Hugo Inc. Earns Silver Stevie(R) Award for AI-Powered Learning Program

Gold Mountain by Hugo piloted the program, which cut time to agent proficiency by 30%. Hugo is now extending it across global operations.

Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - August 25, 2026) - Hugo Inc. has been named a Silver Stevie® Award winner in the AI in Learning & Development category of the 2026 Stevie Awards for Great Employers.

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The award recognizes a learning program that reduced time to agent proficiency by 30%, increased live-call quality scores from 79% to 97%, and is now being expanded across the company's global operations.

The program began at Gold Mountain by Hugo, the company's Springfield, Missouri sales operation. In August 2025, the company adopted an AI learning platform and fully embedded it into its sales training program within 12 weeks.

Hugo first deployed the platform within its sales organization, where mastering complex customer conversations makes onboarding especially demanding. Success there demonstrated that the approach could scale across other parts of the business.

Today, agents practice with AI customer simulations based on real interactions, building confidence in objection handling, system navigation, and empathetic communication before taking live calls. Trainers gain detailed insight into individual performance, enabling more targeted coaching.

During the program's first month, a first-day agent encountered three consecutive credit-card declines on a live call, a scenario they had already practiced in simulation, and completed the sale without assistance.

Since launch, the platform has:

• Trained 223 team members across more than 5,000 simulations.
• Agents reach proficiency in roughly nine weeks rather than 13.

The program recorded the following results:

• Average training scores rose from 72% to 88.8%
• Live-call quality increased from 79% to 97%
• Sales production improved by 21%
• Customer satisfaction rose to 95%

"Every new hire is our very first customer, and their experience needs to be white glove," said Janell Scott, VP of Brand, Talent & Delivery at Hugo. "Simulated roleplay is the biggest enhancement we've used so far. It also automates quality management scoring, and the co-pilot feature effectively gives every team member a coach on every call."

Following its success in sales, Hugo is expanding the program across its customer experience organization, with Trust & Safety, AI Operations, and Back Office services next (Next Aktie).

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognizes the world's best employers and the teams that help create great places to work. More than 160 professionals worldwide participated in this year's judging.

"We congratulate all of the winners in the 11th edition of the Stevie® Awards for Great Employers," said Stevie Awards President Maggie Miller. "We are proud to honor the organizations that are setting the standard as employers of the year, along with the HR professionals, teams, and workplace leaders whose efforts make these achievements possible. We look forward to celebrating their success on October 28."

About Hugo Inc.

Hugo Inc. is a next-generation customer experience and operations partner delivering services across Customer Experience, Back Office Support, Trust & Safety, and AI Operations. Powered by a global workforce of more than 4,500 people across five countries, Hugo helps leading organizations scale high-quality operations through a combination of exceptional talent, operational expertise, and innovative technology. Hugo was named one of the fastest-growing customer-service BPO companies worldwide for the third consecutive year in 2026.

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