Customer lock-in in ICT services business: Designing and managing customer driven business model

The growing demand for ICT (Information and Communications Technology) services is often taken for granted in the industry. This is partially due to the good years of growth in terms of expanding customer base and industry size. However, the industry is reaching a point of saturation in growth. The customers have lots of options to choose from and firms have to compete for customers harder and harder. Normally the good services generate loyalty among customers. This paper presents a framework for understanding how the changing customer preferences should be taken into account when planning business in organic and rapidly changing network environment. The framework of customer driven business model is illustrated with relevant case examples of ICT services and is based on resent studies of customer value preferences and business models in ICT business. The theoretical foundation of the framework is in value network and resource based approaches. The paper presents both academic and managerial conclusions about aligning and developing firmpsilas business model for providing superior customer value.