Service Chain Management: Technology Innovation for the Service Business

Service chain management enables service organisations to improve customer satisfaction and reduce operational costs. In this book, Christos Voudouris and his BT colleagues together with experts from industry and academia present the latest innovations and technologies used to manage the operations of a service company. The viewpoints presented are based on the latest research as well as practical experience from BT, one of the largest European service providers. Service chain management is looked at both from the enterprise perspective and from the standpoints of the service professional and customer. The focus is on real-world challenges and how technologies can be used to overcome practical problems in a "don’t just survive, thrive!" approach. The unique combination of technologies, experiences and systems, looked at from the different perspectives of service providers and users, makes this an indispensable read for managers and system architects in the service industry.

Christos Voudouris and his co-authors are leading BT’s R&D in service and network optimisation. The team was formed in the mid-1990s and worked on developing technologies for the company's pioneering Work Manager system, which by 1998 was saving the company $150 million a year by automating and optimising the processes related to the company's extensive field service operations.

Technologies developed by the authors have also been incorporated in two spin-off companies and in software products from BT Global Services and others; they are currently used and benefiting in service companies world-wide. The authors are all recognised authorities in the subject of service optimisation, having won several national and international awards for their work from leading organisations such as INFORMS, the British Computer Society, and The Institution of Engineering and Technology.