Bury business and broker honoured after creating AI-powered technology platform

Avoira's Ian Taylor accepted the award <i>(Image: Supplied)</i>
Avoira's Ian Taylor accepted the award (Image: Supplied)

A borough business and a specialist broker, which have teamed up to create a "transformative" AI-powered technology platform, have been honoured.

Bury-based technology solutions provider Avoira and Principal Insurance's implementation of a pioneering customer experience (CX) and speech analytics solution was named Best Improvement Project in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at the Contact Center World Global Top Ranking Performers awards.

The award acknowledges how Salford Street-based Avoira worked with Sale-headquartered Principal’s senior team to create a "powerful customer service and agent support solution utilising the AI-powered Xdroid CX and speech analytics platform".

The award was presented to Principal’s head of sales, David Titterington and Ian Taylor, head of customer experience at Avoira, at the EMEA finals in Amsterdam.

Hosted by what is the world’s largest contact centre association, the highly respected awards are judged blind by an expert international panel to ensure every entry is assessed purely on its merit.

Having triumphed in the EMEA awards the partnership’s solution now goes forward to the global finals, which will be hosted in London in October.

Avoira's Ian Taylor presents at the awards (Image: Supplied)

Mr Taylor said: “This is an incredible achievement which highlights not just the power of Xdroid as a transformative CX and speech analytics platform, but the strength of the partnership forged between Avoira and Principal.

“A collaboration built upon mutual respect, open dialogue and a shared commitment to creating a game-changing solution, ensured that our expertise could be fully harnessed in support of Principal’s goals.”

Mr Titterington added: “Securing international recognition for a project of which we ourselves are immensely proud is fantastic.

"To triumph over transcontinental competition speaks volumes about the power of the solution, our commitment to technological innovation and determination to empower our staff to consistently deliver service excellence.”

Success at the Contact Centre World awards follows recognition on the domestic stage, with the Xdroid solution already having won at both the National Insurance Awards and Comms National Awards.

Its success is due to its "proven ability to enhance customer service while ensuring and evidencing compliance with both company and regulatory protocols".

Tailored to meet Principal’s specific needs, the solution incorporates both a vulnerable customers identification tool (VCIT) and customer sentiment tracker (CST) which empower the broker to better serve its customers.

The CST enables Principal’s management team to monitor customer satisfaction levels and identify best practice in order to heighten the customer experience.

That information is then used to inform the company’s continuous training programmes and to mentor and support its call centre staff.

Since Xdroid’s implementation, the broker has seen a significant increase in its quality assurance scores, while the VCIT is enabling it to better support customers facing a wide range of vulnerabilities, including financial, physical mental health issues.