Yesterday I went to the Mobile Monday (Momo) meet-up. This time the subject was Mobile Banking. And it turned out to be a very interesting subject. Momo's going to put it all on their website, so you'll be able to watch the whole thing here...
I specially liked the presentation by Ton Wesseling. Take a look at his slides. With only a few words it actually tells the whole story.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
10 Ideas That Are Changing The World
Time reveals what's next. "More than money, more than politics, ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on. Here are a few you need to know about"
And since this is a blog on service design one big idea jumps straight out:
The end of costumer service. "[...] Only now are technology and public sentiment aligning to truly shift the responsibility of collecting goods and services to the consumer. Consider the last time you rang up your own purchase at Wal-Mart, checked into a hotel at a kiosk or bought a ticket from a machine in the lobby of a movie theater. Companies love self-service for the money it saves, and with consumers finally playing along, the need to interact with human beings is quickly disappearing."
Read it all here...
And since this is a blog on service design one big idea jumps straight out:
The end of costumer service. "[...] Only now are technology and public sentiment aligning to truly shift the responsibility of collecting goods and services to the consumer. Consider the last time you rang up your own purchase at Wal-Mart, checked into a hotel at a kiosk or bought a ticket from a machine in the lobby of a movie theater. Companies love self-service for the money it saves, and with consumers finally playing along, the need to interact with human beings is quickly disappearing."
Read it all here...
One Line of Service Design
Marc from 31Volts asked me for a one-liner on Service Design. Here goes:
Service Design is simply paying attention, talk to each other, listen and dare to be vulnerable.
Service Design is simply paying attention, talk to each other, listen and dare to be vulnerable.
Service Design, A Pocket Guide
This is old (2007) but I missed out on this one. So for all of you who, like me, did not pay attention:
Last year the Cabinet office (England) made their working paper ‘Service Design Principles, A Pocket Guide'
"In order for public policy to be effective and reflect the needs of the community as a whole, policy makers need to understand and engage the customer the community and other stakeholders. Engagement can improve both the formulation and implementation of public policy"
Download it here...
(via thinkpublic)
Last year the Cabinet office (England) made their working paper ‘Service Design Principles, A Pocket Guide'
"In order for public policy to be effective and reflect the needs of the community as a whole, policy makers need to understand and engage the customer the community and other stakeholders. Engagement can improve both the formulation and implementation of public policy"
Download it here...
(via thinkpublic)
Monday, March 24, 2008
International Service Design Network
I just started a Service Design Network on LinkedIn. It's a network of professionals who's aim it is to develop, professionalize an promote the relative new field of expertise called Service Design.
Are you interested? We probably can use your insights and experience. Just follow this link...
Are you interested? We probably can use your insights and experience. Just follow this link...
UK govt reveals design driven innovation strategy
“Minister for Innovation Ian Pearson believes that design is central to innovation and that innovation is key to improving public services. ‘Building design into the services of local authorities and Government departments is going to be important for the future,’ he tells Design Week. ‘The contribution of design to innovation hasn’t been emphasised enough until now, but user-led innovation always clearly demonstrated the importance of design in developing new products, processes and new ways of working.’”
Read the article on Putting People first...
Read the article on Putting People first...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Innovation in Experiential Services
A report from London Business School
"Service innovation has proved an elusive area for many reasons, including the intangibility of services, the heterogeneity of services, much innovation being of processes rather than products and the lack of an identifiable R&D function. Much research has focused on services where products can clearly be defined (for example financial services), and where technology is being used to change the nature of the service or the business. However, as Salter and Tether (2006) have pointed out, there is an emerging research stream which addresses the particular nature of services such as intangibility, dependence on people and high levels of interaction rather than technologies.
This report examines innovation in experiential services. These are services where the focus is on the experience of the customer when interacting with the organisation, rather than just the functional benefits following from the products and services delivered.
The report is based on a continuing research programme on experiential services at London Business School. In particular it draws on a recent case-based study of eight design agencies and consultancies and nine successful experiential service providers. The report addresses the question of how do experiential service providers innovate, in particular the content of innovation and the process of innovation including organisation for innovation. Studying innovation in experiential services facilitates wider reflection on the subject of service innovation."
Download the report here.....
(via Design For Service)
"Service innovation has proved an elusive area for many reasons, including the intangibility of services, the heterogeneity of services, much innovation being of processes rather than products and the lack of an identifiable R&D function. Much research has focused on services where products can clearly be defined (for example financial services), and where technology is being used to change the nature of the service or the business. However, as Salter and Tether (2006) have pointed out, there is an emerging research stream which addresses the particular nature of services such as intangibility, dependence on people and high levels of interaction rather than technologies.
This report examines innovation in experiential services. These are services where the focus is on the experience of the customer when interacting with the organisation, rather than just the functional benefits following from the products and services delivered.
The report is based on a continuing research programme on experiential services at London Business School. In particular it draws on a recent case-based study of eight design agencies and consultancies and nine successful experiential service providers. The report addresses the question of how do experiential service providers innovate, in particular the content of innovation and the process of innovation including organisation for innovation. Studying innovation in experiential services facilitates wider reflection on the subject of service innovation."
Download the report here.....
(via Design For Service)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Service Design: It's a dirty job...
I've been working as a service design consultant at DesignThinkers for some time and I must tell you that service design is not always glamourous. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Service design is about getting your hands dirty. Real dirty. If you are not prepared to go all the way down the long and dark sewers of big organizations, you are not doing the work you supposed to do.
Without compromising a service design project is never easy. Great service is all about building relationships. And in the real world a good relationship starts by getting to know and respect each-other. Listen, learn and know when to compromise. Being vulnerable. Trusting the other person and taking changes. So if you are in the business of delivering a service to your costumer, and you want to join the service revolution, this is the task at hand.
But hold on! Even between the best of friends this is not always easy. Trusting takes a lot of guts. And you must be very strong and secure to really open up and let yourself be vulnerable. Being defensive seems almost second nature to most organizations. And, as a rule, people don't trust big organizations.
So how can large corporations and public organizations design the perfect service-experience? They can't. It is simply not possible. Big organizations, by default, don't care about their costumers. Costumers are just a means to an end. And superficial marketing methods, simplifying reality beyond recognition is the the path of least resistance.
It is not that companies and public organizations are evil. But when you get down to the nitty gritty, organization are no more than a complex combination of ordinary people with their own ordinary wants and needs. Good and bad. Usually there is no big story. No vision or higher purpose guiding management and employees while making decisions. Just a lot of personal agenda's.
And maybe that's the beauty of it. Organizations are not made out of buildings, furniture and computers but from people like you and me. People with all the usual problems a human being has to deal with. Being truly (truly) concerned about the personal happiness of their customers is an unrealistic demand. And we al know this. Most of us have jobs and we don't really (really) care. And the companies we work for don't really (really) care about us either.
As a service designer I don't let this spoil my fun. This is reality and service designers must practice what they preach: embraces the beautiful complexity called live.
This is why service design starts deep inside the bowels of the organization. As a service design consultant you must understand the anatomy and psychology of the company you work for. You'll have to know it's limitations and work with them. Push the right buttons. Persuade, guide and fight for what you believe in. Get management involved permanently, empower front office, create short feedback loops. Then raise the gates, open the doors, lower the bridge and give costumers access to the heart of the organization.
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Without compromising a service design project is never easy. Great service is all about building relationships. And in the real world a good relationship starts by getting to know and respect each-other. Listen, learn and know when to compromise. Being vulnerable. Trusting the other person and taking changes. So if you are in the business of delivering a service to your costumer, and you want to join the service revolution, this is the task at hand.
But hold on! Even between the best of friends this is not always easy. Trusting takes a lot of guts. And you must be very strong and secure to really open up and let yourself be vulnerable. Being defensive seems almost second nature to most organizations. And, as a rule, people don't trust big organizations.
So how can large corporations and public organizations design the perfect service-experience? They can't. It is simply not possible. Big organizations, by default, don't care about their costumers. Costumers are just a means to an end. And superficial marketing methods, simplifying reality beyond recognition is the the path of least resistance.
It is not that companies and public organizations are evil. But when you get down to the nitty gritty, organization are no more than a complex combination of ordinary people with their own ordinary wants and needs. Good and bad. Usually there is no big story. No vision or higher purpose guiding management and employees while making decisions. Just a lot of personal agenda's.
And maybe that's the beauty of it. Organizations are not made out of buildings, furniture and computers but from people like you and me. People with all the usual problems a human being has to deal with. Being truly (truly) concerned about the personal happiness of their customers is an unrealistic demand. And we al know this. Most of us have jobs and we don't really (really) care. And the companies we work for don't really (really) care about us either.
As a service designer I don't let this spoil my fun. This is reality and service designers must practice what they preach: embraces the beautiful complexity called live.
This is why service design starts deep inside the bowels of the organization. As a service design consultant you must understand the anatomy and psychology of the company you work for. You'll have to know it's limitations and work with them. Push the right buttons. Persuade, guide and fight for what you believe in. Get management involved permanently, empower front office, create short feedback loops. Then raise the gates, open the doors, lower the bridge and give costumers access to the heart of the organization.
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
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