Customers, Products & Info.

Systems

2 - Bishwajeet Ghosh
10 - Andre Fernandez
15 - Mahender Pilania
 Otisline
• Centralized system and database
• Complete info/records about all elevators in
service
• Improved service
• Right mechanic at right place
• Technicians also use handheld computers to
communicate with central server and get info
about particular elevators
 Otisline
• Communication can be initiated from inside
an elevator as well – wasn’t possible earlier
• Central conduit for exchanging information
among field service technicians, salespeople,
design and manufacturing engineers, and
managers
 Contrast between products and services
Product
Work system output consisting of
Definition physical/information that the
customer obtains and uses later
Direct source of benefits Possession and usage of
to the customer the product
Automobile
Office copy machine
Examples of products or
Book about ayurvedic
services that may
treatment
substitute for each other
Cosmetics
Guide book and maps
Information Product
Encyclopedia
Service
Work system output consisting of a
set of actions performed for a
customer without producing a
product that the customer uses later
Actions that are performed
for the customer
Transportation service (bus)
Copying service
Examination and treatment
by an ayurvedic doctor
Beauty treatment (eg. VLCC)
Guide service
Information Service
Wikipedia
3 dimensions of products and services

Customized Physical

Commodity

Information

Service

Product
 Characteristics of Information Products

• Intangibility
• Copyability
• Non-consumeable
• Transportability
• Manipulability
 Characteristics of services
Type of service Personal Impersonal Automated
Physical Physical therapy 10 week exercise Use of external
Service program at Abs for Her machine that controls
exercise rate
Information Keeping track of an Books and pamphlets Automatically sensing
Service individual’s medical about fitness and heart rate and other
records and making medicine vital signs while
available when necessary exercising in a gym
Knowledge Medical treatment by a Medical treatment by a Computerized
service family physician who previously unknown diagnosis of a
knows the patient well physician in a clinic particular condition
 Customization and adptablility
• Key issue is to provide product features and
functions that the customer really wants
rather than just those which have already
been defined or those which are easy to
produce
Smart/Interactive/Programmable products

• A smart product is
preprogrammed to accept Heat sinking missile
information from the ABS on cars
environment and act
accordingly
• An interactive product
Vending machines
provides immediate responses
Search Engines
to interactive commands
• A programmable product
accepts information from user Automatic
and processes it later washing machines
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

• The basis of customer satisfaction is the

complete customer experience, the
customer’s entire involvement with the
product starting with defining the
requirements and acquiring the product.

• Please the customers

STAGES OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE -
PRODUCT
STAGES OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE-
SERVICE

REQUIREMENTS ACQUISITION EXECUTION

OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE CUSTOMER
BENEFITS - REQUIREMENTS

• Increase product awareness

• Help define what the customer wants
• Help the customer identify the product that
fits best
• Customize the product to fit the customer’s
needs
OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE CUSTOMER
BENEFITS - ACQUISITION

• Improve timeliness of product availability

• Expedite the purchase transaction (Bank
transaction)
• Provide discounts or other adjustments
• Simplify delivery of the product
OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE CUSTOMER
BENEFITS - USAGE

• Provide training and/or information about

product usage
• Make the product easy to use
• Provide information about product use
(Help button in Ms Office, Guide
book/manuals for products)
OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE CUSTOMER
BENEFITS - MAINTENANCE

• Provide ways to monitor product usage and

operating costs
• Provide additional service
• Help maintain the product
OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE CUSTOMER
BENEFITS - RETIREMENT

• Help the customer dispose of the product

when it is no longer useful
• Help the customer dispose of the product
related waste
(Vehicle exchange)
 DETERMINING REQUIREMENTS
• Opportunities to apply e-business in this area
includes:
 Helping the customer learn about the
product (Ex-Flight search based on budget)
 Evaluate product options (Find the product
that best fits the requirements and then
customize)
 Customize the product before acquiring it
 ACQUIRING THE PRODUCT
• Opportunities to apply e-business in this area
includes:
Finding a good price (Ex- priceline.com---Offer
a price for round-trip airline ticket between
two stations)
Performing purchase transactions (Ex-
Healthcare industry where transactions are
burdensome )
 ACQUIRING THE PRODUCT
Taking delivery
Q: Customer not happy if the delivery is delayed?
Sol: Link order entry system to picking & packing
processes that are sometimes operated by
completely different companies.
-Tracking facility
 USING THE PRODUCT OR RECEIVING
THE SERVICE
• Opportunities to apply e-business in this area
includes:
 Electronically enhanced products
(Ex- Security system record the electronic ID card details, elevator
systems, automatic light switches, Jet Fighters)
 Providing better service (Ex-Avis car rental minimized the waiting
time and paperwork)
 Providing product information or knowledge
(Ex- Customer telephone hotlines, internet chat rooms)
 MAINTAINING AND RETIRING THE
PRODUCT
• Opportunities to apply e-business in this area
includes:
Supporting maintenance and repair processes

Using remote monitoring

Retiring obsolete products

Customer’s criteria for Evaluating
products and Services
Common roles of MIS in improving the
product of a work system
Product
performance Typical measures IS roles
variable

• Purchase price • Reduce internal cost of business

process and increase productivity
• Cost of ownership
COST • Improve product performance in
• Amount of time and ways that reduces the customer’s
attention required internal costs.

TCO- total cost of ownership- includes money+time+effort+attention that can

be used for other purposes
Eg. of IS implementation - ATMs, e-billing facilities, e- booking have all
reduced cost to company and also TCO.
Product
performance
variable
Typical measures
• Defect rate per time
interval or per quantity of
output
Quality
• Rate of warranty returns
• Perceived quality
according to customer
• Time to respond to
Responsiveness customer request
• Helpfulness of response
IS roles
• Insure the product is produced
more consistently
• Make it easier to customize the
product for the customer
• Build IS into the product to make it
more usable or maintainable
• Improve the speed of response
• Systemize communication with
customers
• Increase flexibility to make it easier
to respond to what the customers
wants
Product performance
variable Typical measures IS roles

• Average time to failure • Make the business process more

• Failure rate per time consistent
Reliability interval • Make the business process more secure
• Compliance to customer • Build features into the product that
commitment dates makes it more reliable on its own right

• Clarify the standards and regulations so

• Existence of non
Conformance to that it is easier to determine whether they
conformance
standards and are being followed.
regulations • Rate of complaints about
• Systematize work to make the output
non conformance
more consistent

EDI - Electronic Data Interchange systems exemplify the way conformance to

standards applies across the customer experience
Diverse concerns of Different customers.
• Every customer has different needs and
expectations from a product
• Responding to different needs of different
customers may require producing different
types
 IS & Competitive Advantage
• Competitive advantage occurs when a firm’s
value chain generates superior product and
service features, quality, availability, lower
cost, or other things customers care about
• Firms can use:
– Cost leadership
– Product differentiation
– Focus strategy
 IS & Competitive Advantage
• In todays times, its obvious that Information
Systems can be a strategic competitive
advantage
• Some information systems are mission critical
– because their failure prevents normal
business functioning

Eg.
 Strategic Information Systems
Mission critical IS = hygiene factor Strategic IS = motivating/enabling factor

They typically increase the customer’s perceived value by:

– Customizing products
– Augmenting products through information & services
– Eliminating delays & improving reliability
– Making products easier to use
– Bypassing intermediaries
– Reducing transaction times