Implementing automation in customer service: Case Supercell

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business | Master's thesis
Date
2018
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Information and Service Management (ISM)
Language
en
Pages
86 + 13
Series
Abstract
Companies are investing into customer service in order to provide a better experience for their customers. Parts of this customer service can be automated with modern technology, at its best bringing benefits to both customers and the company itself. Similar to other IT projects, these automation projects sometimes fail to bring the promised benefits as well as exceed planned resources and time frames. One reason for this is improper planning of the project, including failing to consider all relevant factors during the implementation of the project. This thesis collects factors that should be considered during automation implementations, identifying 29 different factors from the literature. These factors are grouped into three categories; objective factors related to the intended outcome of the project, system factors related to providing the automation technology, and user factors related to the users of the technology. By examining these factors, future automation projects can increase their likelihood of success. This thesis also examines which of the collected factors were considered in a recent customer service automation project implementation in the mobile games industry. The project’s primary purpose was to achieve cost savings and remove repetitive work. 21 of the identified 29 factors were considered to some extent in this case study. System factors were more important than user factors as 11 out of 12 system factors were considered, while only 5 out of 12 user factors were taken into account. Additionally, a new objective of removing repetitive non-valuable work was identified, which has previously not been seen as an objective in itself in literature.
Description
Thesis advisor
Halme, Merja
Banaeianjahromi, Negin
Keywords
customer service, automation, self-service, implementation
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