Agero's Innovative Idea-Generation Portal Wins CRM Excellence Award

CUSTOMER Magazine Honors Intranet Site Generating Over 450 ideas in 2012

MEDFORD, MA--May 1, 2013:  Agero, a leading provider of connected vehicle and driver assistance programs, received CUSTOMER magazine's 2013 CRM Excellence Award for the company's intranet portal designed to encourage employee innovation.

The SMART idea link on Agero's intranet site collects associates' ideas, allows associates to review their colleagues' suggestions, vote for their favorites, check on the progress of an idea's evaluation and implementation, and review past idea submissions.

To encourage employee participation and access to the site, monthly "Challenge Questions" are posed for feedback. Responses go through a four-gate vetting process before being tested in a pilot program, the last step before deployment is finalized.

"Promoting continuous innovation requires a focused approach and a streamlined process that gives associates immediate feedback," said Chris Small, director of Customer Experience for Agero. "SMART idea has proven to be an effective tool for encouraging our associates to continually look at new or enhanced ways to help our clients, members, and our service provider community."

CUSTOMER magazine has been the voice of the CRM, contact/call center, and tele-services industries since 1982. The publication presents its Product of the Year awards to companies that have demonstrated excellence in technological advancement and application refinements, by offering products and services that go the extra mile in improving the customer experience and return on investment for the businesses that use them.

Agero handles over 20 million calls annually from vehicle owners through six response centers located in Medford, Mass.; Clarksville, Tennessee; Irving, Texas; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada; Sebring, Florida; and Tucson, Arizona. The company provides services for more than 100 leading corporations in support of over 75 million of their customers.