Digital Services Blog

1/23/13
Digital Services Blog

A step towards smart digital services Skip navigation About me
Fig5
April 30, 2012 1:27 pm Posted in Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Fig4
1:27 pm Posted in Uncategorized Leave a Comment
digiservices.wordpress.com
1/14
1/23/13
Fig3
2/14
1/23/13
Fig2
3/14
1/23/13
Fig1
Service innovation
March 7, 2010 9:03 pm Posted in Service design Leave a Comment However, the service is an old stream of labour, the evolution of service activities across all economic industries is now extensively recognized. In the last couple of decades, the size and the scope of the services have been growing. Information and communication technologies (ICT) and on-line spaces have enabled the creation of new service businesses and greater value creation in modern economies.
digiservices.wordpress.com 4/14
1/23/13
Service innovation brings more opportunities for service providers to enhance the value of service offerings to end users and other stakeholders. Service innovation can deliver better self-services, removing or reducing the waiting-time and allowing 24/7 access via modern devices such as mobile phones and internet browsers. One of the key aspects of many service activities is the higher participation of the client/customer/user in the production of the final service delivery. Without this coproduction, the service would often not be created. This service co-production, together with the intangibility of many service products, makes service innovation often take forms rather different from the approaches of innovation in manufacturing. Dimensions of service innovation Den Hertog (2002) identified four dimensions of service innovation. Service concept Service concept presents the stakeholders in the service offering and the value proposition for the stakeholders. One of the dimensions for the service innovation is service concept. An innovative service concept is an approach for the service innovation. Client interface Client Interface refers to innovation in the interface between the service provider and its customers. The client interface is an important part of the service co-creation and is one of decision factor for the quality of the service. Clients are often highly involved in service co-production; an innovative improvement in client interface is an approach for the service innovation. Service delivery system Service delivery system is the platform which is used by service provider for delivering the service. I state here an example of ATM (automated teller machine) which is a platform for the bank customer to perform the selfservice. It is an innovative platform for the bank customers which enables them to get the bank services without waiting in the queue or without any traditional banking hours constraints. An innovative service delivery platform is an approach for the service innovation. Technology Technological growth is one of the big factors behind the booming service industry. ICT brings greater efficiency and effectiveness in the information-processing elements which allow better quality of the service. On the other hand, new technologies improve the service concept and overall service offering to customer. For example, mobile infrastructure has brought the internet on the mobile device. Services which were limited to static computer at the desk are now available through tiny device which user can carry anywhere. In practice, the service innovations involve combination of the above mentioned four dimensions. -
Human-centered design
March 2, 2010 8:43 pm Posted in Service design
1/23/13
Leave a Comment Human-centered design is a design philosophy which focuses on giving extensive attention the needs, wishes, and limitations of the identified end users of a service/product system at each stage of the design process.
This webpage is not available

The server at www.youtube.com can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed. DNS is the network service that translates a website's name to its Internet address. This error is most often caused by having no connection to the Internet or a misconfigured network. It can also be caused by an unresponsive DNS server or a firewall preventing Google Chrome from accessing the network. Here are some suggestions: Reload this webpage later. Check your Internet connection. Restart any router, modem, or other network devices you may be using. Check your DNS settings. Contact your network administrator if you're not sure what this means. Try disabling network prediction by following these steps: Go to the Chrome menu > Settings > Show advanced settings... and deselect "Predict network actions to improve page load performance." If this does not resolve the issue, we recommend selecting this option again for improved
Customers do not look for products or services as such; they look for solutions which they can use and get value out of those. There are many proposals for the human-centered design for services in the literature. A typical sequence of steps are mentioned below, 1. Problem and target users identification Firstly, it is very essential to identify the target users and the problem which the users are facing. This phase focuses on the identification of the actual users or potential users and their needs from the new service/product under design. Many times, target users are not able to express their problems and needs. Spending time with the target users is a good idea to really see the actual problem the users are facing in their process of doing something (the task for which the designers are planning to build the digital service). Requirement engineering suggests many techniques for requirement elicitation. There are traditional techniques like Surveys, Questionnaires and interviews. Literature on the Requirement engineering also suggests to borrow the established methods from disciplines engaged in human research. There are observational methods which have been taken from psychology for understanding the users. While borrowing the methods from other fields, it is essential adapt the method for the purpose of design. Ethnographic methods in anthropology might also be adapated to human-centered design needs. Instead of investing months on the traditional Ethnographic methods, those methods can be customized to shorter period with some modification in the process. All the information collected from selected methods for requirement gathering, should be documented (formally or informally) and analyzed for the final set of requirements.
1/23/13
2. Prototype potential solutions This phase focuses on the generating the ideas for the solutions and prototyping. Teams should bring ideas for the solution for the identified problem/requirements by having Brainstorming sessions. During the Brainstorming sessions, team should encourage ideas without any criticism; even a craziest idea may be a perfect solution to problem. Outcome of the previous step in this phase is one or more good ideas for prototyping. Next step is build prototype(s) for the identified solutions. 3. User testing of prototypes This phase focuses on the testing of the prototype(s) by some users from the identified user groups. Users should be allowed to comment on the prototype whether the proposed solution really fulfills the needs of the users. All the feedbacks for the prototypes must be captured and stored for further analysis. 4. Iterate prototyping and user testing Designers must iterate the prototyping and user testing until the solutions are found perfect for the user needs. At the end of this phase, designer must have one perfect solution to the user needs. For the finally selected solution, designer may do the testing at a bigger scale by involving the larger number of users from the identified user segments.
Important tips
1. Understand the users deeply by talking, observing even living with them. 2. Collect as much as information you can. 3. Analyze the requirements considering all the factors including financial, time to build, competition etc. 4. Be innovative. -
Customer value creation

6:37 pm Posted in Service design Leave a Comment When a customer looks for a product or a service, he is interested in the value which he can get from that. From customers point of view, value is the decision making factor for purchasing a product or service. By logical thinking, we can say that customer value can be judged by looking at what customer has to give for using the product and what he receives from that product. In addition, the customer value is perceived by the customer when he uses that product. I identified following good practices that can support the customer value creation. I am providing the justification also along with the practice. 1. Identify target customer groups
1/23/13
It is essential for a company to know the strength of their product and to identify the right target customers for the product. Purpose of this identification is to select those customers who really need the features which are offered by the product. A good practice is to come up with a customizable product portfolio based on needs of the identified customer groups. For explanation, I am taking an example a company which has Application Server as a product. Application server can be characterized based on the transactions it can process per second (TPS) as its capacity. To support high TPS requirements, product solution requires more memory and processing power (that means more powerful hardware needed). So, as capacity requirement increases, price of solution increases accordingly. For a better product offering, company should design, build and package the product with multiple product offerings based on the capacity. These multiple product offering can be planned based on the capacity requirements of different customer groups. In this way, company can provide the customer what they want at right price. 2. Identify customer process Customer evaluates the product at different phases. It is not only the product usage phase, product solution should support well in all phases of customer interaction in reference of product. Considering the fact, customer value creation requires a good understanding of the different phases in customer interaction. Product development company must actively identify these phases to make sure the product solution complies the phases of customer interaction. 3. Communication Usually, sales and marketing personnel facilitate the communication of requirements between customers and software project team. But, there are quite high chances that they differ in understanding about the customers and may lead to miscommunication. Software project team members (comprising project managers, analysts, developers and quality assurance personnel) must have direct and regular communication with customers and product users for better understanding of their needs.
Figure 1: Direct and regular communication To assist the communication, requirements can be captured in the form of documents, web contents or by the use of commercial tools. To verify the common understanding about the requirements, development team can build quick prototypes and receive early feedbacks from customers and users. Short iterative development phases help in getting regular feedbacks from customers. Moreover, it ensures the compliance with the needs of customers and users. 4. Team knowledge
1/23/13
For ensuring the quality product (suitable for customer and user needs), it is essential to have a knowledgeable product development team. It is required to have domain knowledge and technical knowledge in the team. Domain experts convey the knowledge about the environment in which the product will operate. They also help in building the big picture of the product requirements at different phases. A good technical knowledge helps the team to build the product features efficiently. Considering the fluctuating and growing requirements, it is necessary for analysts and developers to come up with the open and flexible architecture for the product so that it can be modified or extended in future as per the requirements. To enable this, team must have experienced and knowledgeable analysts and developers. 5. Effective Requirement gathering process Product development company must use requirement engineering (RE) process for better and common understanding of customer and user requirements. It is essential to clarify the ambiguous and conflicting requirements at early stage of product development. All stakeholders must be involvement in the RE process for ensuring that they have coherent understanding of the system requirements. Requirements must be prioritized based on the customer needs. It is a good idea to have multiple RE cycles (including elicitation, modeling, validation and verification activities) for refining the requirements and handling the rapidly fluctuating requirements. 6. Adequate resources and cohesive product development team It is essential to have adequate number of resources in the product development team for developing the product with quality and compliant with the customer and user requirements. At the same time, there must be sufficient number of resources involved in RE process. As study says, there must be 15-30 percent of project efforts involved in RE process. For efficient functioning of the team, there must be unity and regular communication between the team members. -
Service quality
December 6, 2009 4:00 am Posted in Service design Leave a Comment Service quality is becoming an increasingly important differentiator between competing businesses. It leads the businesses and researches to study and find ways to improve the service quality. A multiple-item instrument, SERVQUAL is developed for measuring customer perceptions on service quality. Service quality is considered as the difference between customers expectations and perceptions of a delivered service. Q=PE
Where Q is the quality of the service P is the perception of the delivered service, and E is the customers expectations of the service. digiservices.wordpress.com
9/14
1/23/13
E is the customers expectations of the service. A good perceived quality is obtained when the experienced quality meets the expected quality of customer. If the customers expectations are unrealistic, the total perceived quality will be low, even if she experienced acceptable quality.
Figure 1: Perceived service quality Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry proposed a conceptual model of service quality which works like a framework for understanding, measuring and improving service quality. They identified five discrepancies in the service delivery process affecting the consumers evaluation of the service experience. The five dimensions of the service quality gaps are as follows,
10/14
1/23/13
Figure 2: Gaps in service delivery process Gap 1: The gap between consumers expectations and those perceived by management to be the consumers expectations. Gap 2: The gap between managements perceptions of consumer expectations and the firms service quality specifications. Gap 3: The gap between service quality specifications and service delivery. Gap 4: The gap between service delivery and external communication. Gap 5: The perceived service quality gap, the difference between expected and perceived service. the gap analysis model is a guide for determining the service quality problems and discovering appropriate ways to remove the gaps. SERVQUALs five dimensions Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry defined five service quality determinants (1988). All five dimensions are related to the importance of people in the service organization. 1. Reliability: The ability to provide the promised service dependably and accurately. Reliable service performance is a customer expectation and means that the service is accomplished on time on each occurrence, in the same manner and without errors. 2. Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. In the event of a service failure, the ability to recover quickly with professionalism can create very positive perception of service. 3. Assurance: The knowledge and curtsey of the employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. 4. Empathy:
1/23/13
The provision of caring, individual attention the organization providing to customers. 5. Tangibles: The appearance of the physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. -
Service blueprinting
November 30, 2009 12:58 am Posted in Service design Leave a Comment In todays world, economy is moving towards services. This growth has compelled the business persons and research communities learn about services and the service innovation for value creation. Term Customer Experience has been used quite frequently in the service literature. a Harvard Business Review article (by Meyer and Schwager) defines a customer experience as, The internal and subjective response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with a company. For a better customer experience, it is essential for a service provider to evaluate and improve the service offering to customer. Service Blueprinting is one of the extensively used technique for describing and improving the interaction between service provider and service customer. It also helps management for identifying the potential failure points and areas of innovation. Service Blueprint is defined as, A picture or map that accurately portrays the service system so that the different people involved in its development can understand and deal with it objectively regardless of their roles or their individual point of view. A standard Service blueprint has five components, Customer Actions Onstage/Visible Contact Employee Actions Backstage/Invisible Contact Employee Actions Support Processes Physical Evidence Figure 1 shows a sample service blueprint for overnight hotel stay service.
12/14
1/23/13
Figure 1: A sample service blueprint Benefits of Service Blueprinting in service innovation Service design is a complex and continuous process. Service blueprinting facilitates the service design and service improvement processes.
Identifying the potential service failure points
Service blueprinting helps service designers in identifying the potential service failure points. Service designers can design the service for avoiding identified possible service failures and can improve the quality of service and customer experience as well.
Identifying the possible supplementary services
Visual representation helps service designers to identify the possible supplementary services with core service offering which. Integrating more supplementary services with core service will improve the service offering towards the customer and at the same time it will streamline the organization processes and eventually organizational units.
Optimizing the service co-creation process
Service designers can draw the service blueprint for an ideal and efficient service process for their area of service offering and then compare with their existing service process drawings. By this approach, service designers can identify the overheads for customer and organization in the current service co-creation process and plan for improving it. Service designers can indentify some steps which they can design as self-service for efficient use of resources and time.
Improving time of service delivery process for better efficiency and productivity
Customer has become very time sensitive these days. Considering the fact, service delivery time is one of the key aspects for quality of service and for competitive positioning. Analytical approaches can help service
1/23/13
designers in designing efficient steps for customers and customer facing employees. By this, customer is satisfied with the quick service and at the same time customer facing employee can handle other customer.
Identifying points of rule-breaking and theft in service process
Service designers can identify the points which can have possibilities of problems like rule-breaking and theft. By that, service designers can plan for solutions for avoiding such incidences at identified points. Older posts
Load more posts
Blog Stats
17,622 hits
Archive
April 2012 (5) March 2010 (3) December 2009 (1) November 2009 (1) October 2009 (3)
Calendar
January 2013 MT WT F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Apr Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: ChaosTheory by Automattic.
14/14

Digital Services Blog

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Digital Services Blog

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

1/23/13