Service & Support Professionals Association Now Accepting Nominations For 2004 STAR Awards
The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) today announced it is accepting nominations for the prestigious 2004 STAR Awards. The Star Awards recognize technology companies who are committed to service and support excellence. The 2004 STAR Awards will be presented at a gala dinner Monday evening, October 4, during the SSPA Conference at Savannah.
"Nothing beats earning the respect and admiration of your peers. That's what the SSPA STAR Awards are all about -- being acknowledged by your peers for delivering world-class customer service and support and its contribution to customer satisfaction, retention, and brand loyalty," said Bill Rose, SSPA Founder and Executive Director. "Given annually since 1989, the STAR Awards are a coveted prize. Finalists are announced in advance, but the winners are not known until the awards dinner which makes for a very exciting evening for all."
Competing support centers undergo a rigorous self-nominated process. Applicants must provide the SSPA with award-winning facts and supporting data during on their application. Applications will be judged by the SSPA Advisory Board – senior executives from leading technology service and support departments. Each application is tested against the criteria set for the individual categories including SSPA established standards. The nine 2004 STAR Awards categories are:
Complex Support Applications – For support organizations that deliver sophisticated technical support for complex applications in mixed environments. Typical applicants in this category have senior-level tech support reps interfacing with senior-level customers in engineering or scientific fields.
High Call Volume – For support centers with hundreds of support reps supporting multiple products. Call volumes typically run in the thousands per day. High customer satisfaction is key in this category.
Innovative Support – For support centers that have developed new, cutting-edge systems and processes for delivering exceptional customer support. Applicants must clearly document the innovation in their use of technology, tools, and systems in support of improved support processes and solutions.
Mission-Critical Support – System up time is the key to this category. Support centers are judged on their ability to keep customers' systems up and running 24/7.
Sustained Performance – The winner in this category will prove they have sustained outstanding software support with high customer satisfaction levels for at least three years. Applicants must present three years of data to support their claims.
Outsource Support Provider – Delivering superior customer support as a primary business is the requirement in this category. Applicants typically offer proof points including: high customer satisfaction, outstanding service, effective customer relationship management, performance metrics, and more.
Support Technology Vendor – We recognize that innovative technology products make life easier for support managers. The key here is to articulate uniqueness and creativity both in product development and marketing.
WebSTAR Service Award – The Internet has changed the way we all work and live. Support is no exception. This award is given to the company that has used the Web to improve and enhance its service offerings.
Most Improved – This award goes to the center that demonstrates the most improvement in its software support over the past year. Key measurements include customer satisfaction improvements as well as support productivity.
If you would like to learn more in about the SSPA 2004 STAR Awards nomination process, they can contact Ron Johnson at 858.674.5491, rjohnson@thesspa.com, or visit www.sspaconferences.com/savannah/staraward. If you would like more information about the STAR Awards, the SSPA, or the SSPA Conference at Savannah, please contact Ann Reichert, SSPA Director of Marketing, at 858.674.5491 or areichert@thesspa.com.
About the SSPA
Founded in 1989, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) was formed to focus on the specific needs of executives responsible for service and support centers and overall customer relations. Today, the SSPA represents over 24,000 service professionals at over 2,700 support centers worldwide. These executives look to SSPA to provide insight into the future of support services, a road map of best practices within our industry and access to the best service and support industry vendors. SSPA has become the center of support providing a reliable and comprehensive resource for conferences, news, research, benchmarking, standards and collaboration.
About the SSPA Conference at Savannah
The SSPA Conference at Savannah, October 3 – 6, the most comprehensive event for technology service and support VPs, directors, and managers, delivers business intelligence for the future of support demand, technology, and people. Attendees learn what the next 3 to 5 years hold and what actions to take in a fusion of high-energy, high-value sessions over an intense 4-day event. Speakers are industry visionaries and fellow service and support professionals. Attendance is expected to exceed 600. Sponsors include Kanisa, Motive, Control-F1, webex, and Talisma.