January 30, 2006 (Okemos, Mich.) — The affiliated Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana announced today that its Customer Service Center has once again been recognized as a Certified Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal in conjunction with The Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University.

Delta Dental’s Center of Excellence certification was awarded following a rigorous audit that benchmarked its call center against a peer group of comparable centers. The certification draws upon best-practice metrics from the world's largest database of call center performance information. Only the top 10 percent of centers that apply for certification earn this designation.

“The certification of Delta Dental’s call center is a direct result of its leadership’s commitment to balancing cost-effective service solutions with best-in-class service performance,” said Dr. Jon Anton of The Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University. “It is an achievement of distinction.” 

Dr. Thomas J. Fleszar, president and CEO of the Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana said, “To earn this certification again is a tribute to Delta Dental’s customer service advisors and reinforces the many positive attributes of our company as the leader in dental benefits.”

The corporation first received the Center of Excellence certification in 2003. Results revealed that Delta Dental's performance outranked all other corporations in the dental benefits industry, putting it in second place in comparison to the entire benchmarked health care industry.

BenchmarkPortal (BMP) is the custodian of the database of contact center performance metrics in conjunction with The Center for Customer-Driven Quality™ at Purdue University.  This is the largest database of best practice metrics in the world. BMP provides peer group reports, industry reports, and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. In 2005, BMP received a U.S. Patent (#6,877,034) for its unique methodology of contact center performance benchmarking through metric gap analysis. BenchmarkPortal's Web site can be found at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com

For additional information about BenchmarkPortal contact:

Susan Hampton
BenchmarkPortal, Inc.
(805) 614-0123 ext. 36
SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com

Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, is the leading group dental benefits provider in the Midwest. Last year, the tri-state operation paid out more than $1.3 billion for dental care for over 5.1 million members. Considered an industry leader in dental benefit design, claims administration and cost management, the company provides coverage for thousands of groups including General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Albertsons, Fifth Third Bank, Kimball International and the State of Michigan. The company's headquarters is located in Okemos, Michigan with offices in Farmington Hills and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; and, Indianapolis, Indiana. For additional information, visit www.deltadentalmi.com (Michigan), www.deltadentaloh.com (Ohio) and www.deltadentalin.com (Indiana).