MTU Cork Library Catalogue

An exploratory study of customer services focusing on customer engagement : an Irish perspective / William Ryan.

By: Ryan, William [author.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: MBS - Organization & Professional Development.Publisher: Cork : Cork Institute of Technology, 2015Description: viii, 122 pages : color illustrations ; 30 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeSubject(s): Customer services -- Technological innovations | Customer relations -- Management | Strategic planning | Organizational behaviorDDC classification: THESES PRESS Dissertation note: Thesis (MBS) - Cork Institute of Technology, 2015. Summary: This research study is an exploratory examination of customer services, which traces its development to the modern day, evaluates its impact on corporate strategy, and analyses its effect on organisations performance. This study also investigates customer engagement to ascertain if technological changes have impacted on it, causing it to evolve and the effect if any these changes have had on customer services. The research explores the loyalty status of a customer, the availability of best practice models to aid organisation employing these concepts, and to evaluate if components are transferrable from large organisations to small to medium enterprises. A qualitative research approach was undertaken in this study using semi-structured interview methods to capture the experiences, beliefs and opinions of senior people working in executive or consultative roles within customer services. A 'grounded theory' of qualitative analysis was utilized to identify patterns, trends, and facts which enabled the researcher to produce the findings that this research is based on. This research is exploratory and inductive, and was aided by diverse nature and skill-set of the interviewees which allow for a real-time and practical overview of the concepts. The main findings from this study are that customers services is having a significant impact on the corporate strategies of companies in today's business environment, and can be the difference between an organisation been successful or have a bleak future. Customer engagement has been impacted in a positive way with technological changes resulting in the concept evolving to the point where it is now 'the tool' to facilitate organisations getting closer to their customers. This research has identified a direct correlation between the success of a customer service strategy and the implementation of an effective customer engagement program. A significant finding has been the absense of a holistic customer engagement best practice model to assist organisations in implementing a customer engagement strategy. This study has subsequently developed a model to fill this gap in academic literature and provide organisations with a model that is built in stages, allowing them to progress to 'best in class' status. Other notable findings include the identification of transferrable components to small to medium enterprises and recommendation for future research. - (Author's abstract)
List(s) this item appears in: Masters Theses

Thesis (MBS) - Cork Institute of Technology, 2015.

Bibliography: p. 114-119.

This research study is an exploratory examination of customer services, which traces its development to the modern day, evaluates its impact on corporate strategy, and analyses its effect on organisations performance. This study also investigates customer engagement to ascertain if technological changes have impacted on it, causing it to evolve and the effect if any these changes have had on customer services. The research explores the loyalty status of a customer, the availability of best practice models to aid organisation employing these concepts, and to evaluate if components are transferrable from large organisations to small to medium enterprises. A qualitative research approach was undertaken in this study using semi-structured interview methods to capture the experiences, beliefs and opinions of senior people working in executive or consultative roles within customer services. A 'grounded theory' of qualitative analysis was utilized to identify patterns, trends, and facts which enabled the researcher to produce the findings that this research is based on. This research is exploratory and inductive, and was aided by diverse nature and skill-set of the interviewees which allow for a real-time and practical overview of the concepts. The main findings from this study are that customers services is having a significant impact on the corporate strategies of companies in today's business environment, and can be the difference between an organisation been successful or have a bleak future. Customer engagement has been impacted in a positive way with technological changes resulting in the concept evolving to the point where it is now 'the tool' to facilitate organisations getting closer to their customers. This research has identified a direct correlation between the success of a customer service strategy and the implementation of an effective customer engagement program. A significant finding has been the absense of a holistic customer engagement best practice model to assist organisations in implementing a customer engagement strategy. This study has subsequently developed a model to fill this gap in academic literature and provide organisations with a model that is built in stages, allowing them to progress to 'best in class' status. Other notable findings include the identification of transferrable components to small to medium enterprises and recommendation for future research. - (Author's abstract)

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