Carl Emil Lagerstam 

Improving Customer Service level with data 
visibility and account team´s performance 

management practices 

Customer 360 view development 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

Vaasa 2026 

School of Technology and Innovations 
Master’s Thesis 

Industrial Systems Analytics 



2 

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA 
School of Technology and Innovations 

Author: Carl Emil Lagerstam 
Title of the thesis:  Improving Customer Service level with data visibility and account 

team´s performance management practices: Customer 360 view de-
velopment 

Degree: Master of Science in Technology 
Degree Programme: Industrial System Analytics  
Supervisor: Inês Simoes de Brito Peixoto 
Year: 2026 Pages: 92 

 
ABSTRACT: 
 
Customer data and analysing it has been a major commercial and academic pursuit. Despite this 
B2B companies have been slow in effectively integrating data driven and cooperative ways of 
working to improve customer experience and service level. This thesis was commissioned to 
improve a company’s customer centric data visibility and usage in decision-making, especially in 
diverse key account team setting. Thesis used design science research method with rapid itera-
tion and created a Customer 360 view in Power BI. Co-creative meetings, interview, and end-
user testing were had and the version in the scope of the thesis was validated using a survey 
that will allow further development. This thesis was time limited causing the customer success 
results and subsequent development of the 360 view to be left of scope. Thesis shows that ac-
count managers need digital tools and resources to lead account teams and that there exists a 
disconnect between implementation of key account team management work practices and the 
mandated guidelines. Typical B2B aftersales spare parts ordering process is presented as part of 
the study. Key account teams using tools like Customer 360 hold great potential to understand 
the customer and the ordering process and thus provide data driven insights to improve cus-
tomer experience. Besides offering key account team related suggestions and novel 360 view to 
the company steps to continue development are given. Future avenues of research are sug-
gested and recommendations for developing similar projects are made. Rapid iteration and 
stakeholder inclusion from the beginning is a way to generate positive engagement and success-
ful minimum viable product. The importance of effective data usage and sharing is highlighted 
to achieve improvements in customer service level.  
 
 
 

KEYWORDS: Customer 360 view, data driven decision-making, account team, global virtual 
team, B2B, high performing teams, iterative development 

  



3 

VAASAN YLIOPISTO 
Tekniikan ja innovaatiojohtamisen yksikkö 

Tekijä: Carl Emil Lagerstam 
Tutkielman nimi:  Improving Customer Service level with data visibility and account 

team´s performance management practices: Customer 360 view de-
velopment 

Tutkinto: Diplomi-insinööri 
Opintosuunta: Industrial System Analytics  
Työn ohjaaja: Inês Simoes de Brito Peixoto 
Valmistusvuosi: 2026 Sivumäärä: 92 

 
Tiivistelmä: 
 
Asiakasdata ja sen analysointi on ollut merkittävä kaupallinen ja akateeminen tutkimusaihe. 
Tästä huolimatta yritysmyyntiin keskittyvät yritykset ovat olleet hitaita kehittämään ja integroi-
maan tehokkaita datalähtöisiä ja yhteistyöllisiä työskentelytapoja kehittämään asiakaskoke-
musta ja palvelun tasoa. Tämä diplomityö tehtiin yritykselle tavoitteena parantaa yhteen asiak-
kaaseen keskittyvän data näkyvyyttä ja käyttämistä päätöksenteossa. Erityisenä kontekstina tut-
kielmalle toimii yrityksen asiakkuustiimi työskentely. Tutkimusmenetelmä sovellettiin iteratii-
vista suunnittelututkimusta, jonka avulla tuotettiin asiakkaan 360-näkymä Power BI-sovelluk-
sena. Yhteiskehittämistä, haastatteluja ja loppukäyttäjätestaamista käytettiin tutkielmaan kuu-
luvan työkalun version kehityksessä. Lopuksi loppukäyttäjät antoivat palautetta kehitetystä asi-
akkaan 360-näkymästä sen validoimista ja jatkuvaa kehitystä varten Tutkielma ajallisen rajauk-
sen takia mitattavat vaikutukset asiakastyytyväisyyteen ja näkymän jatkokehitykset jätettiin ra-
jauksen ulkopuolelle. Tulosten mukaan asiakkuuspäälliköt tarvitset digitaalisia työkaluja ja re-
sursseja tehokkaaseen asiakkuustiimien johtamiseen. Lisäksi havaittiin, että päivittäisen avain-
asiakkuustiimin hallinnan ja työn eroavan siihen tarkoitetusta nykyisestä ohjeistuksesta. Tyypil-
linen varaosan yritysmyynti prosessi esitetään tutkielmassa. Asiakkaan 360-näkymän tarjoami-
nen avainasiakkuustiimin työkaluksi nähdään auttavan asiakkaan ymmärtämistä ja kehittämään 
myyntiprosessia. Asiakaan 360-näkymää käyttämällä voidaan tehdä datalähtöistä päätöksente-
koa ja havaintoja, joiden avulla pystytään parantamaan asiakaskokemusta. Sen lisäksi, että tut-
kielma tuottaa asiakkuustiimille toimintaehdotuksia sekä 360-näkymän yritykseen, tutkielma 
ehdottaa askeleita jatkokehitystä varten. Tutkielma ehdottaa lähtökohtia tuleville tutkimuksille 
ja antaa ohjeistuksia vastaavien kehitysprojektien tekemiseen. Nopea iteratiivinen kehitys ja si-
dosryhmien sisällyttäminen tuotteiden kehittämisen alussa on suositeltavaa luomaan sitoutu-
misen ja osallistumisen tunteita sekä saavuttamaan mahdollisen version tuotteesta. Diplomi-
työn muita suosituksia ovat datan käytön tehostaminen ja jakaminen organisaatiossa asiakas-
palvelutason parantamiseksi. 
 
 
 
 

Avainsanat: Asiakkaan 360-näkymä, datalähtöinen päätöksenteko, asiakkuustiimi, globaali 
virtuaalitiimi, yritysmyynti, huipputiimi, iteratiivinen kehitys 

  



4 

Contents 

1 Introduction 8 

1.1 Background 8 

1.2 Research questions and problem 9 

1.3 Methods and limitations 10 

1.4 Structure of thesis 11 

1.5 Confidentiality 12 

2 Theoretical framework 13 

2.1 Data driven decision-making 13 

2.2 High performing teams 16 

2.2.1 Multilocality and virtual teams 19 

2.2.2 Managing a flat global team 20 

2.2.3 Leading without formal authority 21 

2.2.4 Key account teams 22 

2.3 Customer experience in B2B service business 25 

2.4 Customer 360 view 26 

3 Methodology 32 

3.1 Design Science Research 32 

3.2 Research design 34 

3.3 Scoping and stakeholder interviews 35 

3.4 Iteration and user testing 37 

3.5 Technical design and software 39 

3.6 Limitations 42 

4 Results 45 

4.1 Current process 45 

4.1.1 Customer experience management 48 

4.1.2 Account management and work process 49 

4.2 Development of Customer 360 view 53 

4.2.1 Scoping and planning 53 



5 

4.2.2 Feature finding and design 55 

4.2.3 Power BI development and data management 59 

4.2.4 Power BI beta testing and feedback 67 

4.3 Suggested process 71 

5 Discussion and conclusions 76 

5.1 Practical implications and recommendations 79 

5.2 Future research 80 

5.3 Conclusions 81 

References 83 

Appendices 91 

Appendix 1. Closed beta survey questions 91 

 
 

  



6 

Figures 
 
Figure 1. DDI theory-based framework (Eriksson & Heikkilä, 2023). 15 

Figure 2. Suggested performance factors of teams in literature (Petrova, 2022). 17 

Figure 3. Key account management and customer data management (Silva, 2025). 24 

Figure 4. Theoretical model for customer 360 view in the industry (Liliendahl, 2020). 28 

Figure 5. IBM’s client-on-a-page iterations (Magee et al., 2016). 29 

Figure 6. DSRM process model (Peffers et al., 2007). 33 

Figure 7. Example of star schema (Garani & Helmer, 2012). 40 

Figure 8. Example of snowflake schema (Garani & Helmer, 2012). 41 

Figure 9. Simplified parts ordering process. 47 

Figure 10. Needed features summarized and ranked from AM interviews. 56 

Figure 11. MoSCoW board of features chosen for development. 57 

Figure 12. Simplified data framework used in the thesis. 62 

Figure 13. Actual data lineage and EDW relation. 63 

Figure 14. Data model in Power BI. 64 

Figure 15. Dashboard development from idea and mock-ups to beta version. 67 

Figure 16. Research question related sentiment. 69 

Figure 17. Current account team state survey results. 69 

Figure 18. Customer 360 view proposed for the company. 72 

 
 

Tables 
 
Table 1. Tester group evaluation. 68 

Table 2. All beta test survey Likert results. 70 

 
 

Abbreviations 
 
AM = Account Manager 

B2B = Business to Business 

B2C = Business to Customer 



7 

BI = Business Intelligence 

CEM = Customer Experience Management 

CRM = Customer Relationship Management 

CVC = Customer Value Category 

DDD = Data Driven Decision-making 

DSRM = Design Science Research Methodology 

EDW = Enterprise Data Warehouse 

ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning 

GVT = Global Virtual Team 

HPT = High Performing Team 

KAC = Key Account 

KPI = Key Performance Indicator 

NPS = Net Promoter Score 

POC = Part Operations Coordinator 

RFQ = Request for Quotation 

 

 

  



8 

1 Introduction 

Data has become the standard for making business decisions in the current digital age 

but much of the it remains unused or sub-optimally utilized in companies. Most of the 

existing reporting and business intelligence tools do not go into detail about single cus-

tomer but focus them on portfolio level. Besides this, data’s effective utilization is often 

locked behind complicated rules and ownerships leading to silo mentality and depart-

mentalization. Increasing visibility and ability to use the data by multiple stakeholders 

would offer better view of the customer and their pain points. 

 

The case company wants to address this issue and has requested this thesis to provide 

theoretical framework and recommendations to handle it. Additionally, a modern cus-

tomer 360 view tool was developed in Power BI, which will apply theory into practice 

and effect the work process in the company. The tool is intended to be used by a globally 

distributed virtual and cross-functional account teams to better understand the cus-

tomer, to identify problems, fasten decision-making, increase effectiveness of action 

management and through that increase customer satisfaction. The main user for the first 

version of the tool will be group of employees called account managers which are tasked 

with forming an account team to manage business related to a customer. Future versions 

of the 360 view will try to further develop the tool also from the rest of the account team 

members’ perspective. 

 

 

1.1 Background 

The case company is a globally recognized Finnish company doing business-to-business 

(B2B) in energy and maritime industry. Notable part of its business strategy and opera-

tions are lifecycle or aftersales services, such as selling spare parts and field services for 

their major products with lifecycles often measured in decades. This thesis was re-

quested by one department of that company and is focusing on energy sector business’ 

aftersales services, especially on a customer value category (CVC) called key accounts 



9 

(KAC). Other projects focusing on these KAC customers are closely related to this thesis 

and will utilize its findings and the tool that is developed. 

 

The case company being a global actor has multiple office and workshop locations 

around the world. It is quite common that employees from multiple locations are as-

signed to work with the same customer during routine operation as single physical loca-

tion often lacks all the many roles and employees needed for this combined effort, es-

pecially with the rise of flexible remote working possibilities and attitudes. Ideally the 

same employees are still meant to work together for an extended period of time and are 

referred as an account team internally, which in theory can lessen friction and onboard-

ing needed to serve the customer allowing the build-up of better customer understand-

ing which in turn can be used to create better customer experience.  

 

1.2 Research questions and problem 

This thesis aims to find a solution for a problem: “How to increase data visibility for data 

driven decision-making and team performance in B2B service?” Thus, the research ques-

tion is “how to use data driven decision-making and performance management practices 

for increased customer satisfaction?”. The sub-questions derived from the research 

question are: 

 

▪ How to use data driven decision-making and performance management 

practices in global virtual team? 

▪ What are the elements of modern high performing teams in B2B service 

business? 

▪ How to manage customer experience in B2B service based on data driven 

decision making? 

 

In the context of this thesis these questions are novel and solve a need in the company. 

While the theoretical background for each sub-question is established in the literature, 

their application in the case company is currently lacking and leaves room for 



10 

improvement. This thesis proposes that introducing novel and end-user co-created tools 

for customer management that offer actionable insights, like the Customer 360 view, 

customer experience and modern team performance can be improved.  

 

 

1.3 Methods and limitations 

The thesis was done using a design research science methodology and is specific for this 

company and its needs, though the methodology used in the empirical part can be gen-

eralized to wider business to business context or similar efforts. As the research ques-

tions can be interpreted quite broadly, their scope needs to be limited to this case and 

the context of customer relationship management.  

 

Sampling for the early interviews and subsequent surveys was done with the global clus-

tering in mind. The case company has divided its operations into three areas with total 

of nine subregions and each of the has one or multiple account managers (AM) of which 

most work with KAC customers. This means that the population size of AMs is around 

few dozens. Taking into consideration that the same is true for other account team mem-

bers a stratified sampling method was used as each of the populations are quite homo-

geneous based on early scoping. In early scoping four account managers were selected 

and interviewed in-depth, each area being represented at least by one interviewee. The 

current customer work process and pain points were the focus of the discussions, and 

the findings were compared to a constructed model from documents available that was 

done prior to the interviews. The pain points of the interviewees were subsequently 

ranked in order of priority for them. 

 

Finally after the iterative development work, a survey for all account managers (6 em-

ployees) involved in the Customer 360 view development was sent out and had 83% 

response rate. The number of included account managers can be considered sufficient 

as they still represent a sizable portion of the few dozen employees and global sampling 

was used and the received answers were in line with each other and rather 



11 

homogeneous. The survey asked for validation of the interview findings, changes made 

based on those, and about the current process and felt pain points. Also, that survey and 

released Customer 360 view version was referred as closed beta as it aimed to introduce 

final major changes and features prior to a global roll out of the minimum viable product. 

Besides using only the account managers as testers, other stakeholders were invited to 

try the tool and give feedback in the survey. The company’s sales management and de-

velopment team with their expertise and a parts delivery expert with their insight into 

the latter half of the parts flow were included in the closed beta. Having the sales man-

agement and development team involved in the 360 view development is important as 

that team is working with the key account management program and its projects that 

will be using the created digital product. The team needs to plan on how to incorporate 

the 360 with their own customer relationship management model and hearing their de-

velopment feedback will be crucial to achieve suitable tool delivery. An analysis of the 

feedback relevancy and possible influencing factors is made in table 1 in the Results 

chapter. 

 

 

1.4 Structure of thesis 

The thesis is divided into 5 sections or chapters: introduction, theoretical framework, 

methodology, results, and conclusions. First in the introduction offers background and 

need for the thesis, including research gap, problem, and questions. The methods and 

limitations of the thesis are presented as are the structure and confidentiality matters. 

 

In the second chapter, Theoretical Framework, literature review is done. This is done 

following a funnel idea, trying to go into more detail and in-depth as the chapter pro-

gresses. First data driven decision-making is introduced as a concept, especially in this 

context followed by high performing teams as the tool created in the thesis will be used 

to support by horizontal cross-functional and multilocal digital teams. Each of those as-

pects is also explored. After that the CRM in B2B setting is reviewed, followed by a look 

into customer 360 view based in the literature. 



12 

 

The third chapter, Methodology, is critical for the thesis’ generalization purposes and 

establishes the research process, methods, and data collection ways and sources. Co-

creation and iterative process during the thesis work with the future end users is also 

presented in more detail. At the end, the thesis reliability and methodology are evalu-

ated.  

 

The fourth chapter, Results, explores the case in detail. It contains the empirical part of 

the thesis: current and process in the company and the developed tool to improve that 

process. It also presents the findings from data collection, key challenges experienced by 

users and analyses them, and how those can be solved or mitigated. Feedback and re-

sults from early users are likewise presented. 

 

The fifth and final chapter, Discussion and conclusions, discusses the findings from the 

results with the established literature. The thesis is summarized, critically evaluated and 

recommendations for future actions and research are made. 

 

Finally, the Appendix is included after references. The Appendix holds all the questions 

asked during the closed beta test in the appendix 1.  

 

 

1.5 Confidentiality 

Thesis is a case study for a company and includes the creation of a novel tool for the 

company. No sensitive or confidential information is shared and information and exam-

ples used in the thesis are anonymised and possibly replaced with mock-up data or rep-

resented in simplified manner. Customer data and case company employee information 

used in the development cannot be shared or presented in this thesis. Additionally, the 

company commissioning the thesis work is referred as “the case company” or “the com-

pany “.  



13 

2 Theoretical framework 

In order to make a better customer centric tool, the academic and professional literature 

was explored to support it. This is viewed with a lens of creating a new collaborative 

information and task sharing platform for a cross-functional and global team. From liter-

ature perspective the fields of global virtual teams, self-directed work groups, and data 

driven decision-making are looked for better customer relationship management pur-

poses. Customer 360 view concept is also introduced although the subject matter has 

very little academic coverage and mostly come from more business orientated literature.  

 

2.1 Data driven decision-making  

Data driven decision-making means “the practice of basing decisions on the analysis of 

data rather than purely on intuition”(Provost & Fawcett, 2013, p. 53). According to Prov-

ost and Fawcett that means that while there needs to be data and analysis of it, for ex-

ample how customers react to ads, the experience and intuition can still play a part in 

the decision-making process and in reality this varies between organizations. Data driven 

decision-making has become standard practice for most organizations and presentations 

with visualisations for management are a common way to report results or seek approval 

for actions. Better data-access and integration have made real-time reporting more com-

mon as it allows to track performance and the set targets. 

 

According to Brynjolfsson and McElheran (2016) data driven decision-making (DDD) has 

increased productivity while it has been adopted rapidly with sometimes uneven meth-

ods and results. That was caused by differences depending on the way DDD was imple-

mented and integrated in processes and organizational culture. However broadly in prac-

tical terms they conclude: “Better data creates opportunities to make better decision” 

(Brynjolfsson & McElheran, 2016. p. 138). Based in real cases, DDD offers the chance to 

increase revenue and profits without  increasing prices while improving service quality 

(Bar-Gill et al., 2024).  

 



14 

With the adoption of increased data collection, such as seen with Industry 4.0 and Inter-

net of Things (IoT), the case for many opportunities can be seen (Holmes et al., 2023). 

However, especially business-to-business companies are often failing to capitalize on 

these opportunities, according to Holmes et al. They suggest that B2B-firms are unwilling 

to cooperate within their industry despite that more data sets offer increasing learning 

opportunities, not to mention how the lack of dialogue and standardization makes cur-

rent comparisons harder. This has also contributed to the lack of wider research by aca-

demics into “how firms derive benefit from using information and data to deliver com-

petitive advantage through customer value . . . and what the critical elements to success 

might be” (page 1296).  

 

One of the end goals of DDD is to efficiently create customer value. Service-dominant 

logic (SDL), especially in B2B, has increased in prominence during the digitalization of 

the turn of the millennium, which mean that value is co-created with the customer, not 

just by selling goods (Holmes et al., 2023). Holmes et al. (2023) present that this value is 

created by utilizing data and gaining insights from that. So, in order to transfer from tra-

ditional supplier role to more co-creative customer relationship data driven approach is 

needed to better understand and support the customer. At the same time companies 

with multiple product offerings can use DDD in their product portfolio management 

(PPM) to create 360-degree data model to create solid understanding of products’ com-

mercial focus with real time analytics (Hannila et al., 2022).  

 

A closely related idea to DDD is the data driven innovation (DDI), which means that data 

is the core ingredient for an innovation, that is thought to be a competitive edge in future 

(Eriksson & Heikkilä, 2023). Currently “[B2B] companies accumulate a wide array of data 

nowadays, such as financial and CRM data, operations data, and environmental data. Yet, 

few industrial companies have been capable of leveraging these vast amounts of data 

for improved products or services” (Eriksson & Heikkilä, 2023, page 158). Largely these 

business innovation come as ways to support decision-making, improving organizational 

processes, or as methodologies to resolve challenges to create customer value.  



15 

 

Eriksson and Heikkilä’s (2023) framework for the DDI in B2B context and it has 3 techno-

logical and marketing elements as seen in figure 1. Technological side is the ability to 

obtain the necessary data ability to combine data from different sources, and ability to 

analyse the data while the marketing one is ability to innovate and deliver superior cus-

tomer value, ability to capitalize on the customer as an asset, and ability to capitalize on 

the brand as an asset. To create data driven innovation all of these elements need to be 

understood and considered. 

 

 

Figure 1. DDI theory-based framework (Eriksson & Heikkilä, 2023). 

 

Common challenges for data driven innovations in industrial B2B are low quality legacy 

data, lack of data standards, and complex organizational structures causing friction when 

dealing with data, according to Eriksson and Heikkilä (2023). At the same time, they rec-

ognize that many companies fail to co-create and involve customers in developing data 

driven solutions. A DDI will not be successful if either technological or marketing side 

fails. In B2B, it is crucial to have a deep understanding of customer needs as the potential 

customer base is not as vast compared to B2C (Eriksson & Heikkilä, 2023). This means 

that information about those needs should be understood across the firm. Eriksson and 

Heikkilä recommend manufacturing companies should “develop processes and struc-

tures that support and even enhance information sharing across different organizational 

units, to build a collective understanding of customer needs and the firms’ possibilities 

in responding to those needs”. 



16 

 

2.2 High performing teams 

High performing teams (HPTs) and its numerous related names and concepts are not a 

recent idea, and the research field itself has long history. In this thesis high performing 

team means outperforming traditional industry expectations and norms using novel set 

of skills and competencies or approach (Petrova, 2022). This research field has a sizable 

background as  Zuidema and Kleiner (1994) already discuss this research topic as result 

of 80s employee empowerment movement in management. Their definition for such 

self-managed high-performing cross-functional team, or as their preferred the term self-

directed work groups (SDWG), still lays foundation to research today. SDWG are de-

scribed as a small collection of employees, usually six to ten, with authority to make 

middle and line management level decisions. According to Johnsson (2017, p. 25) these 

teams ”were intended to have more flexible structures, to be cost effective, to overcome 

built-in bureaucracy, to speed up product innovation, to cut through hierarchical deci-

sion-making procedures and to respond quickly to changes in work conditions”. He im-

portantly adds these teams bring employees from different departments together and 

this cross-functional skillset is crucial factor of their problem solving capability. 

 

This thesis focuses on digital or virtual team rather than traditional teams. Some re-

searchers make a distinction between virtual and digital teams but for the purposes of 

this thesis these are indistinguishable and mean “a team [that] uses technology and vir-

tual tools mostly to communicate and interact with each other due to the large physical 

distances between the team members” (Petrova, 2022, p. 34). This is also known as 

global virtual team in literature. 

 

Teams undergo lifecycles and need to organize, distribute roles, clash, agree and develop 

before starting to perform as presented by Tuckman (1965). The team lifespan can be 

divided into four main phases that are forming, storming, norming, and performing 

(Tuckman, 1965). In order for a team become an HPT it needs to have factors for it al-

ready during formation stage (Petrova, 2022). Traditional and digital teams share many 



17 

performance elements but also have unique factors too as seen in the figure 2 (Petrova, 

2022).   

 

 

 

Figure 2. Suggested performance factors of teams in literature (Petrova, 2022). 

 

Literature suggests that factors contributing to a high performing team can be catego-

rized into individual, group, emotional, and environmental factors (Petrova, 2022). Dur-

ing forming stage individual factors are recognition of needs, positive risk taking attitude, 

adaptability, cross-cultural communication, belief in efficacy, and individual skills. For 

group level forming factors managing the team composition, setting clear targets and 

responsibilities. Having a diverse team with skilful, yet soft, leadership that allows free-

dom for members to pursue set targets and supports the growth of members is common 

success factor (Petrova, 2022).  

 

On the performing stage individuals need to be involved, engaged, and motivated. On 

group level, communication is crucial to getting the members agree on the goals. Collab-

orative decision-making process and consensus building are also important and success-

ful coordination is required, especially with distributed teams (Petrova, 2022). Despite 



18 

this teambuilding is often challenging to achieve with virtual teams. The emotional fac-

tors for HPT include trust, cohesion and creating a good social climate. Managing raising 

conflicts and keeping positive outlook is needed to maintain high performance. Finally, 

Petrova (2022) states, that external factors, such as time constraints, urgency, alignment 

with team’s stakeholders, team’s given goals, and functional workspace and process, all 

affect the performance and are hard to control though could be prepared for.    

 

One of the important qualifications for HPTs is the trust and open communication. This 

can be seen to mean that the teams need to be able to discuss and admit failures and 

mistakes (Castka et al., 2001). This should be preferable done early so damages can be 

minimized and situation fixed. In a high performing team, some tolerance for failure and 

a culture that is supportive and ready to learn from them is needed for high performance. 

At the same time, a team with performance monitoring and clear teamwork process can 

create redundancy in preventing and managing errors (Bell & Kozlowski, 2011). 

 

While groups and teams are used sometimes interchangeably in the literature and in-

dustry experts clearly differentiate between them. Teams differ from groups as they are 

more interdependent and long-term “members are mutually reliant on one another in 

order to complete their work and achieve their goals” (Reimer et al., 2017, p. 2). Com-

pared to that, groups have a shared goal but members are hold responsible only for their 

own results (Zoltan & Vancea, 2015). Work teams are seen as more integrated type of 

work group meaning that all teams are groups but not vice versa. Groups becoming 

teams has been one way to achieve high performance (Katzenbach & Smith, 1992). For 

a group to become a high performing team, a goal and challenge is needed while moving 

the focus from personal performance to collective performance. A high performing team 

needs to have small number of members, complementary skills, strong and shared sense 

of purpose, common service or product to obtain, understanding of tasks, and mutual 

accountability (Katzenbach & Smith, 1992). This thesis will propose that there are also 

overlap and hybrid models, like a core work team and extended team that will function 

more like a group supporting the core team with fewer meetings. Trying to force a true 



19 

team model where it does not naturally occur will only have detrimental effects as es-

tablishing the team model for core members in a distributed virtual team is a challenge 

on to itself. 

 

 

2.2.1 Multilocality and virtual teams 

Today much of the work is increasingly done by digital and virtual channels. Especially 

after Covid-19, remote working, work flexibility and virtual meetings have disrupted the 

traditional workplace team dynamic with local face-to-face practices (Schweitzer et al., 

2020). Even though the distributed and global work trend with more horizontal organi-

zations existed prior to this (Kayworth and Leidner, 2002) the recent socio-cultural and 

technological developments have better facilitated the effective workings of such teams, 

also known as global virtual teams, GVTs (Schweitzer et al., 2020). Developments in com-

munication technology with file sharing, co-creation, scheduling, and visualization tools 

have made distributed teams more viable allowing a GVT to serve multiple location and 

offer diverse skills more readily (Walsh, 2019). 

 

One of the main challenges of teamwork, especially with virtual teams, is effective com-

munication, knowledge and work distribution. For this purpose multiple tools and ser-

vices have been developed but those often lack integration in practice despite often 

coming with some features to support that as vendors still want customers using their 

own products (Schweitzer et al., 2020).  

 

Schweitzer (2020) explores one solution, Digital Teams platform, for this problem. Some 

of the key findings and ideas based on their early work states that seamless integration 

of working software or tools and having a dashboard for communication and visualiza-

tion purposes is important for the collaboration to be a success in case of virtual and 

distributed teams. For communicating as team there are multiple tools with different 

levels of involvement and effectiveness ranging from emails, instant messages, calls, 

online meetings, to in-person meetings (Walsh, 2019). A correct method or combination 



20 

of them should be used for effective cooperation as sometimes more involved methods 

offer no better results but take more time and require coordination. Choosing a correct 

approach is crucial as conflicts arise more readily in virtual teams while trust building is 

also harder compared to traditional teams (Reimer et al., 2017). 

 

2.2.2 Managing a flat global team 

Managing a traditional team is a research field on its own and to do that in a horizontal 

and global setting introduces new challenges. In this thesis a flat global team means not 

necessarily a true peer lead team but a team whose members are located in different 

locations and the team lead has no formal leadership or management position.  

 

Depending on who and where the team members are there could be additional chal-

lenges that require cross-cultural skills as the teams are often diverse. A good virtual 

leader should consider the different cultural dimensions and norms, such proposed by 

Hofstede, (Kramer et al., 2017) to avoid pitfalls and shape their approach and communi-

cation. Otherwise, misunderstandings and trouble getting members to engage in the col-

lective effort can occur. 

 

According to research there are identifiable opportunities and challenges with these 

kinds of teams. The most well-known challenge for global virtual teams is time-zone dis-

persion causing communication and meeting disruptions and worsening work-life bal-

ance (Jimenez et al., 2017). This makes coordination of teams based in multiple location 

much harder. Second major difficulty according to Jimenez et al. (2017) is the language 

and various levels of fluency for a possible shared work language. This is compounded 

by the fact that virtual communication often lacks nuances found in non-verbal commu-

nication and while there exist more advanced communication channels that minimize 

this problem those are rarely used or utilized effectively.  

 

Other major challenge brought by the nature of GTVs is, for lack of better word, a sense 

of unity and belonging. Members of GTVs have no or seldom chances for teambuilding 



21 

or bonding which otherwise would foster trust and commitment. Likewise, while diver-

sity can be seen as an asset with many such teams, it can present many issues and con-

flicts (Jimenez et al., 2017). For example, a team could inadvertently split into more like-

minded sub-teams causing different organizational environments to not work or com-

municate effectively.  

 

The current consensus according to Jimenez et al. (2017) would suggest that global vir-

tual teams face added difficulties in achieving the belonging and purpose compared to 

traditional teams. According to Jimenez et al. (2017), “Socializing – an essential pre-req-

uisite for good collaboration and essential in doing business in high context cultures – 

risks being neglected, and, as a consequence, trust-building and team-effectiveness can 

be compromised . . . “. Jimenez continues “Often, GVT members are no more than an 

email address to one another . . . ” (page 344).  

 

Some of the other management ideas that Jimenez et al. (2017) advice to focus on with 

GTV is their nature, short or long, and use of brokers with their own considerations. A 

cultural or organizational broker, a facilitator or local manager, could prove helpful in 

short-term but hamper long-term teambuilding and work. Kramer et al. (2017) suggest 

that when building virtual teams care should be taken when choosing members for best 

results and just appointing employees without considering their operational context is 

ill-informed. Ideally members should be virtually capable and culturally intelligent or 

preferably receive training to ensure that.  

 

2.2.3 Leading without formal authority 

Leading without formal authority means that leader or manager of a team or group is 

not assigned organizational power as the members do not report to him while the leader 

is held responsible for outcomes of the team (Melcher & Kayser, 1970). This can happen 

for example when a cross-functional team is formed from employees coming from dif-

ferent departments to address a specific issue. Such teams can be ad-hoc to address a 

customer issue or opportunity for example, or more long-term, usually when needing 



22 

diverse skills to develop a process that has a limited scope not needing a dedicated and 

costly formal organization. An informal leader must lead authentically as they have little 

formal commanding rights (Pielstick, 2000). To achieve this, creating a shared vision and 

inspiring the members to pursue it is needed. Pielstick (2000) proposes that good rela-

tionships and community building, guidance, and character qualities must be present to 

succeed as an informal leader.  

 

While informal leadership is demonstrated to create more commitment and perfor-

mance, it can also cause difficulties and risks, mainly exhaustion and increased work load 

(Chiu et al., 2021). An informal leader has only a limited amount personal resources and 

energy to do his personal and leadership tasks, and those can deplete. This will likely 

lead to lowered work satisfaction and performance. Negative effects and feelings in the 

team lead will also affect the rest of the team. Supporting the leader with sufficient re-

sources, allowing them actual decision-making power and leadership style and auton-

omy over task and schedules are necessary to have them functional and satisfied (Chiu 

et al., 2021). Formal leadership can support and monitor the informal leader while 

providing examples how to lead. Chiu et al. (2021) warn that failing to provide enough 

formal support and motivation for informal leaders will result in worse outcomes for all 

parties. This thesis theorizes that providing that support by strengthening account team 

process and offering an actual tool for that cooperation will empower the informal 

leader to their work and lead their team more effectively. 

 

 

2.2.4 Key account teams 

Concepts like key account management (KAM) and key account teams are closely related. 

Key accounts are organizations important customers and are given extra attention be-

cause of that (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013). They usually make a significant amount of 

the company’s revenue, have a long-term relationship, and are contrasted to many 

smaller customers that a company could have. Key accounts and management are hall-

mark of business-to-business markets and offer mutually beneficial benefits (McDonald 



23 

et al., 1997) and can have a key account team coordinated by a key account manager. 

Key account team (KAM team) is serving a key account customer and is also meant to 

support and develop the relationship (Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013). Ideally the objec-

tive is to form a involved and collaborative partnership with shared goals (McDonald et 

al., 1997). A challenge with these teams is their informality as members do not report to 

key account manager while multiple people are communication with the customer in 

various levels making key account managers relationship management work compli-

cated. Also, a KAM team can be a dedicated or fluid team meaning if a team is more less 

permanent and fixed, trying to develop lifetime value, or if it is an ad hoc, build for an 

opportunity and will be disbanded afterwards (Lai & Yang, 2017). In this thesis mainly 

dedicated team is discussed as the focus in long-term customer relationships.  

 

Effective KAM practices are seen to provide returns on investment and boost productiv-

ity (Silva, 2025). This done to increase data driven business decision making while mak-

ing it easier to catch customer pain points. However, Silva (2025) points out that digital 

tools can also fail in their implementation, especially during complicated interactions. 

Still, it remains to be seen if the problems are actually caused by the new tools or do the 

old processes and knowledge need updating to better leverage them. It is likely that a 

mixture of digital and traditional channels leads to best outcomes in future key account 

management. Current research suggests that using data to make analyses and generate 

actionable insight should be paired with personal and human interaction with the cus-

tomer to implement them as customers value authentic and personalized service (Silva, 

2025). As seen in Figure 3, an effective modern KAM will have customer data collection 

that is then managed and transformed into insights with data analysis with help of vari-

ous tools and platforms, like business intelligence.  



24 

 

Figure 3. Key account management and customer data management (Silva, 2025). 

 

Internal knowledge for understanding a key account from multiple individuals can also 

be utilized by having a “forum for pooled intelligence and learning from peers and by 

fostering the generation of new ideas, practices and, as a result, more efficient utilisation 

of knowledge with regard to the development of own offering and sales strategy” 

(Salojärvi & Saarenketo, 2013, page 998). With proper understanding of data and its sig-

nificance, key account management can achieve its ultimate goal of improving customer 

specific financial performance. This will require diverse data sources that are then 

pooled to suitable forum to allow having and sharing that information in a group or team 

setting. 

 

 



25 

2.3 Customer experience in B2B service business 

Customer relationship management (CRM) is an established field of research, especially 

from B2C viewpoint, with different definitions but can be condensed into the increasing 

customer satisfaction by adopting a more customer centric organization and practices 

(Zeynep Ata & Toker, 2012). A more detailed description for CRM used by this thesis is 

given by Payne and Frow (2025) as provided below. 

 

 “CRM is a strategic approach that is concerned with creating improved share-
holder value through the development of appropriate relationships with key cus-
tomers and customer segments. CRM unites the potential of relationship marketing 
strategies and IT to create profitable, long-term relationships with customers and 
other key stakeholders. CRM provides enhanced opportunities to use data and in-
formation to both understand customers and cocreate value with them. This re-
quires a cross-functional integration of processes, people, operations, and market-
ing capabilities that is enabled through information, technology, and applications.” 
(Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 168) 

 

Moving to a more service orientated business model, as opposed to simply selling goods, 

to solutions and services offers the company to form better customer loyalty and in-

crease switching costs (Wirtz & Kowalkowski, 2022). At the same time opportunities for 

strategic partnerships can form easier. This is similar outcome as seen with the customer 

value creation with service dominant logic (Holmes et al., 2023). Wirtz and Kowalkowski 

(2022) continue that: “success hinges not on the number of products, spare parts, or 

billable hours sold but on the outcomes of the value-creating process—for example, 

guaranteeing a specified level of availability or achieving an expected level of perfor-

mance” (p. 15). To achieve this, changes need to be made to the existing organizational 

structures and capabilities in the company (Baines et al., 2009). 

 

Customer satisfaction is one of the thing under customer relationship management as it 

tells about status of the customer relationship (Zeynep Ata & Toker, 2012). It means how 

happy customers are with a product or service and the customer overall experience 

which will in turn impact how loyal customers are and it effects how the company is seen 

in the market. Customer experience meanwhile is subjective response to any and all 



26 

interaction with a company, the many touchpoints in customer journey, and company’s 

offerings (Ranieri et al., 2024). Customer journey is a useful concept to understand, and 

often map, how a customer experiences dealing with a company from hearing about the 

company to post-sales activities (Ranieri et al., 2024). All of these concepts are related 

to each other but offer different outlooks on how to see the situation. Customer satis-

faction could be seen as a simplified measure of customer experience at a given time. 

This can be done with a tool like net promoter score (NPS).  

 

NPS has become widespread simple tool to condense the customer sentiment, and it 

operates by dividing customer feedback from a scale of 0-10 to promoters, passives, and 

detractors based on if they would recommend received the company’s offering to their 

peer (Dantas Sartori, 2024). NPS acts as good and simple proxy for customer satisfaction 

for an overview purposes though because of its simplified nature a more detailed data 

gathering measures should also be in place (Dawes, 2024).  

 

By working with interested customers, such as with key accounts, customer satisfaction 

and experience can be improved by mapping out customer touchpoints from customer 

journey and then weighing them based on importance using internal and external opin-

ions. (Aichner & Gruber, 2017). This can also be collaborated by asking the wider cus-

tomer base about which touchpoints are important for their satisfactions. According to 

(Aichner & Gruber, 2017, p. 138), “[t]he more important and/or the higher the im-

portance for customer satisfaction of a specific customer touchpoint, the more time, 

effort, and financial resources should be invested in improving it” as companies have 

only limited resources to improve their service.  

 

 

2.4 Customer 360 view 

Customer 360 view, single view of customer, or 360-degree customer view, is less aca-

demically researched subject, especially from business-to-business outlook. Much of the 

literature about it comes from business environments and experts. Based on the guides 



27 

and books written about it, Florea et al. (2021) defines customer 360 view as holistic 

vision of the customer with four elements. These are customer’s demographic features, 

interactions, history of transactions, and customer experience, often in form of a dash-

board or report (Florea et al., 2021). This allows viewing that information from multiple 

sources, ideally with real time data (Satish & Yusof, 2017). Thus, it provides a single view 

of a customer to better easily grasp and understand its relationship to one’s organization. 

According to Florea et al. (2021) the main benefits gained from the 360 view, including a 

stronger CRM foundation, are the ability to better assist the customer during communi-

cation and find opportunities to reduce operating costs. McKinsey reports that digital 

leadership can provide multiple times more revenue growth compared to their peers in 

B2B companies which have traditionally lacked in digital maturity compared to B2C (Cat-

lin et al., 2016). They attribute customer 360 view as an important tool for end-to-end 

connection of processes to improve insight and decision making. 

 

“-- success requires close coordination from front office to back, and while many 
B2B companies have done a good job automating the back office, they fall short 
when it comes to connecting those processes to the front end. That lack of integra-
tion can lead to multiple customer handoffs between functions, long turnaround 
times for quotes, missed delivery dates, and a proliferation of unnecessary technol-
ogies, applications, and data. 
DQ leaders do it differently. They use automated decision-support processes and 
other tools to link finance, accounting and ERP systems with customer, sales, and 
order data to generate a 360-degree view of the customer across the business. That 
interconnected network lets sales teams access all the client service, support, and 
financial information they need prior to their customer interactions, and it gives 
operations teams greater transparency into the sales pipeline to assist with re-
source and delivery planning.” 
(Catlin et al., 2016, p. 6) 
 

Important function of customer 360 view is the ability to visualize data. With visualiza-

tions error and anomaly troubleshooting and detection becomes easier (Satish & Yusof, 

2017). Industry experts state that the reasons for customer 360 view are achieving uni-

fied customer view, effective customer segmentation, better customer experience, data 

driven decision-making, and better customer satisfaction (Kirvan & Hanna, 2024). Exam-

ples of different topics that could be included are seen in the figure 4 (Liliendahl, 2020). 



28 

Unified view allows creating a customer profile which in turn helps understanding the 

behaviour, preferences, and needs of the customer. Likewise, using the customer 360 

view to access and view data and analytics about the customer can offer wider visibility 

to employees that do not have that access otherwise (Kihn & Lin, 2024). This contributes 

to a common view and understanding of customer.  

 

 

Figure 4. Theoretical model for customer 360 view in the industry (Liliendahl, 2020). 

 

Using and building a customer 360 view has some design principles. It should have inte-

gration to different applications used when working with customer, data have single 

source of truth, real time data collection from customer touchpoints, refining data in the 

flow (such as AI or machine learning), automation of simple tasks, ease of use, and part-

ner ecosystem or outgoing integration based on the decisions made (Kihn & Lin, 2024).    

 

On the other hand, the development of a functional yet simple customer 360 view does 

not need to be too complicated. A good starting point for one could be an overview page 

artefact, a so-called Client-On-Page or Customer On A Page 360 view as was done for 

IBM (Magee et al., 2016). Iterative development process with heavy involvement and 

feedback was an important consideration in that development process. In the figure 5 



29 

the four major different iterations from a list of features with some simple logic to an 

actual user-friendly board showing key indicators can be seen.  

 

 

Figure 5. IBM’s client-on-a-page iterations (Magee et al., 2016). 

 

Magee et al. (2016) note that when building a customer 360 view, especially in future, 

three key concepts should be considered: data management, visualization, and change 

management. Data needs to be trusted and understood and be up to date. Visualizations 

are especially useful for sales personnel as they feel strongly about those and are easy 

present to external users while making sure that there are actions that can be taken 

based on that visualization. In other words, what is the narrative a visualization is telling. 

Change management needs to be considered as the product will evolve during iteration 

and will likely receive resistance, especially if it is able to uncover uncomfortable insights.  

 



30 

The results that can be achieved by creating this single view of customer are notable but 

require correct use and process. Kihn and Lin (2024) stated that “it can be useful to think 

in terms of signals and actions – that is, information detected by the platform that would 

previously have been limited to siloed system … can trigger an action in another system 

related to the same customer” (p. 16). With that information proactive customer service 

can be done. For example, employee communicating with a customer could be able to 

receive advance notification about likely delay with a delivery and inform customer 

about it and thus mitigate potential losses or dissatisfaction with service. With better 

visibility, signals from different departments can be perceived while mistakes or oppor-

tunities previously passing unseen can be found by employees previously not dealing 

with those aspects of the process. While the customer service and relationship manage-

ment is done by employees in sales, often referred as account manager, this improved 

visibility allows development of customer relationship to include people with expertise 

from other departments effectively. 

 

The actual functionality of 360 view still requires that it is successfully adopted and uti-

lized by the relevant individuals. Magee et al. (2016) noticed that in their case there were 

seven critical success factors that drove the most important user, seller, adoption. Using 

360 view should be easy and integrated to their normal everyday work process. Person 

who to contact once an opportunity or issue is identified should be clear. Having the 

ability to have more detail, also known as drill-down, about the discussed topic will make 

communication easier. Visual to tell the story to make the case is needed to achieve un-

derstanding. The data and visual shown must be accurate and recent as otherwise users 

will not trust the 360 view. Users need time to focus on the findings based on the 360 

view. Finally, having easy access to support based the findings is needed to actually uti-

lize them effectively (Magee et al., 2016). It should also be noted that while planning and 

doing the development for a 360 view some key things need to be considered, especially 

when it comes to users. First, the data and process need to be in working order. Secondly, 

end users need to be onboarded, and the concept sold to them. Thirdly, users need to 

be engaged and supported using the new process, the 360 view. And finally, the impact 



31 

of the new way of working needs to be validated (Magee et al., 2016). Additionally, cus-

tomer centricity and starting with focused high value customer group in mind should be 

the scope of a prototype 360 view (Magee, 2016). The prototype meant for sellers was 

able to find thousands of new opportunities and generate additional 9% of new won 

deals in value while being able to decrease time daily spent on non-core task by 50 

minutes, due to the 360 view, increasing seller productivity by 10% (Magee, 2016). 

 

A lot of research and industry attention is being placed on integrating and utilizing AI 

tools for understanding and serving customers (Kihn & Lin, 2024). Main points for using 

AI is to draw insights from customer feedback and personalize the offered customer ser-

vice (Kirvan & Hanna, 2024). Some restraint is still present as companies prioritize or 

worry about safety, brand image, misinformation and hallucinations, and data-access. 

Besides large language models, generative AI, and machine learning, more traditional 

computer predictions can be done and visualized. Trends can be spotted and future ac-

tions planned in a comprehensive manner to be shared with relevant stakeholders to 

adjust their own operation.  

 

Introduction of customer 360 view and its more customer centric service approach is 

believed to bring value and cost reductions according to industry opinion (Böringer et al., 

2019; Kihn & Lin, 2024). At the same time customers’ expectations are rising and needs 

to be addressed. By gathering data into 360 view from disconnected sources those ex-

pectations can be met by automation and new technologies, such as AI that has been 

integrated into customer service. Therefore, the creation of customer 360 view is a right 

step to provide a competitive customer experience in evolving business environment. 

 



32 

3 Methodology 

This thesis was done for a global Finnish company with over ten thousand employees. It 

is mainly involved in energy and maritime industries. The company has wide portfolio of 

products and offers aftersales services for them, such as upgrades and spare parts. The 

main deliverable, Customer 360 view, is designed to support said aftersales activities. 

The company is improving its service business and want better ways to introduce cus-

tomer centricity in its activities and build cross-functional teams to improve customer 

experience. 

 

During the empirical part of the thesis multiple interviews and meetings were held with 

various stakeholders of the case company to develop the customer 360 view. First, de-

velopment team was gathered, and the scope of the project was agreed. Structured in-

terviews were held with future end-users to identify key issues and features needed to 

be included in the product. Follow-up meetings with internal experts were had about 

those findings to find reliable data-sources and validate understanding. The tool was it-

erated and tested rapidly with co-creative feedback sessions held together with the test-

ers. Finally, a closed beta version close to minimum viable product was tested internally 

and survey for possible future improvements before release was made. 

 

The development team in this project consisted of the one main developer, I the thesis 

worker, and three notable support personnel, two of them whom offered data extraction 

support and coaching, and one general thesis supervisor with expertise in stakeholder 

management and presentation.  

 

 

3.1 Design Science Research 

 

This thesis applies design research science methodology (DRSM) as it seeks to address 

real business world problem and need by delivering a tool, which is in DSR artifacts terms 



33 

an instantiation. The tool delivery pipeline for the purposes of this thesis can be roughly 

divided into a scoping and design phase, data collection, tool creation, iteration and early 

user testing, and closed beta testing with feedback collection for future development 

and global launch. The methodology and development process is also presented from a 

DSR standpoint. 

 

According to Peffers et al. (2007) a typical information system design science project can 

be divided into six sequences or activities with possible, or even expected, iteration and 

movement between them, seen in Figure 6. These are problem identification and moti-

vation, define the objectives for a solution, design and development, demonstration, 

evaluation, and communication. While this thesis does not follow design science re-

search methodology strictly it has a lot of overlap and basic flow common with it. Reason 

for this deviation is the limits of master’s thesis, scope and limitations of the project and 

its allotted time, and comparative heavy inclusion of the theoretical aspect in this thesis. 

 

 

Figure 6. DSRM process model (Peffers et al., 2007). 

 

From a DSRM point of view the thesis work is client initiated as it has clear mission from 

the company which focuses on using the tool rather than the actual tool or creation pro-

cess itself. Likewise, the ultimate evaluation of the created artifact, Customer 360 view, 

will be left out of the scope of this thesis as effects of its usage will be seen much later, 

likely after next customer satisfaction collection round next year. Tool will also receive 



34 

further development which will be partly informed by findings of the feedback based on 

the release version developed during this thesis work. As proposed in the DSRM process 

model by Peffers et al. (2007) the development is an iterative process of defining, devel-

oping, demonstrating, and evaluating. In practice, the developer should test their prod-

uct and then further develop it based on the feedback and findings.  

 

Important consideration for this thesis methodology is the data gathering in the design 

and development phase, especially when working with fractured data environment try-

ing to create a cross-departmental product. Data ownership, management, and access 

can lead to challenges with getting the data for a project or to know what data is availa-

ble and how it is currently being used. Discussions for getting access to data will take 

time and thus have downstream effects for development process. Thus, data managers 

and their superiors become a critical stakeholder for a project.  

 

 

3.2 Research design 

This thesis aims to find a solution for a real-world problem in company: “How to increase 

data visibility for data driven decision-making and team performance in B2B service?” 

Answering this question will have academic and managerial implications. Thus, the re-

search question is: 

 

RQ: How to use data driven decision-making and performance management practices 

for increased customer satisfaction? 

 

In order to answer the main question and integrate the findings in practice, data driven 

decision-making, performance, and customer experience management were explored in 

detail. The sub-questions derived from the research question are: 

 

RQ1. How to use data driven decision-making and performance management prac-

tices in global virtual team? 



35 

RQ2. What are the elements of modern high performing teams in B2B service business? 

RQ3. How to manage customer experience in B2B service based on data driven deci-

sion making? 

 

While the theoretical background for each sub-question is established in the literature, 

little academic literature exists combining these in a business setting. As the thesis is 

supposed to address the practical problem a solution was developed in form of software 

solution, making thesis a design study. The findings from literature were paired with user 

needs to build a modern day solution for the company. The development itself also in-

corporated agile principles with heavy focus on the customer, or end-user, collaboration 

and responding to changing need and capabilities. The final deliverable is also just mini-

mum viable product and is intended to be developed further.  

 

3.3 Scoping and stakeholder interviews 

In modern large company there are multiple different departments, and the amount of 

data and different internal processes are huge and varied. With the increasing size and 

scope, it becomes difficult to find any single expert capable of understanding all the steps 

and internal knowledge and needs related to the explored area. It is not uncommon for 

there to be also friction when working with different departments caused by conflicting 

interest, distrust, or just organizational structures.  

 

To determine the needed features and the limits of the tool different stakeholders were 

consulted. First drafts were based on the basic needs that were identified by a depart-

mental development team that commissioned the thesis and refined further. The first 

version scope was limited to have basic functions related to the overall customer infor-

mation and focus on spare parts delivery. After drafting the basics, a more detailed un-

derstanding needed to be gained from interviewing different parties involved in the ser-

vice pipeline as there was limited common knowledge between them. Key employees 

were chosen from these departments involved in the development team’s early scoping. 

In addition, Power BI, data, and reporting professionals were also heard and data experts 



36 

supported the development process, especially on the technical side of data architecture 

and modelling.  

 

Important early step was the feature planning for minimum viable product (MVP) that 

was done collaboratively in using tools like Miro board. Miro is a collaborative web plat-

form, especially made to support creative teamwork and innovation with multilocality in 

mind. The key employees, in this case the account managers who were thought to be 

the most important stakeholder group were given voice and opportunity to direct the 

development direction, as they will be leading the adoption and future use in their ac-

count teams. Representatives from each of the global areas were included in this step to 

achieve comprehensive requirement list while trying to deliver a solution that would 

work for all places of operation. This is contrasted to current ways of reporting and man-

agement where there exists patchwork of local solutions across multiple platforms. The 

interviewees were given information about the project prior to an online meeting and 

were asked to think things that they currently lack visibility. During the meetings first the 

project and its development goals and objectives were re-introduced followed by struc-

tured phase of questions feature planning. Latter half of the meeting was a more open 

and had collaborative feature exploration where the interviewee was given the oppor-

tunity to voice their current pain points and things that could help to address them. The 

meetings were recorded and transcribed for later use and reference. Their approximate 

length was one hour. Additionally, modern AI tools were utilized to provide summary of 

the meetings and identify the key features discussed with the interviewee.  

 

Interview sample size of four could have been larger and broader but that would have 

led to larger scope or losing the focus of the study. Concurrent lines of inquire, like fa-

miliarizing with guidelines, consulting internal experts, and reading real documented 

work steps, was done to validate interview findings to increase their reliability. The in-

terviews being a qualitative data collection method are not subjected to the same level 

of statistical scrutiny but still require analysis about the possible biases and usefulness. 

Interviewees can also be quite subjective and can lack standardized and measurable 



37 

feedback. Usually introducing change will cause change resistance as most prefer to stick 

to the current and familiar ways of working. On the other hand, it is quite common for 

internal projects to receive overly positive assessment leading to failures to end ineffec-

tive projects. Such, careful consideration needs to be exercised when interpretating 

feedback especially when it is given directly as that could make expressing criticism 

harder.  

 

The summaries, notes taken, generated Miro content, and verbal feedback was later 

used to create first a points and features raised by the account managers in each inter-

view. A MoSCoW method or board was then constructed based on the account manager 

feedback. MoSCoW is used to identify and prioritize features to be delivered in a given 

development cycle and is useful for achieving effective resource and work planning. It is 

also useful for finding and delivering a minimum viable product as an outcome.  

 

This was then translated into actionable tasks and visualizations that could be created in 

the finished product in form of a feature board, also made in a MoSCoW board format. 

Feature board is discussed in more detail later in results. The feature development was 

done with the aid of kanban board with its to-do, in progress, and done categories. The 

feature board was used to identify the key requirements to achieve a minimum viable 

product to be delivered as the development was had to utilize the resources afforded to 

it effectively. For data source planning purposes, the feature board was also used to es-

tablish the necessary data imports and data model requirements. 

 

 

3.4 Iteration and user testing 

 

The tool iteration used in the development process can be divided into three different 

categories: rapid user interface iteration, co-creative iteration with key users, and fea-

ture iteration with end users. The small development team allowed quick and agile iter-

ation loops. While all of these iterations followed their own loops they can be worked 



38 

multiple times and concurrently as the complexity and organizing difficulty to gather 

feedback from them varies as well as the time investment. Additionally, the iteration and 

development will continue outside the scope of this thesis by the case company. 

 

User testing phase was especially important to spot and learn issues that affect specific 

groups or areas outside of development’s own quality testing. Certain customer can have 

specific situations that are not represented well on the report or there could be data or 

documentation practice differences between different regions breaking some functions. 

Spotting these without end user testing and knowledge would be difficult and time con-

suming. Therefore, data validation during user testing before any public global launch is 

an important step to ensure data accuracy. Having users involved in the development 

process will also allow them to feel more involved and better voice their needs and pos-

sible issues that can be addressed early which could lead to better reception for the cre-

ated product.  

 

During the development there were two different main tests held with feedback col-

lected in structured manner. The first alpha test had a working version of the 360 view 

product made based on the previous inputs collected from AM interviews. During this 

alpha test co-creative session was held to design UI elements and features after a struc-

tured interview. The closed beta test was then had using the previous test’s findings to 

collect more detailed and finishing feedback and validation as the next step will be 

achieving the minimum viable product prior to the planned global launch.  

 

The closed beta test was done as survey and was designed to include respondents with 

prior involvement in the 360 view development process as it was scalable, did not re-

quire complex scheduling, and generated clear and comparable feedback. For the beta 

test the account managers from the original feature scoping and then interview alpha 

test were invited to test the new version and fill the survey. Most were available and 

willing to offer feedback though vacation time and customer work prevented some re-

sponses during the two week data collection period. The central team developing other 



39 

key account management projects, which this thesis is tied to, was also included as they 

will determine the future ways of working and have valuable insights. Finally, a repre-

sentative from parts delivery process that had been consulted during the development 

was included to give feedback to balance the account manager and sales leaning focus 

of this tool version. An evaluation was made to highlight the viewpoints, biases, and sig-

nificance of each test group. The survey had 26 questions grouped under eleven headers. 

The question can be found in the Appendix 1 after References. Likert scale was used to 

gather most feedback, using a scale from one to five. Likert, or NPS, scale from one to 

ten was used to gather final overall sentiment. Three open questions for the current tool 

version, proposed usage, and final free feedback were included. The survey aimed to 

capture the current ways of working, feedback on the tool version for continued devel-

opment purposes, and opinions on the future tool implementation.  

 

 

3.5 Technical design and software 

Before the actual development could be started the need for data experts was recog-

nized as developer resources were limited to one thesis worker with no prior experience 

in actual reporting tool development nor industrial data management and usage. De-

partmental data reporting team was met after management level communication ex-

change for a meeting. Scope of the help was limited to providing data importing assis-

tance in form of dataflows and general mentoring though direct involvement in the de-

velopment was to be kept out of the scope. This was contrasted with the option of using 

the team to do most the actual development under stated requirements.  

 

The main software used during the development of the Customer 360 view is the Mi-

crosoft Power BI and the company’s related data management applications. For this pur-

pose, company’s enterprise data warehouse (EDW) solution was used to create data-

flows to the Power BI. Data sources for that data were CRM Salesforce and SAP ERP (en-

terprise resource planning) software and master data hold by the company. Besides that, 

data was also extracted from reports and dashboards already built and used by the 



40 

different departments of the company to achieve similar data interpretation logic and 

mutual standardization when needed. This was achieved by stakeholder meetings and 

negotiations with data owners as some data sharing friction was encountered causing 

increases in development time. Careful consideration needed to be taken when design-

ing data refresh schedules to achieve most up to date final product. 

 

In regards the data model and relations made in the Power BI, a variation of the star 

schema, the snowflake schema was used albeit in a modified manner. In a normal star 

scheme, there exist one main fact table and multiple dimension tables. The fact table 

has the basic attributes and keys to connect it to the dimension tables. For example, 

there could be customer ID key that is used to link the customer to sales dimension table 

that has transactions with that customer ID key present there. This can be seen in the 

figure 7 using in an example medical setting.  

 

 

Figure 7. Example of star schema (Garani & Helmer, 2012). 

 

In a snowflake schema there are additional dimension tables that can connect to the first 

dimension table. An example could be a more detailed sales table that breaks down the 



41 

sales to an individual product level. A medical example case can be seen in the figure 8. 

In this examples the “Operation” table is the fact table while others are dimensional ones.  

 

 

Figure 8. Example of snowflake schema (Garani & Helmer, 2012). 

 

In this thesis, and likely in other complex Power BI reports, it was required to apply more 

relations besides a simple branching structure as connections were needed to be created 

between the different branches of the snowflake schema using many-to-many logic. In 

general, this should not be done as it can cause issues when used and can slow down 

the model causing lag to the end user. The product was optimized and then tested during 

development cycles and validated by end-users to ensure fast and error free experience 

to combat this causing some reworks. 

 

The eventual data model constructed for the 360 view in Power BI was made with the 

snowflake schema in mind but had to be modified to provide all the necessary features 

while avoiding duplicate tables. Main problem was building the relationship between 

the different steps and processes in the spare parts ordering process as in the real world 

it became clear that some steps can be skipped. For example, customers could directly 

order something without first requesting a quotation to it, making it impossible to have 

a clean snowflake schema as every main dimension table had to have connection to the 

customer and to other main dimension tables. Also, a date table was connected to all 

tables with dates to ensure expected user experience.  

 



42 

 

3.6 Limitations 

 

As the thesis is commissioned by a company, data and some sections of the thesis are 

discussed only in generalized manner due to confidentiality reasons limiting the applica-

tion of the chosen method. The tool design and functionality are limited by the data 

sources and by the reporting platform itself, Power BI. No sensitive screenshots or data 

are used or provided in the thesis although the basic data model and design element 

ideas will be presented. This is done in sufficient detail to allow new projects in other 

organizations to learn and plan their own development process for similar use cases or 

how they could adapt those for their own use. However, as all organizations are different 

and have their unique circumstances and reporting practices, caution should be followed 

when attempting to do so. As this is also a thesis work with limited development team 

of one thesis worker with no prior Power BI development experience nor experience in 

managing digital product development, another development project will likely have dif-

ferent resource and time allocation. An older but similar project that produced a 360 

view for IBM with narrower focus and more limited scope and userbase took over three 

years to develop (Magee et al., 2016).  

 

The tool testing and different feedback and interviews had some limitations regarding 

their size and detail. As the company is global and its employees have limited time to 

dedicate in support of the development process on top of their main duties all of them 

could not have been heard during the project. The development team also had to allo-

cate limited development time for feedback collection and user testing meaning that 

sampling was used to gather representative partners for testing. Sampling for the early 

interviews for feature planning and subsequent user surveys and co-creation was done 

with the global clustering in mind. The case company has divided its operations into 

three areas with total of nine subregions and each of the has one or multiple account 

managers (AM) of which most work with KAC customers. This means that the population 

size of AMs is around a few dozen. Similar numbers exist for other account team 



43 

members. A stratified sampling method was used select the testers and interviewees as 

each of the populations are quite homogeneous based on early scoping. Recommenda-

tions and availability were also taken into account from regional management. In early 

scoping for the features four account managers were selected as they were already sup-

porting other development projects and interviewed in-depth, each area being repre-

sented at least by one interviewee. Similar process was repeated for other interviews, 

user testing and co-creative meetings. 

 

As the tool development will continue after this thesis by the company, a final version 

cannot be evaluated here due to time constraints and because the effects of the tool will 

also take time to materialize into results seen in the customer experience and satisfac-

tion which is monitored on yearly basis, Due these reasons the tool’s ultimate effects 

cannot be validated comprehensively in the scope of this thesis. To address this limita-

tion the tool will be introduced to account teams doing a pilot test to gather feedback 

and to see its effects for the team performance and how it fits into the current processes. 

Important step in those pilot test is to gather additional feedback from account members 

that are not the account manager because their voice has been secondary during the 

development process. However, the key limitation of this thesis remains that the actual 

long-term effects of this tool to customer experience meaning that the important KPI, 

measured NPS, will not be evaluated after the global launch of the Customer 360 view 

as part of this thesis. 

 

Final evaluation that is part of the thesis saw the tool be introduced to different stake-

holders from account managers involved in the development process, parts and field 

service representative, and sales management experts. Particular focus was on the ac-

count manager feedback as that is key to understanding the future useful-ness of the 

360 view as the AMs lead and form the teams that will be using the tool. Due to time 

constraints and the account teams at the moment being not well defined and organized 

the other account team members will be left out of the scope for this part. Future de-

velopment will seek to include more feedback from account team members, but this 



44 

MVP is made with mostly account managers in mind and their needs to lead the other 

account team members. 



45 

4 Results 

In this chapter the integration and development of the Customer 360 view is presented 

and contrasted to the theoretical framework. Additionally, the current customer rela-

tionship management process in a typical B2B manufacturing company aftersales busi-

ness is presented and how the developed tool and knowledge offered in this thesis could 

be utilized. Finally, user and stakeholder feedback and comments regarding the tool and 

proposed process is analysed and improvement areas identified.  

 

4.1 Current process 

  

The current process in the company related to offering and delivering spare parts to cus-

tomers has limited visibility making it hard to plan and develop each individual part and 

how those interact with each other. Employees focus on their own tasks and key perfor-

mance indicators while forgetting the customer centricity and efforts to continuously 

improve the process flow. In short, the account manager is responsible for the sales pro-

cess and negotiating prices with the customer and communication while a POC will man-

age the actual order delivery process and providing the base price for the parts offered. 

Bottlenecks also exist during the process as the offering can get held back while waiting 

the identification or processing of some certain requested spare part. 

  

At the case company the key stakeholders or employees affected by this thesis are the 

account team, their managers, and other employees involved in the spare parts selling 

process. The most important end users will be the account manager (AM) and parts op-

erations coordinator, also known as POC. While these are the main end-users the other 

account team members and employees such as the people packaging the delivery and 

adding that to the data systems need still consideration. However, it could be said that 

the account manager is doing the customer relationship management and sales work 

while POC is responsible for providing offers for spare parts and coordinating the process 

should the customer order the offer, referred to as quotation. Other notable internal 



46 

stakeholders are the logistics handling the delivery and technical identification depart-

ment handling any problems with unclear spare parts request. It is important to under-

stand that the POC is coordinating that processes of multiple departments and not doing 

the whole process chain themselves. Other support functions also play a critical role 

keeping everything working as they should be and improving the current methods and 

tools, such as trying to introduce online ordering services for the customer or updating 

the prices for each spare parts as they change for multitude of reasons. Depending on 

the delivery method chosen by the customer the shipment can be delivered by a courier 

partner of the company or considered delivered by informing the customer that it is 

ready for pick up at the company logistics centre. Other possible delivery methods or 

incoterms exists too, and they have effects who holds the responsibility for transporta-

tion, risks that could occur, and when those responsibilities change. The number of de-

liveries, as multiple orders can be combined or does one order need partial delivery, are 

followed. If the packages are sent onboard planes or other transportation methods are 

used is also a factor that is being monitored and considered. Those can affect the price 

and sustainability of the delivery although the choices are usually dictated by the ur-

gency of the customer. 

 

In the company a typical services sale can happen the following way. The customer will 

need some spare parts, like O-rings, for regular maintenance. They contact the account 

manager by email, or the account manager could proactively contact the customer con-

tact. In some cases, like recommended maintenance, the need for spare parts can be 

planned well ahead of time making the process smoother with more time to spend com-

pared to critical breakdown situations. In ideal situation the account manager will make 

an internal opportunity record to start documenting the sales process and continue ne-

gotiating with the customer. After that a request for quotation (RFQ) by the customer 

about the needed spare parts can sent to the part coordination management coordina-

tor, POC. In many cases, the customer will also have the contact information to directly 

go to the POC with their RFQ which is common with smaller or urgent requests. After 

the POC receives the quotation the objective for him is to give an accurate price and time 



47 

estimate for getting the spare parts requested. If the customer, is satisfied with the quo-

tation they can make a purchase order during the time the quotation is valid. The com-

pany will only start gathering and contacting their own suppliers after receiving the pur-

chase order from the customer. One of the items requested is not in stock at the logistics 

centre and will have to be sourced from supplier which will take a month. In the mean-

time, the customer is asked if they prefer to wait for that item or if a partial delivery 

should be sent. Eventually, the parts are shipped by partner courier and the shipment 

can be tracked using that courier’s third party software on a dedicated portal or case 

company’s online website meant for ordering spare parts and other services such as doc-

ument sharing and servicing assistance for the customer. Delivery is considered finished 

once customer offers a proof of delivery. In this hypothetical scenario, the customer no-

ticed that one O-ring was missing and files a claim with the company which will have to 

be delivered separately, and root cause identified. Figure 9 depicts a simplified spare 

parts ordering process. In the figure account manager work can be thought as the go 

connection between the customer and the POC. 

 

 

Figure 9. Simplified parts ordering process. 

 

During the step to provide a quotation customer can request codes or send unclear re-

quest that are not known. There could be a typing error, or the code might be right but 

old which means that is not found in the company’s current digital systems used in this 

step. This usually means that the code or requested part will enter the technical 



48 

identification process (Tech ID). The Tech ID team will then analyse the requested part 

and try to find the match while also fixing the issue causing that caused the Tech ID.  

 

During the spare parts ordering process different employees have limited visibility of the 

current situation and knowledge of the work processes of other employees in different 

positions. The Customer 360 view will try to introduce a single place and source for all 

relevant status information and foster cooperation in work process that will increase the 

communication and mutual understanding of the employee’s work processes.  

 

 

4.1.1 Customer experience management 

 

To improve the customer experience there needs to be understanding of the current 

situation. The case company has leveraged customer experience management, CEM, for 

years in form of questionnaires sent to the customer contacts to grasp the overall status 

of the relationship. The questionnaire is tailored based on the type of customer in the 

internal customer value categorization, business area, and lifecycle. Additional feedback 

is also asked after special transactions, such as upgrades to customer’s products. Key 

metrics are highlighted for each department or area and in this thesis the focus is on the 

services side and overall customer satisfaction. For this purpose, NPS is an important 

number to follow and is internally considered as a key performance indicator. The CEM 

feedback questionnaires are sent through email and can be performed by the customer 

contact with account manager present, though this is rare. Regarding the CEM collection 

process the account managers main responsibility is to get the customer answer the sur-

vey and that the person doing it is qualified and provides valuable and actionable infor-

mation. Immediate action can be taken to address found issues when needed based on 

the customer feedback. There is a system in place to flag dissatisfaction to identify the 

underlying problem. In most key account cases, multiple customer contacts are asked to 

answer the questions to have more complete understanding of multiple aspects of the 

customer experience as a director, a buyer, and a technical expert on the ground will 



49 

have seen different things and will naturally prioritize their own areas which will direct 

given feedback. As the account manager is the main person dealing with CEM surveys, 

the survey findings stay mostly with them. Other internal stakeholders, such as employ-

ees involved in serving the customer, could potentially use the customer feedback, es-

pecially from customer contacts with feedback related to their activities, to improve cus-

tomer experience.   

 

Based on the customer feedback of CEM there are key areas of improvement for the 

company that mirror the internal goals. For services business different spare parts re-

lated aspects are voiced in the customer feedback. The different spare part processing 

times, defect handling, and planning for spare parts are often cited as development ar-

eas while expertise and communication are appreciated. Meanwhile, the time to receive 

responses for spare parts quotations and delivery experience are felt lacking. From the 

sales point, these activities happen in other departments and often have third parties 

involved, such as a courier company or a supplier for a particular spare part, meaning 

that there is limited understanding for this part of customer experience. These factors 

were considered when developing the Customer 360 view and prioritizing the features 

in the version delivered as part of this thesis. 

 

4.1.2 Account management and work process 

Currently the case company uses third party software to observe and manage the many 

aspects of dealing with the customer. Most notable of these is Salesforce CRM, from a 

large US tech company with the same name that it widely used in many industries to 

manage sales and customer relations and interactions. Salesforce while useful itself, has 

limitations with its reporting capabilities and access to it is only provided to employees 

who need it because the licenses to it cost money and access control in need to use basis 

is a cyber security principle. In the account team only, few members have access to the 

software, and it could be thought of as account managers’ domain. In contrast, SAP ERP 

software is rarely used by account managers, and they have limited insight to internal 

processes in detail. Additionally, Salesforce reporting needs the data to be uploaded 



50 

there, and the platform makes importing additional data quite challenging. For this rea-

son, using Salesforce for creating the customer 360 view would not have be ideal and 

other tools, such as MS Power BI, were preferred.  

 

The case company is pursuing more key account focusing target position. The target po-

sition has three dimensions: satisfied customers, employee empowerment, and perfor-

mance enhancement. These are intended to lead better outcomes for the company and 

customers while simultaneously simplifying and standardizing work for employees. To 

achieve this data driven approach with a single view of customer needs to be developed. 

This is the business need for the thesis work. For the aftersales business, the key ac-

counts represent one of the biggest focuses as they make a large part of the overall sales 

while being only a fraction of the entire customer base. Important factor seen in key 

customers is their loyalty for the company when it comes to spare parts and other af-

tersales services. Customer satisfaction is a big factor in the customer loyalty while bad 

customer experiences will naturally affect that negatively. Using data to better under-

stand the customer experience and their pain points, especially reoccurring ones, will be 

useful for the company. By also visualizing the customer and their behaviour, it becomes 

possible to have more predictive metrics and see trends happening with that individual 

customer. Ultimate goal for services business is locking the customer with an agreement 

as that will offer mutual benefits and often demands exclusive and predictable sales (Du-

rugbo, 2020). In general subscription like offerings are nowadays preferred over irregular 

transactions, which especially seen in business-to-customer companies (Chen, 2024). 

360 view can help account managers to identify suitable agreement creation opportuni-

ties. 

 

With modern predictive technology more advanced data-analysis options can also be 

added if needed as such capabilities develop. Integration for example reports that take 

the product reported usage, running hours, can approximate and recommend sales op-

portunities such as maintenance and upgrades. Rather than duplicating work already 

done it would be advisable to identify and integrate such tools to the Customer 360 view. 



51 

At the moment, such customer centric reporting is under development, and those re-

ports are limited to individual departments with focus often on more customer portfolio 

level view.  

 

Compared to the literature about teams and groups, it could be said that the so-called 

account teams in the case company are closer to “account groups”, meaning that they 

do quite limited and infrequent cooperation while having their individual responsibilities 

without any major collective goals (Zoltan & Vancea, 2015). The case company has 

sought to establish key account management practices for multiple years already. For 

this purpose, documents, and work steps have been mandated from the employees, 

mainly key account managers. Account managers are instructed to assemble an account 

team and extract insight from the account team members. This information could then 

be used to plan actions in advance and utilize the understanding to address issues invis-

ible to the account manager. Additionally, an account plan is made at the start of the 

year to map out future needs of the account with possible opportunities in mind. The 

plan should be revised during the account team meeting that happen on a monthly basis 

with core members and quarterly with the whole team with other possible agenda items. 

Account plan tasks can also be created and followed in the digital customer relationship 

management software. Access to that software is mainly limited to the account manager 

while the other account team members are currently unable to see those tasks. The plan 

needs also to be reviewed by account managers’ superior and be approved. The superior 

evaluates and can provide feedback regarding the plan. The status of the account plans 

is a KPI that is followed by regional level and is requirement for all key account customers 

in the case company as part of KAM practises.  

 

Members of the core account team are employees from different departments with ti-

tles such as sales support, proposal engineer, field service coordinator, and business de-

velopment manager. Other employees that could be also included have titles such as 

director or general manager as an account sponsor, project manager, technical expert, 

and warranty manager but they are not part of the regular meetings normally.  



52 

 

During the regular account team meetings, it is expected that at least few key steps are 

done. For key accounts, the case company recommends following steps as described 

here. The meetings should start by reviewing the memorandum from the previous meet-

ing and closing it. The account plan can also be reviewed with the team from the digital 

CRM tool. Any changes with the customer or team’s understanding of it that require up-

dating are handled. Next the customer relationship is reviewed. For example, the cus-

tomer contact information is kept up to date and any feedback, visits, or notable trans-

actions are discussed. Following that an overall plan to contact and visit the customer 

can be made. Account objectives can be reviewed, such as strategies, sales potential, 

and key initiative. Upselling opportunities can be identified. Sales and likely future sales 

are referenced to the targets set from management and how to achieve them. Individual 

tasks for members are created and managed related to the customer. Other things that 

can be discussed could include ongoing deliveries, safety situation, possible risks, and 

warranty issues. The next steps and meeting are agreed, and the account meeting can 

be closed.  

 

The global implementation of the centrally mandated key account management prac-

tices is still uncertain as it is hard to monitor. The case company has recently launched a 

project to investigation on the actual key account teamwork, and the early findings indi-

cate that the actual teamwork is not achieving its full potential. In some cases, prior to 

the investigation there was limited evidence there being any actual account team activity 

and team members were not aware of being in a team. This would suggest that the 

global reality of KAM implementation is not following the guidelines set but focusing on 

doing the tasks that are followed and monitored to achieve the KPIs. By focusing on ful-

filling the KPI requirements for submitting account plans the account teams currently 

are inefficient in generating insights and added value to the KAC customer or the com-

pany from the account team meetings, should the reality match the limited observations 

investigated by the company. While creating an account plan and having an account 

manager plan action, organize and document ideas about the customer, can be useful, 



53 

that is not enough for it to be cooperative account team activity and extract the full as-

sociated benefits from it.  

 

To address the situation, the company launched projects in the key account manage-

ment program to which this thesis also contributes. Relevantly to this thesis, the new 

pilot projects were launched to support the forming of actually functioning account 

teams dealing with key accounts. At the same time, those pilot projects that re