Development of Methodology for Service Concept Creation

We are developing a methodology for service concept creation. Taking an approach consisting of four steps; observation (involvement in pilot projects), conceptualization, modeling, and deployment, we have clarified the basic concept of our methodology and designed a process for service concept creation. The process includes (1) sharing a vision of new services, (2) exploring customer values, and (3) creating a service concept consisting of target users (WHO), customer values (WHAT), and key technologies (HOW). In this paper we illustrate this process and propose methods designed to be used in the process by focusing on effective use of observation, story telling, and analogies for abductive reasoning in the step of searching for customer values.