10 July 2008

NTUC Income Contact Centre Top in APAC for Customer Service

For Immediate Release

SINGAPORE, 10 July 2008 – NTUC Income's contact centre has been recognised for offering the best customer service in APAC by a global contact centre industry body.

The homegrown insurance company has won the highly contested Best in Customer Service Award in the APAC category, given out by ContactCenterWorld.com in its 2008 Annual Awards Competition. In doing so, NTUC Income edged out other established finalists that included MNCs such as leading consumer electronic manufacturers and global financial institutions.

NTUC Income was the only Singapore company to qualify as a finalist and winner in the Competition, which is open to contact centres from all industries, including banks, telcos, airlines and government agencies.

NTUC Income Chief Executive Tan Suee Chieh attributed the win to the Company's focus on convenience and choice for customers, calling it a great acknowledgement of NTUC Income’s  continued commitment to customer service.

He said: 'NTUC Income believes in leading the market when it comes to providing relevant choices to meet Singaporeans' changing needs and aspirations. This convenience and choices customers enjoy extend way beyond our products to the multi-channel, multi-media strategy used by our contact centre.

"We are committed to adopting the best-in-class processes in everything we do, without compromising our social purpose as a leading social enterprise to make insurance affordable, accessible and sustainable to those who need it most. That we  are able to compete with highly respected and established financial institutions and MNCs in the region is the best testament yet of the professionalism shown by our staff."

Contactcenterworld.com President Raj Wadhwani said NTUC Income had distinguished itself as a far-sighted and innovative organisation which used technology to deliver outstanding customer service.

He said: "We congratulate NTUC Income on their impressive achievements at the 2008 ContactCenterWorld.com Asia Pacific Top Performers Conference & Awards. The conference delegates who voted for them clearly knew what best-in-class customer service is all about,  and some of their comments included 'fantastic statistics', 'excellent examples of real customer service' and 'WOW! – a superb example of leveraging technology to deliver fabulous customer service'."

The Best in Customer Service Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in the Competition, as it is keenly contested by hundreds of companies in the region that use it to benchmark their best practices in the areas of people, process, environment and technology.

Just five companies were shortlisted as finalists for the Award by a panel of independent experts comprising seasoned contact centre industry practitioners. The judging criteria was based not just on scores for customer satisfaction, but also on consistency and innovativeness in measurement.

This is the second time in as many years that NTUC Income has won a highly contested award from ContactCenterWorld.com. In 2006, NTUC Income won the coveted "Best of the Best" Award in the global category, beating out other contact centres from around the world for Best Technology Innovation. The Award was given to the contact centre that demonstrated creativity in the use of technology to enhance business performance and customer service.

In the 2008 Competition, NTUC Income also scooped up two additional awards in the APAC category – Best Technology Innovation and the Best Supervisor Award for its employee Wang Teck Heng. For all the award categories it has won in, NTUC Income will be competing with other regional winners from Europe, the Middle East and America for the “Best of the Best” Awards to be held in Las Vegas.

NTUC Income's 400-seat contact centre operates 24/7 and offers customers a choice of six modes of communications – phone, fax, email, WebChat, SMS and VOIP. Customers are directly connected to a service agent when they dial in, without the need to go through an Interactive Voice Response system. A full list of awards won by the NTUC Income contact centre is available at http://www.income.com.sg/callcentre/awards.asp.

About NTUC Income

NTUC Income is the only insurance co-operative in Singapore. It is a national icon, built on strong and sound business principles. Established in 1970 in response to the growing need for affordable insurance, it has become a leading life, health and general insurer.

 In staying true to its social mission to offer affordable, accessible and sustainable insurance to all, NTUC Income has earned the trust of 1.8 million customers from all strata of society.

 It has been rated "AA" by independent credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's since 1999, the highest accolade given to a domestic insurer in Asia, reflecting a strong financial profile, flexibility and capacity to meet new challenges. The organisation's corporate philosophy, "Social in Purpose, Commercial in Approach" means that even while aiming for commercial leadership, it places people at the heart of the decision making process.