Press Release

Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
08 Sep 2003

Microsoft Corporation Re-certifies Three Contact Center Locations to COPC-2000® Standard

Amherst, NY - Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC) today announces the second annual re-certification of three Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) contact center locations. Microsoft’s CSS organization first adopted the COPC-2000® Standard as a key performance improvement initiative in February of 2000.

Customer Central, the technical support entitlement group within CSS, includes three contact centers representing nearly 1000 seats located in Redmond, WA, Las Colinas, CA, and Charlotte, NC. The organization continues to meet and improve operational, financial, and end user satisfaction results. Across more than 200 metrics, ranging from end user satisfaction to phone service levels, they well exceed the minimum operating requirements of the COPC-2000® Standard. "These impressive results demonstrate Customer Central's continual commitment to improvements in all facets of their business — service, quality, and cost. In today's world, consistent access to a competent technical support operation is a key requirement for success", stated Alton Martin, CEO and co-founder of COPC.

Microsoft ensures best practices across all internal customer contact centers as well as all vendor locations, to drive performance improvement on a continuous basis. The COPC-2000® Standard provides a common framework to improve communications and enhance the evaluation process.

This achievement marks another significant milestone for the use of the COPC-2000® Standard by Microsoft. The organization was found non-compliant at initial re-certification audit, however, because of the value placed on maintaining Certified status, they made the necessary changes to close the gaps and regained certification.

Martin has been working with Microsoft Customer Central for several years, and states "The audits are rigorous and meaningful. Although disappointed at not being fully compliant at the time of the re-certification audit, Customer Central demonstrated commitment to the Standard and the certification process. COPC has been working with Microsoft to extend the COPC requirements internally and to 3rd party providers to consistently meet operational metrics. Because COPC is able to support Microsoft and its suppliers not only in the United States, but internationally as well, Microsoft needs only one performance management system on a global basis."

The COPC-2000® Standard has been proven in over 625 field assessments to provide management with the information needed to initiate a sustained improvement in operational performance.

About COPC

Headquartered in Amherst, NY and Austin, TX, Customer Operations Performance Center, Inc. (COPC) is the leading authority on customer contact center and fulfillment services operations. COPC is authorized to issue certification to the COPC-2000® Standard, a comprehensive operation performance standard that specifies minimum operational requirements in critical functional areas. COPC services clients on a worldwide basis, and has representatives in Argentina, Brazil, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

The COPC Standard was developed in 1995 by individuals from Microsoft, Motorola, Dell, American Express, L.L. Bean, Intel, and other customer-focused companies who were concerned with the level of service quality provided by Customer Service Providers (CSPs). More than 200 locations in 30 countries are using the Standard to improve performance, reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. Users include firms in e-commerce, computer hardware and software, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications and consumer products.

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