RIYADH – Avaya announced Wednesday that it has received the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award from Omega Management Group Corp. in recognition of achieving excellence in customer service and support in 2014. Since 2000, the award has been presented annually to companies that exceeded expectations in customer satisfaction during the prior calendar year according to ratings by their own customers. Omega is an expert in customer experience management (CEM) strategy, and helps companies boost revenue and profits by consistently exceeding customer expectations for service quality. Click to Tweet: Avaya Receives NorthFace ScoreBoard Award for Excellence in Customer Service #custserv Overall, 96% of Avaya's field service customers and 91% of support services customers reported that their experience with the company's support services exceeded expectations, according to the report prepared by Omega's independent auditors. The scores reflect the results of ongoing efforts aimed at continuous improvement of Avaya field and support services. In 2014, improvements included a full revamp of the services website to add faster, more personalized service through interactive, two-way video and web chat, rapid escalation capabilities and overall simplification, all backed by support specialized training and an emphasis on collaboration across disciplines. These efforts helped drive the steady increase in customer satisfaction evident in the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award as well as Avaya's 2014 rolling average NPS score of 50 – considered best in class for peer technology companies. “The NorthFace ScoreBoard Award recognizes organizations who not only offer exemplary customer service, but who also center their existence on a deep commitment to exceeding customer expectations,” said John Alexander Maraganis, president & CEO of Omega. “In 2014, more than 250 projects, many international in scope, were judged from scores of companies based in the US and abroad. The majority of companies are repeat recipients, which shows that, despite the tough economy, implementing a CEM strategy is a reliable, proven way to achieve business success.” “As a technology expert in customer engagement, Avaya needs to serve as its own best case study for delivering high levels of customer satisfaction through an omni-channel approach: in person in the field, online or on the phone. We can quickly and simultaneously bring together multiple people to drive first call resolution – essentially bringing Avaya to the customer or partner,” said Mike Runda, SVP and president, Avaya Client Services. “Winning the NorthFace ScoreBoard award for the second year in a row punctuates the efforts that we've made and will continue to make as we drive best in class service throughout our business.” Omega's methodology measures customer satisfaction and loyalty levels on a 5-point scale (or equivalent) four times during the year in such categories as technical support, field service, customer service and account management. “Due to its unique ‘customer-only vote' criteria, the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award has been viewed from its inception as the only objective benchmark for excellence in customer service,” Maraganis said. “Our research indicates that companies that consistently achieve a 4.0 rating or above, which we call the ‘Loyalty Zone,' are succeeding in locking in profitable, long-term customer relationships, and this significantly raises the bar on their competitors.” — SG
