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C Spire Wins Prestigious Best Practices Award From Service Quality Management for Real-Time Support Process in Customer Care Call Center Operations

2014-05-06
Best Practices Award from Service Quality Management for Real-Time Support Process in Customer Care Call Center Operations

Company honored with top award for innovative approaches that boost first call resolution and improve customer satisfaction performance

Ridgeland, Miss. (May 6, 2014) – C Spire’s call center operations have been honored with a first place award from Service Quality Management (SQM) for best practices and improvements in real-time support processes that aid first call resolution and boost customer satisfaction.

The Ridgeland-based telecommunications and technology services firm was one of 41 companies honored as part of the largest and most prestigious call center awards program in North America during the 15th annual SQM conference in Washington, D.C. last month.

SQM benchmarks over 450 leading North American call centers and has completed first call resolution, employee and customer satisfaction call center research and studies. Every year, the organization conducts over 1 million customer surveys and 25,000 call center employee surveys in 11 countries, including leading companies likes Aetna, Amex, Blue Cross, Capital One, FedEx, Discover and Sears.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized with an award from this organization,” said Sherry Stegall, senior vice president of Operations for C Spire. “Our call center teams are passionate about providing world-class customer service and satisfaction. This recognition motivates us to take our service levels and operating efficiencies to even greater heights.”

C Spire was selected for the top award by a panel of six judges who are subject matter experts in the best practices for real –time support processes that aid first call resolution and boost customer satisfaction. The other two finalists were VSP Vision Care and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.

“On behalf of SQM, I’d like to congratulate C Spire, their customer service representatives and supervisors for their commitment to continuous improvement,” said Mike Desmarais, president and founder of SQM Group. “Achieving this level of focus on customer service takes a united effort and we’re thrilled to acknowledge this team’s efforts.”

Craig Jackson, vice president of Customer Operations for C Spire, said the 205-member strong customer service representative teams in the company’s Customer Care operations are not resting on their laurels. “At C Spire, customers are our inspiration so we want to provide the very best service all the time and that means continually pursuing excellence in every interaction.”

Jackson said the real-time floor management processes that minimize customer hold and wait times have been a catalyst for creating heightened morale and employee advocacy. “Our employees know they have the tools and real-time support they need to succeed and be true advocates for the customer. That makes all the difference in the world,” he said.

Desmarais said SQM benchmarks and tracks all major contact channels, including call centers, websites, interactive voice response and email. The company is a leading research firm for voice of the customer, first call resolution and customer satisfaction call center performance.

About C Spire
C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data and cloud services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.

About Service Quality Management Group
Since 1996, Service Quality Management (SQM) Group has been a leading North American research firm for benchmarking and tracking voice of the customer, first call resolution and customer satisfaction call center performance. SQM’s consulting services assist call centers with best practices for improving first call resolution. SQM also benchmarks and tracks all major contact channels and conducts over 1 million customer surveys. For more information, visit www.sqmgroup.com.