More than 50 Companies Including HP, McAfee, and Oracle Named to Standards Board

SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 17, 2005 -- The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) said today that it has created a Standards Board of industry experts from leading technology companies who will together create the best-practices criteria for the recently announced J.D. Power Certified Technology Service & Support program, to be administered jointly by J.D. Power and Associates and the SSPA. The criteria established by the Standards Board will ensure that all infrastructure and quality-assurance processes meet the highest industry standards and should, over time yield consistently high-quality service and support.

“This advisory group represents the ‘cream of the crop’ of service and support executives, and their sage counsel will be invaluable in laying the groundwork for this certification program, the first of its kind in our industry,” said Bill Rose, SSPA founder and executive director.
 

Initial Results to be Announced in Fall 2005
Customer satisfaction surveys conducted solely by J.D. Power & Associates, will follow in early fall, with the first certifications expected to be awarded by October. Companies who successfully complete both the best-practices audit and the site surveys will be awarded the J.D. Power & Associates Certified Technology Service and Support designation.

Since the program’s inception in March, technology industry leaders have quickly recognized the value in providing a common process-improvement focus for service and support teams worldwide. “As a similar program did for the auto industry 20 years ago, this J.D. Power certification gives service and support teams a set of clear criteria for high-performance, and a way of being recognized, in very prestigious fashion, for achieving excellence. The enthusiasm for the program is evidenced by the fact that over 100 highly qualified individuals applied for board seats,” Rose noted.

Led by Rose and senior executives from J.D. Power & Associates, the Standards Board comprises a cross-section of technology companies and includes executives from ActionTec Electronics, ADP, Altera, Aspen Technology, ATG, BEA Systems, Best Software, Blackbaud, Business Objects, Canon, Cardinal Health, Catalyst International, Cognos, Convergys, Danka Office Imaging, Day Software, DoubleClick, e4e, EMC, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, Internet Security Systems, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, Kronos, McAfee, McKesson, Mercury, MicroStrategy, Monster Worldwide, Network Appliance, Novell, Oracle, Peregrine, Primavera, S1, SENTO, Siemens Medical Solutions, SITEL, Sonic Roxio, Sterling Commerce, Sutherland Global Services, Tektronix, Trend Micro, Tumbleweed Communications, VeriSign, VERITAS, Workshare and Zebra Technologies.

Queries about the J.D. Power & Associates Certified Technology Service & Support program can be made by calling 1-858-674-5491 or visiting www.thesspa.com.
 

About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers and businesses annually.
 

About the SSPA
With a membership of 24,000 professionals working in over 2,700 service and support organizations worldwide, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) is the leading advisory, community and education trade group for the global tech support industry. SSPA’s core constituents are the executives and managers responsible for service and support operations, and overall customer relations, at the world's leading IT companies. SSPA provides (1) research and expert analysis of emerging business issues, (2) conferences, professional development, and other curricula promoting industry best practices, (3) rigorous certification and awards programs that identify and celebrate exceptional customer service, and (4) active advocacy in the business and IT press on issues important to service & support providers.