ABSTRACT

This thesis was produced as part of the “Open by appointment” pilot by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution Kela. The aim of the pilot was to gather data on how service by appointment affects customer experience and customer behaviour.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the customers’ experience on the organization’s new operating model and the customers’ knowledge on the organization’s other access channels. An additional aim was to examine the customers’ possibilities of using other access channels, based on evaluation by customer advisors.

The theoretical framework of this thesis was formed around customer service in a public-sector organization, from the viewpoint of customer-oriented development of services. Customer service development was examined with the help of service design. Another significant part of the theory was related to improving and managing customer experience.

The research part of this thesis was executed as research and development work, and the selected approach was action research. The research was executed in the autumn of 2016, and the research methods used were questionnaire and structured interview.

Based on the research results, most customers felt that service by appointment was more comfortable than office service without appointment. The customers were satisfied with the service and especially liked receiving personal service without queueing. Based on the research results, it could be stated that some of the customers wanted personal service and some needed it, for instance due to health reasons. The customers were mainly familiar with the access channels in the organization, regardless of whether they had been separately notified of these in the service situation.