TRAINERS TEST NEW TECHNO FEEDBACK

22nd January 2008

In an age where technology makes virtually anything downloadable, a group of business trainers in the Highlands and Islands have become some of the first in the UK who are using it to chalk up some powerful results in customer satisfaction.

The group uses a hand held device - known as Knowat - to gather real time feedback for 100k Welcomes, a national training initiative designed to equip Scotland's tourist industry to compete in the lucrative worldwide market by offering first-class customer service.

Staff and managers from a range of tourism businesses including bed and breakfasts in some of Scotland's most remote and wild countryside, the National Trust, Forestry Commission and top visitor attractions have already benefited from the programme which is run jointly by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise.

The system enables anyone attending 100k Welcomes training programmes to give instant feedback on what they thought of the events.

Responses are recorded on the tiny handheld device which then downloads the information as a fully completed report to the trainer's PC.

In just seconds, trainers can discover what elements of the programme people enjoyed and any areas for improvement.

"100k Welcomes is all about helping Scotland's tourist industry deliver great service to the hundreds of thousands of visitors we get every year," says 100k Welcomes project manager Mandy Soutar.

"But we need to be confident the programmes we're running continue to be relevant to people in the frontline of the tourist industry. This technology plays a key role to help us achieve this.

"Most feedback still tends to be done by asking people to fill in a paper form or ad hoc questionnaires which can be both time consuming and confusing.

"Our 100k Welcomes trainers really are pioneering a new way of doing this and showing that using technology to gather and store feedback is the way to go."

To find out more about 100K Welcomes programmes visit www.100kwelcomes.co.uk or contact Mandy Soutar on 01382 305514.