Company: Ceridian Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
Company Description: Ceridian is a global business services company that offers a comprehensive range of innovative solutions. From human resources and benefits to work-life and health and productivity services, we help organizations maximize their human, financial and technology resources. As a leader in payroll outsourcing, gift cards and controlled spending, we're also the driving force in payment innovation.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year - Financial Services

Nomination Title: Ceridian

Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Ceridian’s Customer Care organization (CCO) continues to spearhead Ceridian’s
focus on the customer. Over the past year CCO’s remarkable success has been in
large part based on several key factors: customer listening efforts, translating
customer feedback into service improvements, measuring the ongoing effectiveness
of its efforts, and communicating those improvements to its 350 customer care
specialists (CSAs).

CCO’s 350 professionals answer 750,000 calls per year and provide business to
business support for Ceridian’s payroll and human resource management products.
In the past, determining what customers considered ideal customer service was
largely anecdotal. More than a year ago CCO implemented three customer
measurement techniques to begin to ascertain exactly what clients desired from a
successful customer service call.

•Top 100 calls – visits and interviews with Ceridian’s top 100 customers.
•Net Promoter Scores (NPS) - determines how clients feel about Ceridian (NPS
measures customer loyalty by asking "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it
that you would recommend Ceridian?")
•Customer Advisory Boards - groups of Ceridian customers who periodically meet
to provide Ceridian feedback.

Over the past year CCO’s customer listening efforts enabled it to clearly
articulate its customers’ definition of ideal service. First, Ceridian’s
products and services should be so easy-to-use they prevent the need to call
customer service. If calls become necessary, they should be answered and
resolved on a timely basis. Finally, address customer questions, when they
occur, should be so thoroughly answered they obviate the need for call-backs.
CCO packaged these responses into the acronym CARE:
Call Prevention
Answer My Call Timely
Resolution Cycle Time
Eliminate Call Backs
The CARE acronym is now being used to communicate the key desired result to the
entire Customer Care organization.

Over the past year CCO implemented several organizational and technology changes
in an effort to achieve ideal service. Judging from CCO’s own measurements and
customer responses these new efforts have been having measurable effects.
• Call response time was reduced by 43 percent.
•Customer satisfaction increased by 14 percent.
•NPS scores improved by 20 points.

A peer-to-peer recognition program enables CSAs to recognize each other when an
employee has achieved the CARE result. These outstanding CSAs are recognized at
quarterly CCO meetings and rewarded with prizes.

Finally, Ceridian’s customers provide some of the most compelling evidence that
Ceridian is providing the industry’s finest customer service.

“Ceridian’s level of service you’re not going to get anywhere else.”
Julie Bridwell, Tire Centers, LLC

“I called the Ceridian support line and … support basically saved me 4-6 hours
of work. When I got off the phone I said, ‘Oh, halleluiah.’”
Katie McKee, TranSystems Corporation

“Ceridian’s service is why I’ve been more loyal to Ceridian than other products
I’ve used.”
Chris Scott, Aviva

“One of the things I really enjoy about Ceridian is the customer support.”
Yvonne Lutz, Scoular Company

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2344338/
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/01/prweb1898904.htm
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/07/prweb2613274.htm
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2780664.htm
http://www.ceridian.com/payroll_services_article/1,6266,15806-72380,00.html
http://www.ceridian.com/payroll_services_article/1,6266,15806-71771,00.html

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:

Paul Everett first began working with Ceridian in 1994 and has led customer
support teams in both local and regional offices. Paul is a gifted communicator
with a record of improving employee morale and productivity resulting in
improved operational efficiency and greater customer satisfaction. In 2007, Paul
assumed responsibility as the overall leader of Customer Care and he began a
concerted campaign to overhaul both the way Ceridian conducted its customer
support and the metrics surrounding its measurement. By listening to Ceridian’s
customers, Paul’s team continues to improve Ceridian’s outstanding level of service.