Recognising the organisation s achievements in customer service, enhancing its reputation with customers and competitors.

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1 2016 AWARDS PROGRAM Customer Service institute of Australia It has been 15 years since the inaugural Australian Service Excellence Awards (ASEA) recognised and rewarded the ingenuity and innovation of Australia's most outstanding customer service driven organisations and individuals. ASEA are Australia s premier customer service awards, with over 650 attendees coming together each year to recognise best practice and innovation in customer service and highlighting their impo ance in today s business climate. Entrants see a range of benefits in pa icipating in the ASEAs, including: Recognising the organisation s achievements in customer service, enhancing its reputation with customers and competitors. Enhancing the customer service focus within the organisation, building both a greater confidence in working with customers and increased customer satisfaction levels. Acknowledging and rewarding key team members for their contribution to the organisation. Building the profile and legitimacy of customer service as a true profession. With each year passing the Awards have grown in both size and stature, and an Australian Service Excellence Award is now a recognised and sought-after symbol of both personal and business excellence. WHO CAN ENTER As Australia s premier customer service organisation, CSIA is all about championing customer service in all organisations whether it is a business of one or one thousand. The ASEA are open to all individuals and organisations servicing Australians.

2 AWARD CATEGORIES The Australian Service Excellence Awards recognise individuals at all levels within organisations, as well as organisations from corporates through to small businesses. Following a complete review of the program last year, the ASEA categories are designed to ensure that any person or business working within the customer service space is eligible, so contact us if you re unsure about which apply to you. If you are a regular ASEAs entrant, please note that some of categories, and their definitions, have changed. INDIVIDUALS Customer Service CEO of the Year This category targets business leaders and looks at their role in driving an organisation toward true customer centricity. The category is open to all business leaders, including CEOs, Managing Directors, General Managers and small business owners. Customer Service Executive of the Year Customer Service Executive of the Year is open to C-level executives with a direct responsibility for customer service as pa of their role, including Chief Operating Officers (COOs), Executive General Managers and Vice Presidents of Customer Service. Unlike Customer Service CEO of the Year, this is a category that targets c-suite roles that predominantly focus on customer service as pa of their role. Customer Service Manager of the Year Customer Service Manager of the Year suits those roles behind the frontline but below c-level, and can include Customer Service Managers and Customer Experience Managers. Customer Service Leader of the Year This category is aimed at team leaders managing a team that services internal or external clients. While they might also take a frontline role in working with customers, their role is predominantly around managing a team of frontline service professionals. Customer Service Professional of the Year This award champions the people who deliver customer service everyday the frontline team members who work with internal or external clients. Customer Service Advocate of the Year Advocate of the Year is aimed at recognising customer champions at any level in a business, from the frontline to the c-suite. These people in an organisation are the ones that demonstrate true passion for customer service excellence in everything that they do, and infect those they work with this zeal and commitment.

3 ORGANISATIONS Customer Service Project of the Year Project of the Year recognises specific and distinct projects that have been completed in the 12 months before the Awards and that demonstrate innovative problem solving that contributes to customer service excellence in the organisation. Customer Service Team of the Year This category targets the group of individuals in an organisation that have created customer service excellence in their organisation. Unlike the Project of the Year, this award is focussed on a team of individuals that, by working together, have created a benchmark for how customer service should be delivered by an organisation. Customer Service Organisation of the Year - Large Business This category recognises organisations that have championed customer service throughout the business in 2016, and is open to organisations with more than 500 full-time employees. Customer Service Organisation of the Year - Medium Business Like the Large Business category, this award recognises organisations that have championed customer service throughout the business in the past year, but targets businesses with between 90 and 500 full-time employees. Customer Service Organisation of the Year - Small Business Targeting businesses with fewer than 90 full-time employees, this award recognises smaller organisations in the Australian market. Customer Service Organisation of the Year - Government CSIA understands that there are specific legislative requirements and budget limitations for government organisations that mean customer service excellence needs to be delivered in a different (and often, creative) way. This category recognises government organisations be they federal, state or local government as a separate group so to acknowledge this difference. Customer Service Organisation of the Year - Not-for-profit While budget isn t everything in customer service, we recognise that the structure of many not-for-profit organisations limit their abilities when it comes to customer service delivery. This category levels the playing field in providing a specific category for these vital organisations. Service Excellence in a Large Contact Centre This award recognises frontline teams in larger contact centres those with more than 50 seats for the critical role they play in customer service delivery. Service Excellence in a Medium Contact Centre This category targets frontline teams in mid-size contact centres those with seats. Service Excellence in a Small Contact Centre This award recognises frontline teams in smaller contact centres, targeting those with fewer than 20 seats.

4 THE ASEA PROCESS NOMINATIONS AND JUDGING Organisations and individuals must nominate via the CSIA website. All nominations must be suppo ed with a fully completed nomination form you can download the relevant form (individual or organisation) from our website. For forms, and more information please visit csia.com.au. JUDGING CRITERIA The judging criteria are largely based on the International Customer Service Standard (ICSS: ), a framework of 27 specific measures that can be applied equally to government, not-for-profit and for-profit organisations of all sizes and across industry sectors. Using a balanced scorecard approach, these 27 measures can be grouped into four distinct perspectives: A service perspective how do you deliver a high quality of customer service in your organisation? An operational perspective how do you ensure consistency in the delivery of customer service? A learning and growth perspective how do you create a culture of customer service what do you put into it? A financial and governance perspective how does customer service deliver to the pe ormance of the individual or organisation overall what do you get out of it? As pa of your nomination submission, we want you to talk to these four perspectives, providing an overview of the individual, team, project, or organisation, and explaining their pe ormance in the last year in relation to the perspectives. For a copy of the ICSS, contact us at info@cisa.com.au.

5 HELPFUL TIPS FOR COMPLETING YOUR NOMINATION SUBMISSION While the individual criteria for a becoming a finalist vary across the categories, successful nominations will: Provide a clear explanation of the organisation, its customers and the customer service challenges it faces. Demonstrate the passion for exceeding customer expectations and achieving customer service excellence within an organisation, a team or an individual, including an infectious impact on the way the rest of the organisation approaches customer service. Provide an accurate description of the breadth and depth of activities / projects how many customers are impacted? How large is the project within the business? Show the effectiveness of people and programs what results have been delivered by the nominee and their work? Demonstrate continuous review and improvement in what they re doing. You can include suppo ing documentation as pa of your nomination, but be aware that there is a word limit of 2,500 words in all nomination submissions. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the CSIA website.

6 JUDGING Judging for the ASEAs follows two distinct approaches: organisations, teams and projects are evaluated with an on-site visit, while individuals are evaluated with a structured telephone interview. To ensure rigour in the process, the judging is managed by an independent market research agency based on the judging criteria. Site visits are often attended by guest judges - fellows of the Customer Service Institute of Australia and invited customer service expe s who work in non-competitive industries. How are organisations judged? Like nominations, the judging of finalists is based on a framework built from the International Customer Service Standard (ICSS ). While the individual measures vary from category to category, they include consideration of: How well the organisation or individual recognises the impo ance of a strategic relationship with customers, taking on board feedback and complaints, and using this insight to drive business improvement; How the organisation or individual engages and communicates with stakeholders both inside and outside the organisation; How customer service is used within the organisation or by an individual to improve the quality of processes, products and services of the organisation; How technology and innovation is used by the organisation or individual to improve the quality of customers service; How the organisation or individual drives organisational change toward customer service excellence. On-site visits organisations One of the more impo ant judging criteria for organisations is that of customer service passion that there is an organisational enthusiasm for customer service excellence. This is something that cannot simply be evaluated by reading documents or by speaking to organisational representatives over the telephone. Our judges need to see this collective passion firsthand. For this reason, all of the organisational judging is conducted on-site, providing an oppo unity for finalists to fu her demonstrate their commitment to the customer, as well as answer additional questions posed by the judging team. Site visits are usually two hours in length and should include a sho presentation to judges, as well as a Q&A session and walk-around. Judging for multiple nominations in an organisation is generally bundled together when they re all on the one site (for example, if an organisation nominates for both Customer Service Organisation of the Year and Service Excellence in a Contact Centre).

7 Telephone interviews individuals With nominees for individual categories spread throughout Australia (and occasionally overseas), judging for individuals is conducted over the telephone to ensure a standardised approach. These interviews are scheduled to fit in with the finalist s availability and work schedule, and normally take between 30 and 45 minutes. The interview is structured as a dynamic conversation, covering a range of topics with an emphasis on presenting case studies and examples. While no formal preparation is required on the pa of the individual finalist, we suggest individuals review the past year s achievements in driving customer service excellence so that they have examples of their successes on hand to share with the judges. KEY DATES In 2016, we are again proud to host the presentation of the Awards in the grand Crown Palladium Ballroom in Melbourne, which has hosted prestigious events such as the Logies and the Brownlow Medal. The gala presentation dinner will be held on Wednesday, 26 October April ASEA nominations open 22 July ASEA nominations close 01 to 05 August Finalists are notified August to September On-site interviews (for organisations, teams and projects) and telephone interviews (for individuals) are completed 26 October Winners are announced at the ASEA gala presentation dinner to be held at the Crown Palladium Ballroom in Melbourne FEES As pa of the recent review of the ASEA program, we ve restructured fees into a single amount for the entire judging process. These fees are as follows: Members*: Individual-level nomination - $195 + GST Organisation-level nomination - $495 + GST Non-Members: Individual-level nomination - $295 + GST Organisation-level nomination - $695 + GST *It s important to note that individual CSIA member discounts only apply to the nominee, not the nominator. Further, individual CSIA members do not receive discounts for organisa?on- level (corporate) nomina?ons.