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The article focuses on cross-sectoral analysis concerning services, especially ICT services, flowing from China to European manufacturing. The aim of the study is to analyse Sino-European relations in terms of ICT servicification. The article attempts to answer the following questions: does China’s relationship with Europe in terms of the servicification of manufacturing align with global servicification trends? Have global economic shocks, such as decoupling policies, diminished the flows of Chinese ICT services in European advanced manufacturing sectors?

This study employed input–output models to analyse the increasing role of China as a supplier of ICT services to European manufacturing. It also identified the industries that are most dependent on Chinese ICT services.

The analysis highlights the increasing reliance of European manufacturing on Chinese ICT services, with a notable rise across both Western Europe and CEE. This dependency is particularly strong in advanced sectors such as automotive and electronics, and there is no evidence of decoupling from China, even amidst global shocks or geopolitical tensions like the Trump presidency. Additionally, the BRI had limited direct impact, as the servicification trends appear driven more by broader globalization processes.

The study investigates all European countries and their manufacturing sectors’ reliance on Chinese services. It concentrates on services related to high technology, specifically ICT. Moreover, the previous research has focused on servicification of manufacturing, in general, neglecting industry-specific analysis. It contributes to the literature by providing insights into the relationships between developing and developed economies in terms of GVCs in the context of digital servicification and decoupling conditions.

In the open and distance learning (ODL) system, widely scattered learners across various age groups often feel isolated. New-age media-enabled co-creation can help reduce this isolation. However, fostering collaborative academic engagement to break this isolation presents challenges for ODL institutions. Therefore, understanding the perceptions of the ODL teachers and learners on this issue is essential.

The study adopted the triangulation method, collecting primary data from 198 learners at Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU). A focus group discussion with members of the academic staff provided qualitative insights. The instrument consisted of 23 statement items and was statistically analyzed using factor analysis, one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests with SPSS version 26.0.

Collaborative academic engagements were found to be significantly influenced by differences in the perceptions of learners across age groups towards the academic delivery process and new-age media platforms. Various dimensions like learner genuineness and effectiveness of support services also have implications for reducing isolation.

This study opens new avenues in the literature on co-creation and new-age media platforms in the context of ODL. This provides useful insights to educators on breaking isolation among the learners and involves them in the academic processes. The human approach as always will remain enduring.

This study aims to propose an architecture and presents the implementation of a unified chatbot that faces the challenges of heterogeneous communication channels. This approach enables the interaction with the chatbot to be carried out over multiple communication media on a single platform.

The chatbot was embedded in a unified communications framework. Furthermore, it has been developed and tested using the information and communications technology (ICT)Core platform. Three test scenarios have been considered in the context of a digital marketing company, which include the use of multiple channels such as text, audio and e-mail. Usability and empirical tests were performed to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.

The results indicate that the proposed model improves the completion rate and enables the chatbot to interact with the customer by capturing information over multiple channels. The findings also reveal that digital marketing organizations can use a unified chatbot in their marketing campaigns, which contributes to improving the quality of customer interaction, message personalization and continuous learning throughout the process.

While the use of a chatbot is a relatively common practice among companies, its integration into unified communications networks is an emerging topic. Proposals for integration into a unified communication channel have mainly focused on access to the same account and conversations from multiple devices or access platforms. This approach, while useful, does not allow for the integration of information from multiple sources. Alternatively, an integrated architecture is suggested in which a chatbot obtains knowledge from multiple sources and uses it to increase the quality of communication with the customer.