A Value Platform Analysis Perspective on Customer Access Information Technology*

Abstract

AbstractCustomer access information technologies (CAITs) provide a link between a firm and its customers. Firms invest in CAITs to reduce costs, increase revenues and market share, lock in existing customers, and capture new ones. These benefits, however, are notoriously difficult to measure. This paper proposes an evaluative method for CAIT deployment called value platform analysis, based on a conceptual model drawn from the theory of retail outlet deployment in marketing science. Value platform analysis evaluates the impact of the features of a CAIT, the features of its immediate site, and the features of the larger environment into which it is deployed on the transactions it generates and the resulting business value outcomes. Value platform analysis is then applied in an electronic banking context. Hypotheses regarding the likely impact of automatic teller machine (ATM) functionality, the immediate site's surrounding traffic, the customer demographics, and the number of competitors in the environment on ATM transactions are evaluated both before and after the merger of two regional ATM networks. The results indicate that there are a number of key features influencing ATM performance. Two distinct ATM deployment scenarios emerge: one for servicing a bank's own customers, and another for providing transaction services for customers for a fee. The merger of regional networks impacts each of these scenarios differently.