ATSI Recertifies Longstanding Provider on Their 50th Anniversary

The Association of Teleservices International (ATSI) announced that Rochester Telemessaging Center (RTC) has re-qualified for the Gold 24/7 Call Center Certification Award for the fifth consecutive time, originally qualifying in 2008 and operating as the only Gold 24/7 Call Center in Michigan.

Rochester Telemessaging Center was started by current owners Herb and Jan Chinoski in 1972 with continued operations and are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in business this year.

The certification shows that RTC has met or exceeded high standards in the following areas: business practices, life safety, operations, including normal and emergency procedures, personnel hiring, training, and ongoing evaluations through a peer review program focusing on 99.9 percent annual run time.

“As Michigan’s only ATSI-24/7 Certified Call Center, Rochester Telemessaging Center demonstrates a continuing effort to bring the highest quality to the telephone answering service industry,” said Dan L’Heureux, certification examiner.

“The Telephone Answering Service industry is very competitive and one way we are able to differentiate ourselves is by third party testing,” RTC president Ryan Chinoski said. “We participate in the ATSI programs for site certification, agent certification, and are very proud to be the sole recipient of ATSI telephone answering service Award of Excellence for twenty-six consecutive years.”  

ATSI is an international trade association for the teleservices business. This includes telephone answering services, voicemail services, telemarketing services and any other business that provides enhanced communication services.

The Sauder Woodworking Co. customer support contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal for the ninth year in a row. “A contact center that seeks and achieves the Center of Excellence certification from BenchmarkPortal demonstrates a noteworthy commitment to service excellence,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”

To achieve certification, a company undergoes a rigorous call center benchmarking process, which compares the organization’s operational metrics to those of its peers, using the world’s largest database of contact center metrics. During this process, BenchmarkPortal experts audit and verify key data from the applicant contact center.

Key performance indicators, such as first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time, customer satisfaction, agent satisfaction, and utilization of human resources are taken into account. Customer satisfaction, which relates to customer loyalty and business growth, is the goal, balanced by financial metrics that show that the center is being operated efficiently.

For more information on BenchmarkPortal, call 800-214-8929 or visit www.BenchmarkPortal.com. Sauder Woodworking Co.’s website is www.sauder.com.

CCEOC Inc. announced that all three FedEx Express Canada Customer Service Centers have achieved the Contact Center Employer of Choice® designation for 2013. This is the tenth consecutive year FedEx Express Canada has achieved this certification.

The Contact Center Employer of Choice (CCEOC) program has enabled FedEx Express Canada contact centers to enhance public perception of the organization, build exceptional work environments, and attract, retain and engage high-performing, culturally aligned employees. By targeting the key recommendations outlined in the CCEOC summary reporting, FedEx Express Canada has increased call center employee satisfaction, increased customer satisfaction, and reduced call center turnover. Because of their success, FedEx Express Canada Customer Service Centers have become the global benchmark for measuring FedEx contact centers worldwide.

“FedEx Express Canada has achieved the Platinum ranking for the fifth year in a row. They are the highest-ranking contact center and have been certified for 10 consecutive years,” said Jeff Doran, president of CCEOC, Inc.

“Each day, FedEx Express Canada employees strive to make our customers’ experiences outstanding. FedEx Express Canada is committed to providing quality customer service and has earned a reputation for being an innovative market leader in all areas of our operation,” said Patsy Bertoia, managing director, FedEx Express Canada Customer Service.

Alliance Data Systems Corporation, a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions, announced its Retail Services business has again achieved the prestigious “Center of Excellence” certification by BenchmarkPortal for the quality of its care center operations and service delivery. Alliance Data also received second-place honors in the “Top 100 BenchmarkPortal Call Centers list” in the “large centers” category, which compares the performance of centers throughout North America by evaluating their key metrics against industry peers. Founded in 1995 by Purdue University, BenchmarkPortal is a global leader in the contact center industry providing benchmarking, certification, training, and consulting and industry reports.

The recertification of its customer care centers marks the eighth time Alliance Data has received BenchmarkPortal’s Center of Excellence ranking – more times than any company or organization in the financial services/credit industry. Reserved for the top 10% of all customer care centers surveyed by BenchmarkPortal, The Center of Excellence designation affirms best-practice metrics for quality, cost, efficiency, effectiveness, and superior performance. These metrics are drawn from the world’s largest database of objective and quantitative data, which is audited and validated by researchers from BenchmarkPortal.

Advantage TeleMessaging, Inc. (ATM) has qualified for the 24/7 Call Center Certification Gold Award which is an Association of TeleServices International (ATSI) peer review program focused on call centers’ ability to maintain 99.99 percent Annual Run-Time.

Business Connections, Inc. has re-certified and qualifies for the 24/7 Call Center Certification Gold Award, reported ATSI. Business Connections originally qualified in 2002 and then again in 2005, 2009, and now 2012. One of the early adopters of this program Business Connections holds certificate number four signifying they are the fourth site to qualify for this program

Advantage TeleMessaging, Inc. Owner and President Drew Ritter said, “Technology allows us to do more than just take messages and page on-call doctors, and do it all more efficiently.  Earning the 24/7 Gold Certification demonstrates that high level of commitment to readiness to be on-line available for our clients’ callers.  But the most important things in our business are quality assurance and training.  As a recipient of the ATSI Award of Excellence 2 years in a row we subscribe to a company philosophy that it really is our staff that makes us excellent.”

Business Connections Manager Dirk Moeller added, “We have won awards for Excellence and Outstanding International Service for Fifteen (15) consecutive years earning the Diamond Plus Award thru the ATSI Award of Excellence [AoE] where an independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients…This 24/7 Call Center Certification program is a great compliment to the AoE program as it documents our state of readiness to continue to provide excellent service.  In addition to the Call Center Certification Gold Award, we also subscribe to Agility Recovery Solutions.”

ASCO, dba Answer Quick, has received the Association of Teleservices International (ATSI) Gold 24/7 Call Center Certification Award for the tenth year in a row.  Additionally, they re-qualified as the first certified Startel soft switch installation.

The certification, which requires a physical inspection every three years, indicates that Answer Quick has met or exceeded high standards in the following areas: business practices, life safety, operations, including normal and emergency procedures, personnel hiring, training and ongoing evaluations through a peer review program focusing on 99.9% annual run time.

Beth Cooper is president of Answer Quick a division of ASCO, Inc.  Dan L’Heureux, SNUG executive director notes that Beth “is a pioneer and founding member of the committee and advocate of the entire certification program.”

AnswerNet, a multi-site provider of inbound, outbound and e-bound contact center services, has completed the certification process for Level 1 PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, known as PCI) compliance.  AnswerNet’s PCI compliance not only ensures highly secure payment processing, it also offers clients and their customers peace of mind knowing that their information is protected.

“PCI compliance significantly reduces the risk of fraud and theft, which in turn can save our clients thousands of dollars in lost revenue and time,” said AnswerNet president and CEO Gary A. Pudles.  “Achieving PCI compliance is an important part our continuing investment in, and commitment to, our network security infrastructure.  Our customers and their clients should never have to spend one moment being concerned about the security of their data when working with AnswerNet.”

Created as a guideline to help organizations prevent credit card fraud and various other financial security threats, PCI compliance is mandated by all major credit card companies, including VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.  The certification validation was completed by Trustwave, an industry leader in PCI certification procedures.

Alliance Data Systems Corporation, a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data, announced that BenchmarkPortal, in conjunction with Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue Research Park, has again recognized Alliance Data for achieving customer service excellence across all four of its retail services call center operations.  This recertification marks the fourth consecutive year Alliance Data has been certified as a Center of Excellence for the quality of its operations.

“Alliance Data consistently demonstrates leadership in call center operational quality and clearly strives to exemplify best practices in all aspects of call center management,” said Bruce Belfiore, chief executive officer of BenchmarkPortal.  “We’re pleased to award certification to all Alliance Data call centers again this year — their four call centers are truly among the best of the best in the industry.”

Alliance Data provides integrated credit and marketing solutions, including private label, co-brand and commercial credit card programs designed to build long-term customer relationships and grow clients’ businesses.

360’CRM CFO Dave Sutcliffe announced the successful completion of the American Teleservices Association Self-Regulatory Organization (ATA-SRO) audit and accreditation for Global Callcenter Solutions, Inc. (GCS).  The seal of accreditation awarded to GCS for outbound call activity represents 360’CRM’s fourth successful audit completion in support of an industry-wide initiative.  To date, nine firms have achieved ATA-SRO accreditation.

“We were pleased with the demonstrated rigor of compliance safeguards in place and daily business process steps that Global Callcenter Solutions consistently undertakes to insure adherence to the regulations stipulated at both State and Federal levels,” Mr. Sutcliffe commented.

Kurt Heitmann, President and CEO of Global Callcenter Solutions added, “As we continue to integrate the call center teleservices function with an ever expanding array of communications channels that serve the customer, it was important to us to verify our core competencies as rock-solid.  We are very happy to earn this distinction in the industry for GCS, our clients, and the customers we serve every day on their behalf.  Like our Better Business Bureau ‘A+’ rating, we really wanted to achieve that same distinction through the focused teleservices lens of the ATA-SRO process.”

The American Teleservices Association (ATA) and Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC) announced their exclusive strategic partnership for contact center professional certification.  Tim Searcy, ATA CEO, made the announcement at the recent ATA Convention.  During the session, Tim talked about the time and research that has gone into the development, implementation, and the launch of this partnership.  “Based upon a careful examination of all available partners and models, ATA is excited to announce CIAC as our global partner in the certification of contact center professionals.”  Searcy continued, “CIAC has created the definitive standard for the contact center industry when it comes to excellence in competency-based professional certification.”

Fredia Barry, CIAC President commented, “Bringing together ATA, the contact center industry trade association, and CIAC, the provider of ‘CIAC Certification’ — the contact center industry defacto professional certification, is a natural and synergistic fit.  Together, CIAC and ATA bring a high level of integrity and objectivity as well as marketing and distribution power to a global industry with an ever-growing demand for more qualified and credentialed professionals.”