"We're extremely pleased to see Anita taking charge of our channel initiatives in Australia and New Zealand," said country manager Michael Stelzer.

"Her in-depth knowledge of contact centre sweet spots, together with her high profile in the local industry, will help us strengthen our ties with partners such as BT/Syntegra, Call Design, IBM, Lake, Premier Technologies and Telstra Business Systems, and grow our partner community strategically and sustainably."

Bowtell was most recently a business development executive at Polaris Communications, but her 12-year career also includes various roles at Telstra.

Bowtell is also the president of the Customer Contact Management Association (she served as vice president in 2005), and is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Contact Centre Association Leaders.