Everybody's talking about Service Design, but why is it creating such a buzz amongst change professionals and Business Analysts? Jonathan Hunsley, AssistKD's lead Service Design expert has come up with 7 reasons why Service Design is so relevant to today's business world.

Why Business Analysts need to know about Service Design

1. Service Design improves the customer experience

Applying Design Thinking, Customer Experience (or CX) Analysis and Business Service Design helps an organisation to examine their business offering holistically and improve the customer experience.

Service Design is about improving an existing service or designing a whole new service, looking at services, systems and processes from a customer perspective. It's about deciding if a service is needed in the first place and, if so, determining how it should be delivered. Just as the best Product Design makes a product as good as it can be for the customer's needs and lifestyle, the best Service Design makes the entire customer experience as good as it can be.  

In this ultra-competitive age, it's essential for organisations to meet customers' needs. Creative and innovative Service Design is central to achieve this seismic shift to a human-centred approach.

2. Good Service Design makes everything better, for everybody

When somebody has a bad service experience, they are experiencing poor Service Design or possibly no design at all. With good Service Design a combination of systems, technologies and people make the customer experience great from start to finish. The best Service Design looks at the customer experience both digitally and physically, as both aspects work together.

3. Well thought out Service Design gives organisations the edge over competitors

Customer experience is more important than ever in the digital age, with an expectation of a seamless, connected customer journey and with the added pressure of customers sharing reviews online. A better customer experience makes an organisation stand out from the crowd, winning loyalty and business.

4. Early-stage Service Design saves money  

Organisations are catching on to the fact that employing a Service Designer at the earliest possible stage in a project or business change scenario helps prevent false assumptions and ill-informed decisions. These could lead to expensive mistakes further down the line. Service Design streamlines services and reduces inefficiencies. This creates a 'Win-Win' situation for the both the customer and the organisation as quality improves and both time and money are saved.  

5. Service Design is an ongoing, continuous process

Service Design is so important, many organisations are beginning to ensure they have Service Design expertise in-house, as this allows for the capture, retention and re-use of knowledge. Service Design provides a basis for continuous improvement so organisations are able to respond to changes in customer preferences at pace.  

6. Service Design encourages collaboration and Agile working

Larger organisations often have separate departments working in silos. Each take independent decisions and guard expertise and knowledge. Customers on the other hand, don't care who does what, they simply want a positive, seamless journey. Service Design embeds Agile working, with different teams exchanging information and ideas. It's holistic, strategic and impacts the whole organisation.

7. Service Design is more important than ever in a complex, fast changing world

As customer experiences become more complex across multiple channels, there are more opportunities for mistakes. It only takes one website glitch when ordering online or a customer finding themselves lost in a phone system to create a poor impression. Service Design encompasses every touchpoint in the customer journey, and every system and process, to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved.  

Improve your Service Design knowledge or become a Certified Service Designer

In today's fast-changing landscape, a Service Designer can help an organisation to be more aware of and responsive to market changes and opportunities, focusing on and achieving better business outcomes. Find out about AssistKD's Service Design courses and the new A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification.