x
Process transaction s with wireless mobile device
x
Email using wireless device
x
Access work systems during domestic travel
x
Access work systems during overseas travel
x
Table 5.8 Codifying patterns of business activity
Each PBA has to be substantially different from another PBA in order to be coded with a unique reference. Codifying patterns helps multidimensional analysis, using criteria such as likeness and nearness. This provides efficiency and robustness in developing a catalogue of patterns with simplification and standardization to reduce the number of patterns, make analysis easier, and avoid complicated solutions.
User profile s (UP) are based on role s and responsibilities within organizations for people, and function s and operations for processes and application s. As suggested earlier, business process es and applications are treated as users in many business contexts. Many processes are not actively executed or controlled by staff or personnel. Process automation allows for processes to consume services on their own. Processes and applications can have user profiles. Whether they should is a matter of judgment.
Each UP can be associated with one or more PBA (Table 5.9). This allows aggregations and relations between diverse PBS connected by the interactions between their respective UPs. User profiles (UP) are constructed using one ore more predefined PBA. They are also under change control . UPs represent patterns that are persistent and correlated.
User profile
Applicable pattern of business activity (PBA)
PBA code
Senior executive
(UP1)
Moderate travel-domestic and overseas; highly sensitive information; zero latency on service request s; high need for technical assistance; need to be highly available to the business
45F
45A
35D
Highly mobile executive
(UP2)
Extensive travel-domestic and overseas; sensitive information; low latency on service requests; moderate need for technical assistance; high customer contact; need to be highly available to customers
45A
35D
22A
Office-based staff
(UP3)
Office-based administrative staff; low travel-domestic; medium latency on service requests; low need for technical assistance; full-featured desktop needs; moderate customer contact; high volume of paperwork; need to be highly productive during work hours
22A
14B
3A
Payment processing system
(UP4)
Business system; high volume; transaction -based; high security needs; low latency on service request s; low seasonal variation; mailing of documents by postal service; automatic customer notification; under regulatory compliance ; need for low unit cost s; need to be highly secure and transparent ( audit control )
12F
Customer assistance process
(UP5)
Business process ; moderate volume; transaction-based; moderate security needs; very low latency on service requests; medium seasonal variation; mailing of replacement parts by express; automatic customer notification; need to be highly responsive to customers
24G
10G
Table 5.9 User profiles matched with business activity patterns (example)
Pattern matching using PBA and UP ensure a systematic approach to understanding and managing demand from customers. They also require customers to better understand their own business activities and view them as consumers of services and producers of demand. When they are used to communicate demand, service provider s have the information necessary to sort and serve the demand with appropriately matched services, service level s, and service asset s. This leads to improved value for both customers and service providers by eliminating waste and poor performance .
UP communicate information on the role s, responsibilities, interactions, schedules, work environment s and social context of related user s.
5.5.4 Service packages
5.5.4.1 Core services and supporting services
Core service s deliver the basic outcomes desired by the customer. They represent the value that the customer wants and for which they are willing to pay. Core services anchor the value proposition for the customer and provide the basis for their continued utilization and satisfaction. Supporting service s either enable or enhance the value proposition. Enabling services are basic factors and enhancing services are excitement factors.
For example, the core service of a bank could be providing financial capital to small and medium enterprises. Value is created for the bank’s customer only when the bank can provide financial capital in a timely manner (after having evaluated all the costs and risk s of financing the borrower). The supporting services could include the aid offered by loan officers in assessing working capital needs and collateral, the application processing service, flexible disbursement of loan funds, and the facility of a bank account into which the borrower can electronically transfer funds. The credit-reporting service that the lending department utilizes for evaluating credit-reporting, may be a core service provided to the loan officers by internal or external service provider s. It is not a supporting service to borrowers because they are not its users. Supporting services for the loan officers could include a Service Desk that provides technical support for the credit reporting service , email and voice mail. These services support the outcome of approving loans to credit-worthy customers in an efficient and timely manner, compliant with all policies, procedure s and regulations.
In most markets, supporting services will either provide the basis for differentiation or represent the minimum requirement s for operation . As excitement factors, enhancing services provide differentiation. As basic factors, enabling services only qualify the provider for an opportunity to serve customers. Enabling services are necessary for customers to utilize the core service effectively. Like basic factors, customers take their availability for granted and do not expect to be additionally charged for the value that such services provide. Examples of commonly offered enabling services are help desk , payment, registration, and directory service s.
Examples of enhancing services are harder to provide because they tend to drift with time towards being subsumed into the core service or into becoming an enabling service, depending on the customer segment and market space . In the lending service example, the bank could provide a pre-approved banking card with which small business owners can make capital purchases and cover other business expenses. The bank can also provide a comprehensive online suite of Financial Management tools that allows the borrower to manage working capital and flow of funds connected to the loan account.
5.5.4.2 Developing differentiated offerings
The packing of core and supporting service s is an essential aspect of market strategy . Service provider s should conduct a thorough analysis of the prevailing conditions in their business environment , the needs of the customer segments or types they serve, and the alternatives that are available to those customers. The decisions are strategic because they hold a long-term view for maintaining value for customers even as industry practices, norms, technologies and regulations change.
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