Sterling Commerce Earns Esteemed Support Center Practices Certification(email this article)

(Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) Sterling Commerce, a leader in business integration, announced today that its customer support organization has achieved the Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification for the delivery of world-class customer support. Sterling Commerce received the certification after an extensive audit of its three support centers located in Dublin, Ohio, Ann Arbor, Mich. and Dallas. The Sterling Commerce support centers handle global product and services requests 24 hours a day. SCP Certification quantifies the effectiveness of technology support operations based upon a stringent set of performance standards that represent best practices in the industry.

“We participated in the rigorous requirements necessary to achieve SCP Certification as a way to validate that our support centers provide consistent, exceptional support, and because it provides a benchmark to strive for even higher levels of performance,” said Sam Starr, president and CEO, Sterling Commerce.

SCP Certification is an internationally recognized standard developed by the Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and a consortium of leading technology companies, together with Service Strategies Corporation. The program quantifies the effectiveness of support, establishes a foundation to build on existing quality processes, and provides a clear focus on measurable results. SCP Certification requires comprehensive on-site audits to confirm that companies meet the requirements of more than 100 business elements defined in the program. Certified organizations must demonstrate their continued commitment to high performance standards through annual re- certification audits.

“By passing the rigorous requirements necessary to achieve SCP Certification, Sterling Commerce has made it clear they are committed to delivering world-class support to their customers,” said Steve Brand, SCP Auditor. “During the SCP Certification audit, Sterling Commerce demonstrated a clear commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.”

“We continue to make significant investments in our support technology, training and our people, because we believe excellent customer support is a cornerstone for customer satisfaction,” Starr said.

Sterling Commerce joins the ranks of leading technology companies that have achieved the sought-after SCP Certification, including Best Software, Lawson Software, McKesson, Rockwell Automation, Lockheed Martin, Nokia, PeopleSoft, and Xerox among others.  Currently, more than 200 technology support organizations around the world participate in the SCP program.

About Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification
The Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program was developed to address service quality issues that affect the rapidly growing technology support industry. The SSPA and forty of its member companies created the program along with Service Strategies Corporation. These companies contributed their insight and perspective into defining the key elements required for delivering World Class support. The SSPA represents over 22,000 service executives in over 2,500 support centers worldwide.  SSPA gives service and support professionals opportunities to share ideas, discuss developing trends and network with their peers.  For more information about SSPA, visit http://www.theSSPA.com.  Service Strategies Corporation is responsible for administering the SCP Certification program and conducting on-site certification audits. For more information about SCP Certification, contact Service Strategies Corporation at 858.674.4864, e- mail info@servicestrategies.com or visit http://www.scpcertification.com/.

About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC), is one of the world’s largest providers of business integration solutions. For Global 5000 companies and their customers, suppliers and partners, Sterling Commerce software and services help maximize business performance and improve business metrics through integration of applications, external partner systems and people. With more than 25 years of experience serving more than 30,000 customers in a vast range of industries, Sterling Commerce is a recognized pioneer in electronic commerce through its longstanding expertise in EDI. Today, as customers explore new ways to improve business performance via the Internet, Sterling Commerce continues to innovate its software and services to further the global adoption of e-commerce while offering its customers strategic solutions that leverage existing technology. For more information, visit www.sterlingcommerce.com.