CRM system implementation and firm performance: the role of consultant facilitation and user involvement

Purpose The current research aims to answer the following question: To what extent and under what conditions does hiring consultants to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system produce performance gains for companies? To answer this question, this research delves into the critical interdependent roles of CRM consultant resources (CR) and user involvement (UI) in overcoming CRM’s technological and organizational implementation challenges. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative field study methodology was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. Cross-sectional data (N = 126) were collected from large client companies using CRM technology. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to estimate the significance levels of the structural model. Findings The findings indicate that the extent to which CRM consultants improve CRM system quality (SQ) and, ultimately, firm performance, largely depends on UI, which acts as the key facilitating mechanism to cope with application complexity (APP) and requirements uncertainty (REQ). Originality/value This research probes into the largely unexplored interactions between CRM CR, UI, APP and REQ. Using these parameters, this model successfully predicts CRM SQ and firm performance.

User Antecedents, CRM Implementation and Impact on Customer Outcomes in Jordanian Service Industry

The implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become increasingly important to scholars and practitioners over the last two decades. This study examined the relationships between user antecedents, CRM implementation, and customer outcomes. Its aims were to identify CRM user antecedents, explore the impact of these antecedents on CRM implementation, and examine the connection between CRM implementation and customer outcomes: loyalty, retention, and satisfaction. A quantitative method was employed consisting of a structured questionnaire. A total of 290 completed questionnaires were returned and analyzed with structural equation modelling techniques. The results indicated there were significant positive relationships between four out of five antecedents and CRM implementation; however, an impact of user involvement was not supported by the data. CRM implementation was also found to positively affect all three customer’s outcomes: loyalty, retention, and satisfaction. These findings are of practical and theoretical value to practitioners, customers, and policy makers

User Involvement: Effective Performance in Sustainable Social Housing

In the development of sustainable social housing, the residents, operating staff, and administrative staff - as users - face challenges in relation to a lack of involvement. The aim of this research is to contribute with results regarding these challenges. These contributions to the discussion are based on the results of a qualitative evaluation of sustainable social housing. The results suggest that it can be an advantage to utilise user experiences in the development of future sustainable social housing with a view to strengthening the user involvement process. The argument is that a greater degree of user involvement respects people’s experiences as being a contribution to the development of new projects. In addition, the research suggests that the early involvement of residents, operating staff, and administrative staff can strengthen the sense of project ownership and community, as well as the project’s social sustainability. It is claimed that user involvement can promote social sustainability, which is a significant factor, since the intention behind a project’s sustainability is that the residents will later have ownership and an interest in ensuring that it works in accordance with its intentions.

Technological and Digital Interventions for Mental Health and Wellbeing: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

Background: Research increasingly shows how selective and targeted use of technology within care and welfare can have several advantages including improved quality of care and active user involvement.Purpose: The current overview of reviews aims to summarize the research on the effectiveness of technology for mental health and wellbeing. The goal is to highlight and structure the diverse combinations of technologies and interventions used so far, rather than to summarize the effectiveness of singular approaches.Methods: The current overview includes reviews published in the past five years with a focus on effectiveness of digital and technological interventions targeting mental health and wellbeing.Results: A total of 246 reviews could be included. All reviews examined the effectiveness of digital and technological interventions in the context of care and welfare. A combination of two taxonomies was created through qualitative analysis, based on the retrieved interventions and technologies in the reviews. Review classification shows a predominance of reviews on psychotherapeutic interventions using computers and smartphones. It is furthermore shown that when smartphone applications as stand-alone technology are researched, the primary focus is on self-help, and that extended reality is the most researched emerging technology to date.Conclusion: This overview of reviews shows that a wide range of interventions and technologies, with varying focus and target populations, have been studied in the field of care and wellbeing. The current overview of reviews is a first step to add structure to this rapidly changing field and may guide both researchers and clinicians in further exploring the evidence-base of particular approaches.

Magnetometer heading estimation through online calibration for land navigation applications

For land navigation applications, the integration of the magnetometer with the combination of MEMS-INS and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) give excellent results. During land navigation applications, the magnetometer’s heading can also be used during the GNSS outages. The calibration of the magnetometer is indispensable to calculate its accurate heading. There exist several methods for magnetometer calibration. Some are offline and some are online calibration techniques. In this paper, a calibration method is proposed to estimate the magnetometer’s parameters through online calibration in run time. In this method, the reference magnetic field is calculated from the World Magnetic Model (WMM-2020). Moreover, reference roll, pitch and heading are provided from some other sources such as GNSS, Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS), or reference INS. For different roll and pitch sectors, calibration parameters are estimated and stored. These parameters are used for magnetometer online calibration during the field testing. Both the headings obtained by the online calibration and conventional lab calibrations are analysed. Furthermore, the heading estimated through the online calibration is autonomous and fast. Subsequently, there is no user involvement in this online calibration technique and no specific movements to the device are provided. The heading obtained by novel technique is as accurate as obtained by conventional offline lab calibration.

Guidance for Best Practices in Participatory Design Involving People with Visual Impairment

Today, a great number of people with visual impairment take advantage of mainstream technology via assistive technology. User involvement in the systems development life cycle contributes to addressing user needs accurately. This article presents practical strategies to facilitate participatory design approaches involving users with visual impairment. Both researchers and professional designers will benefit these practical strategies by using them as action checklists for preparing, conducting, and concluding a participatory design session ethically and responsibly.

Virtual Coaching for Rehabilitation: The Participatory Design Experience of the vCare Project

End-user involvement constitutes an essential goal during the development of innovative solution, not only for the evaluation, but also in codesign, following a user-centered strategy. Indeed, it is a great asset of research to base the work in a user-centered approach, because it allows to build a platform that will respond to the real needs of users. The aims of this work are to present the methodology adopted to involve end-users (i.e., neurological patients, healthy elderly, and health professionals) in the evaluation of a novel virtual coaching system based on the personalized clinical pathways and to present the results obtained from these preliminary activities. Specific activities involving end-users were planned along the development phases and are referred to as participatory design. The user experience of participatory design is constituted by the two different phases: the “end-user's perspective” phase where the user involvement in experiential activities is from an observational point of view, whereas the “field study” phase is the direct participation in these activities. Evaluation tools (i.e., scales, questionnaires, and interviews) were planned to assess different aspects of the system. Thirty patients [14 with poststroke condition and 16 with Parkinson's disease (PD)], 13 healthy elderly, and six health professionals were enrolled from two clinical centers during the two phases of participatory design. Results from “end-user's perspective” phase showed globally a positive preliminary perception of the service. Overall, a positive evaluation (i.e., UEQ median score > 1) was obtained for each domain of the scale in both groups of patients and healthy subjects. The evaluation of the vCare system during the “field study” phase was assessed as excellent (>80 points) from the point of view of both patients and health professionals. According to the majority of patients, the rehabilitation service through the solution was reported to be interesting, engaging, entertaining, challenging and useful for improving impaired motor functions, and making patients aware of their cognitive abilities. Once refined and fine-tuned in the aspects highlighted in the this work, the system will be clinically tested at user's home to measure the real impact of the rehabilitative coaching services.

P-OGC63 Care Close to Home in the Era of Centralisation

Background With increasingly centralised services for people diagnosed with OG Cancer we wanted to ensure our local service was maintained to provide the appropriate care and management by collaborating with the Specialist Sites and raising the profile of local services. Most patients remain local due to their disease stage, performance status or through choice. We wanted those patients who have tests and treatment on other sites to be able to have their care managed locally as much as possible and therefore only have to travel when absolutely necessary. We aim to facilitate and deliver a streamlined service. Methods Weekly Local MDT triages patients to Specialist MDT once appropriate information is available. Established local outreach clinic for specialist service. Ensures patients are known to specialist service from diagnosis. Patients will be diagnosed and managed locally unless input required elsewhere. Local CNS attends both Local/Specialist MDT as patient advocate and provides cross site communication and care planning. Local User Involvement- contributes to service development and feedback both locally and beyond. Local HNA at point of diagnosis to establish a bench mark. Ongoing emotional support is integral to the local service and continues wherever the patient is in their care pathway. Results Streamlined care with local and specialist team contacts. Improved communication between professionals. Identifiable contact for patients Rapid referral process - timely and appropriate discussions. Improved patient satisfaction. Direct access to specialist site from point of diagnosis. Improved patient advocacy across sites Effective use of clinic time. The right patient being seen at the right time in the right hospital with the right information. Local follow up enables integration of additional local services/teams into patient care More inclusion for local teams in wider service development. Local leadership within the network has ensured investment in local services and raised the profile. Conclusions Care is more streamlined Patients are assessed by the right person at the right time enabling more open communication Avoids unnecessary referrals Less travelling between sites Reduces patient anxiety Encourages user involvement- more personalised care. Promotes continuity of patient care Allows inclusion of local teams in decision making at specialist level Promotes collaboration and team working with flexible leadership amongst team members Improved job satisfaction by establishing a shared vision Upper GI Cancer delivery will continue to go through changes but with a motivated team who work together these changes can be implemented efficiently and effectively.

Best Practices for Living Labs When Studying Older Adults Living in Rural Communities

There are two core concepts that make living labs distinguishable: involvement of users as co-creators and evaluation in a real-world setting. Living labs increase the potential for product acceptance and adoption due to testing and tailoring with target users. Currently, there is a lack of a universally accepted guideline for best practices. The objective of this review is to identify the best practices of living labs that can be recognized by the scientific community and followed in future labs. A 5-stage scoping review, following Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, was used to map out the coverage of different aspects of living lab methodology. A systematic search for articles involving living lab framework and older adults published between 2016-2021, was conducted in seven databases. Nine articles were included after review, the majority of which were published in health journals and were from Italy and the United States. An overview of consistent user involvement in the innovation process, real-world testing vs. laboratory testing, and participant scope findings will be shared. Multiple rounds of user feedback, real-world testing, and a small but diverse participant group were the most successful in increasing positive sentiments about the products tested in a living lab environment. The lack of published articles on living lab frameworks studying older adults indicate a gap in the literature. Creating a universally accepted definition for living labs and guidelines for best practices will allow for scientific validity and comparisons of studies and may increase the use and popularity of living labs.