ISS 2020 Vision Future of Service Management | Page 42

Shifting generational values
22%
Individualization and customization
16%
Aging population
13%
Demand for transparency 12%
Collaborative consumption 12%
Open source paradigm
8%
DIY e-economy
7%
Post-material society
Female empowerment and gender equality
6%
3%
Figure 12: What social developments will have the biggest impact on Service Management in the future?
(Source: CIFS, ISS, IFMA, CoreNet Global Survey, 2016)
Individuals are driven by a desire to self-differentiate – the urge to define one’s self by
the products and services consumed provides the backdrop for other lifestyle choices and
consumer behaviours. Users increasingly display the need to be treated as individuals and feel
a positive interaction with their physical and social environments. No longer are they satisfied
in being processed through an impersonal, non-interactive system of mass-market solutions,
despite engaging in mass-market activities. 36
Users seek opportunities to customize or personalize the products, services and experiences
they consume to meet their specific needs at a given time. This desire drives an expectation for
almost universal customization. Likewise, service preferences of individual users are changing
to include some degree of co-creation. Service providers need to assess what degree of user
involvement they want to engender in their service strategy as there are a variety of choices
(see figure 13). What is clear, however, is that users prefer to play an active role in the value
creation process – the production or delivery of service. This refers to both self-service and
more immersive co-creation projects.
In general, service interactions will come to be defined by the users to a greater extent, with
the individual controlling the parameters of the transaction – touch points, channels, degree
of personalization, etc. Service providers will be tasked with understanding the preferences of
target groups and empowering them – they must act as partners in guiding and not servicing
users. As one subject-matter expert noted, “we need a completely different approach. We
should ask the customers, but we must do much more than that – we must involve!” 37 In
this regard, the use of big data, qualitative observations and microdata tools will help enable
service providers’ ability to deliver more granular services.
36 Brown, K., Future Travel and the Evolving Tourist, SCENARIO Magazine 02:2014, 2014.
37 Bechmann, S., ISS 2020 Vision: Future of Service Management, 2016.
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