For the sixth year in a row, the customer service advocates (CSAs) of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and BlueChoice HealthPlan have received recognition for providing superior service to the companies’ members. This acknowledgement of achievement comes from customer service tracking firm Service Quality Management Group (SQM).

The annual review identified 49 customer service advocates in BlueCross and BlueChoice call centers in Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston whose job performance earned SQM World Class Certification or Most Improved Status. This means 80 percent of the calls handled were resolved leaving the customer “very satisfied” with the advocate and the overall experience.

“The CSAs are a critical point of entry into our company,” said BlueCross President Scott Graves. “People call when they need help, are worried and sometimes not at their best. Our CSAs must have product knowledge, but also be smart and compassionate people. I believe it is their commitment to ushering our members through their concerns that sets us apart.”

In addition, BlueCross earned a Customer Experience Best Practice Award from SQM for its Performance Management System (PMS). The award recognizes the PMS, a coaching database, which tracks skills and continuous improvement in claims resolution.

Every year, SQM rates more than 500 leading North American call centers and conducts more than 1.5 million surveys of customers. The firm has been conducting studies of first-call resolution, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction since 1996.