Forrester report: ‘service design indispensable.’

Forrester, a technology and market research company, attended the 2010 European and US annual conferences of the Service Design Network (SDN). The conference highlighted organisations that achieved a higher level of customer experience satisfaction through design innovation.

Among the chief findings from the conference and subsequent Forrester report, was that Chief Customer Officers will soon find service design indispensable and should embrace it as a path to competitive differentiation. In their report, Forrester concluded that designed experiences would increasingly become a competitive differentiator.

At the US conference, Oliver King did the opening address where he described the other aspects that the service design approach can achieve, such as increasing brand image and loyalty, developing new lines of revenue and instigating social change.

Service design also works within the companies, supporting them to implement sustainable change that innovates internal ways of working to improve service delivery at every level.

Conference keynotes Philips acknowledged that ‘time is ticking for pure product companies, they need to become experience providers’.

Also reported by Forrester from the conferences was Engine’s work with Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) helping them to remodel the airport experience and the role of the Airport Authority.

Following on from their conference conclusions, Forrester are set to report on this recently completed re-envisioning of travel services, shortly to be implemented at eight Portuguese airports.