1. Part 4 ALIGNING SERVICE DESIGN AND STANDARDS 8-1

2. Provider Gap 2 CUSTOMER Customer-driven service designs and standards COMPANY Gap 2: The Service Design and Standards Gap Company perceptions of customer expectations 8-2

3. Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 2 8-3

4. Risks of Relying on Words Alone to Describe Services • Oversimplification • Incompleteness • Subjectivity • Biased Interpretation 8-4

5. Important Considerations for Service Innovation • Involve customers and employees • Employ service design thinking and techniques 8-5

6. Important Considerations for Service Innovation • The five principles of service design thinking: • User-centered: Services should be experienced and designed through the customers eyes • Cocreative: All stakeholders should be included in the service design process • Sequencing: A service should be visualized as a sequence of interrelated actions • Evidencing: Intangible services should be visualized in terms of physical artifacts • Holistic: The entre environment of a service should be considered 8-6

7. Types of Service Offering Innovations • Major or radical innovations • Start-up businesses • New services for the currently served market • Service line extensions • Service improvements • Style changes 8-7

8. New Service Strategy Matrix for Identifying Growth Opportunities 8-8

9. Service Blueprinting • A tool for simultaneously depicting the service process, the points of customer contact, and the evidence of service from the customer’s point of view. 8-9

10. Service Blueprint Components Physical Evidence Customer Actions line of interaction Visible Contact Employee Actions line of visibility Invisible Contact Employee Actions line of internal interaction Support Processes 8-10

11. Service Blueprint Components 8-11

12. Blueprint for Overnight Hotel Stay Service 8-12

13. Building a Service Blueprint 8-13