O papel desempenhado por diferentes canais no suporte de processos de prestação de serviço multi-canal

: o caso Optimus

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is to enhance the understanding of the role played by different channels in support of multichannel service delivery processes, in particular, to investigate i.) the extent to which the role of each service channel differs across different categories of service, ii.) to what extent the role of each channel differs across different stages of service delivery (specifically stages “Pre-Contract”, "Contract" and "Post-Contract") and iii.) suggest possible explanations for the different roles played by the channels. The research focuses on one of the three major mobile telecommunications operators in Portugal, Sonaecom – Serviços de Telecomunicações, S.A. (Optimus mobile network). To meet the objectives, the adopted research method was the case method because the research is exploratory in nature and this method allows the investigator to observe a phenomenon in its natural environment. All the information was collect using multiple sources of evidence in order to provide credible and representative information. After reviewing the categories of services, it was concluded that the role of each channel differs across the categories of service, with the exception of the channel "Loja Própria" (agencies) that provides increased provision of customer service among the categories. Some reasons that explain the values found in this channel can be, among others, the customer feeling safer (the client knows that can satisfy is own need), bureaucratic (eg. customer's needs have to sign documents), questions of local proximity, risk issues (eg. customer prefers to be the assistant to configure / activate the service), access issues (eg. customer can not get Internet access) and lack of knowledge / information service. Later, it was possible to determine at each stage of the service that the role of each channel, after channel "Loja Própria", differs depending on the stage of service under review. In phase "Pre-Hiring" is the channel "Internet" that delivers on average increased provision of customer services (eg. possibility of customer search for information about all Optimus services), during the "Hiring" phase it is the channel "Telefone Cliente Optimus - Automático" (eg. customer as possibility to enable and configure many of the services offered) and at the phase "Post-Hiring" is the channel "Telefone Cliente Optimus - Personalizado" (eg. possibility of customer contact Optimus assistant to clarify any questions or get information on services purchased). Are presented the limitations encountered during the preparation of the work and suggests avenues for future investigations.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rui Sousa (Supervisor)