Dear Robert, Victor and Roman,
It seems funny to try to problematise service design. It seems a bit like
terra nullius - 'it hasn't been discovered yet providing you ignore those
who are already living and working there)
We know what service activities are and we know what design activity is. The
issues seem to be mainly about why and how we should undertake design
activity to improve service activities?
One challenge that seems to bring things into focus is whether it is
possible to design service activities such that there would be never any
need to have a customer service department or help desk. From a customers
point of view, if designed this well, services would work prefectly and
unobtrusively. Google manages this in the main. Ebay and PayPal try to do it
and are not quite there yet. Others are trying this approach and failing
badly (my local Saab dealer comes to mind).
Reflecting on my experience of 'designed' services, one thing that seems
important to avoid is the appearance rather than the substance of well
designed services. I'm reminded of a university in Australia that
eco-designed its new offices so they did not need to have installed any
airconditioning or heating.
The eco-design did not work. The buildings overheated and froze the
occupants depending on the time of the year .... but the eco-design
initiative saved the university a substantial amount of cash because they
avoided the cost of installing the airconditioning and heating systems....
Wondering if anyone has similar service design experiences to share?
Best regards,
Terry
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Dr. Terence Love, FRDS, AMIMechE, PMACM
Director Design-focused Research Group, Design Out Crime Research Group
Researcher, Digital Ecosystems and Business Intelligence Institute
Associate, Planning and Transport Research Centre
Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845
Mob: 0434 975 848, Fax +61(0)8 9305 7629, [log in to unmask]
Visiting Professor, Member of Scientific Council
UNIDCOM/ IADE, Lisbon, Portugal
Honorary Fellow, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development
Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
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