"Certified Center of Excellence" recognition has been awarded to MAXIMUS’ Georgia Childcare and Parent Services or CAPS call center. BenchmarkPortal (News - Alert), in collaboration with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality (CCDQ), has conferred this recognition on MAXIMUS. This is MAXIMUS’ seventh call center to be certified as a Center of Excellence. An announcement in this regard has been made by the top global provider of government services, MAXIMUS.

More than 57,000 children from low-income working families are helped by the statewide program, Georgia CAPS. This program also helps families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF benefits access childcare services. Each month, on an average 4,400 providers across Georgia’s 159 counties are provided childcare provider management and payment services by MAXIMUS. Attendance processing services and payments to childcare providers are issued by the company through a local office in Atlanta. Compliance, verification and documentation support is also provided by the company. Data for federal reporting are also compiled by MAXIMUS.

The Georgia CAPS call center was audited by BenchmarkPortal against a balanced scorecard of metrics for efficiency and effectiveness. Among the call centers surveyed by BenchmarkPortal, Georgia CAPS project was ranked among the top ten percent. BenchmarkPortal's rigorous standards of efficiency and effectiveness in various areas were met and surpassed by the Georgia CAPS project. The areas included cost per call, agent turnover, speed of answer, and caller satisfaction.

In a release, Akbar Piloti, President and General Manager of the MAXIMUS Human Services Segment, said, "The certification of our Georgia CAPS project is evidence of our commitment not only to deliver high quality services to childcare providers across the state, but also to provide efficient and cost-effective services for the Georgia Department of Human Services."

 According to Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal, the award was won by contact centers which demonstrated superior performance as compared with their industry peers. This performance was measured on both cost-related metrics and quality-related metrics.

Belfiore said, "Georgia CAPS has demonstrated an ability to balance a commitment to customer service excellence with cost-effective service strategies."