Benchmarkportal.com press release

1st Global Contact Forum 14 Congreso Mexico 2010

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:20:56 +0000

Bruce Belfiore
CEO/ Senior Research Executive
BenchmarkPortal
http://www.benchmarkportal.com

Bruce Belfiore will be the closing keynote speaker at the event “Benchmarking Your Way to Call Center Excellence: Find the Motivation and the Means!” which will take place the afternoon of March 10^th 2010. This event will be held at the 1st Global Contact Forum in Mexico City on March 8^th-10th.

The Centro Banamex Convention Center is Mexico’s leading and award-winning convention facility www.centrobanamex.com and is conveniently located a short drive from Mexico City’s business centers and hotel districts.

Join us on March 11th to visit several leading Contact Centers and learn first-hand what cutting-edge companies are doing to interact with and satisfy their customers. Reserve early as space is limited.

For more information please visit:
http://www.imt.com.mx/congresomexico2010/phpen/index.php

To Register:
http://www.imt.com.mx/congresomexico2010/phpen/cuotas/registro.php

Benchmark Portal
Purdue Research Park
3000 Kent Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Direct (800) 214-8929
Fax 509.351.0264

Click here to: Benchmark Your Center

CallTalk show: Developing agents who are more customer-centric

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:11:46 +0000

Developing agents who are more customer-centric

Date: March 3, 2010

Host: Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal

Guest: Rosanne D’Ausilio, Ph.D., President - Human Technologies Global Inc

Below is the Recording of the show:

for more show recordings please visit www.calltalk.tv/Audioarchives or Calltalk archives in Benchmarkportal’s website

CallTalk show: Benchmarking made easy: How your metrics can be leveraged for optimum results

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:13:39 +0000

Benchmarking made easy: How your metrics can be leveraged for optimum results

Date: February 17, 2010

Host: Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal

Guest: John Chatterley, Industry Expert

Below is the Recording of the show:

for more show recordings please visit www.calltalk.tv/Audioarchives or Calltalk archives in Benchmarkportal’s website

Church Mutual Insurance Group Earns Prestigious Center of Excellence Recognition from BenchmarkPortal

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:40 +0000

MERRILL, Wis.– December 2009 BenchmarkPortal today announced that Church Mutual Insurance Group has been certified a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal in collaboration with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University. The Center of Excellence recognition is one of the most prestigious awards in the Service and Support industry.

“To attain this goal in a little over two years is an outstanding achievement,” Church Mutual President and CEO Mike Ravn agreed. “When we began the operation, we wanted it to address the needs of our customers, who are our owners because we are a mutual company. Mission accomplished.”

Call Centers achieve the Center of Excellence distinction based on a best-practice metrics drawn from the world’s largest database of objective and quantitative data that is audited and validated by researchers from the BenchmarkPortal in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.

“I think it is extraordinary that a center that’s been in operation for two years achieved this level of performance,” BenchmarkPortal Senior Consultant & Director of Education Dayne Petersen said. “I’m not sure that we’ve ever seen that before — that’s probably the most amazing piece of this.”

Since companies spend vast amounts of money implementing and operating call centers to ensure a competitive edge in customer service, it is vital that the call handling process be conducted at best practice standards. This need to function at best practice levels has, in turn, created the need for third-party certification that shows when call centers are operating at this high level of call handling performance. Please follow the link do discover what the 4 steps to certification are and how they will improve your centers performance. www.benchmarkportal.com/certification

About BenchmarkPortal

BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue Research Foundation database of contact center performance metrics, the largest such database in the world. The data is collected in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University. In 2005, BenchmarkPortal received U.S. Patent #6,877,034 for its unique methodology of call center performance evaluation through metric gap analysis. BenchmarkPortal provides industry reports, and professional services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement, and agent satisfaction measurement. For more information about BenchmarkPortal visit our Web site at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com

About Church Mutual Insurance Company

Church Mutual is the leading insurer of religious institutions in the United States with more than 100,000 religious organizations. That figure is more than twice the number of its nearest competitor. For more information about Chruch Mutual, visit their web site at: www.ChurchMutual.com

BenchmarkPortal
Purdue Research Park
3000 Kent Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Direct 800-214-8929 ext.1

CallTalk show: Compensation strategies for agents and supervisors

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:09:12 +0000

Compensation strategies for agents and supervisors

Date: February 3, 2010

Host: Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal

Guest: Chad McDaniel, President of McDaniel Executive Recruiters (MER)

Below is the Recording of the show:

for more show recordings please visit www.calltalk.tv/Audioarchives or Calltalk archives in Benchmarkportal’s website

MAXIMUS RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING CALL CENTER OPERATIONS

sean — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:46:59 +0000

- New York Medicaid CHOICE Among the Company’s Five Call Centers Certified as Centers of Excellence –

(RESTON, Va. – January 27, 2010) – MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS), a leading provider of government services, announced today that its New York Medicaid CHOICE project call center has once again been recognized as a “Certified Center of Excellence” by BenchmarkPortal in collaboration with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality (CCDQ) at Purdue Research Park.

The project first received recognition for its call center operations from the CCDQ in 2006. The award certification followed a rigorous review by BenchmarkPortal, Inc., the custodian of the CCDQ best practices and the repository of the world’s largest database of call center operations and management. To earn the Center of Excellence designation, call centers must meet objective, quantitative criteria and pass audits conducted by BenchmarkPortal researchers. Key indicators for successful call center performance in customer service include operational efficiency, service level standards, process management, customer satisfaction, leadership resources and employee training.

MAXIMUS operates the New York Medicaid CHOICE project for the New York State Department of Health, providing Medicaid managed care enrollment services to 2.4 million New Yorkers in over 10 languages. As a Certified Center of Excellence, the project’s toll-free customer service line ranks among the top ten percent of the 20,000 call centers evaluated by the CCDQ.

“The achievement of the Center of Excellence Certification from Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” commented Dr. Jon Anton of the CCDQ.

“MAXIMUS remains committed to delivering high quality services to beneficiaries of health and human services programs,” commented Bruce Caswell, President and General Manager of the MAXIMUS Health Services Segment. “New York Medicaid CHOICE is among the five MAXIMUS call centers to receive this certification, which also include our California Health Care Options, Georgia Families, HealthColorado projects, and Massachusetts Health Benefits (MassHealth) Customer Service.”

About BenchmarkPortal, Inc.

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. For further research information, visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com.

About MAXIMUS

MAXIMUS is a leading provider of government services worldwide and is devoted to providing health and human services program management and consulting services to its clients. The Company has more than 6,500 employees located in more than 220 offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Israel. Additionally, MAXIMUS is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P SmallCap 600 Index.

CallTalk show: After Call Work Time: How to minimize and still have great customer records

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:05:26 +0000

After Call Work Time: How to minimize and still have great customer records

Date: January 20, 2010

Host: Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal

Guest: John Chatterley, Industry Expert

Below is the Recording of the show:

for more show recordings please visit www.calltalk.tv/Audioarchives or Calltalk archives in Benchmarkportal’s website

CallTalk show: Reducing Abandon Rate: Where to start, what to do.

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:00:45 +0000

Reducing Abandon Rate: Where to start, what to do.

Date: January 6, 2010

Host: Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal

Guest: Mike Mastro, President of Primas

Below is the Recording of the show:

for more show recordings please visit www.calltalk.tv/Audioarchives or Calltalk archives in Benchmarkportal’s website

Ameritas Group Call Center Certified as World Class for Third Consecutive Year

sean — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:24:11 +0000

January 4, 2010//Lincoln, Neb.//Ameritas Group, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., a UNIFI Company, earned its third consecutive Center of Excellence call center certification from BenchmarkPortal. Developed by Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality, BenchmarkPortal is the largest call center benchmarking database program in the world.

“Exceeding customer expectations is always our goal. In each interaction, we have the opportunity to make a positive impact and enhance our customer’s service experience,” notes April Rimpley, M.A.M., FLMI, ACS, vice president - group customer connections and operations. “We are proud to be recognized by such a prestigious organization, and the fact that we’ve achieved certification for three years running truly reflects our commitment. We believe the Center of Excellence certification speaks volumes about our company, because it goes beyond the insurance industry and verifies that our contact center is world class.”

To achieve annual certification as a Center of Excellence, Ameritas Group contact center associates participate in BenchmarkPortal’s rigorous certification process based on established scientific methods that measure operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction. In addition, our contact center associates must meet Ameritas Group’s own set of stringent service standards by participating in ongoing training and continuing education.

“We benchmark the performance of thousands of customer service call centers across North America. Many call centers apply for certification, yet only 10% actually make it,” adds Dr. Jon Anton, founder and director of benchmark research at Purdue’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality. “Our Center of Excellence recognition is one of the most distinguished awards in the service and support industry, and Ameritas has earned it.”

About Ameritas Group

Ameritas Group, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., a UNIFI Company, has served customers since the mid-1970s and today provides dental, eye care and hearing care products and services for more than 60,000 employer groups, insuring more than 4.5 million people nationwide. In New York, products are offered through First Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York, a UNIFI Company. Learn more at ameritasgroup.com.

About BenchmarkPortal

BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center performance metrics, the largest in the world. Founded in 1995 by Dr. Jon Anton, it provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. Learn more at benchmarkportal.com.

Contacts:

Ameritas Group

April Rimpley, Vice President - Group Customer Connections and Operations

Phone: (402) 309-2050

Email: arimpley@ameritas.com

Benchmark Portal

Sean Vierling, President of Business Development

Phone: 720.222.0470

Mobile: 970.390.7511

Email: sean@benchmarkportal.com

MetLife Honored for the Fifth Consecutive Year with Industry-wide Center of Excellence Certification

sean — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:35:30 +0000

MetLife’s Customer Service & Sales Group Recognized by National Industry Benchmarking Survey

New York, December, 2009 – MetLife, Inc. announced today that its Customer Sales & Service Group (CSSG) has, for the fifth consecutive year, earned the prestigious designation of Certified Center of Excellence by Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality in conjunction with BenchmarkPortal, a national benchmarking firm. Call centers are evaluated in 28 categories on their ability to exceed rigorous statistical standards in comparison to their industry peers. Only the top ten percent of contact centers that apply for certification earn the designation, and MetLife’s CSSG is among only two winning centers to have earned this certification five years in a row.

This achievement demonstrates how our Customer Sales & Service Group’s overall results stand out as best in class in its industry, even despite tough economic conditions, said Maria Morris, executive vice president, Technology & Operations, MetLife. While continuing to increase efficiency and effectiveness, CSSG delivers superior customer service, strengthens existing customer relationships, and provides an opportunity to attract new customers.

MetLife’s CSSG provides sales and customer-service support for 17 different product lines, including such high-volume ones as life, dental, auto, and home insurance. To ensure effective and efficient handling of the more than 27.5 million customer phone and email requests in 2009, CSSG has continued to streamline and optimize its operations to maximize the time representatives are on the phone with customers or available to handle a call. Through these efforts, CSSG has been able to contain costs, maintain associate productivity, and deliver high customer satisfaction.

Our success could not be possible without the continued dedication and talent of our customer service representatives, said Karen Hemenway, vice president, Customer Sales & Service Group, MetLife. Receiving the Center of Excellence certification five years in a row demonstrates our continued focus on superior service that deepens customer relationships, providing MetLife with an invaluable competitive advantage.

In recent years, the competition for Center of Excellence certification has become tougher as more companies focus on improving customer satisfaction. Despite increased competition, MetLife continues to maintain its industry-exceeding very satisfied customer rating. Additionally, while the industry as a whole has seen its very dissatisfied rating increase from 2 percent to 7 percent during the past year, MetLife has successfully driven down its rating to 1 percent – a clear indication of its quality service.

The hallmark of a great center is the ability to not only achieve top tier performance, but to maintain that performance over time, said Bruce Belfiore, CEO, BenchmarkPortal. MetLife has shown consistently that it is dedicated to continuous improvement for the benefit of its customers and its employees, which is the only way to maintain a Center of Excellence over a five-year period.

About MetLife

MetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance, employee benefits and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

About Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality (CCDQ)

Purdue University’s CCDQ is internationally recognized as the premier research and education organization for behavior in customer access and access channel management issues.

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. Founded in 1995 by Dr. Jon Anton, it provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. BenchmarkPortal’s Web site can be found at: http://www.benchmarkportal.com

BenchmarkPortal
Purdue Research Park
3000 Kent Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Direct 805-465-7201 ext.1