As organizations search for new ways to deliver solutions and increase customer satisfaction, many have turned to the discipline of IT service design. But still, many organizations haven’t made the transformation yet—big mistake! Don’t take our word for it; hear what the experts have to say about what exactly service design is, and why it is so important to the success of the company:

What is service design?

“The objective of ITIL Service Design is to design new IT services. The scope of Service Design includes the design of new services, as well as changes and improvements to existing ones… Service Design identifies service requirements and devises new service offerings as well as changes and improvements to existing ones.” – IT Infrastructure Library

“Service design is sometimes easiest to grasp when contrasted with product design. Product designers create tangible things such as bikes, cars, coffee machines, MP3 players, and laptops. Service designers create intangible experiences, such as the series of interactions that you have as you book a flight, pay a bill, get a driver’s license, or visit a doctor. Service designers also design the behind-the-scenes activities that enable those experiences to be delivered as planned.” – Kristina Dervojeda, et. al., Design for Innovation: Service design as a means to advance business models

“Service design applies design methods and craft to the definition and orchestration of service experiences.

Service design examines the operations, culture, and structure of an organization for impact on service experience.” – Jamin Hegeman, 5 Things I Wish I Knew: A Service Design Journey

“Service design is a relatively new discipline that asks some fundamental questions: What should the customer experience be like? What should the employee experience be like? How does a company remain true to its brand, to its core business assets and stay relevant to customers? It has grown as our economies have moved from being primarily manufacturing based to service based, and as our world becomes increasingly complex, networked, and interconnected via technology. It uses design methodologies, but applies new, heuristic design tools to develop service models that delight both users and employees who deliver services.” – James Rock, managing director and chief business designer for Cultivar Consulting Limited

Why is service design so important?

“A positive customer experience doesn’t happen by chance. It must be designed.” – Jin Zwicky, VP Group Customer Experience, OCBC Bank

“No consumers ever buys a product. Consumers buy what products provide.” – Peter Drucker, business and management specialist

“There’s been a lot of focus on product innovation over the years, but very little discussion or thought on innovation in the service sector – despite the vast growth of that part of our economy.” – John Byrne, editor-in-chief Fast Company magazine

“Mobile behaviors and user expectations for an engaging digital experience are changing. People now desire a more intuitive and meaningful interaction from both brands and their services. That’s why we put them at the center of what we do.” – Kristina Dervojeda, et. al., Design for Innovation: Service design as a means to advance business models

“Service design is underused by many of the companies all around the world. Services are a growth area but service design is often poorly planned. A perfect statistic that illustrates this reality, is that 80% of companies think they offer a superior service, yet only 8% of their customers agree.” – Nelly Trakidou, Service Designer and blogger

“Customers are… becoming more demanding so it is… very important that… service organizations develop highly responsive service recovery processes. In the rapidly growing world of social media, customers are becoming more vocal and very quick to complain about poor service to thousands of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. This “word of mouth” effect is playing a bigger and bigger role in brand marketing campaigns. So I think it’s only natural that organizations recognize they need to constantly improve and reinvent the way [services are] delivered to make sure they delight rather than disappoint customers. – James Rock, managing director and chief business designer for Cultivar Consulting Limited

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