Big data and other trends in service research at the 2014 Frontiers in Service Conference

In today’s society there is a large amount of data available that businesses and organizations can use to, for example, develop new services. This data gives us new opportunities to improve our customer’s experiences, while it raises privacy issues. The question is how we can use it, and coope with the differentness of it, said Bill Franks, Chief Analytics Officer of Teradata, in his talk on "How Big Data Changes Service".
CTF´s contributions at the conference
Many people believe that business models only deal with how companies can make more money, but many business models will also contribute to more satisfied customers, explained Professor Per Kristensson in one of the conference presentations.
Per Kristensson also presented a study on how to change customer behavior. This particular study focused on how to get customer to buy organic products. The question, how to get people to change their behavior, becomes increasingly important as today’s climate changes will require us to change in order to have a sustainable society.
Researchers Patrik Gottfridsson and Maria åkesson presented a study on different customer roles in public transport. Jenny Karlsson and Carolina Camén’s contributions were about the role of employees in service innovation and the importance of early involvement of the employees. Helena Lundberg talked about how modern technology affects the relationship between the customer, management and employees in the retail sector.
Award to Anders Gustafsson
Besides presenting a conference paper on customer experience and participating in a panel, Professor Anders Gustafsson also was nominated for the award “Journal of Service Research Best Article Award 2013 at the conference gala dinner. The article “Relationship Characteristics and Cash Flow Variability: Implications for Satisfaction, Loyalty and Customer Portfolio Management”, he co-authored with researchers Ruth Bolton, Criana Tarasi and Beth Walker.
Collaboration and networking
Frontiers in Service Conference is one of the world’s largest service research conferences and an important venue to advance research.
Frontiers in Service was founded 1992 by Professor Roland Rust, Center for Excellence in Service, University of Maryland, USA. This year’s conference was arranged by the Shool of Business Administration at University of Miami. Next year’s conference will be held in San José, California.