HORSHAM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 1998--Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company's (PRUPAC) Claim Department Call Center has been chosen as a best-practice organization by the American Productivity and Quality Center (AP&QC), Houston.

As a best-practice organization, PRUPAC is hosting 10 companies for an on-site visit of its Horsham, Pennsylvania facility on Thursday, October 1. The site visit is part of Prudential's participation in AP&QC's benchmarking study Leveraging Call Center Investments to Enhance Customer Satisfaction: A Consortium Benchmarking Study on Results Achieved Through Customer Contact Excellence. The study focuses on (1) linking the call center's customer satisfaction with the company's vision, (2) developing and implementing the call center's customer satisfaction system and (3) measuring the effectiveness of the customer satisfaction system.

According to Kathryn Jackson, Ph.D., president of Response Design Corporation and author of many articles on call center operations, "A number of years ago, customer satisfaction was a new methodology ... the latest way to increase sales. It quickly progressed into a process that has a place in all parts of an organization. Today, customer satisfaction is quickly becoming an all-encompassing process that is the very foundation of business."

Jack Grayson, chairman of AP&QC, said, "Prudential truly embodies best practices in customer satisfaction through its call center investments," says Peggy Newton, APQC senior benchmarking analyst. "The organization not only links customer measures to financial measures but also externally collected customer satisfaction scores to the quality scores of every call center representative. Prudential understands that excellent customer service involves both information and people."

The PRUPAC Call Center receives and processes the first reports of claims on the company's auto, home, boat and personal liability policies. The Call Center includes First Report Units operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, located in Horsham, PA, Scottsdale, AZ, and Orlando, FL. The Call Center handles 510,000 calls a year.

"Prudential views customer satisfaction as a core operational lever to increase customer retention, deepen customer relationships and drive referral business", notes Luane Kohnke, vice president, Customer Satisfaction at Prudential. "We understand how our transactional processes link to our customers' satisfaction with us."

Founded in 1977, Houston-based American Productivity & Quality Center provides businesses and organizations with the knowledge, training, and methods that empower people to maximize their organizational potential with a focus on productivity, quality, and best practices. APQC is a nonprofit organization and an internationally recognized leader in benchmarking and best-practice information, serving more than 500 members in a variety of industries-business, government, education, and healthcare.

Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company is a subsidiary of The Prudential Insurance Company of America. Incorporated in 1972, PRUPAC is the eighth largest homeowner insurer and the eleventh largest auto insurer in the country.