Telnet First NZ Call Centre to get Australian Accreditation

Telnet First NZ Call Centre to Be Awarded Australian Accreditation

New Zealand’s largest privately owned call centre Telnet is pleased to announce it is the first call centre in New Zealand to achieve accreditation with the highly reputable and Australian industry association, the Australian Teleservices Association (ATA).

Telnet is the first call centre to achieve Centre Standards and Accreditation Programme (CCSA) status which provides call centre companies with a comprehensive performance management framework in all areas of training and development, process, customer service, technology and people management.

Telnet managing director John Chetwynd says the decision to achieve accreditation is part of its strategic plan to grow the business internationally.

“We originally chose to participate in the ATA’s accreditation programme as part of our plan to grow our Australian business and saw it as a way to give Telnet a profile in Australia. However, the process of achieving accreditation has delivered far more than the prestige it attracts for new clientele by also creating a comprehensive framework for consolidation and growth. The program has delivered a lot more for us than we envisaged when we set out to achieve accreditation.”

The CCSA Programme is a high watermark for the contact centre industry, not just for Australia and New Zealand, but also internationally. The rigour of assessment within the CCSA program publicly announces to the international business community that the call centre is prepared to operate in a manner that not only meets their needs but seeks to exceed them.

The CCSA provides a framework of guidelines, processes and disciplines that focus on the five key areas of a contact centres’ business – Planning, Infrastructure & Environment, People, Process and Achievement & Performance. The program looks to meet the various business, staff and customer drivers and provides the public recognition of centres that operate at a high level.

“The exercise has been excellent in providing framework for our processes,” said Mr Chetwynd.

Prior to its CCSA accreditation, Telnet concedes it was probably in a similar situation to many medium sized companies where processes and process documentation has been developed in an ad-hoc way as the company has grown. That is now no longer the case.

CEO of the ATA, Michael Meredith is delighted to see how the CCSA programme translates so well into the New Zealand marketplace. He sees the value and recognition of accreditation growing domestically and the next step is naturally greater penetration into the Asia Pacific region.

“The rigour of assessment required for CCSA certification provides a comprehensive approach for contact centre management at an international standard. The Australian and New Zealand contact centre industries operate at a world-class level and the value of this formal attainment of operational excellence is becoming more and more important.

“I congratulate Telnet as our first accredited New Zealand organisation and I hope to see many more join the ranks and continue to drive the quality of competition and standards across our industry right across the Asia Pacific,” said Mr Meredith.

Telnet began the Accreditation assessment at an entry-level Bronze accreditation, however given the learnings to date, the company plan to progress to Silver level when time to renew accreditation in two years draws closer.

ENDS

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