Press Release

Press Information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 Aug 2007

Contact: Heather Beckel Guntert
512-288-4054
heather@iandocom.com

COPC Inc. Recertifies Microsoft Customer Service and Global Outsourcing Teams in Asia Pacific on the Outsourcing Management Industry Standard

(AUSTIN, Texas) — COPC Inc. (Customer Operations Performance Center Inc.) today announced that Microsoft’s Managed Global Operations and Customer Service Asia Pacific operations have successfully completed recertification. This accomplishment makes Microsoft the first company worldwide to achieve recertification to the COPC® Vendor Management Organization Standard (COPC-2000 VMO Standard).

The COPC-2000 VMO Standard is recognized in the customer service operations industry as the highest level of best practices for outsourcing management. Vendor management organizations (VMOs) are comprised of internal and/or external teams that manage a company’s relationship with their outsourced customer service, contact center and business process outsourcing providers. Certification to the industry standard ensures that regardless of being insourced or outsourced, corporations can ensure their customers consistently receive high levels of service and quality combined with high levels of operational efficiency with reduced costs.

Microsoft’s involvement in the COPC-2000 VMO Standard began over a decade ago when the company contributed to the development COPC® Family of Standards; a set of high performance operational management frameworks for buyers and providers of service-chain operations. Last year, Microsoft’s Asia Pacific region operations deepened its commitment when it launched the Standard as a strategic initiative intended to improve end-user satisfaction with a standardized set of best practices and metrics to consistently manage their outsourced Customer Service Providers.

“Recertifying to the COPC® VMO Standard has been a great achievement for our organization; both from a team achievement level, and more importantly from an aspect of proving that the approaches we have adopted have become our standard operation procedures” said Brett Frazer, Microsoft Regional Customer Service Director, Singapore. “This in my perspective is the ultimate goal of implementing a robust Quality Management Framework such as the COPC® VMO Standard, that as an organization we consistently execute these practices because they are the right way to run our business and continually improve the service we provide our customers and partners, not just to get a certification.”

Since its original certification to the Standard, Microsoft APAC Customer Service has experienced significant operational improvements (in the 16 months from January 2006 to April 2007) including:

• 23% improvement in customer satisfaction with call center service; and


• Improved email on-time response by 14% to 84%.

“The recertification of Microsoft’s MGSO and APAC to the COPC-2000 VMO Standard simply serves to show the company’s dedication to effectively managing their Customer Service Provider relationships,” said Cliff Moore, COPC Inc. Chairman. “Once again, Microsoft has distinguished itself as an innovator and leader in quality customer service and process management.”

About COPC Inc.

Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC Inc.) is the world’s leading authority on service-chain operations management, including performance improvement for buyers and providers of customer service, customer contact center and business process outsourcing operations. Since 1996, COPC Inc. has helped more than 1,000 organizations in 50 countries improve customer service by using the COPC® Family of Standards, the industry’s first and most comprehensive set of performance management operating models for customer service operations. Today, it remains the only performance-driven and industry-governed global best practices model that simultaneously increases both customer satisfaction and profitability.

For further information, please visit www.copc.com.