Oracle has combined the Internet and Oracle's own CRM software to provide customers, as well as Oracle's Support Engineers, with a variety of innovative tools and services aimed at resolving customer's software issues faster. Additionally, Oracle leverages its support infrastructure and resulting knowledge about its customers' experiences with Oracle software to improve and maintain product quality. As a result, Oracle's overall service request volume has decrease approximately 30 percent in the last year, and the average time to resolve customers' questions has been reduced by approximately 41 percent over the same period.

"The SSPA STAR Award showcases companies who demonstrate outstanding achievement in the support services industry," said Bill Rose, president of SSPA. "The investment and high standards Oracle maintains for delivering superior technical support, evidenced by the success of its customers, made Oracle the clear leader in the Innovative Support category."

Oracle's recent steps towards innovation and proactive service included bringing its "call center" online in the form of OracleMetalink, a customer-facing application that includes a robust self-service knowledge repository, technical repositories and forums, and the ability for customers to electronically file and track service requests themselves. OracleMetalink not only allows customers to find solutions to their problems immediately, but also allows for global skills-based-routing of customer service requests to the most qualified Oracle support engineer, resulting in faster time to issue resolution. Currently, 80 percent of customers submit service requests to Oracle via OracleMetalink worldwide.

Other innovative services include Oracle DirectConnect (ODC) where, with customer permission, Oracle connects directly to customers' environments in order to provide remote services, diagnostics, and collaborative on-line problem resolution in a shared environment. Customers that take advantage of this connection to Oracle can experience up to 25 percent faster resolution on service requests.

Finally, Oracle provides Oracle Outsourcing where Oracle hosts and manages customers' Oracle technology or applications to provide truly proactive support services, including managing, monitoring, and maintaining the Oracle software directly on behalf of the customer. Oracle Outsourcing customers experience up to 50 percent faster problem resolution and log an average of 50 percent fewer service requests per year. Additionally, in the Oracle Outsourcing environment, up to 60 percent of operational issues are discovered and resolved proactively by Oracle without customer involvement.

"We are honored to be a recipient of the 2002 SSPA STAR Award," said Mike Runda, Oracle vice president of product services. "We have worked hard to set industry standards for rapid, quality customer service and this award is a tribute to the level of support that continues to make our customers successful with Oracle products."

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