Automotive
The automotive sector struggles to deliver a consistent customer experience across all its touch points. Great experiences in other sectors are raising customers’ service expectations. There are opportunities for brands and dealers to delight customers beyond investing in marketing and advertising. Customer service instead of vehicle servicing makes a difference. Read more
Energy
The relationship between energy providers and customers can seem like a simple contract and be taken for granted. However, in liberated markets with pressure to justify tariffs and meet green obligations, energy providers must engage customers proactively to add value to the core energy product. The bonus is a chance to improve retention. Read more
Financial services
From retail banking to complex financial services, the customer relationship in this sector is being redefined. Financial products, payment and credit facilities are changing while mechanisms such as electronic wallets become mainstream. To make these facilities successful, a new ecosystem must be adopted by many actors and accepted by customers. Read more
Government
Government services operate in a complex tension between politics and the agencies that deliver services to citizens. The challenge grows as public services come under pressure to reduce costs. At the same time people’s expectations to service quality rise as they compare public services with the experiences they have in the private sector. These opposing forces call for innovative thinking in the bureaucracy. Read more
Healthcare
Whilst patient expectations of healthcare outcomes and experiences are rising the need to control costs increases. Effective future healthcare will blend medical expertise with social and behavioural understandings that enable more effective prevention and treatment. This can only occur if new approaches are designed in collaboration with a neglected asset – patients. Read more
Hospitality
Service is at the core of the hospitality industry. All activities and actions executed by people working in this industry are about delivering great service –treating their guests well and keeping them informed, engaged and entertained. Businesses that focus on delivering great service to customers – they are the decision makers after all – see that there are opportunities for growth, even in a tough economic climate. Read more
Information technology
Information technology powers most organisations and has been instrumental in delivering many recent (service) innovations. At the same time IT systems run countless business and operational processes, often with no direct human intervention. Therein lays the challenge of using IT capabilities to achieve better customer service or experience, instead of forcing customers and staff to adhere to the rigidity of misaligned systems. Read more
Insurance
Choosing insurance is difficult for both consumers and businesses. Often, products are so complex that the only thing customers manage to compare is price. But there is a much better way for insurers to stand out: give advice to reduce risk and manage customers more efficiently. Read more
Manufacturing
For a long time, engineering and operational excellence were the focus for many organisations. These can still make a difference, but customers now increasingly demand service over and above the core product. This requires understanding the (end) customers’ experience and rethinking role and relationships in the manufacturing, or logistic chain. Read more
Media
David Bowie said that in the future music would flow like water. He did not, however, tell us how we would monetise it. The future is here and customers have an exciting plethora of options for how content flows their way. They now need reasons to commit to any specific publisher, label or broadcaster – trusting that what they want will be there when they want it. Read more
Pharma
Pharma from the inside is research, development, trials and product launches. From the outside it is a wide range of treatment options that healthcare practitioners must consider for their patients. For patients it is the treatment itself, that they opt to undertake, with all the emotional and practical challenge it brings . Pharma can benefit hugely from an outside in view. Read more
Public sector
Public services feel the persistent and conflicting pressure of customer demands and budget limitations. They risk seeing service users as a burden rather than their purpose and partners. Most public service users are personally invested in the service’s success. This investment means that service users are more engaged and willing to contribute – both to outcomes and to reducing costs. Read more
Retail
These days the retail sector not only has to deal with customer and lifestyle trends, but a fundamental shift in how people research, buy and use products and services. Technology and service innovations challenge traditional and emerging retailers. Not every organisation can lead, but being able to adapt is crucial. Read more
Social responsibility
Social responsibility agenda is now backed by governments and an ambition of many corporate leaders. The challenge is now in the delivery of new models and technologies into established sectors and organisations. A key issue can often be persuading customers to move from familiar practices to new greener options, especially if additional cost is involved. Service solutions can address these issues. Read more
Technology
Many of today’s products and services are only possible thanks to new technology. However, focussing on this can create a blind spot around the core of any service success: people. Understanding how people directly and indirectly experience technology creates breakthrough services that work for customers instead of super users. Read more
Telecom
Whether a new device or a new service, the telecoms experience is one of constant novelty and accompanying confusion for consumers. There is an opportunity for service and content providers to surprise and win customers by getting the basic service right. This has tremendous impact on an organisations’ bottom line. Read more
Transport
As tickets move onto customers’ smartphones, new opportunities emerge to inform and support customers. The slow solution to congested roads, buses and trains is to build more lanes and seats. The quick wins are in empowering customers to make better travel decisions and use the system when capacity is available. Read more