SSPA Honors Fall 2007 “Recognized Innovators” Citrix Online, Clarabridge, InQuira, ISOdx, NextNine, RightNow and Verint

Awards Given for Technologies that Help to Cultivate
a Value-Added Support Organization

SAN DIEGO, Oct.1, 2007 –The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), the largest and most influential association for technology services and support professionals, today named the winners and finalists of the Fall 2007 SSPA Recognized Innovator program.  Technology and services vendors have been recognized for improving the way companies provide service and support to their customers in three categories – Proactive Support, Interaction Quality, and Globalization.

The Fall 2007 SSPA Recognized Innovators are:

Innovation in Proactive Support

• Winner:  NextNine
• Finalists:  ISOdx, Clarabridge

Innovation in Interaction Quality

• Winner:  Verint
• Finalist:  Citrix Online

Innovation in Globalization

• Winner:  RightNow
• Finalist:  InQuira

The honorees were selected by a panel of judges that included industry experts, SSPA members, and SSPA Vice President of Research John Ragsdale, and were honored today at the SSPA Services Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

“With customer expectations and product complexity continuing to rise, embracing innovation is the only way companies can continue to deliver breakthrough customer success.  We recognize these solution providers as delivering truly unique and differentiated offerings that embody the spirit of innovation in service and support technology,” said Ragsdale.

"The SSPA Recognized Innovator awards have become a badge of honor for service and support technology and service providers and the judging process was quite challenging as we received a significant number of deserving nominations from well-qualified innovators in their respective areas," he added.

The SSPA Fall 2007 Recognized Innovator Awards were evaluated on the following categories:

• Innovation in Proactive Support. A key element of value-added service is moving from the traditional break-fix model to one of proactive and preventative monitoring and support.  As technology becomes even more ingrained in our personal and work lives, customers are becoming even less tolerant of technical problems and any subsequent downtime.  This award is presented to SSPA Partners whose innovative solutions better enable companies to proactively support customers.
  
  
• Innovation in Interaction Quality.  When companies focus on cutting talk times and deflecting live agent interactions, the customer experience sometime suffers.  Ongoing agent monitoring and training are critical to be certain every customer interaction offers a memorable experience.  This award recognizes those SSPA Partners whose innovative solutions allow companies to more easily assess the quality of agent interactions, identifying agents in need of additional training or coaching, and improve the customer experience.
  
  
1. Innovation in Globalization.  Enabling breakthrough customer success is not limited to customers who speak English or are located in Eastern Standard Time.  Thanks to the Internet, even smaller companies are finding growing customer ranks around the world, and support organizations often struggle to effectively support customers who speak different languages and have different cultural attitudes toward service. The award is earned by SSPA Partners whose innovative solutions permit companies to successfully support global customers, regardless of location, time zone, or language.

The honorees are being showcased today at the SSPA Services Leadership Conference in New Orleans, with an awards ceremony as well as tours of the winners’ booths in the SSPA’s Technology Services Expo, led by Ragsdale.  More information on the conference and previous Recognized Innovator Awards can be found at www.thesspa.com.

About the SSPA
As the industry’s foremost professional association, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) is a key resource for the information and best practices needed to make better business decisions. It brings together the best minds from across the industry spectrum – from established companies with successful track records to the pioneering newcomers with out-of-the-box ideas. The SSPA also partners with thought leaders such as J.D. Power and Associates and the Wharton School of Business to create programs that benefit the industry. The SSPA is a member of a global network of associations that includes the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA), the Association for Services Management International (AFSMI) and the Electronic Supply Chain Association (ESCA). For more information, visit www.thesspa.com.

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