Diebold is First To Earn Field Service Award

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Diebold, Incorporated , a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery systems, service and security, has been selected as the first-ever recipient of the Field Service Award for Best Service and Support Strategy Implementation.

The award was presented recently at Field Service 2005 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Hosted by Worldwide Business Research, the event marked the third annual conference for service professionals. The inaugural Service Awards 2005, honor, recognize and promote service and support leaders who made significant contributions to the advancement of the service industry. Nominations were submitted from more than 70 organizations and individuals across North America.

Field Service 2005 recognized Diebold for its strategy to improve service delivery. In 2004, Diebold implemented a three-pronged plan that included the refinement of the screening process used to hire new service engineers, the enhancement of the service call management system and the introduction of an improved customer satisfaction program. The strategy was developed to augment customer service and satisfaction by providing the most skilled technicians and giving them access to more convenient tools for service management and communication with their customers.

"For nearly 150 years, Diebold has provided high-quality service, focusing on the needs of our customers," said Chuck Ducey, Diebold's vice president of global customer service solutions. "We are proud to be the first recipient of the Field Service Award, and we believe this achievement illustrates our entire service organization's dedication to delivering the best value in service to our customers around the world."

Diebold's service organization includes more than 4,500 installation and service solution professionals in 400 locations throughout North America. Each year, they deliver service to customers in the financial, retail, government, commercial, education and healthcare industries.

Christian Ambrosio, senior marketing manager for Field Service 2005, said Diebold emerged as the clear leader in the implementation of service and support strategy.

"The Field Service Awards were created to recognize individuals and companies that support the customer experience and overall satisfaction through service initiatives, programs and processes," Ambrosio said. "Diebold's long history of high-quality service and support, along with its continuous efforts to improve service delivery, made the company an obvious choice for our inaugural awards."

Diebold shares the service award with three suppliers that provided the technologies needed to implement the strategy. Those vendors include ClickSoftware (http://www.clicksoftware.com/), which provided service scheduling software; Shaker Consulting Group (http://www.shakercg.com/), deployers of a Web- enabled pre-employment assessment that predicts an applicant's success as a service technician; and Walker Information (http://www.walkerinfo.com/), which worked

with Diebold to better understand customer loyalty and the customer's view of Diebold's service delivery.

"Diebold engaged each of our business teams and our customer service engineers, suppliers and customers to implement strategies that would measurably improve our total service offering," Ducey said. "The result of these efforts is an integrated system of initiatives involving human resources, technology, operations, customer service, marketing and sales. These strategies help ensure Diebold technicians deliver the right service in the right place at the right time."

Worldwide Business Research enlisted a distinguished, unbiased panel of service and support leaders to select the winners of the Inaugural Field Service Awards. Those leaders represented companies such as GE Aircraft Engines, Honeywell and Abbott Laboratories. For more information about the Field Service Awards, visit http://www.wbresearch.com/.

About Diebold

Diebold, Incorporated is a global leader in providing integrated self- service delivery systems, security and services. Diebold employs more than 14,000 associates with representation in nearly 90 countries worldwide and is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, USA. Diebold reported revenue of $2.4 billion in 2004 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DBD." For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.diebold.com/.