Value Changes during Service Delivery

Abstract

Most industries are shifting from product-oriented business models towards services to step up the value chain and engage in long-term relationships with their customers throughout the service lifecycle. Digital technologies are contributing to servitization in many ways by creating and enabling capabilities like connectivity, IoT, data generation and assessment, etc., for new value generation, distribution, and capture. Because value is subjective, dynamic, and changes during the service lifecycle, service providers need to examine closely the value perceptions of customers to constantly provide better value and remain relevant with the competition. Through a consumer survey and a longitudinal study of thirteen customers, this paper uses qualitative and quantitative assessment to identify the value dimensions that play a major role for customers being onboarded on a digital enabled service, and also highlights how customer value dimensions change over the course of the service lifecycle. One important finding is that change in customer value perception does not follow a pattern and is highly individual and personal. This opens a discussion regarding the need for hyper-personalization in successful servitization, and the role of digital technologies towards the same.