Merrill Lynch Call Centers in Hopewell, NJ and Jacksonville, FL have been certified by BenchmarkPortal, in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="Merrill Lynch"]
[/caption] April, 2003, Santa Maria, California - Merrill Lynch Call Centers in Hopewell, NJ and Jacksonville, FL have been certified by BenchmarkPortal, in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.
Dr. Jon Anton of the Center for Customer-Driven Quality presented the centers with certification plaques at ceremonies held at Merrill Lynch's Hopewell campus to recognize their World Class Service achievement. "This certification attests to the fact that these call centers have successfully balanced efficiency and effectiveness in their operations", said Dr. Anton. "By optimizing their cost components and their ability to satisfy customers, they exemplify best practices in a very important and competitive sector."
Judy Nelson, First Vice President of Merrill Lynch Global Private Client Services and Technology added: "The role we play in delivering service to our clients is one of the most important things we do as a Firm. Striving for service excellence and exceeding our client expectations balanced with cost effective strategies are the cornerstones for driving the evolution of the World Class Service Culture at Merrill Lynch". This certification distinguishes itself by being based on best-practice metrics drawn from the world's largest database of call center performance information. Centers who attain certification do so on the basis of objective, quantitative data, which is audited and validated by researchers from BenchmarkPortal and Purdue. Merrill Lynch has 460 agents in these two facilities, with over 22 million calls offered annually. The management team has aimed at attaining best practices and has found validation in the benchmarking and certification process. The ultimate goal is to make the enterprise more competitive and customer-centric, which also leads to measurable improvements in operations and profitability. 
About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. It provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. Visit the company's web site at www.benchmarkportal.com For additional information contact: Bruce L. Belfiore 3130 Skyway Drive, Suite 702 Santa Maria, CA 93455-1817 (805) 614-0123 ext. 25 BruceBelfiore@BenchmarkPortal.com For certification information: Michael Feinberg (805) 331-6282 MichaelFeinberg@BenchmarkPortal.com
