The Black Book of Outsourcing industry survey investigated over 140 contracts held by 1,200 utility companies and agencies globally, and ranked 81 vendors against a range of key performance indicators (KPIs). Along with the overall number one ranking, Vertex also ranked first in 11 of the 18 KPIs. Vertex also achieved "top vendor" honors in three of the four "operational excellence" categories, including contact center BPO, billing and payment transaction BPO and field service operations BPO.

Dan Sullivan, Managing Director for Utilities at Vertex, commented, "We're absolutely delighted to be recognized as the global number one BPO provider in the Utilities industry. Our acquisition of Alliance Data's Utility Services division last year clearly strengthened our commitment to the industry and our ability to effectively fulfill our clients' BPO needs to help them take advantage of opportunities in our new 'smart world'. This number one ranking validates the strong partnerships we have established with our clients in this rapidly changing industry."

"Vertex has earned the distinction of being one of the most customer -respected BPO companies in the world," said Doug Brown, co-author of The Black Book of Outsourcing. "Vertex has earned top honors due to its ability to deploy consistently across the full spectrum of criteria that clients look for in their BPO provider. In addition, Vertex was overwhelmingly praised by clients in the four most important attributes clients look for in an outsourcing partner: vertical expertise, innovation, customization and reliability."

Paul Sweeny, Chief Executive Officer of Vertex, concluded, "While Vertex today supports many industries globally, we got our start in the Utilities industry well over a decade ago. Therefore, this number one ranking has special significance for our 8,000 Vertex associates worldwide. Utilities are undergoing rapid transformation, so we are pleased that our expertise and strengths have enabled us to be the BPO provider of choice in this exciting and dynamic industry."

For more information, visit www.vertexgroup.com.

About Vertex

• Vertex employs over 8,000 people on three continents across 70 locations, delivering solutions to a wide range of clients 24/7 and supporting 45 million consumers.
• In North America, there are more than 2,500 dedicated professionals based in 18 Centers of Excellence serving more than 23 million consumers for 70 electric, gas and water clients.

• Our global operations involve the annual processing of 28 million payment transactions valued at $2.8 billion and the handling of 20 million inbound calls, as well as the printing and distribution of 45 million documents and the processing of 2.7 million items of incoming mail.

• A recognized leader in Customer Management Services, we provide a wide range of transformational service solutions to deliver successful outcomes for our clients in the areas of:

• BPO & Customer Management Outsourcing
• IT Applications, Services and Products
• Consulting and Transformation
• Debt Management and Special Servicing
• Decision Sciences

About The Black Book of Outsourcing, a Datamonitor Group Company

The Black Book of Outsourcing research mission is to offer balanced, objective and unbiased results to help organizations maximize significance, increase speed-to-results, and mitigate risk in outsourcing/sourcing initiatives. The Black Book of Outsourcing is a Global Outsourcing Research Company that measures their own success via clients' ability to achieve and sustain significant improvements in their outsourcing decisions from aligning customer experience research and strategies that stand the test of time.