News items
Find out what the Alliance has been working on:
'Using AI to Track How Customers Feel — In Real Time' published in the Harvard Business Review
The paper 'Using AI to Track How Customers Feel — In Real Time' by Mohamed Zaki, Janet R. McColl-Kennedy and Andy Neely has been published in Harvard Business Review.
Industry Day 2020 | What we learnt
What is the future of services in the new pandemic-driven era? This was the topic explored at our 2020 Industry Day by senior executives from L'Oréal, Microsoft Research, Manchester United and start-up, Fairjungle.
Understanding business models in the construction sector
What’s standing in the way of offsite manufacturing? For decades, the construction sector has been hailing it as the next big thing but we have yet to see it really taking off. Why is that, when the technologies and processes already exist? Dr Zakaria Dakhli believes it is due to a fundamental incompatibility between business models and it is only when this has been fully understood that the long-awaited transformation can take place.
A machine learning approach to quality control
Most of the products we take for granted contain huge numbers of components assembled in multiple stages by different manufacturers. Quality control is vital throughout the assembly process with rigorous testing required at every step.
Digital twins: driving business model innovation
For B2B firms struggling to reap the rewards of digitalisation, could digital twins be the way forward? In this article, CSA's Dr Erika Pärn and colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute and Technische Universität in Dortmund, explore the relationship between this emerging technology and business model innovation.
Making business model innovation happen: the Business Model Cohesiveness Scorecard
Digital transformation is failing to live up to its hype, at least as far as productivity gains are concerned. If, as research suggests, a lack of business model innovation is the main culprit, we need a way of making it happen. Dr Chander Velu thinks a balanced scorecard approach could be the answer.
Managing customer experience through a systematic approach to data analytics
We all know what a positive – or negative – customer experience feels like: a rush of pleasure or teeth-grinding frustration. Firms are acutely aware of the importance of how we feel – and how that translates into long-term loyalty – but feelings are a difficult and complicated thing to measure at scale.
Blog | Has COVID-19 Invented the 10X Supply Chain?
Surendra Kancherla, Principal Architect - Digital Technologies, at CSA partner, HCL, says that COVID-19 is forcing firms to look afresh at their supply chain capabilities.
Insight | Business model innovation for digital twins in the construction sector
At the Cambridge Service Alliance's most recent Community of Interest, Dr Erika Pärn considered the development of digital twins in the construction sector: the challenges it faces and whether android operating systems could provide a useful roadmap for business model innovation.
Generate revenue from digital platforms
According to Shep Hyken: "Customers are smarter than ever because they're experiencing great service from certain brands, and those rock-star brands are setting the bar higher for everyone else." In this white paper we explore the 'customer experience paradox' and how firms can use digital platforms to overcome it.
Unlocking the secrets of customer loyalty
Customer retention plays a critical role in a firm's long-term sustainability. Until recently, however, firms have tended to rely on one-dimensional survey techniques to measure their customers' loyalty. This white paper shows how machine learning can help overcome these limitations.
Driving business model transformation
A new white paper from the Cambridge Service Alliance and HCL Technologies considers how the development of a digital thread is vital for business model transformation.
Partner blog: Pandemic-proof: Building a crisis-resistant organizational culture and technology core
Sachin Bajaj, Senior Vice President, Digital & Analytics at HCL Technologies, explains why coronavirus - by forcing organisations to create a remote working environment at speed - could turn out to be the spur they need to realise the benefits of digitalisation.
Mirror, mirror on the wall - who is the most successful of them all?
David Díaz, Assistant Professor at the University of Chile and Visitor at the Cambridge Service Alliance has been using machine learning to uncover bias in the way we respond to the shape of people’s faces.
Inside neural networks
Cambridge Service Alliance doctoral student, Tim Pearce, explains how his work is contributing to advances in neural networks and how they are starting to help organisations make better decisions.
Do you know what your customers really think about you?
Research carried out by the Cambridge Service Alliance has shown that widely used methods for gauging customer satisfaction – such as ratings surveys and Net Promotor Scores – do not really tell you what your customers are thinking.
Blockchain: driving productivity, traceability and customer experience in supply chains
Dr Veronica Martinez, Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Senior Researcher at the Cambridge Service Alliance, working with colleagues at Caterpillar, shows how blockchain can deliver significant supply chain benefits.
New Paper - Digital transformation: harnessing digital technologies for the next generation of services
Check out our recent commentary paper published at the Journal of Services Marketing
The future of digital services and platforms
Cambridge Service Alliance Community of Interest Meeting - April 2019
New Paper: Servitization: A contemporary thematic review of four major research streams
This study identifies the key themes and research priorities in servitization literature over thirteen years from 2005 and 2017, based on four major research streams (general management, marketing, operations, and service management).
New paper - Redistributed Manufacturing and the Impact of Big Data: A Consumer Goods Perspective
This paper builds a conceptual framework to explore whether big data combined with new manufacturing technologies can facilitate redistributed manufacturing (RDM).
HCL joins the Cambridge Service Alliance
HCL joined the Cambridge Service Alliance as a strategic digital services partner.
First Community of Interest Meeting 2019
In collaboration with CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University, Sweden, the first Community of Interest meeting took place on the 4th April 2019.
2018 Robert Johnston Award
Congratulations to Mohamed Zaki, Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy and co-authors for receiving the 2018 Robert Johnston Award of the Journal of Service Management
Webinar on High-Value Manufacuring (HVM)
In this webinar, Luisa Huaccho Huatuco presents the Alliance February 2019 paper on High-Value Manufacturing.
February 2019 Paper - High Value Manufacturing (HVM) in the UK: Case studies and focus group insights
High Value Manufacturing (HVM) in the UK: Case studies and focus group insights by Luisa Huaccho Huatuco, Veronica Martinez-Hernandez, Thomas F. Burgess and Nicky E. Shaw
February 2019 Webinar - Business Ecosystems Mapping
In this webinar, Florian presents the Alliance January 2019 paper on Business Ecosystems Mapping.