CONVERGYS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SPEAKER SERIES: Long-term competitive viability is undermined by an out-of-balance customer service strategy. Now what?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At the Telecoms World Middle East 2008 Conference in Dubai this week, Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in relationship management, shared its insights on how sustaining long-term competitive viability requires more than a customer service strategy focused on customer satisfaction.

Speaking on "The Customer Experience is About Long-Term Competitive Advantage," Convergys’ Jean-Hervé Jenn discussed how companies must move away from a narrow focus on improving customer satisfaction to a broad vision of a customer service strategy that drives greater value from customer relationships – for the customers and for the business. As president of Convergys’ International Business Unit, Jenn is responsible for the company’s strategic billing and customer management divisions throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and South America. Additionally, he heads Convergys’ global consulting services.

According to Jenn, rapid commoditization and brand erosion in highly competitive markets inevitably give way to seeking differentiation through the customer service experience. Customers equate how well they are treated with how well a business values them and their continued patronage. This has driven many businesses to focus their attention on near-term tactical programs and processes to improve customer satisfaction in efforts to improve customer loyalty. While helpful, the expenses deployed often exceeded the gains achieved. As the cost to serve continues to escalate, the irony is that customer satisfaction continues to decline.

Jenn proposes that a broader vision of a customer service strategy must be enabled to meet customer service expectations while also controlling the cost to serve, especially in these tough economic times with companies confronting a reduced capacity to serve with regards to human and investment capital. Jenn’s answer is the creation of a customer service strategy based on the interrelationship of four levers: channel, process, experience, and financials. With a relevant mix in place, based on a company’s customer segmentation, market conditions, and financials, the company can deliver a customer service strategy that meets their customer expectations along with the needs of their business, while ultimately contributing to their long-term competitive advantage.

Questions addressed by the Convergys presentation include:

• How to align the four levers with company goals and actions?
• How are the four levers interrelated to create a strategy?
• Where has this worked and what were the results?

To view a copy of the presentation, please click here.

To learn more about the Convergys speaker program and the availability of Convergys speakers and their topics, contact the speaker program director, Jeff Hazel at +1 513 723 7153 or jeff.hazel@convergys.com.

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About Convergys

Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) is a global leader in relationship management. We provide solutions that drive more value from the relationships our clients have with their customers and employees. Convergys turns these everyday interactions into a source of profit and strategic advantage for our clients.

For more than 30 years, our unique combination of domain expertise, operational excellence, and innovative technologies has delivered process improvement and actionable business insight to clients that now span more than 70 countries and 35 languages.

Convergys is a member of the S&P 500 and has been voted a Fortune Most Admired Company for eight consecutive years. We have approximately 75,000 employees in 81 customer contact centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and our global headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, visit www.convergys.com

(Convergys and the Convergys logo are registered trademarks of Convergys Corporation.)

Convergys Corporation
Business and Financial Media -- John Pratt
+1 513 723 3333 or john.pratt@convergys.com
or
Trade Media -- Jeff Hazel
+1 513 723 7153 or jeff.hazel@convergys.com