The goal of customer support is to help clients achieve maximum value in their services and products. Customer support is the public face of a company, which means that it is important to give the customer a positive experience and live up to customer expectations. Efficient customer support has become more important and studies show that customers who leave a company do so because of poor service. Customers' growing demands for higher quality and easier access to services means that companies must recognize the need to satisfy each customer. It is important that each customer receives the attention required and that customer needs are met quickly and flawlessly. The primary objective for an efficient customer support is to provide quick answers and solutions to achieve customer satisfaction. This master thesis aims to examine how the support and case management process can be improved for smaller software companies with customer support. The thesis deals with four issues: how should the support process be designed in smaller software companies, which important aspects must be considered in the support-handling process, how can a case management system contribute to a better customer support and what is the customer role in the management process. Case company for this thesis has been Medius in Linköping, which is a provider of process-related IT support. Interviews have been conducted with both employees at Medius and customers to Medius. The thesis has resulted in a framework and a recommendation for how efficient customer support should be handled in a small software company. To obtain an efficient customer support it is important that the client knows how the customer support should be contacted and what information is required. It should be possible for the customer to contact the customer support through multiple communication channels. The customer support has to work efficiently internally. It is important to prioritize, escalate and document tasks. Between the customer support and the customer, it is beneficial to have a satisfactory communication with regular feedback. Ultimately, it is also important to regularly measure and evaluate the customer support service in order to maintain efficient customer support. A case management system that supports the business is required for the customer support. The case management system is needed to solve problems faster and to provide the support with an overview of the business. A case management system also acts as a knowledge database with relevant information. This thesis work has combined existing frameworks and theories about customer support. This has been supplemented with interviews in order to adapt the framework to smaller software companies. An efficient customer support is achieved by using the authors' framework and recommendations. / Målet med kundsupport är att hjälpa sina kunder uppnå maximalt värde i deras tjänster och produkter. Kundsupporten är ett företags ansikte utåt, vilket innebär att det är viktigt att ge kunden en positiv upplevelse och leva upp till kundens förväntningar. Effektiv kundsupport har blivit allt viktigare och studier visar att de kunder som lämnar företag gör det på grund av dålig service. Kundernas ökade krav på högre kvalité och enklare tillgång till service har lett till att företag måste inse vikten av att tillfredställa varje enskild kund. Det är viktigt att varje enskild kund erhåller den uppmärksamhet som krävs och att kundens behov tillgodoses snabbt och felfritt. Det primära för en effektiv kundsupport är att ge snabba svar och lösningar för att uppnå kundnöjdhet. Det här examensarbetet syftar till att undersöka hur support- och ärendehanteringsprocessen kan förbättras för mindre mjukvaruföretag med kundsupport. Examensarbetet behandlar fyra frågeställningar: hur bör supportprocessen utformas i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag, vilka viktiga aspekter ska beaktas i supporthanteringsprocessen, betydelsen av ett ärendehanteringssystem samt kundens roll i supporthanteringsprocessen.   Fallföretaget för det här examensarbetet har varit Medius i Linköping som är en leverantör av processrelaterat IT-stöd. Intervjuer har genomförts med såväl anställda på Medius som kunder till Medius. Examensarbetet har resulterat i ett ramverk samt en rekommendation för hur effektiv kundsupport ska hanteras i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag. För att kundsupporten i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag ska fungera effektivt krävs att kunden vet hur kundsupporten ska kontaktas och vilken information som ska tillhandahållas. Det ska vara möjligt för kunden att kontakta kundsupporten via flera olika kommunikationskanaler. Kundsupporten ska i sin tur fungera effektivt internt. Det är viktigt att prioritera, eskalera och dokumentera ärenden på ett korrekt sätt. Mellan kundsupporten och kunden ska det finnas en tillfredställande kommunikation med regelbunden återkoppling. I slutändan är det viktigt att regelbundet mäta och utvärdera kundsupportens servicenivåer för att kunna upprätthålla en effektiv kundsupport. För att kundsupporten ska kunna fungera effektiv internt krävs ett ärendehanteringssystem som stödjer verksamheten. Ett ärendehanteringssystems behövs för att kunna lösa problem snabbare och för att ge supporten en överblick över verksamheten. Ärendehanteringssystemet fungerar också som en kunskapsdatabas med relevant information. Det här examensarbetet har kombinerat befintliga ramverk och teorier kring kundsupport. Detta har kompletterats med intervjuer för att anpassa ramverket till det mindre mjukvaruföretaget. Genom att använda författarnas ramverk och rekommendationer kommer en effektiv kundsupport att erhållas.

An increased competitive climate has enhanced the importance for companies to differentiate from other companies. Today, the customer support within service organizations are often disregarded as a source of value due to the focus on costs. Further, it has become more important to leverage the contact with the customer at all encounters. New technological advancements within Business Intelligence have also enabled companies to increase their competitiveness through improved decision support. The objective of this thesis is through a case study investigate how an insurance company could leverage its customer support as a source of creating shareholder value as well as how to apply trends within Business Intelligence for increased decision support. This was done through developing a conceptual model based on academic theory in order to provide a tool for analysis and development of a customer support. The research questions intends to investigate how an customer support can contribute to, and balance a focus on service quality, costs and sales in order to enhance shareholder value. A business driven approach was further used in order to understand how a customer support could leverage the emerging trends of Business Intelligence. This since the thesis also aims to provide some first insights into how to leverage the trends of mobile- and Self-Service- Business Intelligence within the customer support within insurance companies. The research emphasizes the need to have a holistic view of what drives value and costs with regard to the retention, growth and acquisition of customers when viewing the customer support as a source of value. The thesis concludes that both the trends of mobile- and Self-Service- Business Intelligence could enable an insurance company to gain new insights through utilizing existing internal as well as external data in order to conduct a more continuous and flexible analysis of important matters.

Providing context behind customer feedback remains a challenge for company’s who rely on approaching Customer Experience (CX) through standardized Customer Satisfaction (CS) metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES). Practical guidelines for monitoring CS throughout the customer journey are limited, creating a gap in academic research. This study addresses this gap by offering practical guidelines for CS, actionable insights, and alternative survey design strategies within the context of invoicing. Utilizing a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach guided by the Double Diamond design model, the study consists of four phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. From a service design perspective using qualitative methods, the study acquires and analyzes both organizational and customer insights. Synthesized empirical findings emphasize the need for a more comprehensive approach that targets specific phases of the customer journey utilizing a more customer- centric approach, paving the way for alternative methods that reaches beyond just simply measuring CS. Introducing the concept of a personal companion, the study presents a dialogical approach where surveys are experienced as ongoing interactions rather mere tasks. By highlighting the importance of contextualization, alternative survey approaches, and a dialogical approach, this research aims to guide company’s in managing customer feedback strategies.