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Beeline, Jacksonville FL

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: Beeline, Jacksonville FL
Company Description: Beeline is a market leader in software solutions for sourcing and managing the extended workforce. Award-winning business intelligence, superior technology, a global network of local knowledge, and service-driven colleagues dedicated to client success make Beeline an essential business partner for today’s leading enterprises. To learn more, visit beeline.com.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Contact Center Leader of the Year

Nomination Title: Michael Anthony, Vice President, Client Services

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since the beginning of July 2013 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Beeline prides itself on providing “white glove service” for all its customers. As head of the company’s client services organization, Michael Anthony is responsible for delivering on that promise. He directs a multinational team of 80 client service professionals operating in 8 global locations. Together, the team provides 24/7/365 help desk support in more than 17 languages and also comprehensive trouble-shooting and solutions analysis for more than 130 clients around the globe.

While his primary goal is to ensure that his team thoroughly understands and is fully aligned with the company’s business goals and Measurable Business Objectives (MBOs), Michael considers it equally important to serve as the clients’ voice within the company and to ensure that this voice is heard. Having been a client of technology companies in the past, Michael strongly believes that business drives technology—technology does not drive business. As a result, he has been a successful advocate in ensuring that the company is client-focused and that customers’ needs are met.

One of the Client Services Organization’s most significant challenges has been to respond appropriately to the rapid growth of Beeline’s business and the acquisition of new clients. Despite increasing the size of the organization by nearly 15%, too often the customer service teams felt overwhelmed by the number and complexity of their interactions with the growing list of clients. And too often, client service suffered as a consequence. During the last year, Michael and his team developed and implemented a two-pronged response to this challenge.

The first step was to reorganize the client services teams. Instead of supporting all customers with identical client service staffing structures, Michael devised a tiered support structure that allocated resources to each client according to its real needs. This required a change to every aspect of the client life cycle—from RFP to delivery. It also required adjustments on both sides of the client-company relationship. Michael took it upon himself to champion these changes. He negotiated with both company and client decision-makers to ensure that resources were allocated appropriately. While this required adjustments on both sides of the company-client relationship, Michael convinced decision-makers on both sides that it could work.

The second step was to leverage Beeline’s training department to develop a rigorous internal training curriculum for client solution analysts (CSAs) and other customer service personnel. By deepening their knowledge of Beeline’s products and honing their service skills, Michael reasoned, the client support team would be able to add more value in every customer-service interaction.

The results have been nothing short of dramatic. Within the year, overall customer satisfaction—as measured by an annual client survey—increased by 20 percent while customer dissatisfaction decreased by 18 percent. Even more remarkable, in particular categories like CSAs proactively reviewing features and functionality that would improve clients’ usage of Beeline’s system, customers’ satisfaction increased as much as 66 percent.

Michael cites his pragmatic approach to problem solving as being a key contributor to his professional accomplishments. He says that he always tries to consider the needs and motivations of everyone involved in a discussion and to use metrics wherever possible to define goals and objectives. He confers with all of his team leaders individually each week, with entire teams on a biweekly basis, and conducts quarterly all-hands meetings of the client services organization from different global locations to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the are empowered with the tools and skills they need to support their customers. His emphasis on communication and empowerment are among the reasons Michael is considered such a strong collaborator and a vital contributor to Beeline’s success.

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