Sauder’s Customer Support Contact Center Achieves Its Eighth Certification as a Center of Excellence

The Sauder Woodworking Co., customer support contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”

To achieve certification as a Center of Excellence, a company must undergo a rigorous benchmarking process, which compares the organization’soperationalmetrics to those of its peers, using the world's largest database of contact center metrics. During this process, BenchmarkPortal experts audit and verify key data from the contact center applying for certification.

Factors (called key performance indicators) such as first call resolution, cost per call, call waiting time, customer satisfaction, agent satisfaction and utilization of human resources are taken into account. BenchmarkPortal is able to scientifically gauge how the contact center being studied compares to other centers in the same industry, and if the performance of the contact center is superior. Customer satisfaction, which relates to customer loyalty and business growth, is the goal, balanced by financial metrics which show that the center is being operated efficiently.

“Center of Excellence certification indicates that the contact center delivers superior customer servicewithin a responsible cost structure,” said Belfiore. "A great contact center operation reflects its management's passion for balancing the demands of high quality and low costs. Sauder Woodworking Co. has shown its ability to achieve that balance through its objective performance metrics. We have validated its metrics and have certified that Sauder is, indeed, among the best in its industry. I congratulate Sauder on a job well done.”

“Benchmarking delivers a crackerjack profile of a contact center’s operations that can inspire management to move forward aggressively, even in a less-than-robust economy,” added Belfiore, who has been with the company since 2000.


About BenchmarkPortal
BenchmarkPortal’s founders pioneered the first contact center benchmarking study in 1995. Now custodian of the largest database of contact center metrics in the world, BenchmarkPortal is a leader in certification, training, consulting and research for the customer contact industry. Its team of professionals has gained international recognition for expertise and innovation in best practices. BenchmarkPortal’s mission is to help management optimize the performance of their center in terms of both cost and quality, encourage customer loyalty and build enterprise value. For more information on BenchmarkPortal, call 1-800-214-8929 or visithttp://www.BenchmarkPortal.com.

About Sauder Woodworking Co.
Headquartered in Archbold, Ohio, Sauder Woodworking Co. is North America’s leading producer of ready-to-assemble furniture and the nation’s fifth largest residential furniture manufacturer. Sauder also sources furniture from a network of quality global partners, including a line of office chairs. Sauder Woodworking Co. is a privately-held, third generation, family-run business. Subsidiaries include: Progressive Furniture Inc., a designer and importer of wood bedroom, dining and accent furniture; and Sauder Manufacturing Company, a leader in church, educational, and health care seating. For additional information about Sauder, visit the web site athttp://www.sauder.com.