The Service Centre Practices (SCP) Assessment Criteria
By Munirah Looi

Brandt International, which recently partnered with John Clements to deliver call center training, certification, and consulting services to increase call center operational efficiency, is currently the only body certified by the Service Support Professional Association, USA, in Asia to undertake any contact centre assessments in line with the SCP Best Practices and Standards. Following is a summary of Service Centre Practices, or SCP.

The Service Centre Practices Certification program was designed to address service quality issues that affect the rapidly-growing contact centre and technology and service support marketplace. SCP Certification quantifies the effectiveness of customer support based upon a stringent set of performance standards and represents best practices in the industry. The program is guided by a body of sponsoring companies who represent core members of the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), and is managed by Service Strategies Corporation (SSC) in the USA. The SCP Certification program establishes the standard for measuring quality customer service support. The program focuses customer service support organizations on processes and results and defines hard measurements where possible that apply across the customer service support industry. It provides a standard for the industry that describes world-class customer service support. The criteria sections defined within the SCP Certification program represent the broad scope of business practices necessary to deliver top quality customer service support. The Assessment covers 11 criteria are:
 
Description of the SCP Program Criteria
Customer Feedback
Customer Feedback involves all the activities associated with collecting, analyzing and acting on feedback provided by the customer. Feedback from customers is a vital tool that the management team can use to drive change and improvement in their service delivery process.

Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management centers on managing interactions with customers. Setting customer expectations and proactively communicating with customers are key aspects on managing the relationships.

Performance Metrics
Measuring performance is a key aspect of managing any customer service support operation. Without quantitative measures for the key performance metrics, it is difficult to determine how well a customer service support centre is meeting customer requirements. Service Centres should establish clear goals, and then track their performance against those goals.

Training Programs
Training is a critical part of any customer service support operation. Properly-trained support personnel can have a significant impact on how customers perceive the quality of support provided by a company. If representatives are not adequately trained, customer issues may take longer to resolve, thereby leading to customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, managing the development of the support staff is critical to the success of the organization.

People Programs
People are the single biggest resource in any customer service support operation. The business of delivering service is all about people, and the support staff represents the “service product” delivered by the company. Personnel costs also typically represent the single largest expense for most customer service support operations. It is critical that the staff feel that they are contributing to the success of the company and that they are respected for the role they play within the company. Customer support is a very people-intensive business and the quality of life for the people that work in support is critical to the success of the organization.

Corporate Commitment & Strategic Direction
In today’s competitive marketplace, it is critical that companies demonstrate a strong commitment to deliver top quality service and support to customers. In many instances, service and support can be a differentiator in the product purchasing decision. Therefore, companies must ensure that they provide the highest levels of support possible and maintain a strong commitment to satisfying their customers. The strength of commitment to deliver exceptional customer service support must begin at the executive level.

Productivity Tools
Over the past ten years, customer service support Centers have made good use of automation tools to assist in delivering services to customers. These tools are now essential to managing customer interactions. They provide the necessary automation to streamline access to qualified support staff, record critical customer information and provide resources to speed the problem resolution process for support personnel. The result of implementing productivity tools is a more effective and efficient support Centre with higher customer satisfaction levels.

Electronic Service Delivery
In today’s marketplace, companies need to provide service options for their customers that allow them to interact electronically. Establishing an integrated electronic service delivery offering is becoming increasingly more important to the success of companies operating in a fast paced business environment.

Total Quality Management
The quality of the support services delivered by a company can significantly influence its ability to acquire and retain customers. Support has become a differentiator in the current service-oriented marketplace. Companies need to implement processes and procedures that ensure that every customer interaction is a quality one that leaves the customer feeling good about the company they are dealing with. By implementing processes and procedures to monitor and improve support quality, companies can drive higher performance from the support Centre and generate greater customer loyalty.

Research & Development Interface
The relationship between Customer Service Support and Research & Development organizations is a key factor to the success of any company. The relationship should be one of open communication and provide for knowledge transfer between the two groups. By having clear lines of communication and strong working relationships between these two groups, customer identified issues can be addressed rapidly and changes incorporated into product updates and future releases.
 
Sales Interface
The relationship between the Customer Service Support and Sales organizations is a key factor in the success of any company. Sales and Customer Service Support are typically the most customer-facing organizations in a company. Since the Sales organization sets initial customer expectations, it is critical that they have a full understanding of the services that will be delivered by the Support organization. By having clear lines of communication and strong working relationships between these two groups, customer expectations can be set properly, and the number of customer complaints reduced.

VALUE PROPOSITION OF CONTACT CENTER ASSESSMENTS
 
THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

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For more information, please contact Jon Pineda of John Clements at 845-2093 or email him at jon.pineda@johnclements.com.