An Approach for Services Design by Understanding Value Requirements, Identifying Value Carriers, Developing Value Proposition, and Subsequently Realizing Value

A service is a time-perishable, intangible experience performed for a customer acting in the role of a co producer. It involves application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills) through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself in real world. In economics, service is an intangible and insubstantial commodity and the value of service is expected to be self-evident. We can see that as providers of services, there is difficulty in understanding value experienced by consumers and as consumers of services we need to bank on our experience, use trial and errors to find a high quality service provider. There is even lesser clarity on service delivery process that assures value and various aspects of service that creates value to users. We propose a value understanding, value proposition and value realization based approach for services design based on the value co-creation system that exists in service production and its subsequent consumption. We also discuss about a related theoretical framework for service design in this paper. This theoretical framework is based on insights arrived at by asking four questions that needs to be answered for the service to succeed economically. These four questions are: (a) What are the benefits and how to discover, diagnose and understand these benefits? (b) What are the carriers for achieving these benefits? How can one derive these carriers of value? (c) What are the cumulative net benefits that should be delivered by the service? (d) How does one compose and deliver a service so as to realize these benefits? The basis of the framework is the "values viewpoint" for creating and describing services.