Lean-oriented approach for discovering failure demand in a service contact centre environment. Case study from the Finnish Financial Sector
Porru, Luca (2019)
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
Current literature presents a lack of practical tools for discovering failure demand in a service contact centre environment. As contact centres are a modern strategic tool for companies to manage costs and drive up customer satisfaction, the need for understanding the largest form of waste is necessary. Therefore, this study focuses on the question of what the steps for discovering failure demand are in a service contact centre environment and why it is important. To be able to answer this question, the study will first analyze the existing literature and based on that explain the phenomenon of failure demand and build a framework for discovering it. After the framework has been tested in a case study form, the gathered results are pre-sented as empirical evidence.
The method used for this study is qualitative and the observative research method was used to collect the data. The logic was a combination of inductive and deductive. The data itself was collected from over a 130 different customer interaction points and the individual customer representatives were also interviewed. The chosen company for the study was a big financial group which operates mainly in Northern Europe. However, this study only focuses on its service contact centre functions in Finland. The data access from the chosen company enabled a case study research on how value and failure demand are discovered in a significant service environment. The findings of the study suggest that the three main steps for discovering failure demand are: building understanding, capturing data and categorizing data.
As a theoretical contribution to the existing literature, this study offers a new framework that can be tested in different service environments to discover failure demand. Furthermore, as individual steps of the dis-covery process were done independently, the study offers more data on failure demand, thus enriching the current literature. The managerial implications in this paper provide a new practical tool for managers and practitioners a like with well documented and easy to follow process steps. Also, the framework helps to spread knowledge on the phenomenon of failure demand among organizations and managers.
The method used for this study is qualitative and the observative research method was used to collect the data. The logic was a combination of inductive and deductive. The data itself was collected from over a 130 different customer interaction points and the individual customer representatives were also interviewed. The chosen company for the study was a big financial group which operates mainly in Northern Europe. However, this study only focuses on its service contact centre functions in Finland. The data access from the chosen company enabled a case study research on how value and failure demand are discovered in a significant service environment. The findings of the study suggest that the three main steps for discovering failure demand are: building understanding, capturing data and categorizing data.
As a theoretical contribution to the existing literature, this study offers a new framework that can be tested in different service environments to discover failure demand. Furthermore, as individual steps of the dis-covery process were done independently, the study offers more data on failure demand, thus enriching the current literature. The managerial implications in this paper provide a new practical tool for managers and practitioners a like with well documented and easy to follow process steps. Also, the framework helps to spread knowledge on the phenomenon of failure demand among organizations and managers.