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Center Certification - Can Your Company Benefit?
By
Chris Bell
March, 2002
The Startel National Users Group's (SNUG) board of
directors recognizes that up until now, excluding the CAM-X and ATSI Award of
Excellence Programs, there have been no standards in our industry for
measuring quality or assessing a teleservices call center facility and system
readiness. Over the past year the
SNUG has developed a three-tiered program for members to certify and accredit
their operations in the following areas: 24/7 Site Certification, CSR, and
Supervisor.
Last year SNUG released the CSR and 24/7 Site
Certification programs. Recently,
SNUG's Educational Committee put the finishing touches on the Supervisor
Certification program and released it at the Annual Conference in February.
One of the primary goals of 24/7 Site Certification
Program is to identify and then require, through a peer review program, the
best set of procedures and policies so that a certified site has a high
probability of achieving 99.99% annual run-time. This is less than fifty-three minutes of unplanned downtime
per year.
The 24/7 Site Certification Program developed by SNUG
has merit outside of the Startel platform as well and the SNUG Board will be
visiting this issue later this year. The
program sets more than sixty criteria that need to be met or exceeded in order
to qualify. Overall, the adopted
requirements represent a collection of the best practices and guidelines to
which sites must adhere.
Part of the challenge of undertaking and
participating in this peer review and inspection program is in the actual
preparations and groundwork that your center will need to complete in order to
qualify. Upon receiving Site
Certification status, your operation will have demonstrated a high level of
proficiency in recovery techniques, good business practices, procedure
documentation, and levels of redundancy necessary for true 24/7 preparedness.
Currently there are two levels of certification available: Silver and
Gold.
There are many reasons to consider enrolling in the
program:
-
To
differentiate your operation;
being
site certified enables you to change your basis of comparison from price to
quality.
-
To
increase the level of professionalism both within your market and within the
entire industry.
-
To
demonstrate 24/7 proficiency as well as incorporation of the best recovery
techniques available.
-
To
improve your standing in the marketplace, positively impacting existing
clients and employees as well as prospective clients and employees.
-
To
adopt the best policies and procedures, thereby minimizing the business risk
associated with downtime.
-
To
become the first to receive recognition in your city, state, or region.
-
To
increase the probability of greater stability.
-
To
better prepare and document your system maintenance procedures.
-
To
add an excellent evaluation tool to your organization.
Subjecting yourself to a peer review is a difficult
decision for some to make. To
ease the process, you can request either a qualified (certified and board
approved) colleague or the SNUG executive director, Dan L'Heureux, to conduct
the inspection. The program is
designed to not be intrusive, but to be part of a learning experience that you
and your organization will benefit from.
The 24/7 Site Certification program application fee
is $495 and the examiner's cost is only $600, plus travel expenses.
The inspection can be done in one day.
There is also an "earn back" provision.
By meeting the criteria, the site can have up to two people accredited
to conduct a maximum of three site inspections, where they will earn the
inspection rate $600 per day. Thus,
the program, in terms of it's cost, can be easily recouped.
(Pricing for the CSR certification is $35 each and a 10 pack is only
$250; the supervisor certification is $45 and a five pack is just $175.)
For more information about the program, visit
www.teamsnug.com
and go to the membership section or call SNUG at 800-317-8529.
Christopher
R. Bell, has an MBA in Finance and resides in Holland, PA.
Chris founded MedCom in 1987 and was SNUG President in 2001. He
can be reached at Medcom@Med-com.com
or 215-752-8099
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