WHAT'S
 AT ITAP INTERNATIONAL
Cross-cultural Audit Tool Leveraged
to Improve Global Customer Service Operations
Newtown, PA (PRWEB) February 24, 2006 - The challenge of integrating outsourced technical, back office and customer service operations in countries such as China, India, Costa Rica, Canada, South Africa and the Philippines concerns many global service organizations. ITAP International, Inc., a cross-cultural consulting company that has helped organizations improve global team performance since 1986, is now offering its proprietary Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™ to perform cultural audits on an organization's global customer service footprint.
"We have used the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™ in dozens of organizations to help resolve cultural issues related to doing business globally," says Catherine Mercer Bing, President of ITAP Americas. "The application of the same approach, with some modifications, to audit customer service performance has proven really powerful. The tool reveals issues that we are then able to resolve through training, feedback and coaching, and modification of training, learning and teaching approaches."
Joining ITAP to support this line of services is Erik Granered, author of Global Call Centers: Achieving Outstanding Customer Service Across Borders and Time Zones (Nicholas Brealey/Intercultural Press, 2005). Mr. Granered's background includes extensive call center, organizational communication, and strategic learning experience. "In dealing with customer service performance, culture is the proverbial '800 lb. gorilla' in the room for most organizations," says Granered. "In addition, customer service performance problems are often internal as the use of shared services and global teaming is increasing. ITAP's solution to address cross-cultural obstacles to customer service issues is the best on the market and I am delighted to be associated with it."
ITAP's services include two unique ingredients that allow organizations to address and resolve cross-cultural customer service issues. The first is the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™. The second ingredient is ITAP's global network of Associate and Affiliate consultants. "It is impossible for one consultant to be an expert in every country/cultural nuance and language," says Bing. "In addressing an organization's customer service issues, we form our own team of experts from around the world to make sure that we have the right experience and background to uncover and remedy cross-cultural customer service issues," she continues.
In addition to the Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™, ITAP owns a suite of other proprietary tools, including the Global Team Process Questionnaire™ (GTPQ) Competency Development Assessment and Profiling software suite, which can be leveraged depending on the nature of the engagement. Companies often focus on the resolution of customer service issues as an initial request. ITAP's response can start at pre-selection to ensure candidates are selected who will succeed and stay. "We often support companies with analysis of job profiles and their management approaches,' added Bing. "The pervasiveness of national culture requires successful global companies to look at all HR practices through the lens of cultural dimensions."
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