(EMAILWIRE.COM, October 23, 2008 ) LAS VEGAS, Calif. – The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), the largest and most influential association for technology service and support professionals, today announced that Approva, Cisco, Digital Hands, IBM, Juniper Networks, Oracle, SAP AG, Sutherland Global Services, Symantec and Xerox are recipients of the 2008 SSPA STAR Awards for Service Excellence. Companies seeking this award undergo a rigorous evaluation process, with the winners selected by SSPA’s Advisory Board members.

"The STAR Awards have become the industry standard in recognizing service and support organizations that demonstrate an ongoing high-level commitment to delivering world-class results in nine categories of software and technical support. All of our winners, as well as the finalists, proved themselves through very intense peer competition,” said Stephen Smith, executive director, SSPA.

Winners were honored today during a luncheon awards ceremony at the "Winning Service Strategies in a Shifting Global Economy" conference, co-sponsored by the SSPA, The Association for Services Management International (AFSMI), and The Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA).

In addition to the Service Excellence awards, Symantec and Xerox were inducted into the SSPA Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recognition is awarded to a select group of companies that have won five SSPA STAR Awards since the program inception in 1990.
The 2008 SSPA STAR Award for Service Excellence winners by category are:

Complex Application Support: SAP AG
This category recognizes support organizations that deliver sophisticated technical support for complex applications in mixed or otherwise complex environments.

Consumer Support – Cisco
Presented to a company whose consumer-facing contact center or technical support operation effectively handles high volumes of inbound and outbound customer interactions, with an emphasis on problem avoidance, Web and voice self-service, and streamlined incident handling.

Continual Improvement – IBM
Presented to a company that has demonstrated exceptional service levels and customer satisfaction for three or more years, with year over year improvements and a plan in place for continual improvement in the future.

Emerging Business Support: Approva Corporation
This award recognizes organizations providing technical support within emerging businesses for which exemplary customer support is important for company growth and is typically provided with constrained resources, demonstrating how their technical support effectively maintains their customers’ satisfaction and loyalty, and helps drive new business.

Innovative Support: Xerox Corporation
Presented to a company who has embraced innovation in people, process and technology to increase agent productivity, service levels and customer satisfaction; increase problem avoidance, and effectively handle more interactions using unassisted channels.

Integrated Services: Digital Hands
Presented to support organizations that have effectively teamed with the Education Services (Training) and Professional Services Organizations to deliver seamless integrated support to their customers. They offer blended services programs that ensure a positive customer experience with the adoption, implementation and usage of the company’s products.

Mission Critical Support – Hardware: Juniper Networks
Mission Critical Support – Software: Oracle Corporation
Honors those organizations that provide technical support in mission-critical environments where “system up-time” is imperative, typically for enterprise customers. Technical support from these support organizations is a critical part of keeping customers “up and running” 24/7.

Outstanding Improvement: Cisco
This award is presented to the company that effectively demonstrates the greatest increase in support quality within an underperforming operation. Key supporting data include multi-quarter improvement in customer satisfaction scores and support productivity performance metrics.

Partner Management: Symantec
This award is presented to a company who excels at leveraging third party providers for the delivery of service and support, including channel, alliance, OEM, onshore or offshore outsourced partners, or a combination.

Rising STAR: Sutherland Global Services
This special award honors an organization that is excelling and improving in multiple areas of support.

About the SSPA
As the industry’s foremost professionals association, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) is a key resource for the information and best practices needed to make better business decisions. It brings together the best minds from across the industry spectrum – from established companies with successful track records to the pioneering newcomers with out-of-the-box ideas. The SSPA also partners with thought leaders such as J.D. Power and Associates and the Wharton School to create programs that benefit the industry. The SSPA is a member of a global network of associations that includes the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA) and the Association for Services Management International (AFSMI). For more information, visit www.thesspa.com.

Contact Information:
SSPA
Diane Brundage
Tel: 408-673-3054
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