ERHAPS THE ONE QUALITY on which we pride ourselves most in Georgia’s Technical College System is that we are customer focused. But sometimes, when many businesses use that term, it becomes just another buzzword, with nothing standing behind it. That’s not the way it is at our technical colleges.

Over the past 15 years, we have developed policies and procedures that ensure we live up to the true meaning of "customer focused." In this issue of Results, we show you just exactly how our programs are responsive to customer needs, and how we have built-in processes that provide the flexibility needed in a swiftly changing economy.

Working with our local boards and various ad hoc committees, we continually review our curricula to make sure we are teaching the skills needed in the contemporary marketplace. New technologies, new business practices and changing demographics require us to constantly revisit what we're doing to make sure our students remain as competitive as any in the country.

And being customer focused also has a more human side. It means changing plans when things don't go right; it means helping others when circumstances require a little bit of sacrifice.

Recently, our staff at Moultrie Technical College’s campus in Ashburn demonstrated this when they came to the assistance of Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture, whose flight was grounded by bad weather. Pitching in, our staff did what needed to be done, earning the praise of Dave Carmichael, chief of the Office of Air Transportation, whose letter we reprint here.

"Thanks to you and your staff for a job well done beyond the call of duty," writes Mr. Carmichael.

That's what "customer focused" means. From responding to the needs of industry to helping someone in a rainstorm, for Georgia’s Technical College System, "customer focused" is not just a buzzword; it is reality.

Kenneth H. Breeden
Commissioner