SQM - Coeur d Alene Idaho Inbound Call and Quality Assurance Outsourcing Service July 30, Page-2

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2 SQM is uniquely qualified and experienced to provide World Class contact center inbound call and quality assurance outsourcing service to organizations for the following main reasons: State-of-the-art facility in Coeur d Alene, Idaho: SQM operates a state-of-the-art contact center located in Coeur d Alene, Idaho with staff in place to easily and quickly meet our client s needs and requirements. SQM is recognized by our North American clients as a World Class contact center operator. We are the contact center industry leader for researching and determining the best practices for delivering World Class service. Operational scalability: SQM has the scalability and flexibility to ramp-up, or ramp down as needed, to meet your needs and requirements. This provides a unique opportunity to partner with your organization to manage uncertain call volumes. We understand many industries and can apply our learnings: SQM has clients in the main industries of health insurance, telecommunications, finance, credit cards, banks, utilities, retail and more. As a result, SQM s best practices are rigorously proven across many industries. SQM is seen as a thought-leader for providing best practices for delivering World Class Csat and FCR performance. In fact, over 70% of SQM clients improve their Csat, FCR and operating cost performance year over year. Expertise with complex calls: SQM has worked with its clients to understand the operations of their business and to deliver sophisticated call monitoring and quality solutions. This illustrates our ability to quickly staff our contact center with the expertise required to handle complex calls and quality assurance evaluations. Customer feedback and Quality Assurance: SQM has a proven track record for capturing the Voice of the Customer (VoC) feedback. In addition to our contact center Industry expertise, SQM offers the ability to incorporate, fully document and provide customer feedback as overall guidance, support and thought-leadership for improving organization performance. We have Customer Quality Assurance (CQA) program that combines call compliance data judged by our expert QA evaluators and the customer s opinion of the service they received from the call center, which is gathered through a post-call survey. CQA is the best practice for improving the impact of call monitoring on the call center s FCR performance. Page-2

3 CORPORATE STRUCTURE AND EXPERIENCE Service Quality Measurement History Since 1996, Service Quality Measurement (SQM) Group has been a leading North American contact channel Voice of the Customer (VoC) and quality assurance expert for improving organizations' First Contact Resolution (FCR), operating costs, employee satisfaction (Esat) and customer satisfaction (Csat). We have accomplished this by being operationally excellent at benchmarking, tracking, consulting and recognizing our clients FCR, Esat and Csat performance. SQM focuses on deep-dive analysis and the thorough application of VoC for delivering sustained World Class customer service through all customer contact channels. SQM works closely with our clients to improve FCR, which is the fundamental driver of World Class customer service. We believe in the value of outstanding customer service, its impact on customer experiences with the entire organization and the prudent financial management of all contact channels. SQM has a successful track record of helping contact centers improve their service quality and operating costs. In fact, 70% of SQM s clients show improvement in their FCR and Csat performance as a result of working with SQM. SQM has experience in different contact channel methods such as phone, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), online and SMS mobile. SQM conducts all customer surveys and quality assurance evaluations using our own dedicated workforce. We have extensive experience in running our own World Class call center facilities since SQM has released two books on running contact centers: First Call Resolution, released in 2012 and World Class Call Center, released in Both books explain the best practices contact centers should employ in order to achieve FCR and have a World Class contact center. SQM is recognized as a leading contact channel VoC expert for analyzing FCR, Csat, and customer experience performance. In fact, SQM s recommended best practices are highlighted in many industry articles, which are available on our website, SQM is also known as being operationally excellent with respect to running its own high performance contact centers. Page-3

4 SQM Location SQM operates two state-of-the-art contact centers: the United States contact center, located in Coeur d Alene, Idaho and the Canadian contact center, located in Vernon, British Columbia. The Coeur d Alene contact center opened in March of 2013 under extremely tight timeframes. The opening of the Coeur d Alene contact center in three months, from start to finish, proves SQM s ability to quickly expand successfully. SQM s Coeur d Alene contact center grand opening occurred in April of 2013 with over 200 clients and guests in attendance. Page-4

5 SQM s Coeur d Alene contact center has many features that make it ideal to host a world class contact center: Beautiful and welcoming visitor reception area Over 20,000 square feet with the capacity for up to 250 workstations Parking for up to 250 employees Page-5

6 Advanced on-site training facility Multiple conference rooms Page-6

7 Technical SQM has designed its state-of-the-art facilities to not only use the latest contact center technologies but also to be extremely secure. SQM is extremely invested in technology and support for that technology. Over 10% of SQM s staff is dedicated solely to creating and managing SQM s software and technology. Wherever possible, SQM develops and maintains its own software. SQM s contact centers use the latest industry standard technologies such as: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) 100% call recording IVR/Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) for call routing Virtual hold Workforce management Speech analytics Microsoft Server software Leading edge virtualization software that allows us to create an agile and flexible datacenter Page-7

8 Security and Privacy SQM adheres to the highest security standards for both its facilities and internal systems. Security features for the facilities include: Security cameras on all entrances and exits Hardened datacenter with security cameras inside and dedicated air conditioning Secure entries with man trap access controls Picture ID for all employees Strict security procedures for visitors (e.g., visitors must sign in before entering the contact center, display a visitor identification badge and be escorted at all times) All data is backed up offsite on a daily basis Page-8

9 SQM considers all of its data to be highly sensitive and has developed, and adheres to, the information security policy which has been ratified by the Board of Directors. This policy has been distributed and communicated to all employees together with supportive guidance and compliance requirements. SQM recognizes the sensitivity of its data and specifically, the concerns related to customers privacy. In order to ensure data security, the following measures are taken: Industry standard firewalls Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Protection equipment on all networks Security policies aligned with ISO 27002:2005 Adherence to privacy legislation for the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act Adherence to industry-specific regulations for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Adherence to industry-specific regulations for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Page-9

10 Corporate Structure and Ownership SQM is a privately held company with no parent company ownership. There are 80 employees located in the United States office and 65 employees in the Canadian office. The corporate structure is as follows: Service Quality Measurement Corporate Structure Service Quality Measurement Coeur d Alene, Idaho Contact Center Operations Mike Desmarais is the President and Founder of SQM. Mike has over 25 years of contact center service quality measurement, benchmarking, consulting and operational experience. As a consultant, Mike has worked with leading North American contact centers on improving their FCR, cost, Esat and Csat performance. Mike has written and published dozens of articles on contact center service quality in many leading journals and contact center customer service publications and is the author of the thought-provoking books, World Class Call Center and First Call Resolution. Whether he is working with clients in specialist start-up Page-10

11 operations or contact centers with 10,000 plus seats, Mike is considered North America s leading authority on contact center operations Lara Pow, MSc, is a senior managing partner and Chief Operating Officer. Lara has her Master's degree in Mathematical Physics and is currently working on her PhD in Technology Entrepreneurship at Waldon University. She has over eight years of research and analysis experience and six years contact center experience. Lara manages contact center operations for both locations. Specifically, her responsibilities include daily operations, reporting, quality compliance and product development. Sarah Kennedy, BSc, is a senior managing partner and Vice President for Business Development and Customer Relationship Management. Sarah has 20 years experience in the service quality field. She is the co-founder of the Customer Contact Strategy Forum, an association of senior contact center executives in North America. Sarah uses her skills of communication and facilitation to work closely with clients to develop service quality improvement action plans. She has also written and published many articles on contact center service quality benchmarking for many contact center customer service publications. Sarah s experience in the health insurance industry is exemplary due to her history with many health plan insurers. Glen Mah, BSc, is a senior managing partner and Vice President of Technology and Security. Glen has over 20 years of I.T. experience and has played a key role in the design and implementation of large corporate and commercial applications. Glen manages a technical team of 10 I.T. professionals who are responsible for all of SQM s software development, I.T. Infrastructure, and I.T. Security and Privacy practices. Lisa Desmarais, BA, is a senior managing partner and Vice President of Human Resources and Administration. Lisa has over 15 years experience working at SQM. Her primary duty is to oversee human resources, which includes recruiting, selecting and conducting annual performance evaluations with SQM telephone survey representatives. Lisa is also responsible for office administration for both Coeur d Alene and Vernon operations. Pam Havens, BA, is the contact center manager for the Coeur d Alene location. She has more than 25 years experience in contact center management. Her primary duties include managing the day-to-day operations of the contact center as well as recruiting, training, coaching and monitoring SQM telephone representatives. Page-11

12 Professional References VSP (Vision Services Plan) Laura Costa, Chief Operating Officer (916) Florida Blue Cheryl Case, Senior Director, Consumer and Government Services (904) Page-12

13 EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS SQM is uniquely positioned to do this work due to three factors: 1. We know what it takes to run a World Class contact center SQM s core business, since 1996, has been the measurement of contact center performance through listening to the voice of the customer. SQM knows what it takes to run a World Class contact center, having compiled the best practices from measuring and understanding the operations of those top performing contact centers. SQM s team have applied these best practices to contact centers across many different industries and are proud to state that over 70% of our clients see their key performance indicators increase every year. SQM has documented all these best practices in two very popular books World Class Call Center and First Call Resolution. Furthermore, SQM takes great pride in operating its own contact center according to World Class best practices with accompanying World Class Esat as a result. 2. We know the challenges and issues with call center operations in many industries Our clients come from companies such as health insurance, telecommunications, banks, credit cards, wealth management, utilities and retail. Through our experience of working with this wide range of industries we can do the following: Apply our best practices model to deliver World Class performance in our handling of your calls We can learn the nuances of your business quickly as we already have a base understanding of your business We can evaluate calls using our Customer Quality Assurance (CQA) program which combines call compliance data judged by our expert QA evaluators and the customer s opinion of the service they received from the call center, which is gathered through a post-call survey. Page-13

14 3. We have a brand new state-of-the-art contact center facility in Coeur d Alene The Coeur d Alene contact center opened March 1, 2013 with just three months of preparation time due to a business requirement from a major client in the health insurance industry. This facility has the capacity to staff for 250 positions in a stateof-the-art building. The facility has been visited by hundreds of our clients and noted by them for its professionalism. They comment that it is one of the nicest contact centers they have seen because it provides great working conditions (e.g., comfortable work stations, great lighting and modern kitchen) with a very practical layout and the best technology and security available. We have an extremely high caliber of employee in Coeur d Alene. As a result we have no concerns about hiring additional staff for the specific skills required for a complex contact center. We are also able to offer a career path option to some of our existing staff for this new role. Strategy for Managing Your Call Volume We can provide a toll-free number to your clients, or link our call routing technology to your ACD. Once within the SQM system, calls are routed to CSRs using our IVR system to ensure they are routed to the right specialists. SQM provides a virtual hold queue which is a unique option favored by customers. Virtual hold technology works such that if all CSRs are busy handling calls, the person calling in can be given the option to stay on hold or leave their telephone number and a time for us to contact them at their convenience. If the caller chooses to leave their telephone number, they will not lose their place in the queue. SQM will call people back in the order of where they are in the queue. The IVR will also inform all callers of the approximate hold time to reach a CSR. Service levels will be determined for each client. In summary, if a caller s inquiry cannot be resolved on the call, they will be called back within 24 hours or less providing them with a resolution to their inquiry or a status update for when their inquiry will be resolved. SQM s contact center can scale up or down to effectively and efficiently manage call volume. SQM will have a CSR utilization rate of 70-80% to ensure that CSRs are not under- or overworked. SQM will develop a sophisticated call volume forecast model that we will use in conjunction with our work force management technology to ensure that we have the correct amount of people to handle caller inquiries. SQM will also train CSRs to respond to chat and Page-14

15 inquiries. Chat inquiries will be handled in real time and inquiries will be responded to within 24 hours of receiving the . SQM has extensive experience with many contact center technologies. We have experience developing solutions for IVR call routing to the proper specialist, ACD technology to ensure calls are handled efficiently, workforce management systems to manage call volumes, warm call transfers to other agents, 100% call recording of all calls for quality assurance purposes and speech analytics. SQM uses leading edge and industry recognized technologies like VoIP, SIP trunking, Microsoft Server technologies and server virtualization software. Our technology foundation allows for tremendous scalability, whereby we can scale up operations as call volumes increase. SQM s technical team has also developed systems that serve multiple contact channels. We have experience in inbound and outbound call handling, IVR systems, web chat services, systems, SMS notifications and web based portals. This provides end users with the contact channel they are most comfortable with using. Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards SQM has extensive experience providing resources and language support in multiple languages outside of English, including Spanish, French, Mandarin and Cantonese. SQM has an extensive second language surveying experience in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and United States. We recognize the nuances and cultural differences that each area brings and have learned to adapt our contact methods to meet the racial, ethnic, and cultural groups that each country, and region within that country, can bring. With that international experience, SQM believes it has the extensive skill set and ability to develop and maintain the general knowledge about the unique needs within the region it serves. Access for Persons with Disabilities SQM s state-of-the-art facility in Coeur d Alene is fully accessible to persons with disabilities and SQM s staffing policies are fully compliant with the state and federal legal requirements. SQM provides opportunities and reasonable accommodations to provide support and communication with individuals with learning, mental, or physical disabilities. We certify that SQM is fully compliant with all U.S. and Idaho Department of Labor Rules and Regulations, which include but are not limited to Wage and Hour, Workplace Safety and Page-15

16 Health, Workers Compensation, Garnishment of Wages, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. SQM provides equal opportunity for qualified individuals with disabilities and does not discriminate. All pertinent and regulated information is posted for all employees as required. Pricing Model/Fees and Costs The pricing model is based on the following: A simple, negotiated cost per call based on call length and call handle requirements A bonus and penalty structure based on Voice of the Customer (VoC) metrics Fixed costs that cover reasonable onboarding costs SQM also recommends a bonus structure based on VoC metrics. As mentioned earlier, SQM advocates the use of customer surveying to measure performance from a First Call Resolution / Call Resolution and Customer satisfaction perspective. SQM advocates that the bonus structure is structured simply so that if SQM delivers greater performance than agreed, then a bonus of up to 15% of revenue is payable. Similarly, if SQM delivers below the minimum performance levels then a penalty of up to 15% revenue is determined. Fixed costs are determined based on the specific project needs of: Technology requirements Management requirements I.T. support staff Training for CSRs and development of training material Translation services Application and multi-language materials Toll-free charges Page-16

17 About SQM SQM provides consulting and surveying services to measure and improve the key performance metrics of FCR and Csat. We perform these services for all industries and business types within the contact center industry, with a significant portion of our business providing FCR performance measurement for the very sensitive health insurance industry. We advocate that any contact center operation have a robust set of performance measures that include, at the heart, VoC. SQM is well known for its provision of call center measurement services and we view the provision of contact center services as two very distinct functions. SQM operates both functions quite distinctly and advocates that it conducts the vital measurements on its own performance. Products and Services SQM Group assists organizations in their contact channels service quality delivery, measurement and improvement efforts by providing the following products and services: Multi-channel Benchmarking Inbound Call Outsourcing Quality Assurance Evaluation Outsourcing Multi-channel Tracking Training & Consulting Publications and Presentations Certification and Awards Page-17