Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise SunPass Program
Receives J.D. Power and Associates’ Call Center Certification

Certification a First for the Transportation Industry

BOCA RATON, Florida--As a further demonstration that Florida’s Turnpike’s (Florida Department of Transportation) intense focus on customer service is working, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise and its SunPass® Program has been awarded the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Call Center CertificationSM for providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience." Call Center Certification signifies that call centers are process-oriented, professionally managed, and focused on providing the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

The SunPass Prepaid Toll Program is the Turnpike’s electronic toll collection system. This system allows toll road users with a SunPass account to save time by passing through toll facilities without stopping and save money with frequent user discount programs. The program processes more than 37 million electronic toll collection transactions each month from over 1.6 million customers who rely on the network’s 450-miles of limited-access toll highways.

The SunPass Program is growing at a rate of 40,000 new transponders per month. In fiscal year 2004/2005, the SunPass operations centers in Boca Raton and Orlando, Florida, handled 3.8 million telephone, e-mail, and fax interactions from customers answering questions that ranged from account balance information to new service requests.

The SunPass Program is the first call center in the transportation industry to receive certification. Typically, only about 20 percent of all call centers are able to pass the rigid standards set forth by J D Power and Associate’s call center certification program. The Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise SunPass Program is one of these call centers.

The SunPass call center operations of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise far surpassed the rigorous standards of the certification process, demonstrating the organization’s strong commitment to providing customers with a consistent, positive experience with its call centers.

Customer interactions with a call center can have a profound and lasting impact on overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. The SunPass Program has created a highly customer-focused culture that stresses the importance of meeting customer needs at every touch point opportunity. Call center customers give SunPass particularly high ratings to both its customer service representatives and call center operations in general.

As part of the certification process, J.D. Power and Associates reviewed the SunPass management roles and responsibilities, metrics, customer feedback methods, interviewed line staff, and reviewed 1,200 pages of process and procedures documentation regarding recruiting and training, call handling problem resolution, employee incentives, and quality assurance capabilities. To achieve certification status, a call center must perform within the top 20 percent of customer service, based on J.D. Power and Associates’ cross-industry customer satisfaction research.

At the end of the on-site two-day audit, the SunPass Program passed the phase one certification with a 177 out of possible 210 rating (passing is 168).

The Phase II audit proved even more intensive. Phase II consisted of surveying 600 randomly selected SunPass customers who had recently contacted the call centers. Customers were asked about the courtesy and knowledge of SunPass customer service representatives (CSRs); CSRs’ concern for the customer; usefulness of the information provided; timely resolution of the customer’s issue; ease of getting through to a CSR; and the convenience of the center’s operating hours.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, achieving a score of 730 (with a top index of 1000) is considered passing. The SunPass Program scored 911. It is one of only two organizations in any industry audited by J.D. Power and Associates for this certification program to score above 900.

"The J.D. Power and Associates certification is a testament of our deep commitment to become a world-class organization," said James L. Ely, D.P.A., executive director and chief executive officer of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. "The past several years have seen our on-going effort toward a high-involvement, high-performance culture. We are consistently trying to focus on our customer’s best interest. Our ability to provide excellent customer service experience during this time of enormous growth is a tribute to the hard work that all of the Turnpike Enterprise staff have invested."

Much of the customer-driven process implementation that is currently in place began over two years ago with a unique program called WE CARE (which stands for World Class, Excellence, Customer Awareness, Readiness, and Evolution). This program defined key performance indicators and evaluated the business structure. From there, the management team stepped forward with a significant commitment of resources and process improvement, including a comprehensive program of training, implementation, quality control and communication to achieve an effective solution.

"Since inception, our goal has been to operate with ‘public sector motives, private sector methods’," said Ely. "The J.D. Power and Associates certification is a clear demonstration that we care, and that we’re here to serve them in the best possible way."

According to the SunPass program team, there is more work to be done. Ely adds, "One of the greatest advantages to a certification program such as this is the recommendations by auditors to continue building our customer-service culture. We’re already working on ways to put those plans into action and achieve even greater customer satisfaction and process efficiencies."

J.D. Power and Associates launched the Call Center Certification Program in early 2004 to evaluate overall customer satisfaction and help call centers in various industries increase their efficiency and effectiveness by establishing best practices for handling service calls. The Certified Call Center Certification was awarded in September 2005 and is valid for one year.

About Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise:

About J.D. Power and Associates:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2005

The operational efficiency of the Orlando and Boca Raton facilities is critical to supporting the Turnpike’s goal to increase the use of SunPass ETC from 50 percent by Turnpike patrons in 2004 to 75 percent by 2007.

Suarez added, "Reaching this goal while maintaining our own self-imposed high standards for customer service will require the best people, facilities, and technology. With this second contact center in Orlando, we know we have the framework in place."

The Turnpike’s first customer service center in Boca Raton opened its doors in 1999 and until recently handled the questions and comments from the Turnpike’s almost 2 million customers who rely on the network’s 450-miles of limited-access toll highways. The increasing workload will be shared with the Orlando-based contact center representatives beginning November 1, 2005.

About Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Fifth Annual Minority Business Enterprise Trade Fair hosted by the Turnpike has been postponed due to Hurricane Wilma and will be rescheduled for early 2006!