Identify the front-room and back-room services for the following organizations. Could these services be improved by increasing or decreasing the degree of customer contact? By separating low- and high-contact services?
Hospital:
Front Room Services include but are not limited to the following: patient admission, drawing blood, administering medications, and surgical procedures.
Back Room Services include but are not limited to the following: cleanliness of the hospital, preparation of hospital food, running lab tests, billing insurance company’s.
I don’t feel like hospital operations can be improved by increasing or decreasing customer contact. Hospitals tend to keep the patients well informed of what is going on. If patients were to be more involved, I feel that would slow the process down. Hospitals should be a high-contact services, since the situation could be life or death. The situation could also require continuing care.
Trucking firm
Front Room Services: packing of goods, pickup goods, delivering goods, paying for company’s services
Back Room Services: storage of goods, truck maintenance and repair, facilities maintenance
From my experience, getting involved with movers while they are working slows the process down. So I would say that decreasing customer contact would improve services. When the movers first arrive, establish the plan and then get out of their way. Delivery companies are mostly low-contact as it is, so I don’t feel like increasing the customer contact would benefit the process.
Grocery store
Front Room Services: Cashiers, baggers, deli, bakery, pharmacy,
Back Room Services: Re-stocking of products, inventory of products, delivery of products
Grocery stores can benefit greatly by having a high level of customer contact. By knowing what the customers want they can ensure to keep the product in stock. Costco is a company that has a