Company: PAETEC Communications, Rochester, NY
Company Description: PAETEC is an innovative supplier of communications solutions to medium and large businesses. With the belief that every customer has unique needs, PAETEC offers a full line of telecommunications solutions, Internet services, telecom software and equipment. PAETEC has more than 1 million access line equivalents in service and serves more than 17,000 business customers across the US.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Back-Office Customer Service Team of the Year

Nomination Title: PAETEC's Network Operations Center

1. Tell the story about what this nominated team 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:

PAETEC's Network Operations Center (NOC) has proven to be the center point of
the company's focus on customer service. Let's face it - telecommunications
are often considered commodity products. Every carrier has similar dial tone,
SS7 networks and IP backbones and routers.

However, what makes a telecom provider stand out from the pack, and what we
believe has driven PAETEC to be one of the fastest growing telecom providers
in the nation over the past 10 years with well over $1B in revenue, is a
passion for serving our customers.

PAETEC has over 50,000 medium and large business customers in virtually every
state. When any of our customers call, they first have the option to contact
one of their dedicated account reps. Additionally, the goal for every call
into front line customer service call is to be answered within 20 seconds or
less by a live person who is empowered to help customers with their problem.

In addition to these front line reps, PAETEC's back office customer service,
the Network Operations Center, is what many customers say keeps them at
PAETEC. The NOC's purpose is to quickly fix any of hundreds of potential
problems one of our customers may be experiencing by remotely accessing
thousands of potential devices in the network or the dozens of vendors with
whom we partner.

However, perhaps the most unique characteristic of PAETEC's NOC is the
organizational structure and career paths. With the recognition that it's
impossible to teach a new technician everything at once, each technician joins
the company as a Tier One tech who is required to master a particular
technology. The technician's advancement in the corporation is based on their
ambition and certification testing, not tenure in the position. When a
technician feels they've mastered a technology, they will take 12-18 quizzes
followed by a role playing final exam where they must demonstrate excellence
situational problem solving.

The technician may then advance to Tier Two, Tier Three and ultimately to NOC
Engineer, each with a series of quizzes and final exam to demonstrate mastery
before advancement.

These career paths ensure job satisfaction, as well as the unmatched quality
of every technician who interfaces with our customers. Additionally, our
statistics show that this structure allow more tickets to be resolved in less
time with fewer technicians. Since mid 2007, PAETEC's NOCs in Rochester and
Charlotte averaged nearly 12,000 tickets per month.

In addition to innovation organizationally, NOC leaders are also deploying
mechanisms to stay in constant communication with our contacts, with voice and
text message updates sent regularly to customers so they are always aware of
the status of their problem. Recently, an enhancement was completed on our
customer portal so they can read the actual notes left by a NOC technician,
again keeping them apprised of the situation.

Because of the unique organizational structure and near obsession on service
and communication, we believe that PAETEC's Network Operations Center is well
suited to be named the Back-Office Customer Service Team of the Year at the
Stevie Awards.

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]:

http://www.paetec.com/downloads/inthenews/Forrester_PAETEC_study_May08.pdf

http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/1108/paetec-where-plentiful-proficiency-meets-customer-care.htm

http://www.paetec.com/downloads/inthenews/East%20Meets%20West_Nov%2007.pdf

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

Jim Manetta serves as PAETEC's Vice President of the Network Operations
Center. Jim has a 14 year tenure in telecom, and joined PAETEC in 1998 as the
first technician in the Network Operations Center. Since then, Jim has grown
the group and instituted countless improvements to make the NOC one of leaders
in the telecommunications industry.

Jim has also received countless awards, commensurate with the contributions
he's made. In 2003, he was awarded the highest award for a PAETEC employee,
the John V. Budney Award for excellence in service, in addition to the many
other recognitions at PAETEC.