May 31, 2022
The COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard is the most established and accepted performance management system. The latest updates, announced in August 2021, reflect the growing use of digital support technologies and consider the service journey as a whole. They also merit increasing employee engagement initiatives. *COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations and COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers, Release 7.0 are the latest updates.
The COPC Standards Committee meets bi-annually to review user input, identify emerging trends and determine meaningful updates to the COPC CX Standard. The committee comprises some of the world’s largest brands. Together they are responsible for managing, developing and expanding the COPC CX Standard.
Since the last update, COPC Inc. has launched its Global Benchmarking Series (GBS). The series is a 12-month research effort that addresses timely issues affecting contact centers and customer experience. In May 2022, committee members will discuss using COPC Inc.’s research capabilities to make positive contributions to the COPC CX Standard.
Novitas Solutions VP of Operations, Kimberly Martin said, “The COPC CX Standard has always been the leading performance management system for CX operations. Access to this type of research data will only enhance it.”
Leveraging COPC Inc.’s research capacity and GBS insights allows the committee to ask critical questions and get accurate real-time data. Continuously integrating current findings ensures the CX Standard evolves with the customer experience economy. The newfound agility would create opportunities for identifying niche areas for further, more specialized study.
Concentrix Senior Director of Global Shared Service, Ankit Poothia, said, “The data-driven insights from this research will allow the committee to validate assumptions and stay on the forefront of emerging trends.”
COPC CX Standard & Best Practices
The COPC CX Standard is used to gauge the performance of CX operations. There are three versions, each deriving from COPC Inc.’s proprietary CX framework. The COPC CX Standard is available to any organization free of cost.
Organizations often get certified to the COPC CX Standard to show their high performance to internal and external stakeholders. Certification demonstrates operational efficiency and commitment to customer experience best practices. Meeting the requirements exemplifies success in implementing performance improvement methodologies with proven results.
Benefits of COPC Inc. Certification
- Raises awareness and brand recognition
- Reduces operational costs
- Improves customer satisfaction and loyalty
- Increases opportunities to secure business internationally
COPC Inc. Certification Process
Certification provides a roadmap for reconstructing processes and preparing for change. It enables organizations to:
- Identify root causes of performance and process problems
- Correct issues and show tangible CX improvements
- Implement best practices
- Standardize systems, processes, metrics and targets
- Optimize areas that have the most significant impact
- Sustain CX performance growth using best practices
Three Stages of Certification
The certification begins by assessing an organization’s plans, processes, policies and performance to the COPC CX Standard requirements. The goal is to uncover gaps and identify areas for development that will have the highest return. A COPC Inc. consultant gives a detailed report with supporting analysis after the initial assessment.
Dedicated personnel provide guidance for structuring and enacting a plan to remediate gaps and refine systems. During this transformative stage, management training is available and is often instrumental in success. *Support is available remotely or on-site.
After gaps are closed, and performance is stable, COPC Inc. consultants do another assessment. They verify processes and performance are on par with the requirements of the COPC CX Standard. Once certified, best practices continue to support and enable sustainable growth. *Typically, the final review takes four to five days and includes a detailed readout.
COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers, Release 7.0:
Meeting the contact center requirements ensures objective measures function and positively impact end-users or clients. Third-party providers of contact center services will be able to demonstrate their aptitude for success in meeting performance targets.
- Suitable for outsource service providers (OSPs) and customer service providers (CSPs)
- Detailed framework designed to achieve high performance
- Focuses on services essential to improving customer service journeys
COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations, Release 7.0:
The added option for process certification focuses on improving a specific area or issue. It can play an integral role in establishing consistency between multiple sites or getting quick resolutions to critical issues.
- Suitable for customer service providers (CSPs)
- Flexible framework
- Drives high performance across CX operations and throughout customer service journeys
*Work process areas include quality, customer satisfaction, workforce management, recruiting/hiring/training and sourcing.
COPC CX Standard for Vendor Management Organizations (VMOs)
Proven evaluation and management techniques facilitate uniformity across channels and providers. Certification offers strategic sourcing approaches to selecting and onboarding third-party customer service suppliers and methods to understand internal client requirements better.
- Appropriate for any CX operation provided through a third-party vendor
- Structure and process coordination for multichannel CX programs
- Metrics and high-performance targets
How the COPC Standards Committee Began
In 1996, the need for structured processes and measurements in the customer contact industry prompted leaders from across sectors to assemble. Executives from companies like Microsoft, Dell, American Express, Motorola, Adobe and Intel came together to find a solution. The original purpose was to set the precedent of what outsourced customer contact suppliers should deliver to buyers.
The cohort established guidelines, best practices, metrics and requirements that became part of a collection of performance management frameworks. What is now the COPC CX Standard set the foundation for a 25+ year legacy of being at the forefront of operational excellence and customer experience best practices.
Cliff Moore, COPC Inc. Chairman and Co-founder, said, “The COPC CX Standard has a rich and important history spanning over 25 years. This esteemed group of leaders was passionate about solving a pressing problem that organizations were experiencing.”
The group met six times over one year to draft the first release of the Standard. After the first release, some founding members agreed to require their customer experience suppliers to adopt the Standard. COPC Inc. emerged as a training and certification entity for the outsourced service providers.
“This was the beginning of a long history of providing certification, training and consulting services that help global organizations provide the highest levels of service to their end-users,” added the co-founder.
Please visit www.copc.com for more information about consulting, training, certification and research solutions for customer experience operations.