History
From the germ of an idea planted in 1999 by organisations wanting to improve the business services sector, Putting the Customer First ® is recognised as the National Standard for Customer Service.
Initiated by the Business of Competitiveness Group in Yorkshire and Humber and further developed by the Quality Working Group, London Business Support Network, the partners in both these regions came together to agree a common quality standard for improving the customer's experience of business support services.
In 2003, Putting the Customer First ® was formally registered as a trade mark and a joint venture company formed to own and maintain the certification mark - Customer First UK Ltd.
The Customer First Standard has now been achieved by hundreds of organisations nationwide with ambitious plans to encourage over 2000 organisations to commit to achieving the Standard in 2009.