EBusiness and Customer Service

Abstract

About ten years after PORTER proposed the value chain1 as a tool for identifying basic skills and resources to improve customer value, eBusiness evolved and the value chain “virtually” dissolved (see Figure 1). In a first gold rush companies started to partly or totally outsource primary activities, especially inbound logistics, operations and outbound logistics. With modern information and communication technologies on hand and visionary concepts like supply chain collaboration and mass customization, it seemed easy to achieve both, low costs and a differentiated position. Yet, despite all promises of the new, new economy, eBusiness integration has become the most discouraging task as companies rush to add new communication channels to their core processes. This is particularly true for supporting activities — a challenge most companies face today. With firm infrastructures based on virtual networks and strategic alliances, human resource management in search for high potentials that can manage e-processes, technology development and procurement confronted with various multimedia access channels, “eBusiness” has become a melting pot that is twirled faster and faster to keep up with the rapid technological developments and, of course, the consultants earning targets. By now business processes are redesigned on a quarter yearly basis with projects on e-CRM, e-Procurement, e-Supply Chain Management2, etc. In the near future there might be an m- in front of all acronyms — a general idea also known as “Change driven by Technology”. But where is the beef, or better, the customer value?