Hall of Fame Award for their Home-Based Agent Model
Willow’s Virtual Agent Customer Care Services programs afford companies of all sizes the ability to respond proactively to the needs and challenges that face contact centers today. During 2004, while traditional premise-based call centers lost clients and business to overseas providers, Willow has successfully used its innovative virtual agent tools, techniques, and technologies to add sixteen new clients and triple its revenues.

Their model of establishing agents as their own bosses in their own corporations is unique to the industry and has enabled these work at home agents to excel in customer service.

Willow’s excellence has been previously recognized by Call Center Magazine with their 2004 `Service Product of the Year Award’, the Smithsonian Technology Award, and a Presidential Task Force Award for the employment of people with disabilities.

The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for their Home-Based Agent Model to WillowCSN, Inc. (Now known as Arise Virtual Solutions, Inc.)

Hall of Fame Award for Distributed Work Technology
This award is especially deserved because Citrix’s products provide access to information not only for an individual or a small telework pilot, but also for Fortune 500 companies and large sprawling Government agencies.

Additionally, many of their products are not bandwidth hungry, so they can be used even by those with limited bandwidth availability.
The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for Distributed Work Technology to Citrix Systems, Inc.

Hall of Fame Award for Hosted Network Solutions
UCN is a leader in the virtual work / home agent revolution with sophisticated contact handling and management applications that enable traditional and non-traditional organizations to benefit from the Information Age’s `New Ways of Working’.

Beyond their recognition at the Call Center Demo & Conference in  Dallas (2004) as “Best of the Show” we find that UCN’s products and services are enabling not only call centers, but also government and private enterprises to effectively and efficiently implement remote work strategies.

UCN’s applications are embedded in their IP Network, thereby providing carrier-grade redundant facilities which ensure the highest levels of reliability, flexibility, and security in support of global virtual/distributed work and work from home.  While these applications are IP based, clients do not have to migrate to IP technology at their sites.

The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for Hosted Network Solutions to UCN, Inc. (Now known as inContact, Inc.)

Hall of Fame Award for Home-Based Call Centers
AlpineAccess has been referred to as the poster child for telework. All of their agents are employees and most are older, more settled workers.

Our awards committee was very impressed with the contract they have received to provide call center services to the IRS to respond to requests for forms, pamphlets, etc. using legally blind and physically disabled workers.  Of course, they are ALL working at home.

AlpineAccess revenues increased by 50% from 2003 to 2004.

The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for Home-Based Call Centers to Alpine Access, Inc.

Hall of Fame Award for Teleworker Support
Poor support has been identified as one of the main reasons why telework programs often fail.  Also, getting remote workers connected to the Internet with such a large number of service providers and technologies available, is such an overwhelming challenge for some managers, that they give up on the whole idea of telework.

At TelCoa, we are always seeking out products and services that remove barriers, whether perceived or real.

GoRemote deals with multiple service providers and their ever-expanding array of access methods, thus providing a one – stop – shop for getting employees securely connected with consolidated billing and support.

As a fully managed service, GoRemote dramatically reduces teleworker management and support hassles for IT managers.

The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for Teleworker Support  to Go Remote Internet Communications, Inc. (GoRemote was acquired by iPass, Inc.)

Hall of Fame Award for Practicing What They Preach
The embodiment of telework was AT&T’s telework program.  For as long as telework had been an accepted practice, and maybe a little before that, AT&T saw the benefits of telework to both their employees and the company itself.

Employees loved the flexibility and freedom they had.  The company didn’t mind the estimated (according to last year’s internal corporate survey) $180 million in annual business benefits from reduced real estate needs, reduced turn over, and increased productivity.
They had received many awards for their telework programs, including one from The Telework Coalition, for their support of telework research.

We established this award because we frequently speak with organizations that sell systems and/or services that enable telework, in one way or another, but do not offer a telework option to their own employees.  This was definitely not the case with AT&T. They were a leader in supplying global networking to customers, and a leader in using it themselves.

Therefore, The Telework Coalition is proud to present its first Hall of Fame Award for Practicing What They Preach to AT&T and their Telework Director, Joseph Roitz.

Hall of Fame Award for Remote Medical Support Services
McKesson began their Work-At-Home (WAH) / Home Agent Program for their Registered Nurse Call Centers during the summer of 2002.  Beginning with 4% of their agents working from home, the figure is now 40%, and an increase is planned through 2006.

The Telework Coalition, Inc. is recognizing McKesson’s tenacity, enthusiasm and corporate savvy for:
Reducing call center agent turnover from 29% to 5%
Saving a  $1,000,000 to date in real estate cost avoidance
Providing employment for nurses with commuting challenges and disabilities
Enabling employees to `micro-shift’ (work part-time and split-shift) for better work/life
balance
“Main-Streaming” Remote Work Strategies for Continuity of Operations

It is a pleasure to recognize McKesson’s forward thinking `Home Agent’ approach and for setting a standard of excellence in the healthcare and pharmacologic intervention industries.
The Telework Coalition is proud to present its 2005 Hall of Fame Award for Remote Medical Support Services to McKesson Health Solutions, LLC. Their award was accepted by Michael J. Modiz, VP of Operations & Strategic Projects.