PORTLAND, Ore. – The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) awarded DAT Solutions first place in the category of “Best Small Contact Center” at its 13th Annual Global Contact Center Awards ceremony earlier this week. ICMI makes these awards to “companies, contact centers and individuals that provide a platform for leadership, vision, innovation and strategic accomplishments for the industry” after a year-long review of nominees in various categories.

This is the third time in the last ten years that DAT Solutions has won the ICMI Award for Best Small Contact Center, having been honored in 2010 and 2007. DAT is the only company honored by ICMI more than once. “It’s evident this company considers employees as their greatest asset. The ‘off-the-phone’ programs are excellent,” commented the ICMI judging panel. “It’s nice to see the way this team measures success and then develops actions to continue to improve.”

“We are extremely proud to receive this award from ICMI, an international organization who vets thousands of companies’ support programs, before making their final decision,” said Don Thornton, DAT senior vice-president. “A core DAT value is ‘customers for life,’ and having a world-class customer support organization makes that possible. They do fantastic work.”

DAT operates the largest on-demand, truckload freight marketplace in North America, where brokers, shippers, and carriers find loads to haul, qualify carriers to move freight, and a host of data services, including the biggest and most accurate truckload rates database supporting the industry. This year the company estimates that brokers, carriers, 3PLs and shippers will post over 141 million loads and trucks on DAT’s vast network of load boards.

“The astounding number of customers using our freight exchange network means that our customer service people must handle up to 25,000 phone calls, emails, and/or chat sessions in an average month,” said Laura Mendoza, Director of Customer Service at DAT. “We’ve invested in an extensive training system for our customer reps, new phone systems and chat technology. We have also have added new training facilities. We show our commitments to our customers with the commitments we’ve made to the people who serve them.”

Mendoza oversees a team of approximately 50 customer specialists who are trained across DAT’s extensive product lines.