Company: Diligent Board Member Services, New York, NY
Company Division/Group: RF Binder
Company Description: Over 2,300 boards and 46,000 individual directors, executives and board teams worldwide rely on Diligent Board Member Services, Inc. to speed and simplify how board materials are produced, delivered and reviewed. Providing the world's most widely used secure board portal, Diligent has pioneered ease of use, stringent security, and superior training and support since 2001.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Diligent Board Member Services Delivers Unmatched Customer Service Across the Globe

Tell the story about what this nominated team has achieved since January 1, 2014 year (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

The best way to describe the success of Diligent’s customer support team is by providing a glimpse into the type of feedback the team receives on a daily basis from its clients. As the provider of the world’s most widely used board portal, Diligent is commended for both the high quality support that it promises and the expectation-exceeding service that it delivers. Consider these testimonials from customers – just a sample of the nearly 6,000 survey responses provided by users last year:

I was SHOCKED at the lightning fast customer service. Literally. I'm working from home today (or attempting to do so when I got locked out of my account) & my assistant called me & said someone from Diligent was on the line to see if I needed some help before I could even enter in the Password Reset Code I had just received in my email inbox. An unsolicited phone call from a human that was actually faster than the speed of automated email? Amazing! Now it’s the talk of my office. Thanks/Kudos! – Robert Glazier, CalPERS

They phoned me before I had a chance to phone them - great service! – Anonymous

Perfect. Can you teach other companies to be like you? - Anonymous

I could not be more pleased. Within a minute of sending an e-mail to a general support desk, I received a call from a gentleman in New Zealand that immediately solved my problem. He was professional, courteous and pleasant. All companies could learn from your customer service model. – Luke Brandenberg, Halcon Resources Corp

I was very impressed by the experience. Felt that it was very helpful while at the same time being secure. Excellent job by your team! – Dan Olszewski, First Business Financial Services

I was extremely pleased with the support and professionalism shown throughout the entire setup and implementation process. Furthermore, one of our Directors also made note that they called the US helpline and they had whatever issue they had, it was sorted ASAP. I would definitely be recommending Boardbooks to others that require this service and I am extremely pleased thus far with everything. – Yvonne Gallagher, Avolon Aerospace Leasing Ltd

The Diligent Boardbooks® solution is used by more than 92,000 directors, executives and administrators worldwide to simplify how board materials are produced, communicated and viewed.

In 2014, Diligent received more than 62,000 incoming support calls. More than 99 percent were immediately picked up by a support staff member on the inbound call, and fewer than three out of every 1,000 calls required a call back, which was received in less than seven minutes. All answered calls were picked up by a live human being with no queueing, directory tree or voicemail.

Diligent implemented a “follow the sun” model by staffing customer support representatives in North America, Europe and New Zealand and provides unlimited, 24/7/365 support as a standard feature of all contracts.

The Diligent Support team made more than 12,000 “proactive” calls to clients who were experiencing trouble using the product. Clients are often surprised to receive the call, and praise this feature.

Diligent’s Account Management team also provides one-on-one training for every user, via in-person meetings, phone tutorials or even weekend house calls. Of the 650 new clients in 2014, 572 provided the Account Management team with feedback through its Implementation Survey. The feedback from the Implementation Survey exemplifies how phenomenal Diligent’s service is: nearly 80 percent rated Diligent a five out of five, and upwards of 99 percent rated Diligent at least a four out of five.

Unlike other companies who view customer service as something they begrudgingly provide, Diligent understands that extraordinary customer service is part of what has enabled the company to be the best at what it does. The team at Diligent is driven by its desire to provide exceptional customer service to clients, and the client feedback reflects this hard work.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) accomplishments of the nominated team since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

• Despite support call volume growing over 20%, all calls were answered by a live human being and more than 99 were picked up immediately by a Diligent in-house support staff member
• Less than three out of every 1,000 calls required a call back, which was received in less than seven minutes
• Provided more than 12,000 proactive calls to clients who were experiencing trouble using the product
• More than 99% of customers who responded to 2014 implementation survey rated overall process and responsiveness at least a 4 out of 5
• Winner, International Service Excellence Award – Small Business, Customer Service Institute of America
• Gold Winner, Most Customer Friendly Company of the Year, 2014 Best in Biz Awards
• Silver Stevie® Winners, Customer Service Team of the Year, Customer Service Department of the Year, 2014 American Business Awards
• 98th Fastest Growing Technology Company in America, Deloitte 2014 Technology Fast 500