{"72799":{"#nid":"72799","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Joins State Effort to Improve Customer Service","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EUniversity System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. is asking the 38,000 faculty and staff employed by Georgia\u0027s 35 public colleges and universities, including Georgia Tech, to provide faster, friendlier, more efficient service to the USG\u0027s \u0027customers\u0027 - more than 253,500 students.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn coordination with Gov. Sonny Perdue\u0027s launch today of the state\u0027s new Customer Service Improvement Initiative, in which all state agencies have united in an effort to make Georgia the best-managed state in the country, Davis announced that every USG campus is poised to implement a plan for improving customer service beginning Aug. 1.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Each Georgia citizen who walks through our door for a government service is an opportunity,\u0022 said Gov. Sonny Perdue. \u0022It is my intention that Georgia government employees will take advantage of those opportunities, showing citizens that we respect and value their time.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Georgia Tech has a long-standing commitment to enhance the quality of the undergraduate experience,\u0022 said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. \u0022Our Customer Service Improvement Plan gives us clear direction to better achieve that goal.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo kick off its new efforts to improve customer service, Georgia Tech will initially focus on two key service areas - academic advising and personal transactions. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStudent advising is central to retention, timely graduation and student satisfaction, and Georgia Tech will work to strengthen its advising efforts. Special attention will also be paid to the convenience and efficiency of human resource transactions for the students, faculty and staff that work for Georgia Tech.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We think Governor Perdue\u0027s new initiative is a real shot in the arm to our ongoing efforts to improve campus customer service. We are all for any program that encourages us to do a better job for our students and stakeholders,\u0022 said Hal Irvin, senior director of organizational development at Georgia Tech and leader of the Tech\u0027s Customer Service Improvement efforts.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis past spring, Davis named Jim Flowers, special assistant to the USG\u0027s chief information officer, to serve as the USG\u0027s representative on the Governor\u0027s Customer Service Team, charging him with developing a customer service improvement plan for the USG. The chancellor also directed USG presidents to appoint Customer Service Champions to launch, guide and manage improvements that will make the services provided by each campus \u0022faster, friendlier and easier\u0022 to access.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECustomer service champions will work closely with their campus presidents, who - for extra motivation - recently had customer service improvement added to the list of key performance indicators on which they will be annually evaluated, Davis said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHe added that visitors to the Web site also will be able to submit their suggestions and criticisms via an online comment tool.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech will join a statewide effort to improve customer service at Georgia\u0027s universities and state government.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Tech aims to improve academic advising and services"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2006-07-25 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:23","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2006-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72800":{"id":"72800","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1449177962","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:26:02","changed":"1475894665","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:25"}},"media_ids":["72800"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}