KARL STORZ Call Center Recognized By J.D. Power and Associates for “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience”

Certification Reflects Call Center Commitment to Providing Exceptional Service

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., a leader in endoscopy and operating room integration solutions, has been recognized for its call center operation’s customer satisfaction excellence under the J.D. Power and Associates Call Center Certification Program^SM. The Call Center Certification Program distinction reflects the strong commitment of KARL STORZ service call center operations to provide “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience.”

“Receiving the J.D. Power Call Center Certification is an honor for our company”

To become certified, the call center successfully passed a detailed audit of more than 100 practices encompassing KARL STORZ recruiting, training, employee incentives, management roles and responsibilities, and quality assurance capabilities. As part of its evaluation, J.D. Power and Associates conducted a random survey of KARL STORZ customers who recently contacted its call center in El Segundo, California.

“Congratulations to KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America for becoming a Certified Call Center by providing an outstanding customer service experience,” according to J.D. Power and Associates. “According to our research, customers of KARL STORZ reported that both the IVR Routing experience and the Agent experience were excellent, though they scored them particularly well in attributes pertaining to Agent knowledge how quickly their needs were met.”

For certification status, a call center must also perform within the top 20 percent of customer service scores, which are based on benchmarks established in J.D. Power and Associates’ cross-industry customer satisfaction research. The evaluation criteria include the customer service representative’s courtesy, knowledge and concern for the customer; promptness in speaking to a person; and timely resolution of the problem or request. Additionally, the experience with the automated phone system is evaluated based on the clarity of the information provided, the ease of navigating the phone menu prompts and the ease of understanding the phone menu instructions.

"Receiving the J.D. Power Call Center Certification is an honor for our company,” says Marian Favors, Director, Customer Support, KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc. “We have long focused on consistently delivering exceptional levels of service and offering a positive overall call center experience for each of our customers.”

The Call Center Certification Program was launched by J.D. Power and Associates in 2004 to evaluate overall customer satisfaction with call centers and to help call centers in various industries increase their efficiency and effectiveness by establishing and continually updating leading practices for handling service calls.

For more information on the Call Center Certification Program, please visit JDPower.com.

About KARL STORZ

KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., is an affiliate of KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, an international leader for more than 65 years in reusable endoscope technology, encompassing all endoscopic specialties. Based in Tuttlingen, Germany, KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG is a family-owned company that designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets all its products with an emphasis on visionary design, precision craftsmanship and clinical effectiveness. For more information, call [phone] or visit the company’s Web site at www.karlstorz.com.

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company providing performance improvement, social media and customer satisfaction insights and solutions. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide. McGraw-Hill Financial's leading brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, J.D. Power and Associates and Platts, a leader in commodities information. With sales of $6.2 billion in 2011, the Corporation has approximately 23,000 employees across more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.