Fairfax, VA ... June 11, 2008 – An independent research study released last week by the Aberdeen Group and underwritten by ServiceBench, a subsidiary of N.E.W. Customer Service Companies, Inc. (NEW) and the leading provider of web-based service management solutions, reported that top manufacturers and service organizations are realizing significant reductions in cost and claim processing time by revising business processes and implementing technology solutions. The study also illustrated how service and warranty management executives are focused on improving warranty operations in order to better manage warranty workflow, enhance claims administration and implement a closed loop analytic-driven warranty chain.  

“This research confirms the dramatic results that our customers are achieving through the use of ServiceBench’s integrated Service Management and Service Intelligence solutions,” said John Estrada, COO of ServiceBench. “ServiceBench solutions provide our customers with a significant competitive advantage by optimizing their post-sales service processes and helping them discover significant cost savings. Many of our customers have already won industry awards recognizing the high standards of service achieved by their organizations.”

The study found that best-in-class companies (those ranked in the top 20 percent) are 66 percent more likely than laggard firms (the lowest 30 percent of firms surveyed) to have an integrated warranty management and service organization in place and 54 percent more likely to have a central knowledge warehouse to maintain warranty performance data. The study also identified that 69 percent of best-in-class companies are using automated warranty claims processing systems and these organizations are three times more likely to have implemented warranty analytics.

“Top organizations have realized the critical impact of effective warranty management on their company’s bottom line performance,” said Micky Long, research director at Aberdeen Group. “By leveraging technology and applying the right business processes and workflows, organizations are streamlining warranty management, lowering overhead and processing costs and reducing the number of product failure incidents by implementing the analytics necessary to link warranty and product design into a closed-loop system.”

The Aberdeen Group’s “Forging the Warranty Chain” study identified best-in-class warranty management strategies and uses for warranty information. Data utilized in the study was gathered through an online survey by Aberdeen from over 170 service warranty and service professionals, supplemented by follow-up interviews with select survey respondents, from a diverse set of companies, including ServiceBench customers Whirlpool Corporation and Scotsman Ice Systems.

A complimentary copy of the report is available.

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