Why COPC?

What is COPC?

Copc : Customer Operations Performance Center

The COPC-2000® Standard was written in 1995 by a core group of users of call center services and associated distribution fulfillment operations, including representatives from American Express, Compaq, Dell, Intel, L.L. Bean, Microsoft, Motorola and Novell. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria and framework were used as the basis for the Standard. The Standard was developed primarily for five reasons:

The outsourcing companies were very dissatisfied with the performance of their existing call center service providers - "They're not delivering what was promised."

These buyers of services did not believe that third party call centers would get better without "a little encouragement."

Implementation of improvement standards have led to significant increases in product and service quality, particularly in the manufacturing sector. For instance, the overall quality of automobiles is significantly higher today than fifteen years ago. The group felt the same advances could be made in service environments.

These companies wanted something to distinguish the "really good" from the "mediocre" call center and other service providers, and wanted to be able to do this prior to granting business to the provider(s).

The majority of call centers were having trouble relating to existing standards (e.g., ISO 9000) because they were viewed as being very manufacturing-oriented. Furthermore, those service companies who had become certified to ISO had not gained the operational benefits they had been seeking, and many companies had lost enthusiasm for the initiative. Consequently, the vast majority of call centers had no model in place to improve performance.

After developing the Standard, the involved companies asked that COPC be formed. They believed that an industry-wide effort would be the most effective way to improve performance and that the co-founders of COPC had the background, knowledge, and enthusiasm to help "evangelize" the use of the Standard in outsourced call centers.

The driving force behind the development of the first version of the Standard was to lower the risk that buyers faced when making a decision to select a third party service provider. All providers claimed then, as they do now, excellence and world class performance. What the buyers wanted was a set of objective metrics, outcomes, and defined processes that would differentiate the truly capable suppliers.

Since that time, users of the Standard have realized that the same performance criterion apply to contact centers that are operated by “internal” management. These "internal" contact centers have greatly benefited by applying the Standard, and now represent the majority of the Standard’s user base. The Standard provides a performance-oriented model that works extraordinarily well for these environments. HealthNow, Dell, Microsoft, DHL, General Motors, and many other leading firms are representative examples of the organizations that use the Standard as a performance model for "internal" call centers.

More information will be posted soon...