The ECU team at the Awards ceremony.
Edith Cowan University's (ECU's) Communication Centre is the first point of contact for prospective and current students, helping them navigate their journey to university. The team's professionalism and dedication were recently recognised at the Auscontact Excellence Awards.
The Auscontact Excellence Awards are a leading industry event recognising outstanding achievement in customer service, contact centres, customer experience and employee experience across Australia.
The awards celebrate the people, teams and organisations delivering exceptional outcomes and showcase excellence across the contact centre industry.
ECU had four Western Australian state finalists in the 2026 Auscontact Awards: Cristhian Alvarez Ramoz, in the category Customer Contact Professional, Emily Clendenning, in the category Customer Experience Champion, Maegan Leaning, in the category Rising Star, and Libby Dooley, in the category Team Leader/Team Manager.
Cristhian won in his category. He was awarded for his exceptional expertise in managing quality customer relationships and creating a positive customer experience.
In addition, ECU itself won the Customer Experience Initiative of the Year – Digital Transformation Award.
The Customer Experience Initiative of the Year Award recognised ECU's success in automating student holiday letters, a process that was previously manual, time intensive and costly. Automation removed manual handling and student fees, significantly improved turnaround times and reduced phone enquiries by 35%. The result was a simple but high-impact change that delivered immediate benefits. This initiative highlights the value of collaboration and practical innovation of simplifying processes, improving the student experience, and delivering lasting operational efficiencies. A special shoutout to Patrick Griffin, the Communications Centre Business Improvement Coordinator whose efforts in preparing the written award nomination and presentation were instrumental in showcasing the ECU's achievements.
"Most of us interact with customer service teams as customers. We call for help, navigate automated menus, wait in queues, start a live chat, or send an email. While these interactions may appear simple, they are supported by dedicated professionals and a complex operation working behind the scenes," said Kelly Donker, Manager of the Communications Centre.
"In our case, behind every student interaction is a team of dedicated people committed to delivering a positive experience. Every day, they balance customer demand, technology, workforce capacity, operational requirements, employee experience and service quality, while going further to ensure students receive the support they need. In doing so, they play a vital role in building trust, creating meaningful human connections and helping students navigate challenges with confidence.
"We are incredibly proud of our Communication Centre team and the dedication they show every day in supporting our students and future students. This recognition is a wonderful reflection of their professionalism, expertise and commitment to delivering an outstanding customer experience."
The Western Australian state winners, along with all other Australian state winners, will now progress to the National Awards, which will be held on 13 November in Sydney.
