Service Design

Service Design 
Because services are intangible, they are difficult to describe and, therefore, to design and redesign if a new service is desired. Perhaps the best way to understand this is to think of the design of a manufactured item. Physical goods can be blueprinted; that is, either on paper or using computer software, the physical nature of the product (width, length, circuitry design, etc.) can be described. As a result, physical product attributes can be shown, communicated, and understood easily. Service blueprinting involves creating a flowchart that describes the flow of activity from the time the customer first contacts the service provider to the time the customer receives the service.
An example of a service blueprint is a blueprint for a mail delivery service. The process or flow of the service begins when the customer calls the firm. The customer speaks with a customer service representative and then a variety of activities occur, culminating with the arrival of the package at its destination.
What is interesting about the figure is that the activities are broken down into three types. The first type, above the top line, is the parts involving customers: calling the company, giving the package for delivery, and receiving the package. The middle two types of activities describe customer contact points (what we called "moments of truth" in Chapter 14). Some of these contact points are observable to the customer, or "onstage," These include the customer interactions with the drivers picking up and delivering the package. "Backstage" contact points are those in which the contact is not face-to-face as, in this instance, this is limited to the person taking the order. If there was a problem with the delivery, a backstage contact would be with a customer service representative handling customer complaints or problems. For this service, much of the activity is below the third line, invisible to the customer.
These blueprints or flowcharts are extremely valuable to service companies. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of blueprints is simply the exercise of creating one. The act of creating a service flowchart forces you to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and thereby develop better insights about the service encounter. As a result, the moments of truth become clear. In addition, the key areas for potential service failure and thus the need for backup and recovery systems are highlighted. When the customer calls the service center to place an order, how is she greeted? How many phone rings are acceptable? After the order is placed, the com­pany needs a system to give the order efficiently and quickly to the dispatcher to get a driver to pick up the package. When the driver has the order and goes to the customer's home or place of work, how is the driver dressed? Is she or he polite and knowledge­able? These kinds of questions can be extended to the other boxes and arrows in the blueprint.
As a result. blueprints are useful tools for understanding the design of the service and for redesigning it. For example, FedEx and UPS have information systems in place, so the large space in the top half of Figure 15.11 between "Customer Gives Package" and "Customer Receives Package" could have a box labeled "Customer Tracks Package." Bar coding on each package enables the companies to know where every package is at a given time. Customers can input the package ID number using PC-based sofu,-are or the companies' web sites and obtain that location information for themselves.
To better understand customer needs, the company undertook two activities. The first was a blueprinting operation.
Their activities are divided into three parts: preflight, in-flight, and postarrival. Singapore Airlines used this flowchart in two ways. First, each block in the activity sequence was separately analyzed from a customer service, moment-of-truth perspective. Second, the airline also evaluated each block to see where technological enhancements could improve its customers' experiences and provide additional ways to differentiate from the competition.

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