Are there any Vendor references that you would refer us to for webinars or product validation studies.? Yes, we have many wonderful vendors willing to talk to you about their experience with us in doing webinars and product validation studies. We do not just give out names and email address, because we need to know who you are, and what industry you're in, and the connect you with the best reference. I suggest you email me at DrJonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com with your details. Thanks for your question. Hope to hear from you soon.
Dear Dr Jon: I am working with GE Capital India and it is one of the largest IT HelpDesk in the country. I require some information on Problem Categorization. A call is categorised into PCC which is Problem Category Codes for that particular. Today these PCC's are symptomatic in nature which the call take thinks is the problem. At the end of the day, I would like to study what kind of problems are coming into my HelpDesk using these PCC drill downs. Is there any study which has been done on Problem Categorization for IT HelpDesks? What are the best practices? How are other people doing? What is the best way to study what kind of problems are coming into my helpdek? Devesh Singhal This is a VERY complicated area, for which little standardization exists. "Best Practice" approaches to categorization go beyond symptom (or problem code as you describe), and consider a broader classification schema. A typical schema would include: Productline (i.e. Pc, server, printer) , Domain (i.e. database, network, etc), Symptom (squeaky sound, blue screen) , Failure (missing DLL) and Solution (patch # 12345).

Many of the providers of Knowledge Management Software and Help Desk solutions offer insights into problem categorization on their web sites. You can find many of the fine companies offering these solutions in the Yellow Pages section of our web site. We strongly recommend that you participate in our Help Desk Technical Support Benchmark Service to compare the performance of your help desk to your peers. Dear Dr. Anton, I am currently working at a client where we are performing a call center assessment. Our company (Accenture) owns a copy of the Banking Industry Report Rev. Jan 2003. I had some questions regarding Inbound Call Center Reps for the Banking Industry I was hoping you'd be able to answer. 1. Average Handle Time - The report gives Banking Industry as well as Best in Banking averages. Can you provide specific AHT's for some major banking institutions (I realize you may not be able to give the names of the specific institutions - a general idea of the size of the bank would be fine)? 2. Sales Referrals - In Chapter 5 (P 63), question 25 asks how TSR's are measured. Can you clarify what Sales Volume - Sales Conversion means? Is that the percentage of banking industry call centers that require their inbound customer service reps to make sales referrals? Are referral rates measured as part of their scorecard? If so, how much emphasis is typically placed on sales referrals? 3. Base pay and Incentive pay - What are the averages for inbound service reps in banking with respect to percentage of income that is base pay versus incentive, bonuses, and rewards? Thanks for taking the time to look at these questions. I appreciate any help you'd be able to provide. Best wishes, Wayne Tu Accenture - Financial Services Email: wayne.w.tu@accenture Phone: 678-657-5264 Thank you Wayne for your question.

I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr Jon Anton
Dear Dr. Anton: Do you know current figures on outsourced customer service in the US(percentage of companies that outsource)? My last figure is 25% (Fortune 1000) in 1997. In your estimation, is the outsourcing trend continuing? Thank you very much for any assistance. Cindy Adams From our research of over 25,000 call centers, including the Fortune 1000, companies outsource only approximately 8% of their calls. The teleservices industry continues to grow at about 11% per year, however, it is a very crowded industry with many small players. I would anticipate a consolidation in the next twelve months. Dear Dr. Jon Q1: Are the any client references that you can offer for Benchmarking in the Health Insurance industry in Australia? Q2 : Australia is listed as one of the 50 countries in the Benchmark research. What Australian companies have been included in Health Insurance Call Centre Benchmark study? Regards Suzanne Wiegard A1. Suzanne, we do have good references, but why bother...just send your data and benchmark with us¡­.after all, the Reality Check Benchmark is FREE¡­

A2. Suzanne, we do not list our member companies as part of our total confidentiality approach. We do have many health insurance call centers in our database. Please join us...
--Dr. Jon Dear Dr. Jon, I'm Yoojin Kim, who works for Customer Satisfaction Team at SK Corporation, South Korea. SK Corporation is the number 1 oil refinery company in South Korea. My team manages a call center, and we are trying to figure out a call center's contribution in terms of sales volume. So I'd like to know whether or not there is any kind of research or study about a call center's contribution to sales volume. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Best Regards, Yoojin Kim Assistant Manager, SK Corporation Yoojin, this is a very complex question. If you are an outbound sales call center, then the contribution is easier to predict. If you are an inbound customer service center taking customer's orders, again easy to predict. If you are an inbound customer service center just handling questions, then it is very difficult to predict. What are you?
--Dr Jon Do you have any interesting demographics regarding callers? Yes, our research shows that individuals with a higher level of education are likely to contact call centers more often. In addition, individuals in the 20- to 40-year-old age group are more likely to contact companies than individuals in the 50- to 70-year-old age group. There is a free white paper available on our Web site, www.BenchmarkPortal.com regarding caller and Web visitor demographics. Do you have any international data and if so how many centers by country? Yes we do. We currently have data on almost 50 countries. I suggest you email me at DrJonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com with which countries your are researching. Thanks for your question. Hope to hear from you soon.
Does Dr Jon Anton work for Purdue or BenchmarkPortal? Dr. Jon Anton works for both organizations. He is the academic "liaison" between BenchmarkPortal and Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality. This unique research Center at Purdue was founded by Dr. Jon in 1993. Dr. Jon is the Director of Benchmark Research for both organization. Dr. Jon also works for the Anton Press, a publishing house that focuses on books for the customer service contact center community. Dr. Jon has
authored 22 books and has another 10 in the production pipeline.

Dr Jon how does Six Sigma either fit or complete with BMP Six Sigma is a worldwide organization focused on Total Quality Management. They certify QA professionals to do quality improvement in all aspects of a company. A Six Sigma person can be your stongest ally in conducting benchmarking using the BMP methodology.
Dr. Anton: We met today at the Blue Cross e-Commerce. I would like to obtain some curriculum information on the program at Purdue - including any requirements for your students to complete internships or residencies. Thanks, David Boucher, Assistant Vice President of Health Care Services, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, AF-324, I-20@Alpine Road, Columbia, SC 29219, 803-264-3256 Dave, thanks for your question, and a pleasure to meet you last week in Tampa. Let me get some materials together to send you. Because of the demand on my time, allow about two weeks.
--Dr. Jon Dr. Jon, I would like to purchse "Call Center Benchmarking (Deciding If Good Is Enough), but it is always out of stock on the online stores I've sreached. Do you know where I could get a copy? Thanks. This is an older book, and is really "out of print".

I suggest my new book with Bruce Belfiore, Benchmarking at its Best for Contact Centers. Check it out on our Web site Bookstore:

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/store/index.taf

--Dr. Jon Dr. Jon- I attended a presentation you gave last week in Arizona at the Blue Cross Blue Shield FEP meeting. You had advised that your presentation would be online in the bookstore section of your website under the Free Articles and Presentation slides - BCBS -FEP. I do not see it there. Can you advise when this will be available? Thank you. Maureen,
Sorry for pointing you in the wrong direction. My slides can be downloaded at:

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/newsite/article_detail.taf?topicid=458

If you need any more help please let me know.
Dr. Jon Good Day, As we are entering the budget season we are interested in finding a benchmark regarding overhead cost as a percent of the total call center operating expense. Any insight would be great! Kind regards, Mireille Mireille,
I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr. Jon Anton
Have you compiled any benchmarks for planned and unplanned vacancy in an inbound contact center? I am also looking for any statistics on calls per member per month in the insurance industry. Thanks for your questions. We have details on both topics. Please review our Web site for details. Also, our insurance industry report has many of these statistics. Please contact Michael Feinberg for more details. His email address is MichaelFeinberg@BenchmarkPortal.com.

Dr. Jon
Have you noticed any gender differences in terms of who is more likely to call a company's call center? Yes. Our research shows that women are more likely to call catalog call centers than men, and men are more likely to call financial services call centers than women. Also, women are more likely to make purchases by phone, and men are more likely to just call for information. Hello Dr Jon! My organization just made a necessary rule change that has enraged a high number of our users. The Board of Directors has heard the negative feedback but refuses to change back. The issue is just but it does hurt our customers. I'm left with the daunting task of informing these irate customers that they will not get what they want. What kind of positive spin can I do for this issue? My current strategy is to offer a filed complaint that will be forwarded to the BOD's and even suggest a letter be written to the BOD's for the most irate. Our users are primarily Realtors and I can't think of another user base that works more closely with each other. The old adage of 1 customer will relay their negative feelings to 8 others and they will relay to 8 others gets multiplied by 20 with this user base. What's the best cause of action to try and keep this from tarnishing our company's good reputation? Thanks for your question. I would very much like to know more about what the negative "rule change" was, but regardless, here is my advice:

1. Most customers can relate to a balanced and fair business practice.

2. I have to assume that your BOD is not an irrational group and that the policy change is something that must be done for a good business reason.

3. I suggest you share with your users the predicament that your company is in, and the business rationale behind the decision by the Board.

4. The best relationship management strategy between customers and companies is balanced, rational, and fair...I am assuming that your Board has taken this into effect and that the problem has been articulating their position to your users with a positive spin for both parties.

Good luck.

Dr. Jon
Hi. I wonder you have the peer group benchmark in desktop service area. TELSK has two areas, the one is IT service help desk and the other one is desktop service. TELSK has received a document as "Help Desk and Technical Support Peer Group Benchmark" but TELSK wants to be evaluated in peer group. Please answer to me. I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr. Jon Anton How active will Dr Jon Anton be in our engagement? Dr. Jon Anton is listed as the principal investigator on all engagements
conducted by BenchmarkPortal. From a quality assurance perspective, he is
intimately involved in all major projects.

How do call centers operated by Government agencies differ from call centers in private industry? In July, we launched a special benchmark study of call centers in Government agencies, namely Federal, State, and Municipal centers (also know as the "Public Sector"). We are already seeing some interesting differences. In general, we have found that Public Sector call centers are more focused on effectiveness to ensure that their annual budgets will be re-approved, and less on efficiency. Therefore, costs per call might be higher in the Public Sector, but so are "once and done" calls and turnover is much lower. The complete study will be published in January of 2001. How do you assure that the data submitted and then benchmarked against is valid and true data? Good question and one of our most frequently asked questions. We do all of the following:

1. We visit many call centers to validate their data.

2. We put participants on notice that their data may be audited at moments notice.

3. We also do several "reality checks" on the data and flag data that seems to be out of range or just plain erroneous.

4. We also have cross-computations through which we compare numbers submitted¡­..any data point two standard deviations from the mean is flagged immediately for further review.

5. Llastly, we have a staff of QA experts that inspect every data point submitted, and who are quick to call a participant whose numbers seem unrealistic.

Dr. Jon

How do you get on the list to be notified for all Dr Jon webinars? Good idea. We don't do that now, but maybe we should. By this note, I will copy Susan Hampton, who is our Corporate Communication Manager, and ask her to start such an initiative. I do a webinar or seminar or keynote speech at least once per week.

Thank you,
Dr. Jon

How is Public defined, is it a combination of all Government agencies or something else? Public means a governmental agency, period¡­¡­Private means an actual corporation, or a non-profit organization.

How many and who consisted of the Peer Group? Typical Peer Group is ideally 30 call centers.

How many call centers have been certified in the Center of Excellence Program? Our certification program was launched four months ago, and we now have 14 centers certified, and 58 centers working through the process.

How many call centers have current data in the BP database? We have been collecting data for almost 10 years and have had over 50,000 call centers participate from 28 different countries.

Dr. Jon
How many call centers must be in a Peer Group for it to be a statistically valid sample and what are the informational criteria? We recommend that a peer group should be between 5 and 20 call centers. The statistics are those of small groups, meaning we need at least 50 percent of all call centers that fit the "peer criteria." Peer informational criteria are user-selectable, and vary from such parameters as size, and industry to parameters such as type of calls handled and calls handled/agent/shift.

Dr. Jon
How many Canadian members? At last count, there were 253 Canadian call centers in our data base.

Dr. Jon
How many certified auditors in Canada and the US does BP have? In Canada, we work exclusively through TELUS.
In the USA, we have several hundred certified auditors. These individuals
are listed on our website.

How personally committed are the senior executives in your company to achieving high service levels through the call center? Although most senior executives of the companies surveyed are personally committed to improving call center performance, many are unsure how best to focus their commitment. In other words, they realize the value of the call center to the company's success but they remain cautious in demonstrating their commitment through increased budgeting to achieve higher service levels. I AM IN THE PROSESS BULDING A TELECOM BROADCAST TV NETWORK SOUTH PART OF SPAIN , The management team that i have to be put togurder , has to run manage and constancy change. Marcsound2k has to be ready for the 21st TELECOM - BROADBAND TV NETWORK I am afraid I do not understand your question¡­.please re-phrase the question.
--Dr. Jon Anton
Answered 01/17/05 I am trying to get a set of industry specific contact center metrics. The industries we are interested in are Insurance (Policy Management, General Insurance Services, Claims and Direct Sales), Emergency Roadside Assistance (this could be any emergency response center) and Travel. Our final goal is to be able to derive a set of KPIs and measurable goals for all our contact centers in their various industries. I was looking at your Industry reports and before purchasing, I wanted to get your opinion as to which one(s) might be most appropriate? Thanks I have asked Kamal Webb, Director of Benchmarking Practices, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

--Dr. Jon Anton
Answered 1/17/05

I found Sample report of Peer Group Benchmark from http://www.benchmarkportal.com/newsite/pdf/sampleprivate_peer_092303_Update.pdf and interested in benchmark process,any suggestion to help us in making decision ( Plan to Bench by this December? hope to hear from you asap I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr Jon Anton
I got an email from "Michael" asking me to fill out a survey regarding an email he says he sent me on August 5th that probably went into my junk mailbox. I don't know if this is a legitimate email or a scam. How can I tell? So many ebay and paypal emails are scams; ways to get my personal information. Janet,
I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you concerning the e-mail you received. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.
-Dr. Jon
I manage a call center for a department of the federal government. Does your call center research focus on the public sector? So far we have not had a specific focus on the public sector. We do, however, have quite a few public sector call centers in our database. In addition, we are actively looking for a sponsor to help us develop a public sector-only benchmark report. I purchased your industry report for retail companies. I am trying to understand what is all made up as part of the costs calculated in the cost per call metric. Can you identify for me what are all of the components of this calculation? For example, does it include things like utilities, rent etc.? Thanks! Thank you Shelly for your question. I have asked Kamal Webb, Director of Benchmarking Services, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.
-Dr. Jon Anton I work for a city government, and am trying to lure call centers to locate here. What are other cities doing to attract call centers? 1. They send their representatives to call center conferences to exhibit in booths that offer comprehensive information about their cities. 2. They help arrange for companies to tour their cities. 3. They provide tax incentives. 4. They work with the local educational institutions to provide courses targeted at call center skill requirements. I would appreciate if you could let us know your thoughts on what call centers will look like in 5 years. In my "crystal ball," I see four major trends impacting call centers dramatically in the next 5 years, as follows:

1. I see a major move to IP Telephony in the "call channel" ¨C this will change costs and will also allow easy implementation of "virtual" centers with agents "anywhere"

2. I see a major move to use the caller in the call quality monitoring process through post-call IVR surveys with the results linked immediately back to the agent via an agent-specific dashboard indicating caller feedback in real-time, including a verbatim response from the caller indicating (by the caller's voice) what the agent could have done better in handling the call. I see this new technology, replacing some, if not all, of the currently expensive and ineffective call monitoring software using internal quality teams.

3. I see that there will be a major move to outsourcing in general, i.e., North American based, but also off-shore outsourcing will grow asymptotically.

4. I see call volumes continuing to increase by over 50% in the next five years because the American consumer "loves" asking questions before, during, and after the sale, HOWEVER, I see a new emphasis on "call avoidance" by giving today's callers the option to move to other channels including, IVR, web, web-chat, and email...these channels will grow substantially, and all will be integrated through a universal queue that will make managing volumes a reality...the key is to give consumer choices, and real-time information to make the "best choice" for a particular contact.

I do see all sorts of secondary "happenings" ¨C but your wish was the most dramatic changes. In a nutshell, call centers of the future will be smaller, more dispersed, more virtually managed, handling mostly "high value" calls (because most easy calls will go to self-service), more often outsourced, more efficient, and more effective¡­.

Hope this helps.

Jon

I'm doing some research relating to the economics surrounding call centers. One number that would be of interest to me is the cost of handling an inbound call for a large call center, namely one with 100 seats. I also want to know the average number of seats in a commercial call center for a Fortune 500 company. Terry Mayfield The cost of handling an inbound call for a 100-seat call center varies greatly by industry and the type of call being handled. Two extremes would be $7.01 for financial services agents handling transactions, to $17.78 for technology products where agents "fix" complex problems over the telephone. On average across industries, Fortune 500 companies have 36 call centers with an average of 128 agents in each. In an industry report, why do all of the metrics not always properly align with each other, in some cases making the "Average" scores better than the "Best"? An industry report represents the averages for each question (and sub-question) that the participants responded to, but the number of participants answering each question often varies, so the averages are only relatively related to each other.

The affect of this is that the average for each question "MUST STAND ALONE" and cannot be directly related to the other numbers. The averages are, however, relatively representative of the "industry average" when taken in their overall context.

In your benchmarking research, what are today's hot issues for call center managers? Our list of "hot" issues tends to vary almost month to month as we poll the members of our benchmark community.

Currently the following are at the top of most call center manager's agendas: 1)preparing the call center for "eBusiness" 2) striving for a balance between efficiency and effectiveness, 3)seamlessly integrating e-mail, Web site, and telephone contacts, 4)redefining the call center from a cost center to a profit center, and 5)processing the mountains of data generated by customer contacts. Is it possible for some companies to have more than one call center represented in an industry report? If so, can a company that had at least two call centers be represented in the "Average Group" and the "Best of Average" at the same time? It is possible for a company to have more than one call center represented within an industry report; however, it is important to remember that our specific methodology is to benchmark call centers, not companies. Therefore, each call center is benchmarked as an individual entity, thus bringing its own merit to the report.

Jon, I recently attended your Concerto sponsored presentation in Atlanta. During that presentation you mentioned a book that outlines how to develop surveys. I wasn't able to find it on your web site. Could you provide title, price, etc.? Title: "Listening to the Voice of the Customer"

Price: $33.95

Where to buy: Find our bookstore at:

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/store/index.taf
Please Bullet point the major "hot" issues for those striving to be best-in-class call call centers. Top five hot issues that we are seeing in the States:'

1. minimizing agent turnover by applicant screening to ensure better "fit" for the telephone customer service type of job
2. developing practical strategies to migrate callers to use email and web chat for low-value interactions, i.e., call avoidance
3. measuring caller satisfaction and driving results in real-time to all levels in the call center to change behavior
4. adding user-friendly analytics to allow better decision making within the call center, and to make caller data available to departments outside of the call center, i.e., like marketing, QA, and others
5. experimenting with using countries like India to outsource customer interactions to determine the cost effectiveness
The data used in peer group benchmarking comparison is up to 24 months old. Shouldn't data be more current to benchmark? Early on we decided on a "rolling" 24 months window for peer group comparison. We are seriously considering changing this to a 12 months window. Benchmarking is not an exact science. We are comfortable with our current methods, but we now have so many participants that we plan to move to a smaller time window for comparison ¨C could even be that we move to a 6-months window. So to answer your question, yes, your intuition is correct¡­the smaller the time window the more current the data, the better the benchmarking results.

Dr. Jon
This is just a comment but it would be especially helpful to see dates of Dr. Jon's responses so readers can determine how recently the feedback was provided. It affects the relevancy of the information. Thanks. Your KB is a great resource. Amy, thanks for this suggestion...we will implement ASAP.

Dr. Jon Anton
12/21/2004 We are in the process of updating our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategy and plans. Are you aware of a source for best practices information specific to Live Agent Call Centers? Any books I have found date back to 1999. Thank You. I recommend you go to the Call Center Magazine "Buyer's Guide." There you will find a listing under Business Recovery and Disaster Recovery. Contact those companies in the business and ask for their advice and best practices.

--Dr. Jon Anton
Answered 01/17/05 We are looking at utilizing our internal call center as an outsource service for other businesses. Where does one begin to determine pricing structures for these services? There are several approaches:

1. Call several outsourcing companies and tell them you are thinking of outsourcing some of your calls, then ask them to give you some "ballpark" prices

2. Conduct a "bottoms up" analysis of your cost and determine the base cost of call handling, then add double that cost for your price points for providing the service...I recommend doubling your cost to cover marketing, relationship management, and contracting with the new business partners

3. Your cost offering should include:
a. by the hour
b. by the minute
c. by the call
d. $s/hour per dedicated agent
e. and more

In closing, Kandi, this is a complex business...it is very competitive, and the current supply is in excess of the demand, i.e., a buyer's market. Good luck.

--Dr. Jon Anton
Answered 01/17/05 We are looking for retail industry standards for, calls per hour, email per hour, abandon %, Customer Availability (staffed time / paid time), Error rate %. Any help? Todd,
I have asked Kamal Webb, Director of Benchmarking Practices, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr. Jon Anton

We are truly a unique call center. How do you benchmark us if you do not have our competitors in your database? Everyone logically thinks they are "truly unique." I have yet to not be able to find all of our participants a peer group. However, if we fail to find one for you, we will recruit your competitors into our database. We have done this many times for others. You make the list, we check our database, and if they are not there, we recruit them for you¡­no additional cost.

Dr. Jon
We met at the seminar in Vegas. We spoke briefly about selling our other services to give your company another monthly reoccuring revenue stream. Please call me at 818-718-2785. I have asked Michael Feinberg, Director Business Development, to contact you. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Dr. Jon Anton
What are the BenchmarkPortal key differentiators from the competition? Can we speak with Dr Anton about these issues? There are other companies that offer benchmarking in some form or another.
We are different and unique in the following ways:
1. The size of our database is over fifty times greater than the nearest
competitor.
2. The size of our database allows us to offer statistical observations
about true best practices that the competitors are not able to do with their
very small sample sizes.
3. Our basic industry peer group report is completely free, yet is very
informative.
4. We encourage participants to further refine their benchmark research by
selecting a "close fitting" peer group of very similar call centers.
5. We encourage self-assessment using our peer group report.
6. We offer a 'membership' in our benchmarking community that gives members
access to free information and telephone consulting.
7. We offer a four-hour course in benchmarking that is taught in major
cities throughout the world on a regular basis. This course enables
participants to do self-assessments
8. Our benchmarking leads to certification as a "Center of Excellence" when
all the performance metrics reach prescribed levels.

What are the criteria for becoming a Certified Auditor and what are the standards for maintaining that title? A certified auditor must participate in our workshop, take an exam, and do at least one audit with one of our certified auditors. Auditors are re-certified each year. We are very careful and detailed about who can be a BenchmarkPortal auditor.

Dr. Jon
What are the upcoming shows that BenchmarkPortal will have a booth at and that Dr Jon will be speaking at? I will deflect this question to Susan Hampton, our Corporate Communications Manager. We have a schedule that goes out about 6 months.

Dr. Jon
What call center centric publications does Dr Jon regularly contribute to? There are many great publications that pick up Dr. Jon's research results and articles. They include:
Contact Center Professional
Connections Magazine
Call Center Magazine
CRM2Day
Customer Interaction Magazine
Contact Center World
ICCM Weekly
SOCAP's Customer Relationship Management Magazine
And many more¡­

What experience does BenchmarkPortal have in actually running call centers? All of our content people come from a call center background.

Dr. Jon
What is Purdue University's role with BenchmarkPortal? The original benchmarking of call centers began at Purdue University under
the direction of Dr. Jon Anton. The initiative grew so quickly and so
successfully, that it became too much for a university-based service
primarily staffed by part-time students. BenchmarkPortal, Inc. was founded
as a joint venture with Purdue University, and as a way to move the
operation "off campus." Purdue staff still takes an active role to ensure
the scientific nature of the best practice research, including having a seat
on the Board of Directors.

What is the difference between being in the upper ; right quandrant as a result of the FREE Group Benchmarking ; and being in the upper right quadrant after the Peer Group Benchmarking? Good question. They are most often exactly the same. The difference is that the Peer Group Report digs into more KPIs than the Free RealityCheck Benchmark Report. There is a small chance that the "dig deeper" KPIs will point to a problem not visible through the free Reality Check experience¡­..not often, but possible.

Dr. Jon
What kind of time committment is it for my internal team to go through this Benchmark process? If you start with our new RealityCheck survey, you need only 12 data points. This should take less than 30 minutes. The complete peer group survey may take the better part of 4 hours for an organized team.

--Dr. Jon
What other major call center consultants use benchmarking as part of their discovery process for their clients? Almost all the major call center consultant teams use some sort of
benchmarking during their discovery process. Over 200 call center
consultants have taken our call center "auditor" course and are now formally
Purdue University Certified Call Center Auditors. Representative from all
of the "big five" have participated, and in addition a partial list would
include: CAP Gemini, E&Y, PWC, IBM, e-Loyalty, AT&T, AMS, Bain, McKinsey,
and more.

What specific criteria was used in determining "The Best In Industry Average? The Best in Industry Average of any BenchmarkPortal Industry report represents the average of the top quartile (25%) of the industry. This is a running average used throughout the report and not a metric by metric average.
Where can I find a current listing of upcoming Dr Jon speaking engagements? Typically listed on our Web site. If you can not find them, please contact SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com.

-Dr. Jon
Where can we find out more about outsourcers, including their location, specialization, cost and the quality of their services? Call Center Magazine often reports on outsourcers (also known as teleservices companies), including their contact information and call handling specialization. In addition, we have just launched a benchmarking study of teleservices companies. We will collect pricing, quality and performance data during the next four months. Reports will be available from our Web site. Who are the top two competitors for Benchmarking Call Centers? No other organization offers contact center benchmarking in the exact business model used by BenchmarkPortal. Two groups that are close are ISO 9000 and COPC. Both of these professional groups do call center benchmarking and certification - and they do an excellent job of it. However, if one looks thoroughly at the models of each organization they are completely different from each other and from BenchmarkPortal. Therefore, for instance, Microsoft in the last year actually got their ISO, COPC, and BenchmarkPortal certification, and - most importantly found each effort worthwhile as a learning experience for make quality improvements.

Who is included in 'All Participants' in the Inbound Performance Comparison? Is it just government agencies, all industries or a combination of local, state, Federal, B2B and B2C? In the Government report, "all participants" are all governmental agencies, including Federal, State, and Local Municipalities.

Why should I not just Benchmark direct with BenchmarkPortal? Why do I need a Certified Auditor? You can benchmark directly with us. Sometimes the on-site team does not have the time to take full advantage of the benchmark results. Our approach is designed for you to do it yourself¡­so please try, and if you're in trouble contact us for assistance.