Object models for customer relations in the front-office
Guido Dedene, Erik F. J. de Vries, Rik Maes · UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) · 1998
Front-offices are crucial in customer relations: these are the places where the customer services are specified. The specification of the services is an information-intensive process. The information about the services is on the other hand the basis for customer-relations databases. This paper present object models that relate the provision of customized services to the main instrument of the front-office: information. Five categories of front-offices are distinguished: ‘counter’, one-stop-shop’, ‘field and inside service’, ‘control room’ and ‘symbiosis’. The categories differ in the amount of service customization and in the structure of the information that is required to specify the service. The use of formal object models allows to examine the degree of complexity of the customer information (using complexity metrics). The paper unifies the categories into a reference model for customer-relation databases and front-office workflow systems. Finally they facilitate state-of-the-art front-office technology, including electronic customer contact and the focussing of mid-offices on the required information. In particular, the ‘control room’ type of front-office seems particularly relevant to modern customer relations. * All correspondence should be directed to this author ([email protected]) Object models for customer relations in the front-office