Service development in focus when top researchers meet practitioners

On June 10-13th about 200 researchers and practitioners from over 30 countries met at Karlstad University for QUIS13, The 13th International Research Symposium on Service Excellence in Management. During the three day symposium new research findings were presented and future research questions were discussed.

One of the keynote speakers was Gary Bridge, Cisco Systems, USA. His presentation focused on how today’s society and services are, and how things are moving forward with technology. Today, for example, a surgery can be done with the help of a robot. Through a small computer chip patients with schizophrenia can be treated and medicated. An important lesson from this is that today’s technology promote productivity and require new business models since there are completely different benefits provided.
James R. Weigand, President at DuPont Sustainable Solutions, USA was also one of the keynote speakers. During his presentation he spoke about the company’s journey from a product focus to a service focus. This shift in focus is something that many businesses are struggling with today in order to survive.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion on the topic how the little details play a major role and make a difference. An example of the little things that matter are, how to increase the quality of life by allowing residents in retirement homes decide what type of coffee they prefer, and how and when to take a bath. Another example is how by having a close contact with the customers the company could improve the service, speed up procedures within the company and with the customer. Members of the panel were Ruth Bolton, Arizona State University, USA, Manfred Dasselaar, Ericsson, Sweden, Anders Gustafsson, CTF and Janet McColl-Kennedy, University of Queensland, Australia.
During the conference, participants could choose between the 44 different conference presentations. Many of these focused on the development of service in health care, business models and different service systems.
The conference participants also had the chance to see and explore Karlstad. The last evening there was a banquet at Karlstad Conference Center with entertainment by the musicband Top Cats.
Read more about QUIS13 here.
See photos from the conference here.