SERVICE INNOVATION — DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

THE SERVICE INNOVATION PROCESS

We employ a broad Service Innovation Process that combines elements of our Emergent NPD Process with a series of key Service Design Steps (some of which draw from our Experience Design practice).   We use this process for the research, conceptualization, definition, design, development, and delivery of each new service innovation.   This ensures that a structured and systematic approach is followed, and that all of the work is carried out in an effective and holistic manner.

Within the broader Service Innovation Process, Emergent NPD Phases 1, 2, and 3 are completed first, and then the work of Phase 6 is undertaken concurrently with the Service Design process.

Phase 1:   The Context — Characterizing the Market Environment

Phase 2:   The Insights — Discovering User Needs

Phase 3:   The Strategy — Speaking to the Market

Phase 6:   The Plan — Crafting the Go-To-Market Strategy

THE SERVICE DESIGN PROCESS

Our Service Design Process involves the following seven steps:

1. Create a framework definition for the service model.
2. Create a service experience & blueprint design for the service delivery.
3. Define the service augmenters and how they will be used.
4. Test, validate, and refine the service model and its SX Design / Blueprint.
5. Document the final service model, including the final framework definition, SX Design, and Service Blueprint
   (this documentation is to be used for training purposes).
6. Support the training of Trainers who will ultimately train those who are to deliver the new service.
7. As needed, support the roll-out of the service to help monitor its results, and help adjust it further if needed.

Each of these steps are explained in further detail below.

We manage the process of moving from one phase or step to the next using this Service Innovation Process.   These phases and steps are carried out sequentially but are left ‘open’ so as to integrate any new insights that are gained throughout the process.   In particular, the strategy work of Phase 3 is a ‘living’ artifact that continues to evolve as it is informed by the subsequent design work.

SERVICE EXPERIENCE & BLUEPRINT DESIGN

Subsequent to the creation of a framework definition, we develop a service experience and service blueprint design for the new service.   These get layered on top of the framework definition.   This activity is the real core of creating an effective, lasting brand experience for the service recipients.   Creating a winning SX Design and Service Blueprint are to a service offering what ‘engineering’ is to a product offering… they establish in clear detail how the service is to be delivered and received and set in motion the actions that will ultimately determine how effective this service is at achieving its objectives.

Our approach to SX Design & Service Blueprinting takes the following steps:

1. Use Storyboarding to capture the flow of the new service experience across each of its key touchpoints and action points.
2. Map out the service delivery process into a detailed process flow (blueprint) with discrete steps and key outcomes at each touchpoint.
3. At each step in the delivery process, define and document the customer experience in as much detail as possible…
• What initiating action does the recipient undertake and why?   What is their motivational trigger, expectations, and incoming frame of mind?
• What does the deliverer do and what happens as a result?
• What are the recipients' possible perceptions and subsequent reactions to this? (cognitive task analysis).
• Do these meet the desired objectives of that step in the best possible way?
4. Similarly, at each step in the delivery process, define and document the organization's experience in as much detail as possible…
• What are the time durations allowed or desired for each step?
• What artifacts and evidences are associated with each step?
• What front-stage worker actions and supporting technologies are required to deliver that step?
• What back-stage worker actions and interactions are required to deliver that step?
• What back-stage support processes are required to deliver that step?
• What a priori planning processes are required to deliver that step?
• What specific policies and regulations govern the delivery of that step?
• What specific metrics and/or KPIs will be used to assess the delivery of that step and the extent to which it did or did not achieve its outcome objectives?

The end result of this exercise is a documented SX Design and Service Blueprint that creates the best possible brand experience while achieving the desired outcomes of the service.

More detail about our approach to SX Design can be found in our Experience Design Process.   Note that we are not concerned here with designing the entire customer lifecycle, but rather only those touchpoints that pertain directly to delivering this service.

To facilitate the first part of this work, we use the Legacy Innovation CX Journey Map (CXJM), a model capturing the customer's perceptions, actions, and reactions at each touchpoint of the service, as well as the front-stage and back-stage actions and domains involved in delivering those touchpoints.

To facilitate the second part of this work, we use the Legacy Innovation Service Blueprint (SBP), a tool that models, in detail, the flow of internal activities and interactions happening for the delivery of this service and each of its touchpoints.

VALIDATION & REFINEMENT

In this phase, we test the service model and its SX Design / Service Blueprint in order to learn how well it achieves its intended outcome and result.   From these learnings, we refine it further to ensure it achieves those outcomes and results in the most optimal manner possible.

Our validation and refinement process employs the following eight steps:

1. Identify and prepare a Test Delivery Team that is a representative cross-section of the actual deliverers.
2. Identify and prepare a Test Subject Group that is a representative cross-section of the actual recipients.
3. If necessary, create a simulated environment in which to test the service.
4. Using the Test Delivery Team, practice the service delivery process on the Test Subject Group in the simulated environment (if used).
5. From this, make an assessment of how well the service works — which parts of it work well, and which parts do not.
6. Seek and integrate the Test Subject Group's feedback into the service delivery process.
7. Revise the service design (framework definition / SX design / service blueprint) as needed per these new insights.
8. Repeat this exercise until the service design has been well ironed out, with all of its details and minutia thoroughly considered and addressed — including contingency ‘exit’ steps if and where needed.

Often, so as to avoid developing a ‘learning bias’, a second, and even third, Test Subject Group (and in some cases even a fresh Test Delivery Team) will have to be identified and prepared in order to facilitate subsequent rounds of service delivery testing.

TRAINING

As desired, we can help with the training process for training your Lead Trainers.   In this capacity, we will support your team in a variety of ways, from observation and coaching to delivery of the training material where desired.

What is key here is that we have been intimately involved in the definition, design, development, testing, and refinement of this new service, such that we understand the subtleties of what you are attempting to accomplish here — including the overarching brand experience associated with the service.   We therefore work to ensure that all of these aspects come through in the final delivery of the service.