Support Center Site Certification: Is it for you?
by Greg Coleman, Principal/Vice President Certification Programs, Service Strategies Corporation

If you’re considering site certification for your support center(s), you’re probably overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, facts, and myths about the benefits of earning certification, what being “certified” means, how to go about it, and why.

To help you make sense of it all, lets take a broad look at some of the benefits of certification as well as some of the criteria to look for when selecting a certification program for your support center. Certification methodology and the quality of results you get can fluctuate widely between various programs. Armed with the right information, you have a better chance at selecting the program and achieving your goals.

Why become certified?

There are several reasons organizations choose to become certified. Certification typically improves your support organization’s ability to provide high-level, consistent support to customers. Here are some of the more common reasons we hear with the benefits you can expect from your investment.

• To create a roadmap to world-class support -- The program should provide a framework for the development of your support organization. The certification criteria should provide guidance for ensuring that best practices are developed and implemented and should focus the organization on delivering the highest quality support possible. This should result in improved operational effectiveness and staff productivity, which in turn, leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  
  
• To address specific support-related issues -- Certification programs should cover almost every aspect of operating a support center while focusing on key operational areas that need attention. By gaining this focus, support organizations will have the momentum necessary to address long-standing issues, and improve overall operations in the process. Certification can help raise the internal and external awareness of value of the customer support organization.
  
  
• To improve service delivery -- The improvements you make in achieving certification benefit your customers by providing them with improved service delivery, better trained staff, and better implementation and documentation of key processes and procedures. All support organizations can improve in one area or another.
  
  
• To establish benchmarks against the best – Using standard benchmarks from associations like SSPA, you can benchmark your support operations against industry best practices and compare your operations against those of other world-class organizations. This can provide goals for improvement or validate that you’re among the best in your industry. Benchmarking can also help companies validate current practices. For support organizations already delivering quality support, the certification program becomes a means of validation, to help them realize they’re doing the right things and keep them from trying to fix something that isn’t broken. Positive results can also be used to improve morale.
  
  
• To market support as a competitive differentiator -- Certification programs should also provide a means to communicate the quality and value of your support to customers, shareholders, investors, and prospects. Certified support organizations should have the rights to use the certification logo in marketing materials -- enabling the company to better promote support as a competitive differentiator.
  
  
• To drive consistency in support delivery -- Many support organizations deliver support through multiple support centers both regionally and across the globe. Consistent service delivery is a key component in maintaining and driving high customer satisfaction levels. The certification program must provide a common framework through the program criteria and define the practices necessary to deliver consistent service levels across multiple support centers. The program should then measure the degree of consistency through the certification audit process.

Selecting the right program

Once you’ve decided to seek certification, you’ll find that there are a number of certification programs available. To get the most from your time and effort, you should do your homework and select the program that best meets your goals. A few things to consider are:

• What is the program’s track record? Ask who developed the certification criteria? Who sponsors it? How long has it been available? Is the program the internationally accepted standard that others are compared to? How many organizations have adopted the certification program?
  
  
• What other organizations have been certified? Request the names of other organizations that have been through the certification process and see how they’re perceived in the market. Use those references and call them and ask for their direct feedback.
  
  
• What are costs? Are all fees stated upfront? Are there associated consulting fees? Some certification programs require costly consulting engagements or additional fees. Learn all the costs up front and avoid any surprises.
  
  
• How often is the program revised and updated? Being world-class today doesn’t ensure world-class next year. New trends and technology are continually raising the bar on superior customer support levels. Make sure the certification program you select is updated and revised on a regular, published schedule.
  
  
• Does the program content meet your needs? Look for a program that not only meets your needs and goals but one that can also quantify the effectiveness of your support, based on stringent performance standards that represent best practices in the industry. The program should establish a foundation to build on existing quality processes, and provide a clear focus on measurable results. Make sure the program is designed specifically to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty through improvements in operational effectiveness and staff productivity and provides a continuous improvement program that enables you to provide world-class service to your customers. After all – that’s the bottom line.

Seek continuous improvement

If you aren’t continuously driving improvements in your support organization’s processes and technology, be assured that your competitors are. Today’s leading support organizations are constantly challenged by new products and services offerings, entry into new markets, and changing customer demands. Certification helps ensure that your customers receive a high quality of support. With a plan that includes on-going re-certification, you’ll have a continuous improvement program in place that enables you to provide world-class service to your customers.

If you have any questions about site certification, feel free to email me at gcoleman@servicestrategies.com. For more information about the industry leading Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program, visit http://www.scpcertification.com.