American Society for Quality Recognizes Pershing for Service Excellence

Issue 7 - June 2009

Pershing LLC was presented with the Bronze Award in the International Team Excellence Award competition by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). The award was announced at its World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 18-20. Pershing entered the competition for the first time this year.

A team from Pershing’s Quality Management Office competed against 26 others from around the world. Other teams selected as finalists in the competition included Boeing, which tied for third with Pershing, the U.S. Navy, Alcoa and Anheuser-Busch.

The Pershing team’s winning presentation focused on the development and evolution of the firm’s customer-focused, service excellence culture and service level management infrastructure—a framework for ensuring process ease, speed and accuracy, as well as continual improvement. Also featured was the Quality Scorecard, a customizable, monthly report—available in eAnalytics in NetExchange Pro® via the Office tab—that highlights volumes and service targets for a variety of areas, including operational processing, system availability and customer service.

The presentation outlined how Pershing used its quality process to create a world-class tracking and measurement system by aligning with the firm’s organizational goals; identifying opportunities, implementing solutions and sustaining results; and using Six Sigma tools to improve the speed and accuracy of Pershing’s operational performance.

Results as of March 2009, showed that Pershing had improved transparency and efficiency for customers, with 99 percent of transactions processed on time, rework reduced by 19 percent and errors reduced by 55 percent.

“The quality initiatives at Pershing have had a positive impact on our customers’ ability to deliver superior service to their clients,” said Rich Brueckner, Pershing’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He added, “It’s also a testament to the teamwork we see across Pershing that enables us to deliver the firm to our customers every day.”

Lucille Mayer, Pershing’s Managing Director and Chief Quality Officer, said, “This award truly validates that Pershing’s quality and continuous improvement efforts are aligned with the best practices across a broad spectrum of industries.”

ASQ is the world’s leading authority on quality, and promotes learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. Its International Team Excellence Award, established in 1985, is the only recognition of its kind in the United States.

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