How the program works

The J.D. Power and Associates Certified Technology Service & Support program provides forward-looking guidelines for the delivery of world-class service and support. Over 50 industry-leading companies joined the SSPA Standards Board and helped develop the program’s certification standard. The standard includes over 250 criteria for best practices in service strategy, operations, promotion, assisted and non-assisted support, depot and field service, and channel and outsource partner service.

The program’s flexible design fits a variety of service business models. The combination of SSPA’s core criteria and a wide range of service delivery components make the program adaptable to a diverse range of technology companies from hardware to software to office products to online service providers.

Companies interested in applying for certification complete a certification configuration form providing a summary of their support operations and a breakdown of the volume of support they are delivering each year. The SSPA and J.D. Power and Associates review this information to develop an audit and survey sampling methodology that will be the basis for completing the certification.

Two Levels of Certification
The Certified Technology Service & Support Program includes 2 levels of certification.

Level 1- Total Support Quality
SSPA Total Support Quality certification begins with a Self-Assessment. Companies receive the certification criteria and conduct an internal assessment of their performance against the criteria. When the Self-Assessment is complete, auditors from SSPA and J.D. Power and Associates auditor visit your support center(s) to validate the Self-Assessment. The auditors score the company’s performance and provide a summary report highlighting key areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement within the support organization. Companies must earn at least 80% of the available audit points to achieve Total Support Quality Certification. <more>

Level 2- High Customer Support Satisfaction
The J.D. Power and Associates Certified Technology Service & Support program measures the effectiveness of support services in terms of customer perceptions. J.D. Power and Associates collects customer satisfaction data based on recent support experiences, analyzes the survey data, and then generates a Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI).

Companies that have earned Total Support Quality certification and have a CSI score that is in the top 20% of customer satisfaction scores for the industry are awarded the J.D. Power and Associates Outstanding Customer Support and Satisfaction certification, . These companies also have the opportunity to enter a licensing agreement that provides for use of the J.D. Power and Associates brand in advertising. <more>

Get started by contacting the SSPA now!
The road to certified technology service and support excellence begins with a call to the SSPA at 858.674.5491 or email ctss@thesspa.com.