Partners and associates
The ICS conference is supported by the following associates:
The Academy of Service Excellence
The Academy of Service Excellence was founded in 2000 by Chris Daffy, who is widely acknowledged as one of Europe's most experienced customer service specialists and conference speakers. They now have partner offices in Poland, Romania and Dubai.
The academy provides strategic advice, knowledge transfer, inspiration and motivation in the areas of customer service and customer experience management. Customers include airlines, banks, charities, chemical manufacturers, computer suppliers, house builders, insurance companies, local authorities, military equipment manufacturers, parcel carriers, retail jewellers and telecom businesses. They therefore have a depth and breadth of experience and expertise that enables them to help organisations of all types and size.
Over the past two years they have focused on manufacturing businesses and are now one of the UK's most knowledgeable and experienced specialists in marrying the principles of service excellence and manufacturing excellence.
Beyond Philosophy
Established in 2001, Beyond Philosophy is a thought–leading consultancy in customer experience. Its founder, Colin Shaw, has published three best selling books on customer experience excellence, including The DNA of Customer Experience, his 2007 masterpiece. The company is launching its fourth book "Emerging trends on Customer Experience" in early 2010, which promises to provide new insights into the customer experience concept.
Beyond Philosophy's cutting-edge research, patented tools and methodologies such as Emotional Signature© underpin its insights.
Beyond Philosophy has been recognised as one of the world's thought leading companies, and regularly provides keynote speakers to worldwide conferences and events.
Customer Service Network
Customer Service Network (CSN) is one of the UK's leading authorities in customer service excellence, with 400 plus members including some of the UK's largest organisations.
They are one of the leading providers of practical help and value–for–money solutions for improving the customer experience.
CSN provides a complete range of products and services to help organisations improve their customer service and gain a competitive advantage through service excellence.
Call Centre Management Association
Established in 1994 to promote the profession of call centre management, the CCMA (UK) is an independent, not for profit organisation for call centre managers, supervisors and team managers. It's funded by membership subscriptions.
The CCMA is run on an unpaid, voluntary basis by an elected board of call centre professionals who give up their own time to put something back into their industry and support others.
There are around 600 CCMA members in the UK and their mission is to contribute to the continuous professional development of call centre managers and supervisors and to assist in sourcing high quality training courses.
Customer First UK Ltd
SOCAP
SOCAP (the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals) is a worldwide not for profit organisation that represents professionals working in the customer service industry.
It was originally founded in the United States of America in 1973. SOCAP UK followed in 1986 and there are now SOCAP organisations throughout the world including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Canada. World-wide there are over 4,000 members.
SOCAP in Europe came into existence in 2003 following the merger of SOCAP UK. SOCAP in Europe is unique in representing consumer affairs and customer service professionals throughout Europe.
We promote the exchange of ideas, expertise and opinions within the customer service industry and develop and encourage a higher professional profile for those working in customer service.
The WOW! Awards
Call Centre and Customer Management Expo
National Customer Service Awards
Customer Service Training Association
The Customer Service Training Association (CSTA) is a mutual self-help membership body formed by Don Hales in 2007 to enable those involved in customer service training and associated activities to:
- meet on a regular basis to share ideas
- listen to great presentations
- keep up to date with latest developments
- develop a network of colleagues in various organisations to call upon when necessary
The Association is open to everyone who has an interest in customer service training, provided they respect the aims of the membership.
Best practice in customer service, leading edge training techniques, service excellence, staff retention and satisfaction are all key issues for members, as are customer retention, customer satisfaction and the effect of customer service on the bottom line. All of these issues feature on the agenda at CSTA meetings.