There Is No Easy Way Out

Delivering real service doesn't com natural to the Dutch. Companies and governments in the Netherlands are mainly focused on trade. That is what the Dutch are good at. And service-products are treaded the same as commodities.

And I guess, dropping a service-product from high above on an unsuspected target group creates a save distance from that most difficult of creatures, the consumer, the civilian, the persons. Having a target group seems to solve a lot of problems and Dutch marketeers love to talk at length about them.

I just don't like the term "target group". It's just an easy way out and has nothing to do with reality. Of course traditional marketing and advertising can't be successful without focusing on a specific target group. Focusing on individuals is way to expensive and far to complicated. But this approach is a one-way street and therefor a cul-de-sac for service organizations. Thinking in target groups fuels the generalization of personal wants and needs and reduces it to meaningless tag-lines.

People need to be understood. And people are so much more than age, gender, profession or hobby. There is no easy way out. People are complex and full of contradictions. But only while focusing on the reality and complexity of everyday life service organizations are able to ad true value to their services. This approach leads to meaningful and relevant solutions and true service innovation.

But like I said, providing real service doesn't com natural to the Dutch. Maybe the Dutch are afraid it will disturb the process of doing business, making money. Actually having a real two way conversation with costumers never even occurred to most managers and marketeers. Simply because it is time-consuming and expensive. And time and money are a rare luxury. They are usually spend on buildings, hardware, paying employees, discussing internal company issues, producing spreadsheets and having lots and lots of meetings.

It is going to take a whole new breed (or generation) of managers, political decision-makers and maybe even companies to get the Dutch competitive on a international level in the service industries of the future.

World's Largest Innovation Box

Felloforce's Challenge Board & Innovation Box is growing. Currently they have 75+ brands connected, like Shell, Nokia, Starbucks, Unilever, Apple, Virgin, Yahoo, Pfizer etc.

Take a look...

Mobile Banking

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.

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...

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, 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)

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...

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...

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 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.

Service Design Symposium

The Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) is holding a Service Design symposium.

"The symposium will act as a platform for deeper understanding of how to harness design thinking as a strategy and adopting best practices in the public sector. Hosted by CIID at the Danish Architectural Centre, it is designed to be a small, intimate event providing an opportunity to meet talented thinkers and practitioners."

Get more info...

Making it Personal

After their first pamphlet on service design (The Journey to the Interface) DEMOS has published "Making it Personal". And again they produced a great report and a rich source of inspiration to everyone interested in the field of service design.

Download it here...

The Connected Agency

A report from Forrester

"Marketers: Partner With An Agency That Listens Instead Of Shouts
Today's agencies fail to help marketers engage with consumers, who, as a result, are becoming less brand-loyal and more trusting of each other. To turn the tide, marketers will move to the Connected Agency — one that shifts: from making messages to nurturing consumer connections; from delivering push to creating pull interactions; and from orchestrating campaigns to facilitating conversations. Over the next five years, traditional agencies will make this shift; they will start by connecting with consumer communities and will eventually become an integral part of them."

Read Simon Andrews Blog on the report here...

Buy the report here...

The Dissolution of Social Networks

Listen (on Particls) to the eye-opening interview with Andreas Kluth, correspondent of The Economist:

Podcast: Dissolution of Social Networks

Thanks to iPlot

Fundamental Changes

A 'must read' report from Swinburne University of Technology on user-led innovation.

"User-led innovation is transforming the way many organisations develop new products, services and knowledge. Service-based organisations in particular can benefit from leveraging the participation of their audiences, customers and citizens. Today’s consumers have much greater input into the creation and dissemination of the products and services they consume."

Download it here...

Palpable computing: a taste of things to come

Great story on ICT Results

"Virtually everyone stands to benefit from the more pervasive use of computer technology. But while adding microchips to more everyday objects can make lives easier – and even save them – the approach creates some unique problems of its own. “Palpable” rather than “ubiquitous” computing promises a solution." Read more...

Service Design Changes The Rules

I've been taught some valuable lessons at school. Most of them I've forgotten from the moment I walked out of the school building for the last time. But, oddly enough, some ideas got stuck in my head.

For example, I learned the difference between branding and marketing. And I actually cherished that rule. For years I've been a pain in the ass of many marketing, brand and product manager telling them time and time again they should never confuse these two disciplines. Never!

But I feel it might be time to start questioning some rudimental principles. There is a service revolution going on after all. And what's a revolution without changing a couple of rules.

Let's assume for a second we live in a perfect world and service organisations are bold enough to go were no man.... etc. And they are actually going to embrace all the 'service design' principles. Than service organisations are going to be all about engagement, empowerment, co-ownership, meaningful relationships and building an organisation around the costumer needs and wants.

What could follow is this:

Identity = Image
A direct result of customer (and employee) empowerment, co-ownership and co-production. If you're customers can truly shape your organisation than your identity equals your image.

Branding = Marketing
This one scares the heck out of most organisations I know. The rule is: Marketing begins with the customer and branding begins within the company. But this is thinking in commodities not services. Co-ownership will hand over the brand to the customer.

Marketing communications = Internal communications
To deliver a great service everyone involved in the delivery should embrace the same set of values. And this means a customer-centered organisation can't differentiate between the people who work for the organisation and customers. They must be treated the same and given the same information. The only differences is that employees get paid.

This is just a thought that's been rattling around in my head for a while. And at DesignThinkers we use it as an inspiring starting-point to think up some innovative business-models. But my old marketing teacher is going to think I'm a raving idiot, so no change there.

Watch Out! Here Comes The Service Revolution!

You may not have noticed, but In the 'West" we are living in a so called service economy. This means we don't make a lot of stuff anymore. We just buy it.

We are able to do so in ever increasing quantities with the money we earn sitting in office buildings looking at computer screens. Producing spreadsheets. And if we are not looking at our screens we are sitting around a big table with lots of comfy chairs. Talking about our spreadsheets.

Sounds all right. But there is a problem. We don't make a lot of stuff anymore, but we don't provide a real viable alternative for it. My gut feeling says that If we don't use our hands, we should be using our head. And we are not using it. You don't have to be a economist to figure this out. If we don't change we will be in trouble. We won't be able to compete on any level with the big and slowly awakening giants like India, Brazil and China.

We, in the west, are living a service economy, that's a big change from a industrialized economy. But our way of thinking, our processes, the way we structure our companies, sell and market our products is still based on ideas developed in the industrial revolution. So it's about time for a new revolution. A service revolution.

In fact it is taking place right now and it's official name is the "third Industrial Revolution". Basically this is what's happening: Economists divide goods and services into tradable and non-tradable. And service has often been considered non-tradeble (and still is by many). But the boundaries are fading away. This means that more and more services will become tradable. This is were our greatest and possibly only opportunities for the future lie.

It's going to take some effort. Because, just like the other two industrial revolutions, it is going to change the way we work, live, and educate our children. So it's a big deal. But it's still early days and we don't really know what to do with it. Or we're just to bloody comfortable, rich and lazy and we don't want to see the necessity for change. So we just keep pushing the snooze button one more time. But it's time to wake up. Because it's never a good idea to sleep through a revolution. You'll miss all the fun.

What The Hell? (Talking Service Design)

I've been spreading the word on how important it is to stop treating service as a commodity for quite some time. I am, as you might already know, an enthusiastic supporter of the methods and tools 'service design' provides us. I feel like a preacher sometimes.

But soon after I started answering my calling, there is one thing I learned. I had to change the language I used. There is a particular jargon that accompanies this new field of expertise, and it can take some time getting used to. It can make everything sound a bit mushy and alien.

If I start orating about co-production, empowerment, service-delivery-blueprints, costumer-journeys, touch-points, service-ecology and so on, my clients generally start to get nervous. "What the hell is he talking about? I thought we were working on a marketing plan?"

So I changed my language. I started using words from the more familiar fields of branding, experience-marketing and, my personal favorite, life in general. This sounds easy, but customised words are sometimes pretty handy if you want to get to the point very quickly.

But until everyone knows what exactly a 'service-ecology' means, I'm going to shut up about it. It makes my quest a lot easier. And if clients still don't know what the hell I'm talking about, at least the familiar words give them a warm fuzzy and comfortable feeling. And that's all I want really.

I don't like them

I really don't like European Tenders. They just don't make a lot of sense. Not from where I'm standing, and certainly not from the clients point of view.

In my line of work it's almost always the same. Some selected agencies are being asked to write down an advise (amongst other things). But non of the parties can communicate with the client. This way all the agencies have the same information. Sounds fair.

But how can this help the company in selecting the best partners? How do they really know for sure which agency is the right match for them? In the end companies can choose between a lot of clever written documents pregnant with generalizations and assumptions. But an adviser must first and foremost be a good listener and work in close partnership with his or her client. It's the personal relationship and, dare I say it, chemistry which is such an important element if you want to do great and remarkable things.

And now they have a pile of paper in front of them. How can anyone really judge the content of these documents? It's such a waist of time. And not just the clients time. I can see them now, all those talented people battering away on there computers, hoping that their guesswork happens to be right on the mark.

And when the choices have been made. And all those plans end up in that big magical drawer that's never emptied but is never full (how can it be!). Then the real work starts. But client and agency still have to get to know each other from scratch. It's almost a blind date.

And the client probably liked the clever guy who wrote the document and explained it to them (they always like me), but they might hate the people who they are actually going to work with on a day-to-day basis (I usually lock them up in the basement until the deal is closed).

So in this situation it is common sense clients make the safest choice. They'll lean towards what they know. The big name, the company they already know or worked with. I know I would. And this means that new, small, less known companies have less of a change to get the contract. And the client has not been given the opportunity or the tools to make the best choice possible.

Now I didn't do any research, so I'm probably all wrong about this. But I just don't like European Tenders.

Happy new year!

I've been on a short vacation. After a very busy 2007 I just had to hide myself from my computer and telephone (It doesn't work the other way round). They searched and called for me for quite some time, the ferocious devils. But fortunately I managed to stay at large for a few days. Just enough to get my downtime I so longed for.

And now it's 2008 and I feel it's going to be a great new year for the creative industries. There will be a lot of brilliantly beautiful mistakes to be made.

DesignThinkers can look back on a very successful first year with lots of great projects and clients. Tomorrow morning I will take my first bite into 2008 with a deliciously complicated project on how to get a lot more people out of there car and on a bicycle and yet another 'Holland branding' project. I can't wait.

I would like to wish everyone a very happy 2008. Have fun!!

Business of Design Week Hong Kong 2008

This years Business of Design Week (BODW) was held in Hong Kong from the 10th until the 15th of december. The BODW is Asia’s leading international conference dedicated to design, brand and innovation. This years BODW partner country has been Italy and next year the honour has fallen to the Netherlands.

DesignThinkers was asked by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs to create a visual identity to function as a banner for the entire Dutch contribution which has been given the title: 'Open Minds'. Besides that we were asked to come up with a concept on how to create anticipation around the announcement of the Dutch participation in 2008 at this years BODW.

We kept it nice and simple and let visitors of the BODW take a sneak peak at what the Dutch have to offer. Concealing rather than displaying. The curiosity of the people of Hong Kong did not let us down.

New agency

In april of 2007 Marjo Staring and I started DesignThinkers. A creative 'service design' and branding agency. We started the agency realizing that something is about to change. Something big.

New technological development, the growing importance of the service economy in the west and the changing expectations of people towards services were some of the developments that fueled our unrest. We kept thinking: are we still using the right tools? What do all these new developments actually mean?

I've always had a hard time distinguishing between Image, identity, branding, marketing, communications, public relations and what have you. Can't it all be summed up with the word relationhip-building? At least that word I can understand. It actually means something. In fact it probably means more than most organizations can handle.

A relationship is something you have to work on, it's never a one-sided story. Both parties have their responsibilities. And you can't be in a meaningful relationship with someone you don't know, don't like or just distrust. It sounds so simple but we all know, a good healthy happy relationship takes stamina and hard work.

This focus on creating a real meaningful relationship with your costumer is growing in importance if you are selling a product but, needles to say, it is absolutely crucial if you are providing a service.

This is the foundation on which we started DesignThinkers.