Making Service Innovations Work: Increasing the effectiveness of service design consultancies in the implementation of a project

Making Service Innovations Work: Increasing the effectiveness of service design consultancies in the implementation of a project

Beck, C.M.

De Lille, C. (mentor)
Van der Veen, O. (mentor)
Calabretta, G. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovation Management

2014-01-30

In this thesis the subject of service implementation is investigated. From the research findings a framework is constructed which serves as the basis of a toolbox. The thesis fulfills an assignment that was posted by service design agency Ideate from Amersfoort who wanted to become more effective in the implementation of newly developed services. Ideate consultants always work closely with their clients to develop services and experienced difficulty in implementing these services. Service implementation is a relatively new subject that is underexposed in the academic literature. Where in research on New Product Development much attention is paid to each stage of the development process, for New Service Development this is only true concerning the earlier stages of a project. This project was carried out by a gradation student who worked internally in the company during the project. The project consisted of a research, an analysis and a toolbox development phase. The research consisted of a literature review, expert interviews with experts from the field and case studies of four of Ideate’s cases. In analysing the findings of this research insights are generated and a framework is constructed. This framework consist of the perspective of integrated service implementation. This term indicates that the implementation of the service that is to be developed needs to be addressed continuously and iteratively throughout the project and in parallel with the actual development of the new service. Additionally integrated service implementation consist of three themes: Process Understanding: All involved stakeholders should to a certain degree adopt and understand the user-centered iterative NSD process used in the development and implementation of the service. Stakeholder Management: All parties and individuals involved in service implementation and development should be identified, involved, informed and coordinated by favouring open communication and continuous alignment of objectives throughout the entire NSD. Finding Fit: The new service development project should be continuously aligned with the client company’s capabilities, strategy, culture and objectives. This framework formed the basis of the development of a toolbox. The toolbox makes the information from this framework and the insights accessible to and directly applicable for the Ideate consultants. The toolbox intervenes at three moments in the service development project. Check-In: at the start of a project at which the project is positioned with the help of two positioning tools. Check-Up: during the project a check-up moment will be introduced at which the project leader and consultants discuss the status of the implementation of the service. Since implementation is continuous these check-ups take place throughout the entire project. Continuous support tools: principle cards and a project journey make the knowledge from this framework easily accessible to the consultants.

service innovation
implementation
consultantcy
innovation process

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:55973130-de98-401f-b8aa-4977cf132309

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Beck, C.M.