Which are Australia’s winning SSOs?

As the 2012 SSON Awards move to Australia [the Awards for North America were announced in March] we are delighted to welcome the latest winners to the stage. At a star-spangled gala in Melbourne on Wednesday night (as part of the 15^th Annual Australasian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week) four companies – and one individual! – received praise and accolades from the judging panels for the "excellence" they had achieved across different categories.

And the winners are::

Award for 'Excellence in Culture Creation'

Winner: BlueScope Steel
Coretta Bessi, the General Manager for Shared Services at BlueScope Steel who accepted the SSON Award for 'Excellence in Culture Creation' said this was a recognition for the BlueScope Steel team by the industry.

"This is a really great recognition in terms of the team, the new commercial arrangement we have, the collaboration with CapGemini being a very mature outsourcing provider - just great recognition by the industry."

Award for ‘People & Communication'

Winner: BP Elite Customer Solutions
Ken Jefferd, General Manager at BP Elite Customer Solutions who took home the Award for 'Excellence in People & Communication' said that the award means a lot to the team.

"I think it’s a wonderful recognition from an outstanding year. The team took on an enormous amount of change and absolutely smashed it. So I think everyone should feel really proud of what they've achieved. We did it well, and we enjoyed it – an outstanding achievement for the team."

Award for ‘Value Creation’

Winner: Tabcorp
Mirijana Jovic, Group General Manager for Business Services at Tabcorp said winning the SSON 'Excellence in Value Creation' Award marked the end of a long journey.

"This is just the icing on the cake. This is truly the end of our demerger story. Given that we've just gone live in the last two weeks, I think this Award validates all the hard work that the whole team has put together in the past 18 months. So it feels fantastic, excellent, mega-great... I don't know any other words to describe it."

Award for ‘Improvement & Innovation'

Winner: Commonwealth Bank
Suzanne Young, the Executive General Manager, Group Corporate Services, at the Commonwealth Bank said that winning the SSON's 'Excellence in Improvement & Innovation' Award was a recognition of CBA's leading initiative.

"It's a fantastic recognition for all of the teams who have worked so hard over the number of years to pull off the largest activity-based working site in the world. They've done simply an outstanding job."

And "The People’s Choice: Personal Contribution to the Industry Award" went to Neil Padley, who said he was "surprised and honoured" to be receiving the award. [The "Personal Contribution" Award is based on nominations from the industry at large; individuals do not apply].

"It feels very good, I’m honoured and I'm very surprised! It's not just about me getting a personal award, it's about all the teams and number of organisations I've worked with over the years. So I'm very honoured and proud – and very surprised."