AT&T Service Analysis - Research Paper Example

Service Marketing Assignment - case study ATT Xiaodong Guo S262122 Table of Contents Service Marketing Assignment - case study ATT Background 3 Services Framework 3 The service characteristics 4 Importance of these characteristics for the company 5 Competitors of the company 7 Value addition for the customers 7 Relationship between Perceived Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and loyalty 8 Service Delivery Process 10 Physical Evidence 13 Reference List 15 Appendix: 18 Background AT & T Inc. is the multinational corporate located in America dealing in fixed and mobile telephone as well as television services subscribed through broadband in United States. It offers customers a wide range of products starting from next-generation Television services to revolutionary smart phones (Steinbock, 2003, p. 179). Apart from this, they also bring sophisticated business solutions for their multinational businesses (Gehani, 2003, p. 246). Over the century they have been providing a long range of high quality, dependable and ground-breaking products and services for the consumer and exceptional customer care. The mission of the organization is to connect every people present in every corner of the world, everywhere they work and live and can perform better than anyone else (Tracy, 2002, p. 42). Services Framework When AT&T is placed under the first services framework, the organization comes under “professional services”, which signifies that the organization is in a region that requires high degree of labour intensity and high degree of customization and interaction. AT&T delivers sophisticated network services that are needed by businesses in order to compete efficiently and effectively as seen from the customers who are served by the company (Jussawalla and Taylor, 2003, p.235). The company also drives services that are network-based as well as other applications throughout its wide customer base making it better than its competition. The company offers its services in many areas all over the Pacific making it have a worldwide presence that requires a high number of employees. In it manufacturing plants for various telecommunication appliances and gadgets, the company also requires numerous numbers of employees since the plants are labour intensive (Guillén and Dahl, 2009, p. 143). High degree of labour intensity requires intensive hiring, training of the employees and employee welfare. All these factors lead to incurring of high cost for the organization. Moreover, a labour intensive business has high possibilities of getting affected by the strikes and other problems among the labours (Xueyi et al., 2013, p. 229). Therefore, it is essential for the organization to keep their labour and employees highly motivated and satisfied. AT & T is also subjected to high interaction and customization, which requires them to maintain quality in their services like providing high speed internet connection. Special care should be taken regarding the fighting cost and should provide prompt reply to the customer’s intervention. When the second service framework is applied to the company is depicting the features of “information processing.” It is described as intangible actions that are directed towards the assets under the possession of the customers. In case of this company, the services that they are providing does not always require the presence of the customers, the customers are required only when the service is initiated and can be undertaken remotely through internet, phone or mail (Saxena, 2005). The company is recognised among the leading global providers of IP based communication services to businesses while having the most dependable 4G LTE network in the country (Plunkett, 2009). Through its numerous hotspots at popular locations all over the world, the company’s customers are able to access more than a million hotspots on a daily basis depending on their roaming agreements. After the customers has signed the initial agreement with the company, he does not have to go back anytime he or she needs to add a service to the contract they are already using as the customers can actually renew and review their contracts either online or through calling the service centre. The service characteristics The service works has focuses on the difference between characteristics of product and services that has created limitations for the customers purchasing the amenities and the service marketer. A number of characteristics of the services have been identified that defines its uniqueness. The four characteristics that are widely discussed in the promoting work are heterogeneity, perishability, inseparability and impalpability (Regan, 1963; Rathmell, 1966; Shostack, 1977; Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1985). Imperceptibility is one of the main features of services and the concept was introduced by Regan (1963), who proposed that services are satisfaction, advantages or actions that are accessible for sale or come along with the sale of products. The degree of intangibility has direct implication on the ease of assessment of the services that can be done by the customers. Inseparability is the reflection of concurrent usage and delivery of services and it enables the customers in shaping and affecting the quality and performance of the serviceand heterogeneity is referred as the high inconsistency in the delivery of the services. Heterogeneity can be seen as problem due to the fact that services, which are labour intensive, are seen to fluctuate since they are delivered by different people whose performances can vary from day to day depending on their motivation level (Bock, 2010, p. 9). However, heterogeneity can be seen to provide opportunity to the organization in form of customization and flexibility in the services (Evanschitzky and Iyer, 2007, p. 19). Services cannot be carried forward or stored for the purpose of using it in future time. This suggests that services are highly reliant on on time. Perishability is important concern for the service providers, because if the customers do not get adequate services on time they would not wait and would be unsatisfied (Takata and Umeda, 2007, p. 165). Importance of these characteristics for the company The four characteristics of services are very important for AT & T. The services they are offering to the customers need to be felt by them because it is intangible and cannot be seen. AT&T has the ability to position itself as a credible enterprise class alternative for solutions that are more generic but lack integrated security protection, service level attainments as well as track record to assure the clients. It is important to remember that customers are the largest and most vital stakeholders for any business and thus for AT&T to be successful, it must be in a position to meet the needs of the customers presently while transforming the challenges that may be lying ahead (Enz, 2010, p. 68). AT&T should therefore strive to develop strong connections with the customers while connecting them with their world in a manner that is better that that offered by the competition. The employees are supposed to make the satisfaction of the customers their priority and the leadership team should set examples that will commit to put the customers first. The satisfaction of customers should also determine how employees and executives are remunerated so that they can be motivated to make sure that the customers will be satisfied (Hill, Brierley and MacDougall, 2003, p. 103). Customer services are personalised through the manner in which they are offered such as in different languages and in a various ways. This means that the employees have to be trained vigorously so that they can be able to improve on how to deal with customers. If there is a gap between the service delivery and the customer’s expectation then dissatisfaction among the customers is very obvious (Reid and Bojanic, 2010, p. 56). This in turn will result into loss of potential customers. AT & T provides services like VoIP services, internet and branded telephone. These services can vary depending on the network along with the people who are directly linked with providing the service. Hence, the heterogeneous nature of the business is high and they need to be careful regarding this aspect because it can adversely affect the business. Unpreserved nature of service provided by AT & T can bring negative impact on the business. If the customers do not get the service when they require they may be unsatisfied and eventually leave the business. This means that customer satisfaction will have to be considered throughout the products, services and locations as well as brands and it can be measured through customer surveys that will target both the former and returning customers. Since there is no particular measure of satisfaction as far as the customer is concerned, the company could use a mix of indicators to evaluate how the customers feel. Competitors of the company AT & T through its operating companies, affiliates and subsidiaries is the leading provider of wire line and voice communication services in the telecom industry of United States. The key products that AT & T offers include VoIP services, internet and branded telephone. It also deals in selling digital Television through the U-verse brandand the primary markets for the organization comprises Texas, Illinois and California. The community, business and governmental sector customers use their wholesale communication services, managed networks and conferences.and the top competitors of AT & T are Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile USA, Inc and Sprint Communications Inc (Ngwainmbi, 1999, p. 51). Value addition for the customers A report by the Federal Communications Commission has presented a report which suggested that customers can get nationwide free access to the wireless internet (Crawford, 2013). This report has created a wow and buzz in the market. The report has stated that such a position is possible because of the competition that is going in the marketplace of wireless communication. AT & T Inc. and Verizon are seen to dominate the wireless data market of US (Crawford, 2013). This has developed a duopoly and together they are accounted for more than two third of the total subscriber in US and most of the profit that is available in the industry. The other competitors, who are operating in the market, are seen to be small as compared to these two players (Crawford, 2013). Aside from the amenities and the products that the company offers to their customers, they have other value added services that are designed to strengthen the business operations of their clients and complement the services that are offered to the customers. AT & T Value added services enable to build scalability, performance, reliability and flexibility in the application services they are offering (Bidgoli, 2003, p. 168). The services that they offer are wholesale conferencing solutions, hosting, cloud computing, database services and signalling solutions, network recovery and security services. The services along with value added services helped in adding over three quarters of millions of subscriber that made the number of subscriber to reach to 106 million retail connections (Crawford, 2013). Relationship between Perceived Service Quality, Customer satisfaction and loyalty Perceived service quality signifies comparison between the expectation of the customers and the performance given by any particular service (Wankhade and Dabade, 2010, p. 29). It can be also defined as any discrepancy between customer’s expectation and perception. Customer’s satisfaction is defined as the evaluation that the customer’s makes regarding the business transaction (Ebner, 2013, p. 3). Service quality and customer satisfaction are related concepts since both the concepts conducts comparison between the actual service the customer’s receive and their expectation. The satisfaction among the clients is influenced by environment, price and service quality and service quality focuses only service (Blecker, 2006, p. 334). Thus, customer satisfaction is seen to be influenced by service quality, which is considered as one of the major factors. Customer satisfaction is the perception that the customers create through the consumption of products and services and service quality is the perception that comes from accumulation. Perceived service quality greatly influences the satisfaction of the customer, which in turn is seen to create a direct effect on the repurchase aspects of the customers (Rao, 2007, p. 148). Thus, it can be concluded that perceived service quality shares a positive relationship with the satisfaction of the customers (Rama Moahana Rao, 2011, p. 374). If the perceived service excellence improves then the customer satisfaction also increases so that the repurchasing conduct of the customers has a positive connection with satisfaction and thus, customer loyalty is directly influenced by the customer satisfaction (Villanueva and Hanssens, 2007, p. 45). Customer satisfaction occurs when the wants and needs of the customer are either met or exceeded, which in turn leads to customer loyalty. Customer loyalty intensifies when customer satisfaction escalates as when the customers are unsatisfied, they complain regarding the services and their loyalty decreases. Loyalty is an aptitude from the industry regarding the service quality and thus, there exists a close relationship between perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty (Ebner, 2013; Liu, 2008). With an increase in competition in the service industry, the perception of service quality has become progressively important and service quality can be identified as what determines market share, return on investment as well as a reduction in costs. In an environment that is increasingly competitive, service quality is important to corporate success and customer satisfaction leads to market share as well as profits. In order to study the relationship the five dimensions of SERVPERF are used and the SERVPERF scale is considered superior as the efficient scale in reduction of the number of items which are supposed to be measured by a half thus is integral to the measurement of service quality. The main dimensions that will be used will include: The quality of interaction: which will mainly focus on the approach, the trust customers have on the company together with the unique identification qualities that can be associated with it. Environmental Quality: It denotes the information technology tools, the equipment that is used by the company and the billing systems for the customers. Provisioning: This will mainly focus on sincerity of the company staff, the timelines they work with and the feedback support they give the customers. Communication: This will signify the quality of the call services, the geographical coverage of the services and the bandwidth that is made available. Value Added Services: they will include the services that will be included to the typical services offered by the company such as entertainment, financial services and educational services. Tariff: This will involve such attributes as the cost of the product together with the promotional offers that come with it. These five dimensions are most apt for the dimension of service quality and based on all these dimensions the questionnaire has been prepared (See Appendix). The most important dimension is the environmental quality since it explains more whether the customers are satisfied with the services and products they are offered and whether they are willing to continue being the company’s customers. The dimension also denotes the amount of effort that the company has put into making the customer continue to work with it. Service Delivery Process It is an end-to-end process, which communicates directly with the customers. It includes all the phases that a client experiences while co-creating the worth. The service delivery procedure starts with the interaction of the customer with the service delivery system of the organization and ends with the supply of the desired amenity to tem and finally the customer exists the procedure. Figure 1 Source: (Davis and Heineke, 2010) Service strategy: This is the very first step for designing a service delivery process that deals in recognizing and understanding the specific needs of the customers. The changing experience in retail has compelled the company to roll out new store designs, which cater to the customer’s demand to experience technology. This store is designed to provide the customers with extraordinary experiences at every touch points. Service concept: After the strategy has been framed the service concept provides link with the service delivery process. The service concept specifically provides the detail regarding the requirements of the customers, in terms like how they will perceive value that will make them satisfied. The needs that the organization has found in the customers were implemented through their new retail store, which has three interconnected areas. The Explore Zone can display all the firm’s devices while the Connected Experience Zone will showcase all related goods and services. Here they will also come to know about how the products and services work on the smart phones. The Community Zone will demonstrate to the clients how they can connect the accessories with smart phones and enhance their way of life (Roth, 2013). Service blueprints: This process flow chart is employed in planning service activities. This flow chart is an effective tool that shows the different steps required in completing the process. The proposed blueprint will provide a quantitative description of key service elements like time and processes pointing out both the events that occur in the time and place and the events that cannot be recognised by the users but are important for the service. The service blueprint will at one go depict the process, the areas of customer dealings and the customer’s perception of the indication of the amenity. Therefore, the emphasis is on the varying systematic layers which overlap in the service, from the layer of customer interaction as well as physical indication to one of internal interaction in the service production process. Figure 2: Service Blueprint Line of external interaction Line of internal interaction Physical Evidence Physical evidence is the setting in which the amenity is supplied and the customer interacts with the firm. The touchable aspect facilitates the communiqué or service delivery. In service marketing, physical evidence has an important role and in case of AT & T physical evidence is of great importance because they deal with the customers through their retail stores. It is the place of interaction and creates an impression about the service they provide (Zeithaml, et al., 2008). Package: Similar to the package of the tangible products, services also need to be wrapped and convey a message to the customers regarding what is inside. The servicescape is the outwards presence of the firm and is very crucial in creating the first imprint and setting the expectation among the customers. Packaging particularly plays a crucial role in creating expectation among the new customers as well as the newly established service organization. Thus, the new retail store that has been constructed by AT & T will serve as the packing and create impression regarding their service. Facilitator: The facilitator in the servicescape aids the performance of the person and this aspect deals with how the design of settings of the store improves the efficient flow of activities, making it either harder or easier for the employees to achieve their goals. The floor plan of the store of the firm where the customers can explore were designed keeping the perspective of the customers in mind. This store was itself interactional to the customers for their three zones. Moreover, the company has tosses out the traditional sales approach and has equipped the consultants with tablets so that they can interact better with the customers and this will intensify the degree of appreciation of the customers too. Socialise: The plan of the servicescape will facilitate both the clients and the workers in socialising with each other, in terms of anticipated relationships, behaviours and roles. For instance a new employee in the organization will be easily able to understand his position, from the office assignments, quality of office furnishing, and location relative to others in the office. In case of this organization the employees are very well aware of their responsibilities and socialises with the customers in their own ways. Differentiator: The design of the facility of the store will help them in differentiating the firm from their competitors. If a firm differentiates the changes in the physical environment of the firm will help them in repositioning and also attracting new market segment towards them. The changes that the company made to their stores can reposition their image among the customers in the telecom industry. The changed look will attract new customers and present a new perception regarding the services they provide. Reference List Bidgoli, H. 2003, The internet encyclopedia, 1st ed. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Blecker, T. 2006, Customer interaction and customer integration, 1st ed. Gito, Berlin. Bock, M. 2010, Governance Risk Management and Financial Product Development in Islamic Financial Institutions, 1st ed. GRIN Verlag GmbH, Munich. Crawford, S., 2013. Wireless Competition That AT&T and Verizon Need. Bloomberg [online] Available at [Accessed 15 November 2013]. Davis and Heineke, 2010. Service Innovation II: Designing the Service Delivery Process [pdf] Available at < http://www.summersoc.eu/summersoc2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Service-Innovation-II-Designing-Service-Processes-september-27-2009.pdf> [Accessed 15 November 2013]. Ebner, T., 2013. Services management: Conceptualizing and measuring customer perceived service quality. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Enz, C. 2010, Hospitality strategic management, 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J. Evanschitzky, H. and Iyer, G. 2007, E-services. 1st ed. Deutscher UniversitStäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden. Gehani, N. 2003, Bell Labs. 1st ed. Silicon Press, Summit, NJ. Guillén, A. and Dahl, S. 2009, Quality of work in the European Union, 1st ed. P.I.E. Peter Lang, New York. Hill, N., Brierley, J. and MacDougall, R. 2003, How to measure customer satisfaction, 1st ed. Gower, Burlington, VT, USA. Jussawalla, M. and Taylor, R. 2003, Information technology parks of the Asia Pacific, 1st ed. M.E. Sharpe, New York. Liu, Y. C., 2008. An analysis service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of commercial swim clubs in Taiwan. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Ngwainmbi, K. 1999, Exporting communication technology to developing countries, 1st ed. University Press of America, Lanham, Md. Plunkett, J. 2009, Plunketts e-commerce & Internet business almanac 2009, 1st ed. Plunkett Research Ltd, Houston, Tex. Rama Moahana Rao, K. 2011, Services marketing, 1st ed. Pearson, New Delhi. Rao, K. 2007, Services marketing, 1st ed. Dorling Kindersley (India), New Delhi. Rathmell J.M., 1966. What is Meant by Services? Journal of Marketing, 30, pp. 32 -36. Regan W.J., 1963. The Service Revolution. Journal of Marketing, 47, pp. 57 - 62. Reid, R. and Bojanic, D. 2010, Hospitality marketing management, 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J. Roth, P., 2013. New Retail Store Design Puts Customers at the Heart of the Experience. AT&T Intellectual Property [online] Available at < http://blogs.att.net/consumerblog/story/a7790410> [Accessed 16 November 2013]. Saxena, R., 2005. Marketing management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Shostack G., 1977. Breaking Free from Product Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 41, pp. 73-80. Steinbock, D. 2003, Wireless horizon. 1st ed. AMACON, New York. Takata, S. and Umeda, Y. 2007, Advances in life cycle engineering for sustainable manufacturing businesses, 1st ed. Springer, London. Tracy, B. 2002, Create your own future, 1st ed. J. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Wankhade, L. and Dabade, B. 2010, Quality uncertainty and perception, 1st ed. Physica-Verlag, Berlin. Xueyi, L., Peilin, L., Guangjin, C., Wei, L. and Xinxin, X. 2013, Chinese research perspectives on society, 1st ed. Brill, Leiden. Zeithaml V.A., Parasuraman A. and Berry L.L., 1985. Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 49, pp. 33-46. Zeithaml, V.A., Gremler, D.D., Bitner, M.J. and Pandit, A., 2008. Services marketing. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Appendix: I: Questionnaire Score as below: 1. Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree Interaction Quality 1. Excellent organization with modern equipment 2. Physical facilities unique identification 3. The trust of the company is high 4. Material associated with the service appealing to work with Environment Quality 5. The available IT tools work satisfactorily 6. Issues are handled sincerely and quickly. 7. The billing systems is fair and easy to understand. 8. Services are provided in promised time without fail. 9. Error free records are maintained for future clarification. Communication 10. The quality of the call services is satisfactory and clear. 11. There is wide geographical coverage by the network. 12. The data bandwidth provided reliable. 13. The employees deal with issues of communication earnestly. Value Added Services 14. Entertainment services are available for the willing customers. 15. Financial services are available for the customers who require them. 16. Educational services are made available for the customers who need them. 17. The value added services can be accessed easily. Tariff 18. The cost of the product is practical. 19. Promotional offers are made available for the customers. 20. The service costs are fairly charged. 21. The Tariffs are in the best interest of the customers of the company. 22. The specific needs of the customers are catered for by the tariff plans that are offered. Read More