TeleService a customer-oriented and efficient service?

Competition has become more fierce due to the rising globalisation of business markets. This especially affects the machine manufacturers. An FIR study [1] showed that by now approximately 75% of the machine manufacturers are working in a saturated or even degenerating market. New company strategies and aims have to be found in order to ensure a companies competitiveness. Of main importance is the delivery of product attendant services. In classic service concepts a large amount of product attendant services are provided by local establishments in the countries of sale, local co-operation partners or world-wide acting service personnel. These concepts bear a great financial, organisational and legal risk within them, which smaller and medium sized enterprises (SME) are not prepared to take. Therefore alternative service methods have to be developed. A constantly increasing number of innovative machine manufacturers are already using the new information and communication technology (Video-Head-Sets, Desktop-Video-Conferencing-Systems, Application-Sharing, White-Boarding, etc.) more effectively in the field of machine related services. These IT based services reaching over large distances are commonly referred to as TeleServices. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.