2012

Murtonen, Mervi; Jähi, Markus; Rajala, Arto

This report is a collection of research papers written in a three-year research project addressing customer value in security services. It consists of 12 individual papers and a summative introduction. In theoretical terms, the aim of the report is to present, analyse, and discuss value creation in business-to-business security services. From a managerial angle, the report aims at understanding of how security-service providers could better meet customers' needs and requirements. The research project behind these papers was designed to explore how customer value is present in current security-service provision. The purposefully selected sample was composed of 10 companies, all of which participated in the research project. Eight of the companies represented security-service providers, while the other two were customer companies, one a large private company and the other a public organisation. In addition to these two customer organisations taking part in the project, 60 other customer companies and dozens of individual end users were interviewed, for a fuller and more coherent picture of customer-perceived value in security services. The primary data collection method was in-depth interviews. Among the other methods used were online surveys, observation of service encounters, and various workshops with the participating companies. All the papers share the same purpose - to present, analyse, and discuss value creation in business-to-business security services - but they differ in the data on which the analysis is based or in the viewpoint, research method, central theme, or research question. As a result, this report proposes a specific frame of reference for understanding the prerequisites for value creation in one particular area of business to-business services. The summative analysis and interpretation of the papers' key findings were organised in line with that framework, following the structure of a content-process-context model. The conclusions of this report are presented after the main findings of the papers and address the following themes: 1) service-orientation of security companies, 2) value perceptions of customers and security-service providers, and 3) meeting of customers' various security needs. As an outcome of this report, a revised framework is presented, and its implications both for security services and for other business-to-business services are discussed.