Business services are a broad term used to describe tasks and activities that support the running of a business, but do not produce a tangible product. Examples include information technology (IT), procurement, shipping, finance and a variety of other business functions.
Unlike goods, which can be stored for later use, services need to be delivered when demanded. Customers are involved in the process of delivering services, which means they must be considered as an essential part of the design of a service.
The first step in determining how well a service business is doing is to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Then, the business should be evaluated against these strengths and weaknesses in order to determine whether it is a good fit for its target market.
Another crucial element of a business’s success is its ability to deliver value to its customers. To do this, managers must get four critical elements of service design to work together: the service itself, customer-oriented design, operational processes and management.
In the course of teaching service management at Harvard Business School, I have developed a framework that helps managers think about these four critical elements. The framework is based on an important shift in perspective, from that of product designers to that of service designers.
Traditionally, most product companies focus on what their customers want. Then they design a product that best meets those demands.
However, this approach is no longer sufficient in today’s marketplace. It leaves sophisticated managers wanting more.
The new model focuses on what customers are really looking for in a service, which is not necessarily what they expect or what they pay for. Instead, customers value experience, and the quality of a service business’s service design affects their overall satisfaction with the offering.
To be successful in this new world, managers must be able to understand what customers truly want and then develop strategies for how they can deliver it. This requires an approach that combines the traditional techniques of product design with a new perspective on how customers interact with their environment.
A new perspective on delivering customer-oriented services provides an opportunity to create value for the business. This approach, which is a core component of my course, can help managers recognize the important differences between products and services and then apply that insight to create successful business-to-business interactions.
This approach can also help companies develop the capabilities they need to better engage with customers. For example, service businesses must be able to communicate effectively with their customers and employees. They also need to ensure their staff is equipped with the skills they need to do their jobs.
These skills can be taught, but they are not always available to all businesses. Therefore, many companies have an in-house training program to provide employees with the knowledge they need to do their job.
The goal is to train workers so that they can deliver high-quality services to customers. This can be done in a variety of ways, from classroom training to hands-on learning experiences and more. In addition, service-oriented training is an effective way to improve a company’s culture and employee engagement.
