1 Introduction
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It is based on the ISO/IEC 33000 standard.
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It is focused on services in general, i.e. all types of services (and not just IT services).
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It is focused on improving Service Quality by improving processes.
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It defines a light and flexible Maturity Model specifically designed for SMEs in the service sector.
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It promotes the values of lightness, flexibility and adaptability when being applied in organisations. It does not impose activities, but rather suggests processes with which to guide organisational improvement. The objective is to provide the organisation with an improvement and learning process, and not that of carrying out an evaluation or obtaining a rating.
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It integrates characteristics from very representative service management models (EFQM, VeriSM, ISO/IEC 20000–1, ITIL and CMMI-SVC).
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It is focused on people and on the customer service culture.
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The framework has been evaluated by companies and practitioners from the service sector.
2 Related works
2.1 Process evaluation and improvement: ISO/IEC 33000
2.2 Process evaluation and improvement in service management
Characteristics | EFQM v2020 | VeriSM | ISO 9001:2015 | ISO 20000–1:2018 | CMMI-SVC v2.0 | ITIL v4 | FitSM |
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Organisational culture and leadership | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | Partial | ✗ | Partial | Partial |
People | Partial | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Partial | Partial |
Process improvement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Service quality | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | Partial | Partial |
Service culture | Partial | ✓ | Partial | Partial | Partial | ✗ | ✗ |
Sphere | General services | General services and IT services | General services and products | IT Services | IT Services | IT Services | IT Services |
Scope (Organisation) | All | All | Partially | All | All | All | All |
Process reference model | ✗ | ✗ | Partial | ✓ | Partial | ✓ | ✓ |
Process assessment model | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | CMMI | Partial |
Organisational maturity model | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | CMMI | ✗ |
Agile/Lightness values | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Partial | Partial |
Origin | Organisations | Digital transformation of organisations | Product and service quality | Technologies | Software | Technologies | IT services |
2.3 Service management in the sme context
3 LightSME
3.1 Process reference model (PRM)
Key Factor | Ref | Processes | Purpose |
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Administration | PM0 | Manage personnel/collaborators (workforce) according to legislation | To fulfil legal recruitment requirements |
PM1 | Manage incorporation, remuneration and dismissal of personnel | To have personnel contracting, remuneration and dismissal criteria | |
PM2 | Manage productivity and performance | To carry out productivity and performance measurements | |
Communication and team management | PC0 | Manage informal communication | To communicate the organisation’s daily activities |
PC1 | Coordinate and define communication criteria | To establish the transmission of the knowledge and formal communication of activities carried out on a daily basis with the objective of improving work performance | |
PC2 | Manage work teams (inter/intra communication) | To improve personnel’s communication and performance, fomenting teamwork and aligning the objectives with organisational performance and the business objectives | |
To promote the participation culture and responsibility among teams | |||
PC3 | Manage emotions | To work on individual, intra and inter-team emotions in order to improve performance | |
Training | PT1 | Provide a training plan | To train and capacitate people in accordance with the needs that arise |
PT2 | Facilitate development of professional career | To proactively capacitate the personnel for current and future tasks and responsibilities by means of professional training activities |
Key Factor | Ref | Processes | Purpose |
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Communication channels | CCh0 | Manage casual interaction | -To provide the end consumer with the service |
CCh1 | Manage contact points with customers/consumers | To define the means by which customers will contact the company | |
CCh2 | Manage communication policies | To make available bidirectional communication policies that will allow the standardisation of fluid interaction between the company and its customers and consumers | |
Needs and wishes | CN0 | Cover basic needs | To provide the services, covering basic needs without identifying or analysing new needs |
CN1 | Identify needs and desires | To define which methods will be used to identify the customers’ and consumers’ needs and wishes | |
CN2 | Manage and resolve needs and desires | To provide effective responses to the customers’ and consumers’ needs and wishes | |
CN3 | Satisfy customer and consumer | To provide services that exceed the customers’ and consumers’ expectations | |
Customer loyalty management | CL0 | Manage the gaining of customers | To administrate the attainment and retention of customers |
CL1 | Define loyalty strategies | To define and administrate strategies with which to attain customer loyalty | |
CL2 | Manage customer loyalty | To define procedures with which to implement the loyalty strategies and measure the results |
Key Factor | Ref | Processes | Purpose |
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Portfolio | GP1 | Define the service portfolio | To define a service portfolio according to the needs of the services |
GP2 | Proactively manage the portfolio and communicate it | To manage the service portfolio, aligning it with the organisational objectives, adapting to changes in the market | |
To define Marketing strategies (internal/external) in order to extend services and knowledge | |||
Compliance | GCo1 | Manage behaviour | To promote the desired behaviour of all personnel in and outside the organisation |
To define management conduct criteria, focused on leadership | |||
GCo2 | Comply with regulations | To function according to the standards established by the legal frameworks | |
GCo3 | Manage competitiveness and confidence | To manage organisational transparency and generate market confidence | |
GCo4 | Manage risks | To identify risks and mitigate the probability of their occurrence | |
Strategy | GS0 | Define differentiating ideas | To define ideas that will differentiate between the organisation’s services and those of its competitors |
GS1 | Define service strategies | To generate strategies that will contribute to achieving the organisational objectives, though the services provided by the company | |
GS2 | Manage service strategies and their financial aspects | To define an implementation plan for the service strategies | |
To incorporate financial aspects into the strategies | |||
GS3 | Manage organisational leadership | To define differentiating activities at an organisational level and leadership strategies in the market | |
To communicate and promote the organisation’s values from the inside out | |||
To implement the professional ethics aligned with the organisational code of conduct | |||
GS4 | Manage the commercial plan | To define and manage the business plan, which will make it possible to discover the competition and opportunities | |
To define and manage the commercial plan using the strategies in order to demonstrate the fulfilment of the services proposed | |||
To analyse markets and propose strategic competitive alliances | |||
Service culture | GC0 | Deal with the customer | To deal with the customer/consumer without conduct guidelines or attention policies |
GC1 | Define customer attention criteria | To establish behaviour as regards customer attention | |
GC2 | Establish a service culture | To define actions that will allow the organisation’s people, services and processes to develop, focusing on the consumer or end customer | |
Treatment and exploitation of data and
information (Digitalisation) | GD0 | Fulfil basic protection and data and information treatment requirements | To comply with legal requirements regarding the treatment of data, which are obligatory for all companies |
To define data protection policies | |||
GD1 | Establish minimum digitalisation levels | To establish basic computing tools with which to record data (calculation tables, text processors, etc.) | |
To identify technological channels for the promotion of services | |||
GD2 | Manage Global Digitalisation | To define organisational digitalisation protocols that will involve all the dimensions | |
GD3 | Define information exploitation policies | To analyse the data and information obtained from the various computing tools and detect opportunities |
Key Factor | Ref | Processes | Purpose |
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Design | SD0 | Devise services | To devise and provide services using own criteria |
SD1 | Create the service | Creation of services according to the Customers’/consumers’ needs, wishes and expectations | |
SD2 | Design the service and carry out tests | To carry out a service design process | |
To carry out service tests by simulating real and potentially probable situations in order to reduce possible errors | |||
Provision | SP0 | Process requests and provide the service | To receive service requests and provide the service |
SP1 | Establish a provision plan | To plan the provision of the service | |
SP2 | Measure the results of the provision | To obtain quantitative results regarding the provision of services that will allow corrective actions to be taken | |
Response and incidents | SR0 | Register complaints and incidents | To note down suggestions, incidents and/or complaints related to the service, but not make any changes |
SR1 | Manage changes to the service demanded | To adjust the current service according to incidents and customers’ or consumers’ requests if the continuation and provision of the service is threatened | |
SR2 | Plan changes and improvements according to customers’ needs | Proactively manage the changes and improvements to the current services | |
Propose new services |
3.2 Process assessment model (PAM)
Capability levels | Description |
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Level 0—incomplete | The process is not implemented, or fails to achieve its process purpose. At this level, there is little or no evidence of any systematic achievement of the process purpose |
Level 1—performed | The implemented process achieves its process purpose |
Level 2—managed | The previously described Performed process is now implemented in a managed fashion (planned, monitored and adjusted) and its work products are appropriately established, controlled and maintained |
Level 3—established | The previously described Managed process is now implemented using a defined process that is capable of achieving its process outcomes |
Process | SD2: Design the service and carry out tests |
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Purpose | Carry out a service design process using well-known techniques and methodologies Test the service by simulating real and potentially probable situations in order to reduce possible errors |
Activities | SD2.1: Create a customer journey of the services, detailing all the steps that the customers should follow during their experience with the service SD2.2: Create the service blueprint (customer’s actions, back-end and front-end activities, support processes), including the expected results (measurable) |
SD2.3: Prototype and test the services. Make decisions accordingly | |
Results/products | Customer Journey Map of the services Blueprint of the services Test protocol of the services Record of results expected and obtained Services tested and ready for implementation Portfolio updated |
Ordinal | Description |
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0 “Not achieved” | There is little or no evidence that the activities in the process defined have taken place. Less than 30% of the activities have been completed |
1 “Partially achieved” | There is some evidence that the activities in the process defined and evaluated have been carried out. Between 30 and 71% of the activities in the process have been completed |
2 “Fully achieved” | There is evidence that the activities in the process defined have been carried out. No significant weaknesses have been identified. Between 71 and 100% of the activities in the process are carried out |
3.3 Maturity model (MM)
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Immature Maturity level: at this level, the organisation implements basic PRM processes for service management in all its dimensions. The following specific processes are taken into account:
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Basic Maturity level: at this level, the organisation can provide evidence that it is implementing and managing not only the processes indicated in the previous maturity level, but also the following PRM processes:
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Intermediate Maturity level: the company can provide evidence that both the processes from the previous maturity levels and those shown below have been established (implemented using a defined process), and can assure that the objectives of the proposal are being fulfilled:
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Advanced Maturity level: the organisation can provide evidence that the following processes are also at the established capability level and fulfil their objectives:
4 Research methodology
4.1 Focus groups 1 and 2
Stage: Planning | FG 1 | FG 2 |
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Objective of the session and methodology | (a) Show the proposal to representatives from service companies (b) Work in small groups to carry out a detailed analysis of models comprising framework and validate proposed maturity model | |
(c) Define future evaluation of framework in real case study | ||
Duration | 120 min | |
Modality | Presence-based | Dual |
Participants | Total: 9 people. 3 organisers (1 main chair, 1 co-chair, 1 assistant chair for support and to record the session), 2 researchers and 4 specialist experts in business (human resources, services, marketing and market research) | Total: 12 people. 3 organisers (1 main chair, 1 co-chair, 1 assistant chair for support and to record the session), 6 experts from SMEs and 3 representatives from service sector companies with a macro vision (multi-national financial service, technological service and facility service company) |
Means used to record data | Recording (audiovisual), photographs, note taking |
Etapa: Conducting the interviews | FG 1 | FG 2 |
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Introduction | The main chair welcomed the participants Permission was sought to take photographs and record data The objectives of the session and the work methodology that would be developed at the meetings were described | |
Discussion | 3 sub-groups of participants were formed in order to analyse the reference and maturity models, paying particular attention to the processes seen in the previous session. This activity lasted 30 min | |
Debate (reaching an agreement) | Each group shared its observations regarding the model analysed. All participants then exchanged ideas and opinions together | |
Focused on refining processes and reducing maturity levels | Focused on recovering processes in maturity levels | |
Closing questions | Open and closed questions leading to validation and refinement of models | |
End of session | The chair stated the next steps to follow in order to validate and refine the framework |
Stage: Data analysis | FG 1 | FG 2 |
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With regard to writing the reports, the narrative style combined with illustrative figures and tables summarising the ideas of main characteristics prevailed in order to make the visualisation and understanding of the results more agile. The reports were later reviewed by the main researchers in order to validate them |
“The framework provides processes that are easy to understand and apply, without the need for external assessment, as occurs with recognised certification”.“Its application would assist SMEs to know what their current processes are, incorporate the processes required and compete with other companies in the market in better conditions, bearing in mind the fact that the majority of SMEs have few resources”.“The models taken as a reference in order to create the LightSME Framework are internationally recognised, but were created principally for large corporations from the world of technology”.“The requirements defined at each maturity level appear to be accessible and to suit the type of companies for which they were designed (SMEs)”.
4.2 Case study
4.2.1 SEIM
4.2.2 Design the case study
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The main objective of this CS is to validate the LightSME framework in order to verify that the proposal is effectively appropriate anduseful as regards addressing real-world problems or challenges, and can also be implemented to fill the gap identified in the SME context.
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The unit of analysis defined comprises all the company’s processes, which are focused on and organised according to the four dimensions proposed in the framework: Services, Customers and Consumers, People and Organisational Governance.
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The place in which the CS was carried out was at the company, where it was possible to discover the way in which it implemented and managed its processes and daily activities.
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The people who participated in the development of the CS were the management and personnel, who interactively participated by answering questions and providing evidence. The researchers also participated in order to coordinate and manage the meetings and to document the data obtained.
4.2.3 Development of case study
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Each process was described, along with its respective activities, and all the participants together verified its applicability and relevance for the company.
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Each activity was placed in a table and marked with the values: 0 “Not achieved”, 1 “Partially achieved” or 2 “Fully achieved” (Table 8), according to the degree to which it had been fulfilled and the evidence to support this (documents, tables, etc.).