Question

Q81

Write an essay of 1000+ words on the topic ‘Consumer-oriented concepts in service management’. [8 Marks]

Answer 1

Consumer-oriented concepts in service management

Service is an action of doing some things to someone which is essentially intangible. This does not result in the ownership of anything. Hence for example, Hotel management system is a kind of business which is service oriented. Here a range of services are offered to the guests who booked the space for the period of time.

The characteristics of services are Intangible, Inseparable, Variable and perishable. Intangible means the services cannot be seen, felt, tasted or smelled before purchasing. Inseparable means there is a continuity from production to the delivery process. Each step is connected to each other in the service. The variably shows that range of differentiation of the services and its qualities according to who provide the services and under what conditions. The services cannot be stored for the later use hence they are perishable in nature.

The services are classified into or under different categories such as Food services, personal care services, Boarding and lodging services, entertainment services, transport services, Automobile services, communication services, education services, Insurance services finance services etc. Hence, any business can offer one service to the customers or they can also offer a range of services to the customers. Hence there should be a need of management of these services so that they can be effectively delivered.

Service management refers to the number of activities which are directed by policies, organized and structured in processes and supporting procedures, are performed by an organization to design, plan, deliver, operate and control services offered to customers.

Consumer is the main part of focus for any business. Hence, whatever the services which are delivered by the organization should be compatible for the consumer or we can say consumer should have ease of accessibility.

The services are delivered on the basis of identification of internal and external needs of consumers. For example, If the insurance services are offered in the area where people having low income group or are labor class then they may not interest in availing the services offered by the company. Hence, while providing the services, the needs of the consumers are analyzed.

The services should be customer oriented because it actually establishes and monitors standards of customer satisfaction. It also strives to meet the clientele's needs and expectations related to the service sold by the business.

The customer orientation is important to satisfy the consumer by the service. This actually improves the service business process. The consumer satisfaction by the services returns in the growth as well as in terms of revenue to the business.

Any serves which is offered by the company is to satisfy the customer needs. The consumer decides among the range of services which to avail or what is to be left. Hence the consumer-oriented services also have the development cycle.

The life cycle of consumer-oriented services has the following steps:

1. Identification of customer needs.
2. Feasibility with the service provider business.
3. Designing of service
4. Implementation on small test group.
5. Get the feedback and results.
6. Improve the service if needed and follow the step 3, 4 and 5.
7. Implement in the market.
8. Maintenance of the service.

This life cycle of consumer-oriented services implementation will definitely enhance the customer satisfaction level.

Now, we need to have the following orientations which customer focusses are

1. Technology oriented
2. Value oriented
3. Cost oriented

The consumers orientation classification helps in the segregating the consumers based on the above criteria. Technology oriented consumers looks always the technology used in delivering the services to them. Hence, they can pay even higher for availing the services. They look for the performance while delivering the services rather than its quality or price.

The value-oriented consumers always look for the high quality and performance level in the services. In the long run it is a profitable to the company as their brand image can be maintained. The company have to pay more attention to focus on these types of consumers as they could not compromise. The cost associated in delivering the services to these consumers are high as they need highly trained and efficient working staff for delivering the services.

The cost-oriented consumers are those who focuses on the least cost services rather than the quality services. Hence, they can be satisfied if the price range of service with low quality can be offered to them. They are ready to compromise with quality, efficacy and the performance of the services offered to them. Their tendency is that they itself can fix the problem rather than to complain about it. The company need less time and resources to focus on this type of consumers and also the cost also.

The technology plays an important role in delivering the consumer-oriented services. For example, consumer with no time can contact to the service supplier and avail the services. The hassle-free process is possible only because of technology. For example, in case of hospitality services, the customer sees the services online and book them which are best suited to them. This is a type of e-commerce business process.

Service management is done effectively by the completely analysis and knowledge of the consumers type information’s and dealing according to it. Technology oriented services are now a days more popular and effective in terms of time and cost benefits to the customer as well as company as well. Hence, what ever we use to deliver the service it should actually satisfy the consumer needs and wants. So, the company focus on the consumers needs or provide the consumer-oriented services to gain the access of consumer forces towards their business. The trained staffs needed to provide the services who can actually deliver the services effectively and get the feedback from the consumer as well. Consumer oriented service can be provided by the help of collection of data’s and information regarding the consumer preferences. Hence the consumer pattern and trends to be analyzed in a effective manner which can be implemented in the service delivering process.