J.D. Power and Associates to Recognize Excellence in Tech-Support; Authoritative Program Will Assist Both Consumers and Enterprises in Considering Service and Support Quality Before Making Product-Purchasing Decisions

Business Wire, March 14, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- In a move reflecting the growing importance of after-sales service and support of technology products, the industry's leading trade group announced today that it is jointly developing an industry certification with J.D. Power and Associates to begin identifying top performing companies through a rigorous process of audits and customer satisfaction surveys.

This initiative between J.D. Power and Associates and the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) -- which represents most of the world's leading IT hardware, software and network products companies -- will begin issuing J.D. Power and Associates Certified IT Service & Support distinctions by the third quarter of 2005. The certifications will allow both consumers and enterprise buyers to identify companies that have proven customer service excellence before selecting a vendor or making a purchase.

The timing of the announcement coincides with the IT industry reaching a "tipping point" in product complexity, according to SSPA CEO J.B. Wood. "Today's computer products have become extraordinarily feature-rich, but the flip-side is that they are also extremely complex. More than ever, after-sales service and support of these products -- whether they be enterprise software platforms or digital cameras -- plays a vital role in determining the success of the overall customer experience. It doesn't matter how robust a product is if you can't use it or can't get problems resolved," said Wood.

"With the new J.D. Power and Associates Certified IT Service & Support logo, a buyer will be able to identify whether a company's tech support and field service provide an outstanding customer service experience at the same time they demo the product, and bring that knowledge into their total consideration of the product's pluses and minuses," Wood added.

"Companies that become certified under the J.D. Power program are demonstrating their commitment to serving their customers and utilizing best practices across the IT industry," said Steve Carroll, executive vice president, J.D. Power and Associates. "Being recognized by J.D. Power and Associates also offers certified organizations the opportunity to differentiate their service and support in the eyes of their customers."

When J.D. Power and Associates began publishing its authoritative customer-satisfaction surveys of car models two decades ago, it helped transform the industry, causing auto makers to rethink their QA programs, re-tool their assembly lines and restructure vendor agreements. It contributed to QA gains across the board, and even the auto makers that didn't receive a coveted #1 ranking experienced significant quality and productivity gains. Celebrating excellence in the public forum, J.D. Power and Associates customer-satisfaction surveys are win-wins for all concerned. Finding the J.D. Power and Associates Certified IT Service & Support logo means the customer can rest assured they will get responsive, quality help when they need it.

According to SSPA executives, the J.D. Power and Associates Certified IT Service & Support program will be instituted in two phases:

--1) Phase one is a comprehensive application and internal audit of the company's range of service business processes including phone support, electronic support and field service. Developed jointly by SSPA and J.D. Power and Associates, this will determine if a company's service infrastructure, business and quality-assurance processes meet the highest industry standards and should, over time, yield consistently high-quality service and support levels.

--2) The second phase is the customer satisfaction survey, which is conducted solely by J.D. Power and Associates. In this phase, end-users are randomly sampled from all customers interacting with each of the applicant's technical service & support centers over a specified period of time. Both phases of the program require that any outsourced support meets the same rigorous standards.

"While customer satisfaction is the ultimate acid test, it's important to also independently assess a company's internal business and QA processes to ensure that they've truly instituted the methodologies and tools needed to sustain long-term performance. Sometimes having the `hot product' can lead buyers to assume the service is going to be `hot' too -- and that's not always a good bet,' noted Wood. "SSPA wants to certify that companies have instituted the kinds of solid business practices that will yield sustained high-performance, year in and year out."

The audit phase criteria will also be developed by a blue-ribbon standards board comprised of leading executives from SSPA and J.D. Power and Associates along with a range of leading IT companies, including IBM, Oracle, EMC, Cisco Systems and over 20 others. The panel will establish best practices, which will be incorporated into the audit phase of the certification program. "We're now in the final stages of selecting seasoned industry professionals who are thoroughly schooled in the latest service & support management practices and processes to sit on this board. We plan to establish the certification guidelines by mid-summer, and kick-off the certification process and ensuing customer-satisfaction surveys by early fall."