Abstract

The emergence of digital technology, social media and ubiquitous computing in the 21stcentury changed customer behavior and created new possibilities, but also challenges, forcompanies offering their services. The new customer generation is more tech-savvy thanever before, and therefore places higher demands on companies to have well-designed experienceswith services that can be consumed through various channels. This study investigatesthese service environments to see if they are actively shaped to cross-channel ecosystemsby the companies or if the companies react to the demands of their customers. Furthermore,the goal of this thesis is to find out how the current theory of cross-channel userexperience can assist in formulating design strategies for service ecosystems. To determinethis, the authors conducted a theoretical analysis of the current IS literature and created,based on that, a cross-channel user experience design framework. Within a case study of aSwedish transportation company, company and user interviews, direct observations of theavailable service artifacts, analysis of documentation, and the design of the user journeyswere executed to assess the as-is ecosystem. On the basis of these results, it was proventhat cross-channel ecosystems are shaped based on user demands. The created frameworkwas applied to formulate a language of critique of the cross-channel user experience designof the underlying case study, and the framework was proven to be applicative to practiceafter adjusting it to its final version.