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Customer value discovery

Published on April 1, 2012   38 min
Please wait while the transcript is being prepared...
0:00
Hi. I'm Sue McKnight, Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning Resources at the University of Canterbury. I'm going to talk to you today about customer value discovery.
0:11
For the next 40 minutes or so, I'll describe to you the methodology that I used, that has been applied research that informed my the PhD entitled "Library Decision Making Informed by Customer Values". I'll give you the context of the research, why I selected that particular methodology, how the methodology gives you information to base decision making, and some conclusions around the use of customer value discovery to inform decision making.
0:45
I started this research in the late 1990s, and I've undertaken it in two university libraries, one in Australia and one in the United Kingdom. It was really aimed at trying to solve real life problems. These were around: changing expectations of customers with rapid technological change, introducing opportunity for new services and requiring a different staff mix., I also had the situation where I had to downsize both libraries at various stages. The importance of bringing the staff along with me for the change. I wanted a methodology that helped to engage staff and, therefore, enhance the chances that the changes that were going to happen, would be implemented.
1:35
While I had real challenges to address in my library service, it is good practice to understand what customers require and what their expectations are. The only way to find out what their expectations are is really to ask them. When you say, ask them, who were the them in a library? There are many customers and they have different requirements. It caused me to think about customers and library patrons and the way I managed in a far more professional way. But the other issue is that if you're going to do such research, you've got to have a commitment to actually do something with the information when you get it. Because to undertake this sort of research, asking customers about their expectations, the best way to lose their support and willingness to participate in research is if you don't actually do something with the information that you find.