Aligning Value and Implementation in Service Design: A Systemic Approach

The promise of service design is to enable a service supplier to prosper by delivering continuous value to customers. This prosperity is of strategic value to the service supplier. There is value in a service for both the service supplier and its service customers. The authors call these two values, service supplier value and service adopter value. When designing a service, it is necessary to align both value propositions with the service components and service features. In this paper, the authors propose a systemic method where whole (i.e., black box) and composite (i.e., white box) reasoning are interleaved on the organizational and functional dimensions. The authors begin by producing an as-is model that describes how the value is created for the customer and captured by the service supplier. Service improvement opportunities are identified in terms of value to both service adopter and service supplier. A to-be model is built that specifies the new interaction between actors and their new responsibilities and thereby, new service components and features. The method is illustrated with an example based on the service offering and implementation of Amazon.com in Amazon Marketplace.