Case Study

For over 15 years, Northumbria University’s Student, Library and Academic Services (SLAS) has embedded the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) Standard into every aspect of student life. From creative feedback methods like “love letters and break-up letters” to impactful journey mapping, their commitment to putting customers first has transformed both services and staff culture. Discover how their collaborative, multi-service approach continues to drive innovation, pride, and outstanding student experiences.

North Wales Housing Association set out to raise the bar for customer experience — and with the Customer Service Excellence Standard, they’ve done just that. Discover how this committed team built a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and continuous improvement while enhancing resident engagement and empowering staff at every level.

Birmingham City University Library and Learning Resources (L&LR) has undergone a transformative shift, from a transactional service to one that proudly upholds the highest standards of customer service. With a focus on continuous improvement, L&LR’s achievement of the Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard has significantly enhanced the student experience, as reflected in top satisfaction scores and valuable customer feedback.

We need to find a standard for our service delivery in which puts our students at the heart of our main service. It is also an opportunity to get feedback from someone outside the organisation to look at our service as a whole and determine our strengths, weakness and improvements that can be made.

At Axil, customer excellence isn’t just a strategy; it’s embedded in our culture and championed by every individual, from senior leadership to on-site operatives. As one of the UK’s leading total waste management specialists, we provide tailored waste solutions across critical sectors, including automotive, food, and pharmaceuticals. From the very start of our partnerships, we emphasise that maintaining and exceeding customer service standards is everyone’s responsibility, ensuring long-term relationships are developed, strengthened, and retained.

Fire and Acoustic Seals has been built on delivering great customer service. However, we wanted a prestigious independently verified certification and comprehensive program to recognise our commitment to providing exceptional customer service: which would set our own standards to be the recognized leader in our industry. The program fitted perfectly with our ISO9001:2015 accreditation, the structured approach offers us the opportunity to regularly review our processes and procedures to identify areas for improvement and strive for even greater customer service.

We have always believed that our high standards of customer service are a key driver of business performance and so wanted an effective way of demonstrating and displaying this. We’d become disillusioned by the “awards” industry, which has become increasingly commercialised and superficial. We didn’t want to play that game anymore.

We wanted a nationally recognised certification to show that we are meeting the high customer service level standards to the public. We wanted something to recognise our hard work and almost to vindicate we are doing as we should.

In NWSSP, we want our customers to receive a high quality service, focusing on the
customers needs and requirements by delivering excellent customer service. This in turn support the quality of patient care across NHS Wales.