Business Academic
Customers are the consumers of products and services and without them the business chain would not be complete. People have various tastes and this leads them to have different requirements and to establish requirements that the customers themselves do not know requires service innovation. Service innovation is using different ways of satisfying customer requirements by engaging the customers themselves. Service innovation is different from product innovation in that it is faster and less expensive. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Though product and service innovation are different, they are not so mutually exclusive. There are several instances where services have become productized and vice versa. Rather than going to a solicitor to help with a tenancy contract, one can pick up a ready-made contract from an office stationery supplier. On the other hand manufacturers are incorporating service features to their products in the form of after sales services, warranties or complementary services. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Service innovations are intangible; if in a restaurant the waiters decide to be more pleasant with the customers, the customers will go away happy and we cannot touch these two feelings. Due to this intangible nature when a customer gets poor service he/she cannot return the service in order to be given a better one or given his/or her money back. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Service is customer embodied this means that customers are involved in both delivery and consumption in some occasions. For example to receive a diagnosis from a doctor you have to give a proper account of your symptoms otherwise you will not get proper treatment. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Service innovations can be easier to copy compared to product innovations since they do not involve manufacturing and the effort used is very little. They are often easier to decode since they are less cryptic, however, this is debatable since some service innovations have complex systems and competencies. Due to this concept service innovation may be easy to copy but hard to replicate fully the standards of the original copy. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Service innovation can be fuzzy especially when we are dealing with a larger interconnected service delivery system. For example, an airline passenger service system would be interconnected with various services such as ticketing, check-in, in-flight services and so on. (Shehabuddeen .N, 2007)
Examples of great innovation exist with a deep insight at their center that addresses a suppressed tension. Think of the invention of hand sanitizer, wet wipes, pampers and vacuum cleaners. In order to put the method of innovation in practice, business owners identify a set of coping mechanisms that address underlying tensions.
Service innovation has made life smoother in every aspect and this has contributed a lot to change and the acceptance of change in the universe.
In order to develop confidence about a requirements specification a design of service innovation has to be formulated. This involves developing an insightful view of the customer and coming up with something that the customer can value and relate to. Since service innovation is shorter and easier, it gives time for changes and experiments to be done to a model before the desired result is achieved. From this the customer may benefit in terms of improved quality, improved value and improved perception.
During service innovation the environment in which this is done is very important. When giving service to a customer one should employ the use of the five senses of a human being. This will make your customers at home with you and your place of work and once a customer is comfortable with the services received he/she is sure to frequent the place. Most people don’t just seek services because they want to but because they want to solve a problem or create a safety net for future occurrences.
Innovation of the design in a business helps to untap the potential of the business leading to more investment ideas and opportunities. Failure to constantly updating the business design can slow down or stunt innovation in the products and services leading to sterility of future developments.( Chang ,2011)
When designing service innovation the business has to scrutinize its past, present and future capabilities. This requires the managers of the business to challenge the status quo and step outside the comfort zone for a short while. This may end up expanding the business greatly. (Chang, 2011)
All business face competitors these competitors will to an extent influence innovation strategy. It is therefore of importance that you access the competitors information from publicly available sources these include annual reports, websites, brochures, insights from key suppliers and customers. The information acquired can be used in innovation activities, identification of technologically areas of interest to customers and defend areas of weaknesses that competitors will exploit. (Chang, 2011)
To understand how customers perceive established services and products and how they will perceive a plan to launch media reports have to thoroughly read and studied. Even if the innovation about to be launched does not fall into any of the categories in the market it is helpful to read on those product that closely resemble in terms of technology innovation about to be launched. (Chang, 2011)
After innovation of services a series of extended, observation and confrontation sessions with customers are carried out. This is carried to see if the customers are giving back a positive or negative feedback. The findings of the observation will enable the business/organizations to continue with the service innovation or stop and employ new and better approaches. These leads to satisfaction on the customer’s part and solutions to problems on the business side.
REFERENCES
• Shehabuddeen, N. (2007) Innovation in real life: a hands-on guide to genuine innovation. Liverpool: Open Innovation.
Chang, C.M. (2011) ‘The creation of novel and marketable service ideas’, International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 8 (1), pp. 113-133. Available from:
http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/lpu?title=International+Journal+of+Innovation+and+
Technology+Management&volume=8&issue=1&spage=113&date=2011&issn=&eissn=
