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Company: VSP (Vision Service Plan)
Company Description: VSP provides a variety of flexible eyecare benefit plans. With over 38 million members, one in eight people in the United States relies on VSP for eyecare health coverage. VSP's Sight for Students program has helped more than 250,000 low-income/uninsured children receive free eyecare services since its inception in 1997.
Nomination Category: Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Customer Service Organization
Nomination Title: VSP (Vision Service Plan)
1. Tell the story about what this nominated organization achieved in the past 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:
One Queue—One World Class Contact Center
VSP is the nation's largest provider of eye care benefits with $2 billion in
revenue in 2004. Founded in 1955, VSP will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2005. Today, we have nearly 38.7 million covered subscribers and over 1,960 employees.
Having received the SQM* World Class status award two years running, our
Customer Service Division faced a major challenge. To merge two specialty call
queues into one queue in 2003, VSP customer satisfaction feedback indicated a
desire for minimal call transfers.
To meet the caller's desire for a 'one stop shop,' 100 percent of our Customer
Service Representatives (CSR’s) were trained to handle any incoming call.
Maintenance of quality service levels was of paramount importance during this
initiative. Innovative teamwork to overcome the challenges faced in a one-year
Division-wide change was critical.
A cross functional pilot team made up of CSR’s, management, trainers and
analysts met to determine the training and support programs needed for a change
of this magnitude. Using a pilot approach allowed the team to prevent mistakes
and fine tune the program. It also kept CSR employee morale high.
Only a segment of CSR’s experienced anxiety over this change. All CSR’s were
trained to handle new calls involving negotiations, billing questions,
complaints and regulatory compliance, etc. Leveraging CSR tenure while utilizing a team training approach garnered the support needed for CSR success. Even with this disruption to employee job expectations, employee satisfaction survey results held constant during this transition.
Virtually the entire Division, joined to train and support 163 CSR’s (more than 64
percent of our staff). The training rollout spanned over a 12-month period in 13
classes totaling 1560 hours of training. Supervisors and mentors were called to
support with additional side-by-side coaching during and after the training.
Other significant changes took place during this project. The company
implemented a new claims payment system. Also, a complete overhaul in our call
handling procedures to influence callers took place. Lastly, many corporate
product and policy updates were introduced within this timeframe.
In 2004, SQM survey results confirmed VSP again earned recognition as a World
Class Call Center during this initiative. Customer satisfaction increased to 88%
(very satisfied), an impressive 4 percent over last year! This demonstrated the
seamless results we had hoped to provide during this major change.
Centers with 80 percent plus at the 'very satisfied' level are awarded World-Class
status. VSP received this recognition for the third consecutive year in 2004.
Further, SQM awarded our Contact Center with the Highest Customer Satisfaction
Award and the Highest Employee Satisfaction Award in the insurance industry.
* Service Quality Measurement Group (SQM) tracks contact center’s service
quality performance surveying over 200 leading North American contact center’s
customers and employees annually.
2. 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]:
Significant VSP awards:
http://vsp.com/newsroom/html/awards_n.jsp
J.D. Powers Award
http://vsp.com/newsroom/html/jdpower.jsp
Fortune Magazine - Top 100 companies to work for:
http://vsp.com/newsroom/html/Fortune_Magazine_2003.jsp
Training Magazine - Top training company
http://vsp.com/newsroom/html/training_n.jsp
Customer Service awards: (sent via hardcopy nomination) There appears to be no
way to attach a word or .pdf document.
Leading Ladies award:
Vision Monday
July 2004
Leading Ladies: Managed Care
Laura Costa
Vice president, Customer Service
Vision Service Plan
Rancho Cordova, Calif.
CHOSEN BECAUSE... "Her strong commitment to the ongoing development of
employees, combined with her ability to leverage technology, makes her a leader
in her field" "other organizations seek out Laura for her expertise."
After earning two degrees in international business and working in that area for
several years, Laura Costa joined Vision Service Plan 10 years ago as manager of
customer service. As VSP has grown, its customer-service operations have
become more complex and wide-ranging. As VP of customer service, a good part
of Costa's day is spent managing and understanding how the company and its
marketplace have changed and planning for the future, while interfacing with other
departments to make sure VSP delivers what it promises.
Costa has overall responsibility for the operations of two call centers that handle
more than 10 million inbound calls annually, through about 400 representatives.
For the past two years, VSP's call centers have received "World Class"
recognition by the Service Quality Measurement Group, which monitors customer
and employee satisfaction levels for the contact-center industry.
SHE SAYS... "Quite a bit of change is going on in optical regarding women's roles-
-I've seen some very strong women take leadership positions and contribute to
what the eyecare industry can do. And VSP has always been very supportive of
women, more so than many other companies."
Vision Monday article: (also sent via hardcopy)
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.—For the second consecutive year, Vision
Service Plan has been awarded the highest contact-center customer- and
employee-satisfaction ranking for the insurance industry, by SQM Group.
In addition, VSP was honored with “World-Class Customer Satisfaction”
status by SQM, an authority for the contact-center industry in the areas of
measurement and management.
The rankings were made on the basis surveys of more than 800
customers as well as randomly selected contact-center employees; 88
percent of VSP customers and 36 percent of its employees gave the
company the top rating, “very satisfied.”
SQM defines World Class customer satisfaction as a minimum of 80
percent; typically only 3 to 5 percent of the more than 200 contact centers
it evaluates achieve this high level.
Reprinted by permission from Vision Monday. (c) Jobson Publishing, 2004
VSP
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated organization:
Laura Costa has been a part of VSP’s leadership team since 1993. As VP of
Customer Service, she has strategic and operational responsibility for VSP’s
California and Ohio Call Centers, which handle over 10 million inbound contacts
annually. The consistent delivery of service excellence to customers, members
and network doctors is the critical function of this division.
Laura also has responsibility for ACD (Automated Call Distribution) / CTI
(Computer Telephony Integration), forecasting and quality monitoring system
requirements and maintenance.
Vision Monday recognized Laura in 2004 as one of Fifty Most Influential Women in Optical because “Her strong commitment to the ongoing development of
employees, combined with her ability to leverage technology, makes her a leader
in her field.”
Ms. Costa holds a Master’s in International Management from the American
Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona. She received
a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Economics.
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