This book reminded me of another one of my favorites, Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, from the point of view of its practical application. It contains a host of methods presented in simple practical terms to help service organizations rethink their way to serve clients. The author focuses on optimizing the “ecosystem” by improving the interactions between the different actors in the company. While many of these methods would be even better implemented, with more profound results, if the company uses the services of an expert in the field, they still help to make an in-depth analysis of the client needs in the future and to find innovative ways to meet the demand. Here is an overview of the methods that caught my attention:
Visualizing Drivers of Change
Based on the famous PESTEL analysis, this method helps participants to identify the drivers of change that are likely to shape the issues in the future, to bring participants to picture their business in 3 years, 5 years and 10 years. This method helps the team to see things from a different perspective and to create opportunities that support creativity and decisions in the present in order to meet the needs of their clients in the future.
Mapping Innovation Ecosystems
This method motivates participants to identify the diverse interactions and roles of the actors involved, such as employees, clients, partners, etc., and then to create a visual presentation to better understand the current ecosystem and, above all, to explore what could happen in the future. I believe this method creates the most value. Only too often employees do not fully understand the specific expectations and needs of various departments within the company, causing a host of issues, unnecessary expenses and lost opportunities.
Mapping the User Experience
In my practice, I saw many tools and methods used to map customer experience. Up until now, I did not find one that would meet my needs, while being both strategic and convenient. This method won me over right away because it allows building, step by step, an understanding of the diverse interactions and gaps, starting from client expectations and all the way to opportunities for improvement and innovation.
Segmenting by Meaning
This method helps to create a framework that distinguishes between various key types of clients, divided based on understanding what they are, what they want, why they want it, how they want it, etc. Creating a sound segmentation is definitely the first step to building an outstanding client experience. It is at the basis of the maximized customization of services in order to generate drivers of change.
Opportunity Mapping
This method prompts participants to crystallize their understanding of each of the drivers of change and emerging opportunities, as well as to position them in a particular time frame. The ultimate goal of this method is to allow implementation of profit-generating projects aligned to the opportunities.
Telling Stories
This method is based on presenting a change you wish to introduce through stories that have a clear structure. Moreover, it may be used to illustrate the steps that each actor would go through to become at ease with the suggested change. This method may be useful for change management, but above all to prevent resistance to change.
Service Blueprinting
This valuable method is used to analyze in every detail the existing service proposal through the interactions of actors. It brings into view the pitfalls and gaps in the current service system and helps to create and plan a new approach.
“The Service Innovation Handbook” written by Lucy Kimbell
Sylvie Grégoire, MBA, CRHA
President, Totem Performance organisationnelle
