Core services and supporting services

Core service s deliver the basic outcomes desired by the customer. They represent the value that the customer wants and for which they are willing to pay. Core services anchor the value proposition for the customer and provide the basis for their continued utilization and satisfaction. Supporting service s either enable or enhance the value proposition. Enabling services are basic factors and enhancing services are excitement factors.

For example, the core service of a bank could be providing financial capital to small and medium enterprises. Value is created for the bank’s customer only when the bank can provide financial capital in a timely manner (after having evaluated all the costs and risk s of financing the borrower). The supporting services could include the aid offered by loan officers in assessing working capital needs and collateral, the application processing service, flexible disbursement of loan funds, and the facility of a bank account into which the borrower can electronically transfer funds. The credit-reporting service that the lending department utilizes for evaluating credit-reporting, may be a core service provided to the loan officers by internal or external service provider s. It is not a supporting service to borrowers because they are not its users. Supporting services for the loan officers could include a Service Desk that provides technical support for the credit reporting service, email and voice mail. These services support the outcome of approving loans to credit-worthy customers in an efficient and timely manner, compliant with all policies, procedure s and regulations.

In most markets, supporting services will either provide the basis for differentiation or represent the minimum requirement s for operation. As excitement factors, enhancing services provide differentiation. As basic factors, enabling services only qualify the provider for an opportunity to serve customers. Enabling services are necessary for customers to utilize the core service effectively. Like basic factors, customers take their availability for granted and do not expect to be additionally charged for the value that such services provide. Examples of commonly offered enabling services are help desk, payment, registration, and directory service s.

Examples of enhancing services are harder to provide because they tend to drift with time towards being subsumed into the core service or into becoming an enabling service, depending on the customer segment and market space. In the lending service example, the bank could provide a pre-approved banking card with which small business owners can make capital purchases and cover other business expenses. The bank can also provide a comprehensive online suite of Financial Management tools that allows the borrower to manage working capital and flow of funds connected to the loan account.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14