Ethos Consultancy celebrates five years of customer service success and innovation

The occasion also marked the launch of a new corporate brand identity symbolizing the company's growth, achievements and an exciting future as leaders and experts within the customer service consulting sector.

Mr. Robert Keay, Managing Director, Ethos Consultancy, said:

"Our last five years have proven very successful and we expect the next five to be even better. Customer retention and loyalty is so important during the tough economic conditions of today which is why our business continues to grow amidst the uncertainty that surrounds us."

Established in the UK in 1995, Ethos Consultancy relocated its Head Office to Dubai in 2003 after years of consulting within the Middle East. In November 2008, Ethos opened an office in Abu Dhabi to cater to the growing demand and interest for customer service performance solutions within the capital. Ethos Consultancy works with a diverse portfolio of clients across Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

During the last five years Ethos Consultancy's achievements include the development and execution of several complete customer service benchmarking studies across retail, telecoms, automotive, hospitality, government and banking sectors. Ethos Consultancy's Annual Bank Benchmarking study has become a key tool within the retail banking community with banks anticipating the results of the 5th annual report scheduled for release in November 2009.

In June 2007, Ethos Consultancy partnered up with The International Customer Service Institute. This partnership has developed well with many of Ethos' clients implementing the International Customer Service Standard; a standard developed to enable organisations to focus their attention on delivery excellence in customer service, whilst at the same time providing recognition of success via third party certification partner; the British Standards Institution (BSI).

Since April 2008, Ethos Consultancy has been working with the UAE Federal Government to deliver measurement of customer satisfaction across 38 ministries and government authorities as part of their Service Excellence Programme.

Ethos Consultancy has built a strong relationship with local and federal UAE Governments during the last five year with its ability to deliver unique effective products tailored to each client's specific customer care requirements.

International Service Quality Benchmarking was introduced to Ethos Consultancy product portfolio in mid 2008 and has since generated a high level of interest amongst the public sector with Abu Dhabi Police GHQ becoming the first government department in the UAE to utilize this new benchmarking concept.

"We have obtained exclusive rights for the Middle East to access major benchmarking data produced in Canada, world leaders in service excellence. In 2009, our focus will be to offer these international service quality benchmarks from over 10 countries around the world. Ethos Consultancy has the ability to allow organizations in the region to benchmark against leading service quality countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, UK and USA," said Keay.

More recently, in December 2008, at The Lloyds TSB Small Business Awards, Ethos was celebrated as the most innovative and unique small business within the UAE. The Lloyds TSB Small Business Awards is an annual UAE based programme which awards small businesses who keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive in a world dominated by mega corporations and financial turmoil.

"Technology led measurements drive Ethos innovations. We focus on timely, efficient leading customer service indicators rather than the traditional lagging customer service indicators which tend to slow down the research process," said Keay.

In 2008, Ethos launched their very own unique online mystery shopping and survey reporting solution, amongst many other great benefits, this tool enables clients to view their reports 24 - 48 hours after a mystery shopping or survey task has been completed.

"Ethos' online tools have made it easier, allowing all concerned people to check online 24/7 for the result and hence take the required actions faster and easier" commented Omar Saeed Mansoor, Strategy & Corporate Performance, Road and Transport Authority.

For Ethos Consultancy it goes without saying that customer service excellence cannot be achieved or maintained without a consistent cycle of improvement. This cycle involves regular customer service measurement teamed with regular needs based training for employees and leaders.

The key to Ethos' success within the customer service training sector has been largely due to Ethos' ability to measure each of their clients current strengths and weaknesses using mystery shopping prior to suggesting and implementing specific training courses which address key weaknesses. Ethos' ability to offer a complete customer service improvement cycle has benefitted Ethos' clients greatly.

Moving onward and upwards seems to be the theme within the Ethos team, customer service training is flourishing, with Ethos recently commencing a 6 month venture with Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority which will involve a mix of mystery shopping, interviews and questionnaires to evaluate performance levels at hotels, tour guides and tour operators across the emirate.

The programmes objective is to really identify what are the training needs for people within the hospitality industry - in every area from the four-and five-star hotels to the tourist guides and the travel agents.

"Then it's a matter of planning a roadmap of how each of the entities can improve and reach that target point by implementing training programmes," explained Mr. Keay.

"The aim of the TNA (training needs analysis) is to identify performance gaps in service delivery among industry members. The findings will be used to guide ADTA in formulating its future training plans and policies for the industry," confirms Mr. Paul Ram Prakash, Industry Professional Development Manager, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.