"We will offer multimodal service that includes [communication via] phone, email, Web chat and co-browsing to our client's customers," Tsai says. "We can actually initiate what we call co-browsing. What this allows you to do is synchronize your Web browser with one of our agents. So we can show you [step-by-step] what you need to know - live."

Tsai's secret weapon is the "aloha spirit," which he plans to combine with cutting-edge software technology to solve the age-old problem of customer service. "One of the reasons my partner and I started in Hawaii is one thing Hawaii has going for it, besides nice beaches and weather, is customer service," Tsai says. "Why do you think people come here? It's because [Hawaii] people are courteous. People are generally friendlier and kinder here."

Max Tsai, president of TC Kokua, Inc., says the aloha spirit attracts people from all over the world to Hawaii.

Tsai began TC Kokua with one partner and $30,000 of their own money. The company is the Maui incubator's newest start-up.

"We moved in June 1," says Tsai, who has two employees. "We anticipate hiring 13 employees within the first year. Hopefully, we will graduate [and move] to Premier Place, the technology office building which is right across the street from the incubator."

"They are a good fit for us because they are able to partner with a lot of the other tech companies here in the center," say s Steve Perkins, MRTC program manager. "The beauty of it [TC Kokua's business] is that it gets small businesses out of product fulfillment or answering frequently asked questions, taking orders or doing repetitive tasks, so they can focus on their core business."

Though TC Kokua is targeting companies that have a Web presence, Tsai says the firm's services can be applied to any company that has a product to sell or needs customer service.

"Our scope of service is so good because we are not narrowed down to one industry," says Tsai.

Tsai, who holds a mechanical engineering degree from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, spent a decade working on technical support in Silicon Valley. "My last job was as a senior applications engineer at Asyst Technologies," Tsai says.

It was in Silicon Valley he learned the importance of customer service.

"The only way you can stand out from the pack in this down industry is through customer service," says Tsai. "It's what sets one company apart from another."

Tsai hopes to announce the signing of his first clients within the next few weeks.

"Me and my partner have this passion for customer service," he says. "We want to provide the best customer service in the world."

Reach Terrence Sing by e-mail tsing@bizjournals.com or by phone at 955-8001.

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