On August 22, 1997, Georgia's Commissioner of Technical and Adult Education, Dr. Ken Breeden, met with 15 Columbus-area companies to address joint concerns and possible solutions to the lack of skilled labor for the area's growing service industry.

On October 28, 1997 -- exactly two months and six days later -- Gov. Zell Miller, along with Breeden, unveiled the Service Industry Academy at Columbus Technical Institute.

"The most critical infrastructure we must have to succeed in the 21st century is a trained, skilled workforce," Miller told the public officials and business leaders gathered at the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. "And the Service Industry Academy provides a way to train workers for service industries, increasing employment and enhancing productivity and job performance." DTAE's quick response underscores Georgia's commitment to meeting business needs. "When you add retail and consider that part of service, then the total service/retail sector is over 55 percent of all the jobs," said Breeden. Manufacturers also need employees with customer service skills for the sale and ongoing maintenance of their products.

F. Michael Gaymon, president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, noted, "[The Service Industry Academy] pulls together state and local public officials, educational institutions and the business community to develop a unique program to meet current workforce needs while training a workforce for tomorrow's growth."

With the full support of the participating business partners and a curriculum designed to teach basic and advanced skills in customer relations, the SIA will become a vital link in the expansion of Georgia's trained labor pool. It will attract new businesses to the area and to the state itself. Firms outside of Columbus with call center operations already are anxious to locate there, according to Columbus City Councilman Jack Rogers.

The Service Industry Academy Is Born
Some say there would be no SIA had it not been for Charlie Brown, president of Technology Park/Atlanta, Inc. and past member of DTAE's State Board. 'We did a lot of work and studies and research . . . to look at what was really needed and where it was needed," said Brown. "We found out that there was really not a formal program for people involved in public contact situations or service industries." He encouraged DTAE to develop a service industry training program, and the Certified Customer Service Specialist was born.

The CCSS program is the keystone of the Academy. It is 154 hours of training that was developed by DTAE's Quick Start and includes business and customer service training, job simulations and assessments. CCSS graduates in Columbus are guaranteed job interviews with business partners like AFLAC, AT&T Universal Card Services Corp., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc., CB&T Bank, Char- Broil, Colonial Bank, First Union National Bank of Georgia, GreenPoint Mortgage Corp., Regions Bank, SouthTrust Bank, SunTrust Bank, Synovus Service Corporation, TeleService Resources Inc., TSYS Total Solutions Inc. and Total System Services Inc.

These companies, the Quick Start team and Columbus Technical Institute representatives participated in a mid-September focus group to establish training requirements for entry-level customer service positions within their firms. "What began as a concept . . . has become a reality with the Service Industry Academy," said Debbie Lane, chair of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce's Workforce Education and Literacy Development (WELD) committee and vice president for human resources at Blue Cross.

The focus group decided that, in addition to the CCSS program, the Academy should offer advanced training in customer service, a Call Center Simulation Lab and training for other selected jobs. In the future, supervisory training, coaching skills, business writing and stress-management skills also will be offered.

"The pioneer service industry academy that you are developing here will become the model for other academics in other parts of the state," Miller said. Employers will be able to send their current personnel for training or hire new personnel, knowing that the Academy's Certified Customer Service Specialists possess the basic skills necessary to be productive workers from their first day on the job.

Graduation from the new SIA is "not just the first step toward employment and a satisfying professional career, it's the window of opportunity to a lifetime of educational programs."

Skills for Future Growth
Within the next year, 700 students in Columbus are expected to receive CCSS certification. Of the first 32 graduates, 91 percent got jobs right away, according to Gene Demonet, president of Columbus Technical Institute.

"We'll directly benefit -- in our banking operations, our service operations here in Columbus -- as a result of this effort," said Jimmy Blanchard, chairman of Synovus Financial Corporation.

Besides providing trained workers, area business leaders expect the pro gram to reduce employee turnover and increase profitability. Since SIA graduates are trained in the basic fundamentals of customer service, companies hiring new personnel will be able to concentrate on product training, according to Lane.

Blue Cross already has hired five of the recently graduated Certified Customer Service Specialists. One new-hire was Lisa McCullough. When McCullough relocated to Columbus from New York, she applied for a job at Blue Cross and found out about SIA.

After an intensive three -month summer course three hours a night, four nights a week, for 13 weeks McCullough graduated in October. She got the desired job at Blue Cross and training she "could take anywhere, apply anywhere else."

Graduation from the new SIA is "not just the first step toward employment and a satisfying professional career, it's the window of opportunity to a lifetime of educational programs," said Breeden. "A student can start here and use the HOPE Scholarship and move right on up to a four-year degree." CCSS graduates earn 15 credit hours that can be applied toward continuing their education at a technical institute or state university.

"There's certainly a lot of interest about the program," Demonet said -- both from the business sector and from those in search of employment. An advertisement highlighting the Academy and guaranteeing graduates a job interview with one of the 14 business partners began appearing in Columbus-area newspapers in November. More than 1,000 people are expected to respond to the ad.

Suzanne Robinson is a free-lance writer in Roswell. Georgia