Liberating services customers: The 21st century challenge

Abstract

Liberating services customers is the business challenge of the 21st century. Many service organizations have organizational structures and processes that are better designed to control customers than to serve customers. Such structures and processes often result in poor services and sometimes they become disservices. Customers deserve to be liberated from such service structures and processes. Customers deserve better service! In this article, I examine four topics regarding liberating services customers. First, I explore a historical perspective on customers and on marketing. Second, I advocate enabling the customer century. Third, I explore customer co-creation and even technology-enabled co-creation. Fourth, I look at the implications of the customer perspective.

Keywords

• customers
• liberation
• and customer co-creation.
• Services marketing
• customer co-creation.