STI Knowledge Adds Support Industry Icon to its Leadership Team

Purdue University's Dr. Jon Anton to head Call Center divisionApril 2002, Santa Maria, California - STI Knowledge, the certification standard for the global support industry and the preferred provider of support products and services of more than half the Fortune 500, is proud to announce that Dr. Jon Anton is now chairman of its Call Center division. Anton is extraordinarily qualified, having co-founded Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality, an institution that is dedicated to fostering excellent customer service. "STI Knowledge is an industry leader in providing accessible, world-class certification and education for call centers," says Anton. "The CCCP Online course uses the best technology available to give students fast, user-friendly Web-based training on demand. I highly recommend it." Atlanta-based STI recently made its Certified Call Center Professional Course available online through EDS' Digital Think eLearning technology architecture. As chairman of STI's Call Center division, Anton will shape the direction of course content and will author the company's KnowledgeMail. The appointment also positions BenchmarkPortal Inc., a call center metrics powerhouse for which Anton is director of research, as a partner to STI Knowledge. BenchmarkPortal provides the secure databank that collects and warehouses Purdue University's database of performance metrics. BenchmarkPortal makes data available to call center managers via a series of unique and actionable reports. With these reports managers can: a) compare their performance against an appropriate peer group of call centers; and b) make optimal, fact-based decisions regarding capital investment, personnel, procedures, etc. Anton's proprietary call center benchmarking methodology is used by thousands of customer call centers worldwide, and addresses performance issues for customer contacts via phone, e-mail and Web visits. It is recognized as being the largest database of call center performance metrics in the world. "The current focus of all Call Centers is to maximize the utilization of the workforce. Professional certification will enable these organizations to achieve that goal very cost-effectively," says Pete McGarahan, Chairman of STI Knowledge's Help Desk 2000 division. "We have assembled the best of the best to introduce the first online Call Center Professional Certification that will have an immediate impact on customer satisfaction, employee retention and productivity, cost per contact and all of the other remaining operational performance metrics." Call Centers account for the majority of the support industry while, until 2001, STI primarily focused on Certifying Help Desks and Knowledge Centers. STI's full-speed expansion into the Call Center arena is expected to quadruple the number of professionals certified by the company each year. STI has certified over 12,000 support professionals around the world - more than 3,000 of them last year alone. About Dr. Jon Anton Anton has published thirteen books and 75 papers on customer service and call center methods in industry journals. In 1997, one of his papers on self-service was awarded the best article of the year by Customer Relationship Management Magazine. His formal education was in technology, including a Doctorate of Science and a Master of Science from Harvard University, a Masters of Science from the University of Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Notre Dame. He also completed a three-summer intensive Executive Education program in Business at the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University. Visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com for more information. About STI Knowledge STI Knowledge, with operations in the U.S., Hong Kong, India, South Africa and Europe, specializes in help desk, call center and knowledge center certification, consulting and business solutions. Having certified and educated over 63% of the Fortune 500, STI Knowledge is committed to providing its customers worldwide with the tools to increase efficiency and productivity while driving revenue. Call the STI Knowledge Center at 800.280.2630 today or visit www.stiknowledge.com.