A Service Model for Customer-Centric Electronic Business

Abstract

The needs of the Service Economy have not been yet investigated in depth in academic research. This paper analyzes customer participation in services and considers the value-adding opportunities it offers. It proposes a conceptual framework for customer participation in services that is based on customer needs, the service offering and its outcomes. As experiences may be a major type of outcomes of the service process for the customer, we examine value-adding opportunities in dealing with customer experiences and we propose a service model for the association of needs, services and experiences. Such a model can be used for the development of customer-centric services, in which the customer is empowered to configure services according to his/ her needs and preferences, services which bring superior experiences and satisfaction. Based on the example of the tourism, which is experience-intensive, we describe the functional and technical aspects of the model.