Press Release

Press Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 Oct 2006

For additional information, contact
Catherine Nowocien, 716-835-5041
copc@graytoncompany.com

EDS Sydney, NS, Center Achieves Certification to the COPC-2000® CSP Standard Release 4.0

PLANO, TX and WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – EDS and Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC Inc.) today announced that EDS’ Sydney, Nova Scotia, contact center for automotive clients has been certified to the COPC-2000® CSP Standard Release 4.0.

EDS’ Sydney, NS, contact center provides a wide range of CRM services and is part of EDS’ broad global network of contact centers, delivering service from 25 countries in 43 languages.

The COPC-2000® CSP Standard has been proven in more than 800 in-depth operational field assessments to provide management with information needed to drive sustained improvement in operational performance. With its first public release in 1996, it is the first certification process designed specifically for global contact centers, mandating consistent quality, process improvement, and high performance measured against a rigorous set of standards. As a world-class benchmark of productivity, efficiency and cost-effectiveness for customer contact operations, it ensures contact center excellence worldwide.

Benefits realized as a result of the certification process at EDS’ Sydney facility for automotive clients have been recorded in a number of key areas, including cost, quality, and service.

• Expense per paid hour decreased by 35%


• End-user satisfaction scores improved to exceed 93%


• Average handle time dropped by 19%, while achieving service level targets


• Interval call volume forecasting accuracy improved 30 percentage points in five months

Overall staffing to achieve metrics was reduced as EDS cross-trained agents in multiple skills and condensed varied skills to achieve intra-day forecast accuracy targets.

“As a technology and business services company that collaborates with clients to drive tangible business results, EDS is focused on performance improvement and customer satisfaction,” said Fariba Rawhani, global vice president, EDS CRM Services. “Implementation of the COPC® Performance Management System helps us improve performance in key metrics, including speed-to-answer and handling time per call. Improved demand forecasting and staff scheduling increases productivity, and an improved understanding of callers’ critical needs has brought increased levels of customer satisfaction. Overall, the certification process has contributed significantly to the center’s ability to provide quality service and consistent end-user satisfaction.”

About EDS
EDS (NYSE:EDS) is a leading global technology services company delivering business solutions to its clients. EDS founded the information technology outsourcing industry more than 40 years ago. Today, EDS delivers a broad portfolio of information technology and business process outsourcing services to clients in the manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, communications, energy, transportation, and consumer and retail industries and to governments around the world. Learn more at eds.com

About COPC Inc.
Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC Inc.) is the world’s leading authority on operations management and performance improvement for buyers and providers of customer contact center and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The COPC® Performance Management System includes site certification programs, operational management training, Six Sigma in Contact Centers, performance improvement consulting, and vendor sourcing and management services.

Since 1996, COPC Inc. has helped organizations in 35 countries drive results averaging two to five times Return on Investment (ROI) with a payback of less than one year. These results are achieved by leveraging the COPC® Family of Standards, the industry’s first performance management and certification system which, today, remains the most rigorous and only high performance set of global best practices and performance metrics that simultaneously increase customer satisfaction and profitability.

Global clients include Accenture, Apple, BT Group, Bertelsmann Arvato, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cable & Wireless, Citigroup, Convergys, Genpact, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, NTT, Sony, Telefónica, Telstra, and Wipro.