March 10, 2008//Lincoln, Neb.//Ameritas Group, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., a UNIFI Company, recently earned the distinguished Center of Excellence call center certification from BenchmarkPortal, the largest call center benchmarking database program in the world developed by Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality.

“Providing exceptional customer service has always been a core competency and differentiator for Ameritas Group,” notes Roxann Brennfoerder, FSA, vice president - group customer relations and operations. “We continually monitor our call center for accuracy and efficiency, so we’re honored to become part of an elite group of world-class service providers through BenchmarkPortal.” 

To achieve certification as a Center of Excellence, Ameritas Group call center associates participated in BenchmarkPortal’s rigorous certification process based on established scientific methods that measure operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

Last year alone, these dedicated call center associates answered more than one million phone calls and processed 3.7 million claims. To be able to accomplish this, they receive intensive training before being placed in the Ameritas Group call center. The company provides ongoing training and continuing education so associates can meet Ameritas Group’s own set of stringent service standards.

Dr. Jon Anton, director of benchmarking at Purdue’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality, adds, “We benchmark the performance of thousands of customer service call centers across North America, and we can say with complete confidence that the Ameritas Group call center is operating in the top 10 percent of all call centers in their industry.”

About Ameritas Group
Ameritas Group is one of the nation’s leading providers of dental and eye care products and services. With more than 30 years of experience in group dental and 20 years of experience in group eye care, Ameritas Group serves more than 41,000 employer groups covering 3.5 million insured members nationwide. In New York, products are offered through First Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York. For more information, visit www.ameritasgroup.com.

About BenchmarkPortal
BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue Research Foundation database of contact center performance metrics, the largest such database in the world. Data is collected in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University. In 2005, BenchmarkPortal received a U.S. patent for its unique methodology of call center performance evaluation through metric gap analysis. For more information, visit www.benchmarkportal.com.

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