NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1998--The Prudential Insurance Company of America and Teknekron Infoswitch have won top honors in the annual Award for Call Center Excellence (ACCE) competition sponsored by Teleprofessional Magazine.

Prudential and Teknekron won the only Gold ACCE in the business-to-consumer inbound, inhouse category. Teleprofessional's ACCE awards are given each year to a select few companies that set the standard of performance for the call center industry.

"The call centers recognized with an ACCE are truly the benchmark by which all call centers should measure their activities. They are a source of pride for the industry and are shining examples for those just entering the field," said Ross Scovotti, TeleProfessional group publisher.

Andrea Csaszar, vice president, Prudential Operations and Systems, said, "When we began building our call centers, our goal was to stress communication, training and quality people, so our customers would experience high quality service delivery every time they call. We are delighted that the judges panel confirmed our strategy. Our statistics have improved, but it's also nice to know that peers recognize the value of our efforts."

Prudential uses Teknekron's Performance Suite(tm) as the foundation for its call center quality program. These products increase customer service levels, improve training and coaching and provide valuable business insight by automating agent monitoring and evaluation procedures.

"Our technology underscores Prudential's quality programs," said John Kaiser, Teknekron's vice president and general manager. "But Prudential builds upon that basis with incentives and training programs that move customer service to a higher level."

An independent panel of judges chooses ACCE Award winners based on how well the call center is integrated into the company marketing/business plan; creative use of resources; responsiveness to customers; and effectiveness in achieving goals

Over the past 18 months, Prudential established three call centers to be the central points of contact with customers. To staff the centers, Prudential hired more than 600 agents and put them through an intense 14-week training course. The company implemented a quality program, using the latest in technology and benchmarking tools. It began tracking performance, analyzing trends and adjusting training and business processes accordingly.

Csaszar said that with the new programs Prudential has experienced a 30 percent increase in "once and done" calls, including turn around time; a productivity increase of 33 percent; a 37 percent increase in service levels; on average, a 15 point improvement (from 80 percent to 95 percent) in Quality Service Indicators across all three sites; a steady increase in customer satisfaction ratings; and a 55 percent decrease in costs per call.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America is one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States and one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world. It has a major presence in the insurance, securities and money management, employee benefits and administration, consumer banking, and real estate brokerage and relocation industries. Visit the Prudential Web site at http://www.prudential.com.

Teknekron Infoswitch Corporation, a privately held company based in Fort Worth, Texas, develops and markets performance management technologies for customer call centers. For more information about Teknekron products and services, call 1-800-TEKNEKRON, send an e-mail message to info@teknekron.com, or visit Teknekron's web site at http://www.teknekron.com.

    CONTACT: Karen Oliver Howell
              973 802-8533
                     or
              Katherine Kirkpatrick
              Teknekron Infoswitch
              817 267-3025