"Identify and evaluate the impact of information and communications technology in one marketing function" - Customer Service

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"Identify and evaluate the impact of information and communications technology in one marketing function" - Customer Service

Introduction

The rapid growth of information and communications technology (ICT) in the last two decades has affected business organisations profoundly. The shift from production-centric to customer-centric organisations has lead to increased focus on customer service and the use of technology in the area. This essay sets out to identify the impacts of ICT on customer service by first briefly revisiting the concept of customer service. The benefits of ICT are then highlighted by three main drivers of service encounter satisfaction, along with some industry examples. Finally a discussion is raised with regards to potential problems and challenges organizations face in successful implementation of the technology.

Customer Service Revisited

The major characteristics of services have been summarised by Lewis (1989, pp.4) as "intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability and inseparability of production and consumption"- where "production" in services refer to "performance". Due to the inseparability of production and consumption, both buyer and seller (i.e. customer and organisation/employee) interactions influences the performance process and the quality of the service provided (Lewis, 1989). The service encounter, according to Lewis (1989, pp.4), is the