SSPA STAR Awards Presented to EMC Corporation, HP, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Oracle and Tektronix for Excellence in Technology Service and Support (email this article)

SAN DIEGO, Nov.14, 2006 –The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), the largest and most influential association for technology service and support professionals, today announced recipients of its annual STAR Awards, recognizing technology companies who display exceptional leadership, innovation and commitment to service excellence. Winning companies include EMC Corporation (STAR Award winner and Hall of Fame inductee), HP (winner of two awards), IBM (winner of two awards), Intuit, Microsoft, Oracle (winner of two awards) and Tektronix.

“The STAR Award is an established honor, bestowing peer recognition that these companies are, hands down, among the best in the business. This year’s judging process was extremely rigorous due to the large number and high quality of nominations,” said Bill Rose, founder and executive director of the SSPA.

Awards were presented in seven major categories, acknowledging excellence in different aspects of service and support delivery, including:

Complex Support:
Tektronix
Presented to the company that delivers sophisticated technical support for complex applications in mixed or otherwise complex environments, typically engineering and scientific fields. The company deploys senior level technical support representatives with advanced degrees who interface with senior level customers.

High Case Volume (two winners):
IBM System x, BladeCenter and Intellistation Support (Enterprise Support)
Microsoft Customer Service and Support (Consumer Support)
Presented to the company that demonstrates unmatched excellence at a support center with hundreds of support reps fielding thousands of technical assistance/customer support requests per day, and more than 10,000 requests per month – all with a high level of customer satisfaction. Award-winning companies in this area generally support a wide range of products.

Innovative Support:
Oracle
Presented to the company that has developed new, cutting-edge systems and processes for delivering exceptional technical support to their customers, displaying innovation and creativity through use of technology, tools, and systems.

Mission Critical Support:
EMC Corporation
Presented to the company that is the best at keeping customers “up and running” 24/7. Award-winning companies in this area must demonstrate how important their technical support is to the operation of customers’ mission critical systems or services where “system uptime” is imperative.

Most Improved:
Intuit
Presented to the company that demonstrates the greatest increase in support quality over the past year. Key measurements include dramatic improvement in customer satisfaction and overall gains in support productivity, backed by support metrics and customer satisfaction results for current and prior years.

Sustained Performance (two winners):
IBM Rochester Support Center (Enterprise Support)
HP (Consumer Support)
Presented to the company that has sustained outstanding service and support with high customer satisfaction levels for the past three consecutive years.

WebSTAR Service (two winners):
Oracle (Enterprise Support)
HP (Consumer Support)
Presented to the company that delivers exceptional customer service and technical support via the web. Award-winning companies in this area have helped to set benchmarks other organizations can use to measure their level of online technical support. In addition, EMC Corporation was inducted to the SSPA Hall of Fame in recognition of having won their fifth SSPA STAR Award since the program’s inception in 1989.

The SSPA STAR Awards have become one of the highest honors in the service and support industry, acknowledging the contribution of companies of all sizes to the continual improvement of service and support delivery industry-wide. The judging committee, comprised of industry executive SSPA Advisory Board members and senior SSPA association executives, evaluated data tabulated on criteria including description of overall support model, the nature and types of assisted support offered, the nature and types of non-assisted support offered, key performance metrics, and customer satisfaction results and methodologies.

The SSPA STAR Awards were presented today at the inaugural SSPA Services Leadership Conference, being held this week in Washington, D.C. To learn more about the SSPA STAR Awards and the Services Leadership Conference, go to 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 like J.D. Power and Associates and the Wharton School of Business to create programs that benefit the industry. The SSPA is part of the Point B group of associations. For over 16 years, Point B has successfully managed industry groups, including the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA). For more information, visit www.thesspa.com.