By Marie Sawa

Satisfaction with FundSERV's application services grew in 2007. All ten applications ranked higher than 2006, with an average increase of five percentage points. Questions measuring customers' satisfaction with applications, service and value are a mainstay in FundSERV's annual Customer Satisfaction Assessment.

The sixth annual version of the survey was distributed to over 1,700 customer contacts electronically on May 11th. Participants were given the opportunity to win one of 10 iPod Nanos. Although 347 customers

completed the 10-minute, role-specific survey, participation was down slightly from 24 per cent in 2006 to 22.9 per cent in 2007.

Satisfaction with FundSERV's technical solutions remains high at 89 percent. FUNDcom posted a six per cent increase that can be directly attributed to the phase five release of the FUNDcom standards. Since the November release, FundSERV has seen an increase in the number of FUNDcom participants, as well as the number of queries thanks to new functionality that includes the RRSP contribution summary, RESP contribution and grant summaries, and beneficiary and annuitant demographics for segregated fund accounts.

Overall satisfaction with the service FundSERV provides dropped three per cent from 89 per cent in 2006 to 86 per cent in 2007. Despite this drop, 83 per cent of the customers agreed that FundSERV has highly skilled staff. "The people I have dealt with at FundSERV are highly professional and always have a good attitude," remarked a survey participant. Customers also continued to agree that FundSERV is cost effective, committed to excellence and a leader in the industry.

For the fourth consecutive year, reliability was ranked as the most important feature of FundSERV's network. In fact, the entire top five list has remained the same for the past four years — reliability, data integrity, security, speed and ease of use. The Standards Helpfile also ranked high in 2007 with an 80 per cent satisfaction rating. "The accuracy, organization and ease of use of FundSERV's ESG Standards Helpfile, is in my experience unparalleled in the financial industry," commented one survey participant.

All of FundSERV's communications vehicles ranked very well with customers in terms of providing useful information for business purposes. The corporate web site showed the greatest improvement with a nine per cent improvement over last year increasing to 88 per cent. Satisfaction with the FundSERV Quarterly remained unchanged over last year at 86 per cent. Satisfaction with the annual report was 76 percent, a three per cent improvement over last year, while customer forums showed a one per cent improvement.

"Thanks to all of the customers who completed our annual survey," says Harry Gundy, senior manager, customer relations. "Your answers are very valuable to us; they are a very important part of our planning process for next year."