Customer Contact in a Digital World

Keywords

technology, service design, customer contact, service theory

Abstract

Purpose: The customer contact approach to service has been at the core of service theory since the 1970s. It suggests that the potential operating efficiency of a service is inversely related to the extent of customer contact with the provider's operations and that various service design issues are dictated by the presence or absence of customer contact. The purpose of this article is to reevaluate the customer contact approach in light of advanced digital technologies.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors review the origins and history of the customer contact approach and show ways it has been refined in research literature. From that they demonstrate how the refined approach can be applied to contemporary conditions.

Findings: Recent advances in digital technologies have indeed required us to revise our conceptualization of customer contact. There is now a blurring between front-office and back-office operations. Emerging technologies are allowing customers to have high-contact experiences with low-contact efficiencies.

Research limitations/implications: Going forward, conceptualizations of customer contact are becoming increasingly complex and requiring increasingly complex models. Armed with self-service technologies, customers are able to permeate the “buffered core” of service businesses. Artificial intelligence and anthropomorphic devices have further blurred the distinction between front-office and back-office operations. Research will need to consider new forms of technology-enabled customer contact.

Practical implications: Customer contact is no longer limited to interpersonal interactions and the relationships between service providers and customers are increasingly complex. Customers may interact with automated service providers, or service providers may interact with customer technologies. New forms of customer contact may not involve humans at all, but instead involve technologies interacting with technologies.

Originality/value: The customer contact approach to service was one of the original models of service design. By revisiting and revising the model we bring it in-line with the realities of the contemporary service economy.

Original Publication Citation

Sampson, Scott E., and Chase, Richard B. 2020, “Customer Contact in a Digital World,” Journal of Service Management, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 1061-1069.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2020

Publisher

Journal of Service Management

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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