Service Design – the latest trend or an old hat?

Is Service Design the new big fuss or merely old wine? The answer amazes: the best of both! For more than a hundred years we have been used to the fact that classical, physical products do not mystically emerge from the fog or fall from the sky, but are deliberately designed and developed by specialists. Over time, designers have learned to take the customer’s wishes and ideas seriously and put them at the center of their development. By using design methods, the effort and the costs of the development are purposefully used instead of testing random product innovations on the market. This often results in modern design classics such as chairs, lamps, cars or kitchen machines. But what can service providers learn from this?

Service meets Design!

Recently, the specialist departments of service companies, such as Actuaries, and the specialists from the design found each other. The targeted and planned development of services with a special focus on users and their wishes and expectations has since been referred to as service design. It combines the know-how of classic design with the know-how of specialists in intangible products – the very best of both worlds. With the resulting, methodically sound approach CUSTOR turns the “shotgun” of earlier trial & error development into a reliable service design precision instrument.

Design Thinking – a structured innovation process

Years ago, when practitioners and theorists in California wondered what was left of design, leaving colors, pots, pens, and foam models behind, and instead designing systems, bits, and pixels, an understanding of structured innovation emerged. Promoted by companies such as IDEO and SAP, Design Thinking has since evolved into a term for the structured innovation of products, systems and services. Not every classical designer likes to follow suit and many an innovator misunderstood this approach as an “innovation construction machine”.

More than a big toolbox

In fact, Design Thinking involves a whole universe of instruments, tools and methods, and, like any discipline, it needs experts who know how to use it effectively and efficiently. One of the most well-known tools of Design Thinking is the so-called “Double Diamond” method. It is used to structure the innovation process and thus make it more effective. The research, insights, ideation and prototypes sections alternate diverging and converging project phases:

A big toolbox wants to be mastered

During the iterative process of the Double Diamond, a variety of other tools is used depending on the situation, like qualitative interviews and group discussions, 6-3-5 method, personas, storyboards, customer journey and relationship maps or mock ups. With many years of experience, CUSTOR has the necessary expertise to select the appropriate tools and guide you through this process safely – tailored to your company, your customers, your desire for innovation and your problem definition. By this means and in close cooperation with your company, we effectively design individualized services with high market potential.

Service Design – better with experienced partners

CUSTOR not only offers the experience of 25 years of designing services & systems, but also the embedding in your company’s service management. Because service design and its result, the service, never stands isolated – just as physical products only work in the manufacturer’s portfolio and ecosystem. CUSTOR thus helps to create services and systems as integrative components of a company’s holistic service management – as individual as your products. And with all the effects between portfolio, strategy, structures, processes, resources, employees and other stakeholders. Whether these additional fields are also processed by CUSTOR in individual cases or by other actors is not important to us. However, it is crucial for the quality of the service design that CUSTOR’s expertise and its own service portfolio also includes them. This ensures a holistic understanding, procedure and result for your company.

We are happy to assist you in the design or re-design of your services – please feel free to contact us:

Stefan Heinisch

fon:  +49 911 4787 69-23
fax:   +49 911 4787 69-24
heinisch@custor.de