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Self-Services in Customer Relationships: Balancing High-Tech and High-Touch Today and Tomorrow (2006)

Abstract
Self-services in customer relationships are becoming increasingly important - a development that has been boosted by customers? increasing and diverse use of the Internet. Banks have, for example, created online-only products and airlines offer special discounts for passengers booking online. This paper approaches self-services from three directions. Firstly, a chronological review of the literature in this field is provided in order to get an idea of how scholars address the self-service phenomenon. Secondly, based on these theoretical foundations, we discuss today?s self-service activities by presenting the results of a study that we conducted. We identify the balancing of high-tech and high-touch as today?s key challenge to self-service systems. Finally, we propose three trends that we expect to be incorporated into the next generation of self-services. These trends are geared towards achieving a balance between high-tech and high-touch. They encompass the integration of self-services with ?traditional? customer touchpoints, the use of voice-based technologies, and the deployment of persona design in the development of self-service applications.

Publication details
Download http://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/EXPORT/DL/30036.pdf
Repository University of St.Gallen - Alexandria Repository (Switzerland)
Keywords Self Service
Type Text
Language Englisch

Cited publications (1)
The Limits of Speech Recognition (2000)