From Customer Intelligence to Customer Understanding in Industrial Services

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize customer understanding that is needed in industrial service innovation and development. The empirical study focuses on industrial B2B services that support customers' business processes and play a strategic role to the customers. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports findings from a Finnish research project that aimed at enhancing customer understanding in industrial companies developing their services. The research design of the study encompassed nine Finnish case studies and an online survey targeted to the same industries as those of the case companies mainly in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Originality/value - The paper suggests a new conceptual construct ``Wheel of customer understanding{''} by bringing the concepts of customer intelligence, customer knowledge and service management together. Practical implications - The importance of engaging marketing personnel's skills and capabilities at the higher level of the organization as well as in service innovation and development already at the beginning of the development project was identified in the study. Furthermore, the study revealed the need for better customer information collecting practices and information utilization in the service development. Today, information and capabilities needed in service are scattered in digital systems and embedded in individuals from different functions. The tacit knowledge of. floor level. personnel is not adequately utilized in creating and maintaining customer understanding.