Customer Participation in Service Marketing
Organizations and companies provide services to the people for the benefit of the customers. In the modern era, technology is being used to a great extent in order to provide services to the people. Technology has influenced the practice in relation to service marketing. It has created potential in relation to service offerings. Technology is playing a great role in shaping service and helping both the customers along with the employees to receive and give customised services (Brohman et al. 2015). This report discusses about the different aspects of technology pertaining to providing service. It elucidates about the positive along with the negative sides of technology and its increasing importance in the modern era.
Collaborative participation in the era of sharing economy
Customer participation has become the key in the arena of modern day business. The customers in the present age are looked upon as operant resources and they act as co-creators in relation to value. Service delivered in the modern age is customer oriented and it is relational. According to Wirtz and Lovelock (2016), the modern world is defined by that of rapid changes and searching for solutions in relation to environmental challenges has become more complex Co-creation focuses on the aspect of interactive relationships that can help in improving the customer experience. Active involvement on the part of the customer can help in creating a rich experience. On the other hand, sharing economy cannot promise the employees that of steady income and the workers can take on short-term project that may prove to be lucrative for them on short-term basis. The employers within that of the sharing economy do not generally offer benefits as the people working from one point of view do not act as employees (Henze et al. 2016). Workers are bound to pay for their own benefit that often costs a large amount of their income. Effectiveness in relation to customer service has an impact on the productivity of the organisation leads to customer satisfaction. The services emerge from that of “open processes” and in it the customers act as co-producers. They are hence influenced on account of progress of the different processes. The traditional model of marketing did not provide marketer with means that can help them in entering the process of consumption. In the traditional platform, the marketer did not have any idea regarding what customer did with the goods. According to the service dominant logic, service production can be conceived to be an “open system” for that of the consumer (Foroudi et al. 2018). In the similar manner, consumption of that of the service can act as open system for that of the service provider. The Nordic Researchers focussed on the aspect of effect of consumption on the arena of marketing. Facilitating exchange is viewed as the objective of marketing principles. It has been stated by Chen, Zhu and Zhou (2015), that the traditional concept of marketing was related with persuasion of the customers. Modern concept of marketing takes into view the process that occurs after purchasing of the product.
Service Delivery and Technology
The Nordic School of Research focussed on facilitating interactions with that of the consumers during the process of consumption. Foundation in relation to incorporation of consumption in the arena of services was laid in France. This system model was known as servuction. The service innovations include intangible characteristics of the service and it makes use of new ways in order to organize the solutions. Service Scope, Organization and system, customers and service personnel helps in providing a rich experience to that of the consumers.
Figure: Servuction Model
Source: (Henze et al. 2016)
A drawback of the servuction model is that the employees and the consumers should be comfortable about it so that it can function smoothly. It may also bring in the concept of self-service of the clients and this can sometimes prove to be detrimental for the clients who are not conversant with technology. Within North America, the focus was on selling the jobs to that of the employees. Service-oriented ingredient was integrated into the marketing mix of the services. Interaction between that of the service provider and customer was conceived to be an integrated part in relation to marketing. It was possible to implement successful marketing with the help of this model. According to Wong et al. (2015), managing the interaction between firm and customer became the productive focal point in these kinds of services. Consumption and production of service comes to an end and the successful interactions help the process to become successful. The common sharing of different platforms and resources helps in improving the quality of customer service.
Figure: Collaborative Participation Model
Source: (Foroudi et al. 2018)
Service and Technology
Continuous exchanges can occur with the help of successful interactions which can be facilitated by taking recourse to technology. Since the services act as processes as compared to that of object of transactional exchange it cannot be ascertained at which particular point the exchange would take place. The service provider gets the money either before service or after service or on the regular basis over the course of time. It has been argued by Wortmann and Flüchter (2015) that the interactions that take place over the course of time act as enactment of that of the exchange process. The exchange process is helped to a great extent with the help of technology. Exchange is conceived to be higher order concept.
Technology has acted as the basic force for bringing about the innovations in relation to service. New technology has enabled the different business to make use of services like Automated voice mail, fax machine, voice response system and automated teller machine. The explosion of internet has resulted in new services and different companies like Amazon and E-Bay are offering new service that was previously not heard of. Many new kind of technology services have arrived on the horizon. Service Delivery Service refers to the link between that of service provider and client. It has been argued by Mulani and Pingle (2016) that internal arrangements need to be made so that the service workers can carry out their duties successfully. The “connected car” helps people to take the advantage of different kind of services when one is on the road (Wong et al. 2015). There are many cars that have satellite navigation system that helps in guiding the drivers to that of specific locations. Going ahead, in-car system can provide recommendations in relation to shopping and inform the drivers regarding their preferred retailer. In the event of a person being on the road trip system can help in providing weather forecast along with warnings. The system of the car by making use of the latest technology can book a room near a hotel and also help in recommending a restaurant.
Internet of Things (IoT) and Service Marketing Challenges
Technology also provides the vehicles that can help in the process of delivering service in a more convenient manner. According to Yang (2014), technology facilitates the process of basic customer service function and that of transactions. There has been a movement in the use of technology from that of face-to-face service to that of wireless service. The servuction model requires the relocation of that of key operations into the areas that have low labour costs. However, the production in this kind of servuction model is non-continuous and that of the economy of scale is limited. Technology is facilitating transactions by offering direct vehicle in order to make the purchases. The technology giant named Del offers customer services and order functions to the business customers with the help of technology. It has been stated by Mulani and Pingle (2016) that online shopping along with transactions have helped in revolutionizing the business of book along with that of music. Technology helps the customers in the process of learning and researching. Technology has made access in relation to information a lot easier. The health related websites are among the most frequented sites over that of the internet and current estimates have suggested that there are more than 100,000 sites that provide information related to health. Dangers are also associated with this because all the sites do not provide the correct information. They provide false cures that can be detrimental for the health of the patient.
Internet of Things
Internet of Things (IOT) refers to a trend within which a large number of the embedded devices make use of the communication service. These devices are known as “smart objects” and they are not directly operated by that of the humans. IOT helps in driving the emerging technologies and it generates data that can be changed into that of useful information. According to Cui (2016), it has helped in revolutionising the arena of embedded computing and it aims at the creation of a ubiquitous computing platform. Internet-of-Things promises to create smart interconnected product that can help in delivering customer experience that is better. It has been argued by Chandrakanth et al. (2014) that combination of the physical products with that of sensors and storage can help in creating more products as service. It provides many opportunities for transforming the relationship of the brand with that of the customer. It can also help in creating a more sustainable world. It can help in the process of reduction of waste and that of natural capital dependencies. It can offer hope for the future and improve the condition of the environment. According to Weinberg et al. (2015), it also helps in improving social footprint of the consumers along with that of the industrial products. It has been argued by Dylko et al. (2017) that there exists no particular standard for doing the monitoring with that of the sensors. Privacy is a big issue in relation to IOT. Encryption of data is a necessity so that important data is not leaked to that of the common people. There are also chances of hacking of the software and personal information can be misused. Safety risk is a drawback of that of the Internet-of-Things.
The battle with that of standards is a concern for that of Internet of Technology. The challenge lies in creating effective cross-industry technology architecture that can allow true interoperability. Smart System is not well-aligned to that of larger IT infrastructure that creates problems. Google along with Nest have made significant strides in order to establish Nest Platform. It can act as foundation related to consumer based IOT devices. Major players like that of Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft have got similar strategies that can help in creation of standards (Henze et al. 2016). Eclipse IOT Working Group is trying to standardize open source technology for that of IOT. This group is collaborating in order to build open source technology that can act as foundation for IOT. Technology comprises of the protocols and services that can help in building M2M applications. Opinions are divided regarding standards along with protocols.
The smart products like that of thermostats, phone-controlled lighting and sensor-based irrigation are conducive to the welfare of the environment but there are certain questions that should be answered in relation to the ability of a company. A question arises regarding making of informed judgements relating to the degree to which the new product will prove to be environmentally positive or negative. Second question arises pertaining to the designing phase and emphasizes on how much of the functionality of the product resides within that of the physical product.
Dark Side of technology
Neo-Luddism is a philosophy that opposes the usage of modern technology. It deals with the impact of technology on that of the individuals along with that of the environment. It stipulates the usage of precautionary principle in relation to new technologies. It has said that technologies are safe before that of adoption on account of the un-known effects that can be brought about by the new technologies. Technology can enhance services but there are also negative outcomes associated with it. The consumer researchers called Mick and Fournier have highlighted on the paradox in relation to technology products.
Concerns are raised in relation to privacy along with confidentiality that raises issues for the firms when they want to interact directly with customers by the help of internet. These concerns are mainly related to efforts for the advancement of technology applications in relation to health-care industry. All the customers are interested to use technology in order to interact with the companies. Research has brought out the fact with the help of ‘customer technology readiness’ that there are some kinds of customers who are not that keen about using technology (Dylko et al. 2017). There are some employees who do not want to integrate technology within their work life. This occurs specially when the employees perceive that technology can substitute that of human labour and eliminate the jobs.
Technology infusion has created loss of that of human contact and this can be detrimental from the point of view of quality of life. It can also be harmful from the perspective of human relationships. Parents often lament regarding how the children spend a large amount of time in front of that of computer screen. They seek information and use the services of instant messaging without taking recourse to face-to-face contact with the humans. It has been stated by Fitzgerald et al. (2016) that the workers within an organization become more dependent on communicating with the help of technology. Payback in relation to technology investment is uncertain (Turel, Soror and Steelman 2017). One can take long amount of time so that the investment can lead to productivity and that of customer satisfaction gain.
Internet technology has enabled the different organizations for holding meetings and all the parties need not be present in same place. Holding meeting over that of the internet is less personal as compared to that of face-to-face meeting. According to Townsend (2017), internet technology has decreased personal aspect in relation to business relationship. Lack of the aspect of physical proximity has decreased brainstorming. According to a popular research, installation of the monitoring software sends message to the employees and it seems as if the company does not trust the employees. Showing the employees that they should not be trusted can decrease the morale of the employees.
Figure: Paradox of Technology Products
Source: (Dylko et al. 2017)
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that services being delivered with the help of technology has a lot of merits and is of significant importance in the present age. Customers in the modern age play the role of operant resources. They play the role of co-creators relating to the element of value. Customer oriented service is presented in the present age and interactive relationships helps in improving the experience of the customer. Service-dominant logic states that production is an open system in relation to the consumer. Continuous exchanges can take place with the help of technology and it can give rise to successful interactions. It does not however promise the employees steady income and this can create problem for the workers. The workers are often attracted to that of short-term gain that costs them in the long run. The clients who are not conversant with that of technology may not be comfortable with the concept of self-service. This can prove to be a hindrance for them. Technology can bring about innovations in the field of services. Various services like Automated voice mail and voice response system are facilitated with the help of emergent technology. Technology facilitates transaction and offers direct vehicle that can help in making the purchases. IOT can drive the new technologies and the generating of data can help in producing useful information. Privacy is a major issue in relation to Internet-of-things and the leaking of data can prove to be detrimental for that of the potential clients. Technology thus proves to be a boon in relation to providing services in the modern era. It has completely changed the face of embedded computing and the ubiquitous computing platform can be of great service for the consumers. There are some consumers who do not want to use technology and some employees are not keen on the integration of technology with that of the work life. Some employees feel that technology can substitute human labour and it can in the near future eliminate their jobs.
References:
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