In the Forefront With Operational Excellence

By establishing superior measures for quality service, Boston Financial is continually at the forefront of the industry in both shareholder and participant satisfaction.

We have an entire specialized staff dedicated to managing quality assurance within our organization. These senior-level professionals have extensive experience in designing and implementing quality service programs using process control and quality assurance techniques. One of these associates has served as a senior examiner for the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and has been responsible for implementing at Boston Financial many of the successful processes embraced by that award.

Key tools and methods we use to ensure and maintain operational excellence through quality service include:

First Time Quality Initiative
The goal at Boston Financial is to consistently perform through quality built into all of our processes. First time quality decreases dependence on inspection and provides opportunities for ongoing problem solving and corrective action. It provides high value to our clients, while helping us to control costs. We take a comprehensive view of quality, analyzing everything from how we manage people to how we manage the core processes of our business.

Our company-wide First Time Quality initiative is modeled after Six Sigma and Lean methodologies and criteria used both inside and outside the fund industry. This initiative is led by a senior Boston Financial associate who is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt by the American Society for Quality.

We operate a company-wide program dedicated to First Time Quality. Through the First Time Quality program, we apply a data-driven, statistical methodology that rigorously monitors core processes and process results. This approach identifies obstacles to quality, helps to anticipate and prevent future problems, and helps to provide solutions.

The commitment to quality and continuous improvement is a shared goal at each level of our organization. Associates who actually perform the day-to-day work create quality, so they participate in the development of first time quality. We deploy facilitators to work directly with first-line managers and associates, identifying root causes of problems through analyzing and interpreting data. We then develop solutions through a collaborative approach that stresses measurement. We invite our clients to participate.

We also have a corporate Quality Assurance Team that is independent of our operations. This team measures the quality of transactions from client and shareholder perspectives. It also measures customer service on a monthly basis, reporting performance trends and opportunities for improvement.

Continuous Feedback on Our Performance
We conduct and participate in client satisfaction surveys to obtain feedback on our service. These include annual client satisfaction surveys, quarterly telephone surveys of randomly selected clients, participation in industry-wide surveys that benchmark us with other service providers, and ongoing feedback gained through personal interviews. In addition, each year the National Quality Review, which specializes in research and consulting for the financial services industry, surveys our clients on various quality issues.