Customer Involvement in New Service Development in Telecommunications

The term ‘customer involvement’ can be defined as ‘the processes deeds and interactions where a service provider collaborates with current (or potential) customers to learn about the market and alter organizational behaviour’ (Matthing et al. 2004). The purpose is to take maximum advantage of customers’ capabilities with the help of the company - understand and meet consumer needs but also provide appropriate conditions and instructions to them; stimulate their ideas and enhance the value proposition on the basis of user requirements; combine professional and customer knowledge to come up with new innovative concepts. The purpose of this book is to investigate this phenomenon and its application in the new telecommunication service development by finding out the success factors that influence it and viewing the innovation process from two different perspectives – this of customers themselves and that of the service provider.