The process of design is the same whether it deals with the design of an oil refinery, construction of a cathedral or the writing of Dante's Divine Comedy.
As such it is possible to apply a broad range of design techniques to service design. A service cannot be effectively designed without a design process - this will ignore the existing competencies and resources available to, or needed by, the designing organisation (such as time, activities, cost people concurrencies). The following should help anyone looking to improve upon existing services or to create new services.
Consider the design as a total process from idea right through to termination and disposal (if any) of the service. There is not one single process for developing all services. The process will alter for each service design, although there will be some stages that will occur in all service designs.
Remember that the design begins with an idea rather than a concept. There are many triggers that start a service design. This avoids confusion with the concept stage that occurs later in the design process. For example, a service design idea may be to deliver parcels. After the specification has been written, in the concept stage, all the different concepts for delivering the parcels are considered.
Identify which stages of the process can be undertaken concurrently. This will reduce the time to market. Identify how long each stage will take and approximately how much each stage will cost. This will indicate an estimated total time and total cost for the service design project. Then identify who should be involved in the process and the priority of a particular project over other service design projects.
The most important aspects of a service design specification are reliability, safety, ease of use, aesthetics, maintainability and price. Refer to BS 7373 Part 3 if you are writing specifications to control the design process. Use the new British Standard BS 7000 - 3 Guide to Managing the Design of Services.
Be aware that the main reasons for a new service failing are the same as any product. Market failure - it does not meet customer requirements (and thus, it doesn't sell). Technical failure - the service does not work. Financial failure - the budget is not sufficient to complete or implement the design.
Aim to eliminate potential failures early in the process so that more time is spent developing potential successes.
Make sure you design benefits into the new service, and feature these in the service promotional activity. People buy 'benefits', which are expressed as 'advantages' or 'USPs' (unique selling propositions) when compared to the competition.
Make sure those who will deliver the service are included as part of the service design. In manufacturing, staff will be trained to 'do the job'. In services, due to the coincidence of production and consumption and people being part of the service delivery, the staff must also be trained in how to effectively serve customers.
Use Just-in-Time techniques to keep your customers happy. Customers do not like to queue or wait and take up valuable space. When it is realised that 'work in progress' in a service means that often people are waiting, the application of Just-In-Time (JIT) techniques to reduce the total through-put time of work in production (lead-time reduction), works even better in a service than in manufacturing. Furthermore, the main problem that happens when applying JIT to manufacturing in situations of varying demand, that of 'finished goods' tying up capital, is avoided in services because, on completion of the service operation, customers 'go home'.
Implement the ‘Line of Balance’ technique (also originally used in the manufacturing sector that can equally be applied to services). In this the time taken for each stage of the process is matched with every other to ensure a smooth ‘flow’ of customers through the system. For example if it take twice as long to cut someone’s hair than it does to wash it then it is necessary to use two people to cut hair and only one person to wash the hair. The aim is to avoid customers having to wait with wet hair for their turn to have their hair cut. Line of Balance can optimise the use of resources and employees whilst ensuring customer satisfaction.
Apply aspects of capacity planning. To optimise the use of plant and equipment it is necessary for management to appreciate how demand varies over the weeks and year. Most of these are applicable to services with the exception of holding stocks, as, by definition, a service cannot be stored. In a service (such as transport) the demand in services can change by the hour and the process must be designed to accommodate these swings. Knowing the variations it is possible to plan breaks, maintenance, restocking and stocktaking and even where aspects of automation would be beneficial (bank ATM machines, automatic ticket machines, Oyster Cards etc).
Mark and measure each stage of the process. The performance of the service can be measured with a 'Service Transaction Analysis sheet' (R Johnston and G Clark, 2001 - see Reading list for details). In this, each stage of the process is marked, thus indicating where the service may need to be improved or redesigned.
Remember the five identifiable parameters for service quality. These can be designed into a new service or brought about through training of the personnel (which should also be an element in the design of the service). These dimensions are:
- Tangibles - the appearance of physical facilities
- Reliability - the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
- Responsiveness - the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service.
- Assurance - the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence.
- Empathy - the provision of caring, individualised attention to customers. (Berry, Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 1990)
Employ Mystery Shoppers to measure the quality of a service. This is done by getting ‘customers’ to use the service and judge the effectiveness of each stage. Through this ‘bottlenecks’ can be identified and eliminated. Mystery shoppers are now widely used in the service sector such as by transport companies (air and train), pubs and hotel chains and before it can be applied some form of interaction of the customer with the service supplier needs to be identified and the process drawn. Typically, this is through some form of blueprint.
Make improvements through reduction in time. This can benefit all concerned and allow more time ‘for making people special’ as well as a faster throughput of customers and hence profit.