Exploring possibilities to exploit QFD method in telecommunication service design: the case of business customer

Satisfaction of customer requirements with proper telecommunication service design is a challenging for the operators. In the core of the problem is the question how to relate engineering characteristics of a service with customer desires in order to offer a solution that sets a balance between the demand and the supply side. This is particularly challenging in the case of business customers where predefined solutions, often offered by the telecommunications operators, may fail to fulfill customer's expectations and make vulnerable the operator's competitiveness. In this paper, we evaluate a method for service design built upon listening to the voice of customers, Quality Function Deployment (QFD). Using L3VPN service design as a case study, we go through the main steps of QFD implementation and offer signposts for successful implementation.