Excellence in Service Operations
&
SSPA Rated Outstanding Certification

Excellence in Service Operations
Excellence in Service Operations is the SSPA’s industry certification which recognizes outstanding service operations across all aspects of a customer support business.  This comprehensive program was developed by 50 leading technology companies and includes over 290 best practice criteria.  Excellence in Service Operations involves in-depth audits of all material support functions and locations for a business.  The Excellence in Service Operations modules or support functions include:

• Core Operations
• Assisted Support
• Unassisted Support
• Field Service
• Depot Maintenance
• Outsource Management, and
• Channel Management

Member companies participating in the Excellence in Service Operations certification process will certify their entire support organization at a Global or North America level.  Speak to your SSPA Membership Development Director to identify the best approach for your organization.

Learn how HP’s Commercial Division for the Personal Services Group achieved Excellence in Service Operations certification for their North America operations - recognizing their industry-leading service practices. Explore how HP navigated the process and the impact of certification in this revealing interview with HP’s Antonio Neri.

SSPA Rated Outstanding (Module and/or Location specific certification)
Organizations can alternatively select a module and/or location specific certification approach, which will yield support operation certification at the specific module and/or location level (e.g. SSPA Rated Outstanding, North Carolina, Assisted Support) versus Excellence in Service Operations at the enterprise support level. The same audit criteria in each module are used for both SSPA Rated Outstanding and SSPA Excellence in Service Operations certifications.

Certification Audit Criteria
Each module of the audit areas in the Organizational Development Program program has its own unique set of best practice performance criteria.  The criteria as well as the standards for performance were established by a committee of over 50 companies. These companies range from small and medium size software and hardware companies to some of the largest technology providers in the industry. All companies provided input on the key performance criteria as well as best practices to determine the thresholds. 

The same set of criteria are used for the SSPA Rated Outstanding,  Excellence in Service Operations, and J.D. Power and Associates Certified Technology Services and Support certifications  The criteria are reviewed and enhanced on an annual basis to ensure the highest standards are being met.  This annual review process ensures that our members are not only pursuing recognition for their high levels of customer satisfaction, but also continuous improvement in their support operations.

Once a company has received the audit criteria, an assigned SSPA Program Manager will guide them through the audit process by helping them understand the criteria and the preparation of evidence.  The SSPA Program Manager will also work with the company as they prepare for the on-site audit (i.e. logistics and management).  In addition to the program manager, the SSPA assigns a sponsoring SSPA Executive to the account.  Companies entering the program are also required to assign their own Program Manager who will work with the SSPA to coordinate their internal team and program deliverables.

 Organizational Development Program Audits
Audits across the entire support organization for the Excellence in Service Operations or J.D. Power and Associates certification are performed by 2 auditors, one from the SSPA and one from J.D. Power and Associates.  Companies certifying a subset of their support modules or locations (SSPA Rated Outstanding certification) will be audited by 1 SSPA auditor.   SSPA auditors have extensive support services backgrounds.  The audit report provides detailed scoring and feedback on performance against the best practice criteria within the certification scope.  The audit criteria are also the foundation for development of corrective action plans that may be necessary to bring a company up to the top levels of support operations performance, as is required for certification.

During the audit process, Auditors come on-site and interact with your support operations and personnel with the objective of validating your organization’s performance against the programs best practices criteria.  Audit locations and modules that are in the scope of the selected program are agreed to in advance of the audits.    Participating companies can elect to audit and certify:

• The entire service and support organization at a North America or Global level
• A business unit or product line
• A support module/function (e.g. assisted support, field service, etc.)
• A single support center or location

Audits consist of 1-2 auditors on-site for several days.  The deliverables include a rating and an audit report that cover key findings and recommendations from the audit team.

The audit benchmark for all versions of the certification requires that you meet or exceed 80% of the best-in-class criteria within the scope identified for your organization.  Achieving this milestone for your entire support organization entitles you to use the Excellence in Service Operations certification logo in advertising, sales presentations, websites and direct marketing.  Achieving this milestone for a particular criteria module or support location entitles you to use the SSPA Rated Outstanding certification logo.  There are no brand license fees for either SSPA certification type as long as you remain in the Organizational Development Program program and your successful audit scores are current to within 12 months.   

Company’s aiming for the customer validation as represented by the  J.D. Power and Associates Certified Technology Service and Support certification must pass audits at the company or business unit level Excellence in Service Operation in order to be eligible for the next step (JDPA CTSS customer satisfaction surveys) in the certification process.