Press Release

Press Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
18 Jan 2002

COPC Asia Pacific Inc. and PSB Certification Partnership to Boost Singapore Customer Contact Industry

COPC Asia Pacific Inc, the US-based leader in customer contact operations, and PSB Certification, Singapore's leading certification authority, today entered into a landmark partnership that is set to raise the bar of customer contact centres performance in Singapore.

Mr. Lee Suan Hiang, Chief Executive of Productivity and Standards Board, graced the COPC Asia Pacific Inc. - PSB Certification partnership signing ceremony and presented CityCab the COPC-2000® certificate.

"Customers today are more discerning. They expect timely, error-free and valued added services. Organisations must respond accordingly by making service excellence a strategic objective. The COPC-2000® Standard is the customer contact industry's mark of excellence. It will raise the level of service provided by customer contact centres, which are fast becoming the face of most organisations," noted Mr. Lee.

The partnership authorises PSB Certification, over a period of three years, to conduct audits for the COPC-2000® certification. PSB Certification is only the second partner in Asia to be appointed by COPC. The first, Proseed Corporation of Japan was appointed in 1998.

COPC International Inc. President, Peter Bloom said, "PSB Certification's established and well-respected reputation and extensive local network will help us build our business in Singapore and strengthen Singapore as our Asia Pacific headquarters."

"We made Singapore our regional headquarters due to the Republic's excellent telecommunication infrastructure, skilled and productive workforce, presence of world-class companies and Singapore's geographical proximity to countries in the region. This partnership reaffirms our confidence," Mr. Bloom added.

Mr. Wu Tek Ming, CEO of PSB Certification, said, "We are delighted that COPC Asia Pacific Inc. has chosen PSB Certification as its partner. The alliance will allow us to play a role in raising the standard of customer contact centres. We believe that the certification will be especially relevant to organisations in e-commerce, computer hardware and software, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications and consumer products."

The COPC-2000® Standard sets the benchmark for productivity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of customer contact centres. The Standard helps customer contact centres maximise their performance by increasing speed and accuracy of service delivery while keeping costs down. Centres must excel in Planning and Leadership, Processes, People Management and Performance Measurement to attain certification.

Companies that use the COPC-2000® Standard include multi-national corporations such as American Express, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Motorola. In Asia Pacific, users include Datacom (Sydney, Australia), NTT (Japan), Bellsystem 24 (Japan), MobileOne (Singapore) and FarEast Tone (Taiwan). In Singapore, CityCab's customer contact centre is the first COPC-2000® certified taxi company in the world and the first certified company in Singapore.

ABOUT PSB CERTIFICATION

PSB Certification was corporatised from the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board in April 2001. It is one of the contributors in the promotion of certification on a voluntary basis. It was the first in Asia to introduce ISO 9000 standard for quality management in 1989, followed by the ISO 14000 standard for environment management in 1996. With the strong commitment of industry and stakeholders, it has certified over 1,800 companies in Singapore to date.

For additional information, please email to info@copc.com.