Services association teams with J.D. Powers for detailed certification process; HP is first high-tech achiever
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 2/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
Consumers of high-tech gear want more services and technical support—an issue that resonates with the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), whose nearly 200 members include companies in tech support, field service, and CRM, among others.
SSPA believes collaboration with global customer satisfaction information provider J.D. Powers and Associates will help meet the increased demand. The two organizations recently developed an industry certification program for high-tech support, for which Hewlett-Packard (HP) is the first to earn services & support distinction.
According to Mike Davison, SSPA's VP of advanced programs, "The model of delivering services and support is changing, and [SSPA membership] wanted guidance navigating the change—a more proactive approach to the 'broke-fix' model. These companies want to provide tangible differentiation around services and support that drives sales and top-line company performance."
For the certification process, SSPA assembled 50-plus technology companies to develop methodology and criteria for best-practice evaluation. The resulting 100-page assessment document guides the auditing of call centers, Web-based support, parts-repair depots, and customer telephone surveys. A company seeking certification must earn a rating in the top 20 percentile of benchmarked performance to quality.
"J.D. Powers is a strong voice for the customer," says Jonathan Bruckner, J.D. Powers' director of telecommunications and Internet practice. "High-tech is an industry we've played only on the edges of, so a good way for us to enter was via partnership with SSPA. Then we were able to measure the right things about technical support in various channels."
For the HP certification, J.D. Powers audited three HP facilities. It also evaluated online support, including live chat and e-mail; and conducted customer telephone surveys. Performance assessment focused on policies & procedures; case, workforce, and outsourced service management; and tools & technology.
"Services are a bone of contention with customers, so it is significant that HP has obtained third-party validation that ties the utility of our products to strong services," says Kathy Wright, HP product marketing manager for consumer services and support. "It was a strategic decision on our part to pursue this [certification] so our customers would [know] our services and support have been validated in the marketplace."
