A sneak peak at our new organisational values

In June this year, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman will announce its new FY2021-23 organisation strategy. Essential to the strategy is the organisation’s new values: ‘Together we D.R.E.A.M.’.

Whilst these can’t be revealed in full yet, here’s a sneak peak into our ‘M’ value – Make it easy. For consumers, this means ensuring the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman offers a dispute resolution service that is accessible to everyone.

New Assistant Ombudsman of Early Resolution James McDonald explains his goal to make the TIO the most accessible dispute resolution service.

“To me, a great TIO experience is making the dispute resolution process clear and easy. For consumers, we listen, we won’t make them jump through hoops, and we’ll let them know what to expect next.

“For members, we’ll refer the complaints we should, we’ll give members the information they need to help them resolve the complaint, and we’ll do it in a prompt way so they can focus on resetting their relationship with their customer.”

James considers accessibility of TIO services to be an essential part of effective dispute resolution, and he aims to uphold these values in his new role as Assistant Ombudsman of Early Resolution.

“I’m looking forward to continued conversations with our consumer panel and our members to find out– from operating hours, how you can get in touch with us, or even the way we answer the phone. And to use that feedback to plan and make sure it’s simple to get in touch with us.”

James continued, “Ombudsman services are the office of last resort. We know that providers and consumers have invested a lot of time in trying to resolve their complaint with each other. And having a disagreement about something is not relaxing. So we are saving both parties from that worry.

“To me it’s important that we help both parties figure out what a fair and reasonable outcome to that complaint can be – so both parties can bring the disagreement to an end, find a clear way forward and work on repairing their relationship.”