Panasonic Call Center Earns “Center of Excellence” Certification from Purdue University

SECAUCUS, NJ.- Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), announced today that its Customer Call Center in Chesapeake, VA has been recognized as a Certified “Center of Excellence” by the Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University. This highly respected certification ranks Panasonic’s Call Center in the top 10 percent of the 20,000 call centers studied throughout North America.



To earn the Center Of Excellence certification, Panasonic’s Customer Call Center met objective, quantitative criteria and passed audits led by Dr. Jon Anton, Adjunct Professor at Purdue University and founder of the University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality™. Panasonic’s Call Center also demonstrated superior operational efficiency, service level standards, process management, customer satisfaction, leadership, resources and employee training.



“A center that achieves certification demonstrates a remarkable commitment to service excellence,” said Dr. Anton. “Certification is such a distinction because it is based on best-practice metrics drawn from the Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. This achievement confirms the Panasonic Call Center’s ability to deliver service that is both efficient and effective.”



Panasonic’s Call Center receives thousands of calls daily from consumers nationwide, and employs Customer Care Associates who respond to customer inquiries on diverse topics that range from how to hook up a home theater to the best way to extend the life of cordless phone batteries. In particular, the Call Center’s Plasma TV Team supports the Panasonic Plasma Concierge hotline, an exclusive benefit for Plasma HDTV owners. The Concierge Hotline offers members an exclusive range of important and unique services including live access to specialized Plasma TV consultants, a loaner program if a unit needs to be removed for repair, on-line chat capabilities, two-day service scheduling, and call staff that are empowered to resolve issues swiftly.



“This certification validates Panasonic’s commitment to delivering what we term Extreme Customer Satisfaction, with which we aim to exceed customer expectations,” said Panasonic Executive Vice President and COO Joe Taylor. “Thanks to the work of our Call Center Associates and the rest of our team, Panasonic’s customer satisfaction levels are now among the highest, if not the very highest, in the industry. And those are the averages for the Call Center alone; our Plasma Concierge customers enjoy an even higher level of enhanced services.”



“Much work and dedication has been spent creating the best possible experience for our valued customers,” said Rudy Vidal, Panasonic’s Director of Extreme Customer Satisfaction. “Panasonic is committed to Extreme Customer Satisfaction, not only because it is good for business and differentiates us from our competitors, but also because it is the right thing to do. We feel that our customers deserve to know that when they buy Panasonic, they also get a company that stands behind its products and is there for them. That is what Panasonic is all about.”