Five fundamentals

To simplify how we look at the ways services work, we keep referencing what we call the Five fundamentals of Service. These are, if you like, the defining dimensions of any service and offer us a series of useful questions and tools with which to design.

Value

Different services create and measure value in different ways, but most services try to generate the best value for customers and providers. Good service design is often about aligning the different interests of providers and users to create the best value for both. Service design can be about cutting costs, but it is normally more focused on adding value. There is often an expectation that the interests of customers and providers are inevitably at odds. Often, when this occurs it means that the provider has an unclear picture of what their customers actually need.

Systems

Services are dynamic systems or relationships between people and things. Most services are produced and consumed within, or by relying on, other services. Good service design always looks holistically at the Service Infrastructure. This involves understanding how the different parts of a service are interconnect, and how the service relies on the support of other service systems.

Journeys

All services are experienced over time. People also take different journeys to, through, and from a service. Good service design recognises these differences, and examines what happens before, during and after the central service experience, for both producers and users. Exploring the different emotional journeys that people take through a service is also a powerful way to segment service users to directly inform redesign.

People

Services always involve people, and the production of services relies on both the user and the provider, working together. Some services are very product centred, but a service is never just a product - it is always about people. Good service design always puts people first, and ideally involves users and providers as equal partners in the design process.

Propositions

Services are generally packaged up as a ‘proposition’ for users to buy into. Even when one provider has an apparent monopoly, it should never be forgotten that consumers have access to a range of alternative services and even life choices. The concept of a service proposition reminds us to think of what we design as operating in a competitive marketplace. It is also useful when describing how one service can be made to appeal to a number of different audiences. “What’s in it for me as the customer??, is a question that must be continually asked. Good service design is not only about designing efficient and effective services. It is also about creating desirable service propositions that people are motivated to use because they see value in the outcome.