Table III

Evidence from the case interviews on the key characteristics availability, responsiveness and scalability

Evidence on availability
A: Roadside assistanceQuantity/duration: large nationwide network of external mechanics that cooperate and provide roadside assistance. All customers’ requests are always served
Time: available 24/7 for service requests
Location: the network of external mechanics covers the entire country		Interviewee 1: “When support is requested via the app or website, we always guarantee help. We can achieve this due to our nationwide network of independent mobile mechanics that have specific transport to provide roadside assistance. This network is well developed and large enough in scale to also meet demand in peak times”
B: Water supply serviceQuantity/duration: by law at least 3 l per person-day, but generally unlimited quantities and duration within boundaries of connection capacity
Time: available 24/7
Location: spread across the supply district, but only at connected water tap points		Interviewee 5: “We provide 24/7 drinking water of good quality and sufficient quantity, which is our legal obligation. Generally, we have this drinking water available 24/7, although, in very exceptional circumstances, due to planned maintenance or calamity/malfunction, this might sometimes not be the case”
Interviewee 2: “Everything is done to ensure that the customer can always consume, which is an essential part of our service. However, we cannot guarantee 100% availability due to external dependencies and maintenance. On average, there is a supply failure for around 20 minutes per connection per year. […] If a malfunction takes more than 24 hours to repair, we are legally obliged to provide at least 3 liters of drinking water per person per day by other means than the broken pipelines. This part is guaranteed”
Interviewee 3: “In order to assure 24/7 supply of sufficient quantity, we have the necessary redundancy in our assets”
C: Video on-demand serviceQuantity/duration: large number of different films available with sufficient server capacity, but limited play/viewing time after hiring
Time: available 24/7
Location: geographically, everywhere in the country with an internet connection. Physically, many (but not all) electronic devices		Interviewee 1: “Our customer experience is to watch any movie you like, any time, any place and anywhere. In other words, at the moment you want it, where you want it, and on what device you want it. This in contradiction to traditional TV, which is 1 film, only ‘tonight at 20:30, and only on TV. […] In our service, a customer can always choose from 2,056 titles”
Interviewee 2: “In our service, we aim that every device connected to internet should be able to access our video platform. In this way, we are available on as many devices as possible, ranging from smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs. We develop an app for every device and invest in the availability of the service”
Interviewee 2: “We offer a consumer experience that needs to be seamless as the customer expects the service to be available. However, we do not contractually guarantee this as we can suffer from external disruptions. Nevertheless, we aim to provide the best possible consumer experience and availability”
D: Alarm roomQuantity/Duration: Large pool of officers available and ready to answer incoming calls. Generally, it is always possible to call the emergency services
Time: Available 24/7
Location: Available everywhere within the country provided there is a phone connection		Interviewee 1: “The alarm room is always manned 24/7, but bounded by the number of officers that can respond to emergency calls, as there is a limited number of desks available”
Interviewee 2: “All alarm rooms in the Netherlands support each other. This means that when one alarm room is fully occupied with calls, new incoming calls are automatically rerouted to other rooms with officers available. This can happen in extreme scenarios, for example during a heavy storm”
E: Energy flexibility serviceQuantity/Duration: Sufficiently large pool of flexible electrical vehicles available to always meet upfront contractually agreed amount of available power for the maximum agreed duration of supply
Time: Available 24/7 during the contracted period
Location: Not relevant, as long as devices are connected to the grid		Interviewee 2: “If you place a bid, you have to ensure that you are able to supply it. […] Placing a bid is a sort of a contract that you have to deliver on if requested, but there is no guarantee that it will be activated”
Interviewee 2: “Our models predict the length of an electrical vehicle’s charging session and the related available flexibility for every car connected. Clearly, this is not sufficient because customers can of course plug in or disconnect at any moment. Therefore, we over allocate cars. For example, if we make a bid of 1 MW and, let’s say, we can achieve this with 100 cars, we will allocate more so that we have a reserve to cover cars connecting and disconnecting. That is, we can swop among the different cars connected – this is a safety margin”
F: Fire brigadeQuantity/Duration: Large number of fire engines and firefighters available
Time: Available 24/7
Location: Fire engines and firefighters available throughout the country, but more limited in rural areas		Interviewee 2: “As a society, we have invested in a corps that should be able to serve people at any moment. […] Generally, when looking at the fire brigades in the Netherlands, there is a huge overcapacity as we have established certain response times for all regions. The response time for this region is 15 minutes. […] These response times are set by societal expectations and political decisions, and has an impact on the size and coverage plan of fire departments across the region”
Interviewee 1: “This province has 735 voluntary firefighters, spread over various departments that can be called upon when needed. Further, there is one professional fire department with firefighters ready to go 24/7”
G: Tradesman matchmaking serviceQuantity/Duration: Network of tradesmen is not always sufficient to adequately meet demand
Time: Available online 24/7, but by phone only 0800-2200
Location: Service is available everywhere that has an internet connection, but limited availability of tradesmen (concentrated in larger cities)		Interviewee 1: “Our website is always available, 24/7. Customer can always submit a request here, which is then automatically sent to the tradesmen, who can decide whether to respond and accept or not. Further, our service can be requested by phone between 08:00 and 22:00 hours”
Interviewee 1: “Especially in the larger cities, we have a sufficiently large network of tradesmen. However, in some regions, the more remote ones, the number of associated tradesmen is generally insufficient to make a quick match with an incoming request”
Evidence on responsiveness
A: Roadside assistanceResponse time A: immediate. After requesting roadside assistance via the app, a message is automatically sent to all associated mechanics in the area
Response time B: 35 minutes on average, which is the time between a customer’s service request and a mechanic arriving		Interviewee 1: “A customer’s request for assistance (sent via the app) is automatically sent to a nearby local garage, who then assigns this request to a specific mechanic on the road. When this mobile mechanic accepts this job, a message is automatically sent to the app of the customer. From this moment, the customer can monitor in real time the location of the approaching mechanic”
Interviewee 1: “Important in relation to the guaranteed help is the time until help arrives. We never make hard promises on arrival times since these can prove difficult to achieve as there can always be incidents on the road like an unexpected traffic jam. However, of course we aim to arrive as soon as possible, with average arrival times of 35 minutes”
B: Water supply serviceResponse time A: immediate
Response time B: immediate
Water is supplied at the moment of requesting water by opening a water tap		Interviewee 2: “The only thing a customer has to do is to open the tap, and the water comes out immediately”
C: Video on-demand serviceResponse time A: immediate
After pushing the play button, the data download starts immediately
Response time B: 1-5 seconds
Seconds after pushing the play button the film starts (once sufficient data are downloaded)		Interviewee 1: “The customer journey is quite simple. Customers can choose from various films in the online app, select a movie, enter their e-mail, pay, and then press the play button
Interviewee 2: “The moment a customer presses the play button, the streaming servers will send small four-second chunks of the film to the device of the customer in real time and start playing”
D: Alarm roomResponse time A: few seconds
The time between a client starting a call and the automatic response asking which services are required (fire, ambulance and/or police)
Response time B: several seconds
The time between a client calling and connecting with an officer		Interviewee 1: “In principle, when calling the alarm number, you are initially connected with the alarm room of the region you are calling from. An automatic reply subsequently asks for the needed emergency service (ambulance, fire department, police), and subsequently connects with an associated officer”
Interviewee 2: “Although the caller is always connected with an alarm room, response times can differ in busy times. If response times by a specific alarm room are becoming excessive, the caller is automatically rerouted to another alarm room”
E: Energy flexibility serviceResponse time A: immediate
Due to automation, service processes start immediately upon request
Response time B: 30 seconds maximum
The upfront-agreed amount of MW should be provided within 30 seconds of calling		Interviewee 2: “As a flexibility provider, you have a time limit within which you have to provide the offered power. As an example, if the Transmission System Operator sends you a set point for 1 MW, you have to reach that full power within the upfront-agreed timeframe that is determined by your ramp rate. So, if your ramp-up rate is 20%, you need to reach 20% of 1 MW within 30 seconds”
F: Fire brigadeResponse time A: seconds
The time between a fire brigade receiving the alarm and the firefighters preparing to leave
Response time B: 10-15 minutes
The time between a fire brigade receiving the alarm and the arrival of the firefighters at the place of the incident. However, in rural areas, it might be longer than 15 minutes owing to limited availability		Interviewee 1: “On average, the processing time at the alarm room is 1.5 minutes before we are alerted. In the case of voluntary firefighters, they take about 7 minutes to reach the department, where they need up to 2 minutes to change clothes and start the fire engine. Then, finally, it takes time to drive to the incident, which partly depends on the distance”
Interviewee 1: “Generally, in 95% of cases, we arrive within 15 minutes of being alerted”
Interviewee 2: “If more firefighters are needed, they come from other departments in adjacent districts. This, however, requires longer travel times. Hence, we aim to anticipate rapidly in order letting other departments arrive as early as possible”
G: Tradesman matchmaking serviceResponse time A: immediate
After requesting a tradesman online, a message is automatically sent to all associated tradesmen
Response time B: <20 minutes
After requesting a tradesman online, the customer receives a reply within 20 minutes (but not always with a match having been made)		Interviewee 1: “We aim, with our large network of tradesmen, to match up a request with an appropriate tradesman as rapidly as possible. […] We aim to respond within 5 minutes to customers with urgent requests and also aim to provide a match within 20 minutes of an urgent request. However, this is not always realized for various reasons”
Evidence on scalability
A: Roadside assistanceQuantity/duration: limited in terms of quantity because a single mechanic with a standard repair vehicle with a confined set of tools provides the service. However, high in terms of duration, as the mechanic can take as much as time as needed to solve the problem, or eventually tow the car to the desired garage when onsite repair is not possible
Granularity: highly divisible in terms of time, but limited in terms of resources and services offered		Interviewee 3: “On arrival, the mechanic diagnoses the problem and provides the necessary help. This can involve various minor repairs, such as jump-starting the car or fitting the spare wheel. However, if the mechanic is unable to repair the car at the roadside, the car can be towed anywhere (within 25 km without any additional charge)
B: Water supply serviceQuantity/duration: high, as water supply can be scaled up and down easily within boundaries of connection capacity
Granularity: high because customers can receive the exact amount of water required for the exact required duration		Interviewee 3: “The amount of water a customer can get per minute is not unlimited but determined by the size (diameter) of their connection with our infrastructure, which is also contractually agreed. If a customer suddenly wants more capacity, this is not always possible”
C: Video on-demand serviceQuantity/duration: large but fixed number of films available to choose from and when hired a limited and fixed time to watch
Granularity: In terms of quantity not relevant, because one can only rent complete films. In terms of time, highly divisible, because one can start and stop a rented film as often as one wants, but only within the restricted viewing time		Interviewee 1: “Our customer experience is not the fact that we have movies, but the fact that customers can watch them in any way they like”
Interviewee 1: “The viewing experience, as we call it, starts from the moment a payment is made. From this moment, the customer has 30 days to start watching, and once they have started watching, the customer has 48 hours access in which they can pause or restart as they wish”
D: Alarm roomQuantity/duration: not relevant in terms of quantity, because each emergency call requires only one operator, but highly scalable in term time as the service lasts as long as is needed to gather all the important information
Granularity: Highly divisible in terms of time, but not in quantity		Interviewee 1: “Once a caller is connected, we immediately start asking questions and once we have a good picture of the situation, we will send an emergency service (e.g. police) out as fast as possible. In the meantime, the officer will continue asking questions based on experience and training. Once we have the feeling of having a complete picture and having asked all necessary questions, the connection will be terminated”
E: Energy flexibility serviceQuantity/duration: high; supply of flexibility can easily be scaled up and down within the upfront-agreed limits and time windows
Granularity: High, because the exact amount of flexibility (power) can be provided for the exact required duration		Interviewee 2: “Placing a bid is not a guarantee that you will be called upon to supply but, if the Transmission System Operator needs your power, they will send a digital signal that states how much power you need to activate. The communicated set point indicates the MW that you need to provide, which can be up to the maximum amount you offered upfront”
F: Fire brigadeQuantity/Duration: high, because the required resources can easily be scaled up by using fire engines and fighters from other neighboring departments and for the required duration to deal with the emergency
Granularity: Moderate in terms of quantity, because it can only be scaled in multiples of one fire engine plus six accompanying firefighters, but high in terms of duration		Interviewee 2: “The firefighting service is highly scalable, and with clear protocols. A “standard” house fire is dealt with by one truck. However, when there are casualties, two trucks might attend. A standardized set of circumstances is defined that indicates the number of fire trucks required and other potentially needed gear and specialists. If, on the spot, it is decided that additional fire trucks are needed, the number can be scaled up, and other departments called in”
Interviewee 1: “Although many management and command processes are standardized, the actual service provisioning, such as fighting a fire, always involves customization and improvisation, because all situations are different”
G: Tradesman matchmaking serviceQuantity/duration: high in terms of quantity, because a customer can make as many matchmaking requests as needed. However, not relevant in terms of duration as customers simply want a match with a tradesman as quickly as possible
Granularity: Not relevant, single requests are made, taking as long as necessary to find a tradesman		Interviewee 1: “We differentiate between three types of request: urgent requests, requests for tomorrow, and requests for further into the future”
Interviewee 2: “We constantly add new job categories and associated tradesmen to our service platform. Currently we already have various categories, and we will soon add a new category: floor specialists”
[ViewLarge]
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal