The Provider-Customer Interface in Business and Professional Services

Abstract

On the basis of several nationalandinternational studies in thefield of business and professional services the aim of this paperistoreconsider the core question of provider-customer interface. It first shows that the question of the relationships between internal and external business services may not only be posed in terms of substitution but also in terms of complementarity and interaction. It then analyses the interface as a ‘moment of truth’(i.e. as a process of interaction, as a form of organisation, and as part of both the client's and the consultant's value chain) a ‘moment of trust’ (based upon various modes of interaction and various logics of interface) and a moment of thrust (thanks to innovation).