Educator Jackie Diy: Our smile is felt through our voice

By Alex P. Vidal

BURNABY, British Columbia -- Never hesitate to smile. Your smile is felt through your voice and no amount of words will ever make up for that one simple smile.
This was the message educator and enterpreneur Jackie Diy shared to readers of Connections, official corporate magazine of FortisBC Inc., which featured Diy in its January 2012 cover story. 
Formerly a subject matter expert and trainer for eBay, Inc. which closed its Burnaby contact centre in 2009, Diy has returned to Willingdon Business Park (Burnaby) this time to join BC’s utility company, FortisBC. 
"Customer service is about making your customers feel that they are important and this should radiate through your tone, manners, efficiency and the quality of service that you provide," quipped Diy.  
"It is making sure that whatever it is you do for them today will create a good and lasting relationship down the road."


MENTOR 


Diy, one of the mentors of the recently organized "FYE Live" marketed by the Surrey-based Maxipro Entertainment, emphasized that "customer service is your willingness and ability to fully represent your organization in the best possible way."
"Through your words and actions," Diy explained, "you are able to create satisfied customers who in turn spread the good word about the company you work for." 
Connections is issued quarterly and features news and articles about the company and its employees, the community, market, energy products, etc. 
The January 2012 issue is highly important because it talks about the return of FortisBC’s customer service from outsourced companies to in-house – news that customers embraced with excitement as the change was communicated to them before the end of 2011. 


LARGEST


In 2004, Fortis Inc., the largest investor-owned distribution utility in Canada, acquired all the distribution, transmission and generation assets of the West Kootenay Power and Light Company and renamed it FortisBC Inc. In 2007, Fortis Inc. purchased Terasen Inc., which included the Terasen Gas group of companies, from Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc.
In July 2010, Terasen Inc. and FortisBC Inc. started sharing the same leadership team. Then, on March 1, 2011, the Terasen group of companies began operating under the FortisBC brand name. 
Today, the natural gas and electricity businesses continue to operate as before, as separate legal entities, while sharing the name FortisBC.