About the Project
University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. is asking the 42,000 faculty and staff employed by Georgia's 35 public colleges and universities to provide faster, friendlier, more efficient service to the USG's "customers," including more than 283,000 students.
In coordination with Gov. Sonny Perdue's launch of the state's 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.
"Each Georgia citizen who walks through our door for a government service is an opportunity," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "It is my intention that Georgia government employees will take advantage of those opportunities, showing citizens that we respect and value their time." "The campus-based customer service improvement plans that will be launched will create a culture that places more emphasis on customer service," Davis stated. "In line with the Governor's goal of achieving the best-managed state government, we intend to provide a model of service unparalleled in public higher education. Many of our faculty and staff already place our students' needs first, but we need to institutionalize this practice and really own it."
Our Strategic Plan defines six broad goals designed to ensure that the investment the citizens of Georgia have made in their system of higher education continues to serve the needs and transform the lives of future generations. Under Strategic Goal Six, "Increase efficiency, working as a System", we are providing the customer service strategies with a diverse team. Ms. Deborah Scott serves as the University System's representative on the Governor's Customer Service Team, where she has been charged with developing a customer service improvement plan for the University System. 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 "Faster, Friendlier and Easier" to access.
Customer service champions will work closely with their campus presidents, who - for extra motivation - recently have had customer service improvement added to the list of key performance indicators on which they will be annually evaluated.
"The campus plans developed by our champions in recent months had to incorporate the input of customers and employees," Scott noted. They also have to outline clear and measurable ways to track the campus' progress toward improved customer service. Accountability is a big part of this initiative."
"The outcome we're expecting from our efforts is to have customer-focused institutions making a continuous effort to provide faster, friendlier and easier services to our constituents," Scott said in summary.
