Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Who is TICSI?
Q2. Who runs TICSI?
Q3. Where can l find out what standards TICSI has to offer?
Q4. What benefits does customer service standardisation bring to businesses?
Q5. How can l keep up to date with TICSI?
Q6. What does "Self Assessment" mean?
 Q7. Who should use the Self Assessment tool?
Q8. What is Benchmarking?
Q9. How do l Benchmark my company's performance?
Q10. What is a Territory Franchise Partner (TFP)?
Q11. What is an Accredited Consulting Partner (ACPs)?



Q1. TICSI is an acronym for The International Customer Service Institute. TICSI is determined to make a positive difference on how companies and governments develop and deliver customer service strategy. In order to achieve this, TICSI has developed a standard called The International Customer Service Standard, this standard was developed to enable organisations to focus their attention on delivering excellence in customer service.

Q2. The International Customer Service Institute is under the stewardship of Dr. Janine Tan and a team of customer service experts. All strategic decisions are referred to the TICSI Strategic Panel, who advise TICSI on issues pertaining to international customer service excellence.

Q3. All TICSI standards and guides can be accessed on this site. Numerical designations are applied to all of TICSI's published standards and guides

Q4. The implementation of a TICSI Standard provides numerous advantages for organisations and acts as a catalyst for delivering customer service excellence. For a full list see Benefits of TICSS

Q5. Check out this site regularly which provides an overview of TICSI's activities in international customer service standardisation. Visit the homepage to subscribe to TICSI's quarterly newsletter, or alternatively, follow TICSI on twitter at www.twitter.com/ticsi.

Q6. At its simplest, "self assessment" means checking that the customer service you offer measures up to the specifications of The International Customer Service Standard. Implementation and measurement of performance against the criteria of TICSS is done so by using the Institute's online assessment and reporting solution - Customer Service Self Assessment. The Institute's online solution provides detailed assessment capability and comprehensive reporting which outlines organisational performance and areas for improvement.

Q7. All requirements of TICSS are generic and as such are applicable to every type of organisation whether they are Private, Public, involved in manufacturing, distribution, logistics, finance or any other type of organisation. Organisations implementing this International Standard can do so through implementation by function or department or as an organisation as a whole. Implementation can be for a single location or multiple locations.

Q8. An integral part of improving organisational service quality performance is to be able to benchmark with other organisations who may be delivering best practice Service Excellence. Essentially, bechmarking allows you to compare your performance with the performance of another company or department so that you can improve on your current customer service performance.

Q9. The Institute has provided an online Benchmarking service for organisations who wish to benchmark their own customer service performance with other organisations globally who have also registered for this unique service. The first step is to complete the TICSI Customer Service Self Assessment form. Once this is completed you can begin the benchmarking process.

Q10. Territory Franchise Partners (TFPs) are holders of a geographic TICSI franchise. Our Franchise Partners contribute to the development and revision of The International Customer Service Standard, provide consultancy in strategy development for customer service excellence and lead the implementation and certification processes of TICSS. TFPs hold the franchise for a region and in addition they will be able to develop and grow their own partner network (Accredited Consulting Partners, ACPs).

Q11. Accredited Consultancy Partners (ACP's) are appointed by TFPs and are authorized to develop their clients to achieve The International Customer Service Standard. ACPs have deep expertise and extended experience in particular areas of customer service and assist their clients with the best professional guidance accessible on their way to customer service excellence.