Ms Chu determined that the customer had to submit an examination paper and was worried that she would miss her deadline. The problem wasn't with PCCW at all, but with some software that had been incorrectly installed on her computer.

'As an engineer, I am quite familiar with Windows. I realised that there was a problem with the set-up of her firewall. I solved her problem. As a result, she was able to submit her paper on time and she was very happy,' Ms Chu said.

'After finishing her course, she sent me 10 e-mails to thank me. I was really happy that I could successfully solve her problem. It was very satisfying to turn an upset customer into a smiling one.'

Ms Chu joined PCCW shortly after graduating from the Chinese University in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in systems engineering and engineering management.

She won the Customer Service Award (for individuals) in the Customer Relationship Excellence Awards. In all, PCCW won awards in eight categories. This is the second time the company has taken part in the competition.

Wallis Tam, assistant general manager of consumer sales, believes the competition provides 'a very good opportunity to share our experience in customer service and customer relationship management with different corporations in different industries.'

'This is invaluable for us as it allows us to benchmark ourselves with other companies and also learn from their best practices,' she said. 'We also think it is good recognition of our team effort in providing excellent customer service.'

With about 12,000 employees, PCCW is the largest communications provider in Hong Kong and one of the leading providers in the region, offering a wide range of services, including new generation fixed-line telephony, broadband, information technology and wireless access, as well as home entertainment media content.

It also provides technical services to network operators, enabling overseas bodies to bring their businesses to Asia while taking Asian businesses to the rest of the world.

'We think the most important key to our success is our commitment and dedication to providing excellent service to our customers, especially in the highly competitive telecoms industry,' Ms Tam said. 'We believe that customer service is the key thing that differentiates us from the competition.'

Ms Tam believes that service standards in Hong Kong are improving across the board.

'In my view, there has been ongoing improvement in customer service in Hong Kong,' she said.

'The government had done a lot of educational work in this area. I think Hong Kong people have become more demanding. They understand what they should expect from a company and they know their rights. Lots of publications let them know they have the right to fight on their own behalf.'

So what constitutes good service?

'It is not an easy task,' Ms Tam said. 'If you simply ask staff to deliver good customer service by following procedures or instructions, it is not enough.

'They need to internalise it from their heart, otherwise they won't provide good service. You need to know how to react and how to listen.

'You need to really want to help the customer.'

Ms Chu agreed. 'I think that customer service means meeting customer requirements every day and every time. It should always be your top priority. In fact, I think there should be three elements: integrity, expertise and service.'

Both Ms Tam and Ms Chu believe that customer service is an essential differentiator among service providers in the competitive telecoms sector.

'I think most customer representatives are very professional and skilful in providing tailor-made service to their customers,' Ms Chu said. 'But sometimes they are too aggressively focused on in producing sales revenue. So they neglect the importance of providing after-sales service.

'I believe customer service should be a long-term investment. It should be a lifelong relationship with your customers and not just a short telephone conversation that lasts a few minutes.'