LRA Worldwide Profiled in Service Innovation Study Commissioned by the Government of Finland

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania; July 25, 2007 – LRA Worldwide, Inc., one of the leaders in the rapidly-growing field of Customer Experience Management, was recently included in a study on service innovation commissioned by Tekes, Finland’s National Agency for Technology and Innovation. LRA was one of 12 US companies profiled in the report, which was presented at the Tekes annual summit in Helsinki this past May 11th, and was only recently made available to the public.

Titled "Seizing the White Space: Innovative Service Concepts in the United States," the study is part of Finland’s five-year plan to spur innovative service concepts and new service business models within the Finnish economy. Peer Insight, a research firm based in Alexandria, VA that focuses on service innovation, conducted the study on Tekes’ behalf. Peer Insight interviewed three service innovation “exemplars” in each of four categories: Insurance and Financial Services, Professional Services, Wholesale and Retail Trade and Logistics.

“We selected LRA Worldwide as an exemplar in the ‘professional services’ category because of its pioneering position in a field that was essentially borne of innovation – Customer Experience Management,” explained Tim Ogilvie, CEO of Peer Insight. “The Tekes project sponsors raved about how LRA is simultaneously defining and transforming the field of Customer Experience Management. LRA was a perfect fit for the project.”

The other participants in the study are among some of the most decorated companies in the US for their respective efforts around customer experience and innovation. The Hartford, Bank of America, Crowe Chizek and Company and American Girl were among the companies to join LRA in the study, which will be used by Finland to help allocate public funding for companies investing in research and development around service innovation.

“We were very excited when Peer Insight approached us about taking part in this project,” noted Rob Rush, CEO of LRA Worldwide. “Quite often, ‘innovation’ is depicted as a random flash of inspiration, jotted down on a cocktail napkin. This study goes a long way towards demystifying that occurrence and showing how service innovation flourishes in a certain environment, with a certain amount of rigor, process and – of course – creativity. We’re proud to have been recognized in this way and to be part of the project.”

Among other findings, the final report noted several organizational prerequisites for successful service innovation that were observed in each of the 12 companies profiled. A few notable commonalities were the presence of a strong leadership commitment to innovation and a culture where “failure” was acceptable…as long as the same failure is not repeated twice. For the full report, including the case study on LRA Worldwide, visit the Tekes website directly or download from the LRA Worldwide home page at www.LRAworldwide.com.

About LRA Worldwide, Inc:
LRA Worldwide, Inc. is a leading consulting, organizational development and research company that specializes in Customer Experience Management (CEM). LRA helps companies and brands design and deliver the optimal customer experience across all key touch points using an integrated suite of services that measure and improve service quality, customer satisfaction, employee performance, loyalty, customer advocacy and profitability. LRA specializes in “operationalizing the brand” – turning brand promise and customer strategy into operational reality. LRA’s CEM practice areas include Customer Experience Strategy Design, Standards Development & Content Management, Organizational Development & Training, Research and Quality Assurance & Mystery Shopping; these are either deployed together in a strategic manner to continually monitor and improve the customer experience or deployed individually to address a specific tactical client need.

LRA’s clients include some of the world’s leading companies and brands, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, the PGA TOUR, Albertsons Supermarkets, the NBA and First Niagara Financial Group. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.LRAworldwide.com.

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