6 Design Management Review Winter 2008

E D I T O R ’ S N O T E S

It’s All About Service

I must be getting old, because it doesn’tseem like that long ago when debatesabout design were focused on prod-ucts—on the objects filling our homesand offices, on facilities, and on com-munications media and graphics.Today, that emphasis has shifted dra-matically. The dialogue now is all aboutdesigning services. In fact, we live ourlives virtually surrounded by services.Whether shopping in a grocery store,boutique, or on the web; traveling byair or by rental car; communicating, ina myriad ways; or simply managing theresources we need to keep things upand running at work and at play, it’sthe service that counts—in the choiceswe make, in our perceptions of andloyalty to brands, and in how we spendour time and money.

This quarter, then, we bring togethera wealth of insights on designing forservices. There are articles that offervistas across the landscape of servicedesign. There are pieces that delve intothe nooks and crannies—websitedesign and research strategies. Andthere are a number of hands-on casestudies. Here’s a preview of what’s inthe pages that follow.

The big pictureOur primer on service design is akeynote article by Roberto Saco, princi-pal of the Aporia Advisors manage-ment consultancy in Coral Gables,Florida, and Alexis Goncalves, a busi-ness innovation consultant fromWilton, Connecticut. They profile serv-ices as centered on the customer expe-rience and as demanding a holisticapproach to design through integrating

strategies, systems, processes andtouch-points. In terms of development,services are created by in-house andconsultant teams that have expertiseand wisdom from such disciplines associal anthropology, linguistics, marketresearch, and organizational design. Inthese endeavors, research, prototyping,and an adaptable, iterative process areessential. Saco and Goncalves illustratetheir ideas with several examples. Atthe Ritz-Carlton hotels, scenographyworkbooks choreograph the brandfrom check-in to dining. For HermanMiller’s office furnishings group, thefuture is less about designing modularsystems and more about radical flexi-bility and personalization. In the con-tinuously evolving world of EggBanking, PLC, a British Internet bank,executives seek to build relationshipswith customers as a trusted financialpartner. This relationship emerges fromclear information, a consistent visualidentity, ease of navigation, and aseamless connection between the web-site and sales support.With these cases,the authors balance theory and prac-tice, suggest the breadth of servicedesign, and demonstrate how successblends elements that are rational andscientific with others that are emotion-al, exuberant, and innovative.

In a second broad perspective onservice design, consultant firm IDEO’sMark Jones and Fran Samalionis (Jonesworks in Chicago and Samalionis inLondon) address the question of inno-vation. They note barriers to significantchange: a siloed organization, lack ofchampions, competing agendas, amindset unsuited to generating truly

Thomas Walton, PhDEditor, DesignManagement Review

Design Management Review Winter 2008 7

It’s All About Service

new ideas, and a dependenceon existing offerings. That said,and referencing several projects,they outline a five-stage frame-work that can move an organi-zation in radical newdirections. The first stepsinvolve the ability to be expan-sive and “letting go of reality.”Once this yields a rich portfolioof promising ideas, the IDEO framework shiftsgears toward prototyping and rigorous testing.This also involves gathering market insights oncustomers, the business in general, and currenttechnology. These are thorough, nuance-richexplorations that reveal opportunities forgrowth and genuinely innovative ways to meetneeds. Next, corporate leaders and front-linepersonnel collaborate to model new servicepropositions that, in a third stage, are on thecutting-edge and evaluated for desirability, via-bility, and economic feasibility. In the last twophases of this effort, metrics are devised toappraise success and time, and resources areallocated to fail and retool. This involves releas-ing a pilot and running it through its paces.Refinements are made and, finally, plans for alarge-scale rollout are carefully plotted. It allsounds straightforward, but Jones andSamalionis caution that there is a tendency torevert to incremental change, and they highlightthe necessity to take risks while at the same timebeing both precise and disciplined.

Specialized arenas and research inservice designObviously, the Internet is a crucial venue forservices. Reflecting this priority, Brian Gillespie,principal consultant in experience design forMolecular, a firm with offices in Boston, NewYork, and San Francisco, presents a wealth ofrecommendations for creating global web con-tent. He stresses the advantages of building sitesincrementally rather than all at once. Providingwell-organized information can attract and helpretain customers, while more-complex interna-tional transactional capabilities such as e-com-merce, contact options, and an extranet can beadded later. Irrespective of this possibility, allsites should embody the brand and engage the

spectrum of customer profiles.Research is fundamental todetermining these profiles, aswell as variations in consumerneeds and desires. Using afamiliar architectural metaphor,Gillespie describes “gateway”screens that act as “lobbies” forsingle-country local pages.Continuing the metaphor,

imagine a hotel with “rooms” that one afteranother give an overview of an entire companyand its brands. Or imagine a chain of suchhotels, each targeted at a particular country, withcountry-specific information; as a chain, howev-er, they offer a consistency of brand. The extentof localization can run the gamut from a simpletranslation and the filling in of information gapsto a sophisticated rendering of various culture,lifestyle, and aesthetic preferences. Companiesalso need to maintain easy-to-understanddomain names and URLs. Yet another decisionhas to do with centralizing or decentralizingcontent management.Whatever the choice,changing content should be set up so that itautomatically fulfills brand and site guidelinesand does not require extensive technical training.All these activities should be driven by explicitbusiness objectives and supported by the clearownership of web issues and responsibilities.

As the groundwork for new ideas and change,research is another critical service design topic.Michael Eckersley, based in the Salt Lake City,Utah, area and leader of the HumanCenteredteam of social scientists, designers, and planners,describes how insightful observation and analy-sis can transform businesses. His work with fast-food restaurants identified several areas forimprovement and suggested the institution ofself-service ordering, the idea of communicatingwith and entertaining customers as they wait,and, because bathrooms are often perceived byharried parents as dirty, of setting up stations indining areas where patrons can wash theirhands. Another HumanCentered project, in hos-pital prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, led toa variety of service design enhancements. Onebig shift involved giving more control to themother and family in these experiences—gettingthem better, less jargon-laden information con-

As the groundworkfor new ideas and

change, research is

another critical

service design topic.

Designing for the Service Industry

8 Design Management Review Winter 2008

cerning all that is occurringand that might happen,affording people choices infood, privacy, lighting, enter-tainment, and sleeping, andoffering mothers a brandedremembrance book in whichto collect the artifacts andphotos related to a birth andto record their thoughts.Whatever the particulars,Eckersley finds that being sig-nificantly involved in theoperations of organizationsand in the lives of customersis essential to discovering newhorizons in service designthat leverage positive out-comes and strengthen brands.

A third essay deals withmeasuring the return on service design invest-ments. Lavrans Løvlie, Chris Downs, and BenReason, all directors at live|work, which has stu-dios in the United Kingdom and Norway, pro-mote three alternatives for calculatingbottom-line numbers. For public-sector endeav-ors, they propose a methodology referred to asgross value added. In an example, they estimatethe savings for helping customers on disabilityto get a job. They found that for every 100 indi-viduals who re-entered the labor force, the costof benefits could be reduced by a minimum of£1 million. It would take £1 to achieve a £2 sav-ings, but this still was a 200 percent return oninvestment, indicating that the design of servic-es could, indeed, make a difference. The triplebottom line technique studies a combination ofeconomic, environmental, and social benefits.Live|work applied that technique in their workwith a public car-sharing enterprise. They dis-covered that greater awareness and use of theservice made the venture profitable, reducedemissions and congestion, and established astronger sense of community. A third technique,the service usability index, examines customersatisfaction with service touch-points. Here, thereturn is about quality rather than quantity,where the goal is to make design changes thatlift scores along four parameters: Do people

understand the value propo-sition of the service? Dopeople feel good about theservice? Can people use theservice easily? Is the serviceaccessible? Whatever themeasurement—and perhapsusing more than one ofthese options—the authors’advice is to have some wayto objectively convey servicedesign results.

Real-life storiesIn this volume, four casesstudies show how practicevalidates theory. ChrisBedford, president of theKaro Group in Vancouver,Canada, and his colleague

Anson Lee, director of Karo’s customer experi-ence strategy, recount how their view of servicedesign as a complete system of considered cus-tomer interactions enabled them to redefine thecar-buying experience for the OpenRoad AutoGroup in Vancouver. To maximize sales persquare foot of floor space, models are actuallystacked on the outside of the showroom, a dis-play that has enormous curb appeal as a panora-ma of products and options. This excitement isechoed within the showroom as moving imageson screens reflect off the floor tiles and create adynamic, information-rich interior. Next, andmost significant, they shift control of the pur-chase decision from the sales associate to thecustomer, a promise they post at the door andreinforce with Internet kiosks that facilitatecomparison-shopping. There is a kids’ play areawith a 300-gallon aquarium and a coffee loungewith reading and resource materials. In anothermajor change, service visits are handled by asso-ciates on the showroom floor and in the lounge,rather than at some drafty drop-off station.Together, these thoughtful, customer-centeredstrategies helped lift sales 28 percent within oneyear and made OpenRoad the number-oneToyota dealer in Canada in 2006.

Across the globe,Won-Sik Lee, a service designspecialist for Korea Management Association

Eckersley findsthat being significantly

involved in the opera-

tions of organizations

and in the lives of

customers is essential

to discovering new

horizons in service

design that leverage

positive outcomes and

strengthen brands.

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It’s All About Service

Consultants in South Korea, and Bo-Young Kim,a researcher in the Engineering and DesignSchool at Brunel University inWest London,United Kingdom, write about repositioning KTF,Korea’s leading mobile phone carrier, from price-driven growth to expanding sales with design andservices. This process started in 2004, when themarketing division recognized design as a vitalresource. The first products, launched in 2005,were a branded umbrella and a diary—conceptsthat stressed community and the sharing of sto-ries and interactions as central aspects of mobilecommunication. These initiatives were thenamplified with an identity program that visuallyexploits an orange dot and patterns of orangedots to convey the vision of KTF as high-tech andinnovative but also warm and friendly. Variationson this imagery show up in advertising, webpages, packaging, and collateral material. Theyalso become vehicles for introducing new servic-es, including broadcasts and music downloadsthat connect intimately with customers and makeKTF part of a lifestyle rather than simply a con-venience. With this attention to service design,even in a saturated market, revenue continues toclimb, satisfaction is improving, and the emotion-al ties with consumers grow stronger, fulfilling thecompany ideal of “looking good, working well,and feeling good.”

A third service case is about getting the mes-sage to the right audience. Andrew Mackenzie,CEO of Yamamoto Moss Mackenzie brand con-sultants in Minneapolis, Minnesota, exploresthis challenge in the context of materials his firmdesigned for Transamerica to market retirementannuities. In this field, financial advisors are thekey contact. The problem is, these professionalsare overwhelmed by brochures and other mediaon specific products and benefits. What theylack are tools that move customers by means ofan understanding of their choices to a final deci-sion. In other words, the aim here is to reach theadvisor and not the retiree. A “target map” reas-sured Transamerica and Mackenzie that theyhad pinpointed the right group, after which a“cycle selling” assessment distilled effective path-ways to these experts. A flash e-mail introducesthe subject and the client approach.Instructional flow charts summarize the dynam-

ic between the advisor and retiree, while work-sheets guide the conversation and bring sales toclosure.Wholesalers appreciate having a com-plete package that moves from education toselection, and financial advisors endorse thecomprehensive design as an enlightened way togrow their businesses.

The last lessons concern the rationale for andorganization of service design. Told by JimScully, group manager of design and projectmanagement at New Zealand’s Inland Revenuedepartment in Wellington, and his managersKaryn McLean and Leslie Tergas, this is the storyof lifting service design to the level of core com-petency within a major public-sector institution.This agenda has several intentions: to increasevoluntary compliance; to enhance other agencyservices, including the collection and disburse-ment of child support payments, the collectionof student loan re-payments, the disbursementof family tax credits, and the administration ofthe government’s retirement savings program;and to increase access and the quality of thatinteraction with customers while reducing costs.To this end, design is understood to be a value-added expertise. Its practices are more rigorousand consistent, and skills are built around designvision, customer experience, service systems,service interactions, service embedding, andproject management. A separate customerinsight group further complements and informsthe activities of design teams. Challengesremain—measuring the return on investment,having the right mix of resources, maintaining aresponsive design process, and partnering withcustomers as early as possible. Still, design andproject management have moved forward withseveral innovative customer interfaces and arehighly respected within the agency.

In the twenty-first century, services are thegreater part of the economy.What our contribu-tors confirm is that design is central to assuringsuccess in this enterprise. �

Reprint #08191WAL06