, as well as local businesses. Christian Pawsey, the General Manager commented that 'celebrating the 10 millionth call was a really exciting event and a testimony to the professionalism and versatility shown by our dedicated team of employees'. All agents answering calls were entered into a prize draw with a prize of an iPod being awarded the 10,000,000th call handler. Ansaback are moving from strength to strength and look forward to the next 10 million calls!!

County Contact Centres (UK) PLC is delighted to announce they are re-branding as IPPlus PLC.

IPPlus PLC is an AIM-listed business services group, with their Headquarters in Ipswich, Suffolk. Since the acquisition of Ansaback, a 24/7 Call Centre and Business Services Bureau, back in 2001 the group has grown and diversified significantly. The group now has three distinct divisions - Ansaback - a 24/7 Call Centre, CallScripter - a software house providing solutions to the Contact Centre industry, and IP3 Telecom, a network solution provider. In light of this diversification, it has been decided to re-brand the group to better reflect the wide-ranging business interests. So why IPPlus? IP has a number of significant meanings within the industry, including Internet Protocol and Intellectual Property, as well as IP being the Ipswich postcode. IPPlus removes the boundaries perhaps suggested by County Contact Centres, enabling the brand to reach out globally, whilst also providing a strong sense of ownership and identity to the 175+ staff. Commenting on the developments, William Catchpole - Managing Director, says "Whilst these are difficult trading times, we are thrilled to be moving forward with a strong new identity and aggressive growth plans.

All three divisions of the group are performing well, with steady growth and encouraging plans for the future. IPPlus PLC represents the dawn of an exciting new phase for the company, and we are all looking forward to a challenging, but prosperous future."

Ansaback reached a landmark recently, with the 9,000,000th call answered on Friday 15th August 2008. Ansaback handles calls for over 1000 different clients and currently employs around 175 staff. They received the prestigious Investors in People accreditation in 2007. Celebrating the handling of their 9,000,000th call, Operation Director Sharon Ball commented "This is an exciting time for Ansaback having just handled our 9,000,000 call, which underlines our growing strength within the Call Centre industry. We pride ourselves in being a professional, customer focused call centre and we couldn't have done it without our dedicated team of employees". Agents handling the calls at Ansaback were entered in to a prize draw, with a special prize for the 9,000,000th call answered, pictured below. Sharon Ball said "Business should show healthy growth again this year and we are looking forward to answering the 10,000,000th call soon!"