ServiceDigiCulture
Toolkit and Training
The ServiceDigiCulture toolkit and training will help you to rethink and innovate your services and products-as-services in a customer-oriented and sustainable way.
ServiceDigiCulture Toolkit and Training consists of four main areas:
INTRODUCTION TO THE TRAINING
ServiceDigiCulture Service Innovation Training for Cultural and Creative Sectors
Services have become an important part of customers’ experience and consequently organisations’ activity and competitive advantage. Services are the new product that can provide more freedom of movement and opportunities for companies and organisations. Therefore, creating and innovating new services and rethinking existing ones is important. This is especially vital for cultural and creative sectors as their products are strongly linked to people and as they also tend to operate with limited resources.
The ServiceDigiCulture training and toolkit uses service design to train people in the cultural and creative sectors to innovate and rethink their services, and act proactively and sustainably. Services can be stand alone but also may incorporate additions to other services or products which support and complement these. Services can also be created from products. In addition to the application to services, the training material and toolkit can be applied for creating products.
The main method in this training used for service innovation is service design. It is a resource-friendly method to tackle blurry problems and develop services focusing on the user and service experience. It helps to find the root cause of problems and find new ideas.
The Sustainable Strategic Foresight Guide comprises part of the materials that support people in cultural and creative sectors in their work. It supports them to foresee, understand and react to societal and sectoral changes using service innovation and service design, and to consider different viewpoints for purposeful service development and innovation linked to strategy, sustainability and foresight.
Who is it for
The ServiceDigiCulture training is for all unemployed, employed and self-employed people and micro and small organisations in the cultural and creative sectors to foresee and react to changes, using service innovation and service design. Training materials also include a handbook for organisations, actors and promoters that support SMEs and people working in cultural and creative sectors during their service innovation journey.
What will you learn
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Competences and skills to use service design for service innovation with an understanding of user- and customer-focus;
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Ability to analyse your own services and products with a critical eye and to demonstrate and showcase your ideas and concepts to others;
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Understanding how digitalisation can be applied to new service products;
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Skills in foreseeing future issues and the ability to act on them proactively.
How will you learn
The ServiceDigiCulture training path towards learning service innovation forms of 4 main steps:
The path begins by learning what the concepts of service innovation and service design are, and why these are useful. The next phase considers examples of service innovation in general and cultural and creative sectors, and service design mentality through playful exercises. These are followed by presentation of the CREATE service design process model and toolkit that will be used in training. The final phase first presents examples where service design tools have been used and how these have been used. Then it provides an example of a service journey and finally the learning is put into practice in a case exercise. Self-reflection of what has been learned, one’s own professional identity, and whether one has used the methods feature throughout the learning path
With the help of the online materials and learners’ handbook, the training can be done independently without a trainer, for example with co-workers, but also as trainer-led training. The handbook for trainers provides information for the trainer-led delivery, while the learners’ handbook has been designed to support an individual learning path. Especially the learners who go through the journey individually may obtain peer support for example through the ServiceDigiCulture Facebook page.
Enjoy your journey and have fun!
Mind Map of Me
In this exercise you create a mind map of yourself, your skills, likes and work. This helps you to understand yourself, your opportunities, environment, purpose and audience better. It is the beginning of service development and innovation. You will reflect on yourself to creatively think about all the aspects of your skills, identity, brand, potential, aspirations, and knowledge that can be of use to you in your professional activity, whatever that may be.
We suggest you do this at the start of the programme as a snapshot of yourself and you may wish to do it again at the end. We are always learning and changing.
The mind map can be used online or face-to-face.
Materials
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Pens and markers of different colours
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Sticky notes (optional)
Instructions
This mind map is here to help you reflect on your identity and your professional activity.
You can use this to prompt reflection answering the word prompts with a thought shower of all issues that occur to you. You can also work with a partner and each share your impressions about your self. This allows for more questioning and exploration.
For example, start with the bottom row and think about all things that you like and work across the bottom row, using the word prompts. Then focus on the middle row and think in more detail about your identity and values.
Lastly work up to the top of the tree and think and the top row about how you translate or could translate, operationalise, or interpret these ideas into your organisational world. Maybe you create or perform and this gives you opportunities and audiences who could receive what you have to offer.
You can also do this at the start of the course as a baseline and then at the end. Perhaps it can help you reflect on what you have learned how you have changed and developed your business/ organisation or ideas.
LEARNING ABOUT SERVICE INNOVATION AND SERVICE DESIGN
What is service innovation and
what is service design?
You may have had moments when you were struggling to use a service or you wished that a certain service existed. You may also have heard your customers saying “Would you happen to have…” or “It would be nice if…”. These are all wishes for services and service features, and a valuable source of information about what people and customers wish for and need, and therefore a rich source of ideas for developing, rethinking, updating and innovating services and products.
Service innovation
As people’s needs and desires change and evolve over time, rethinking existing services and innovating new ones makes service innovation vital for the livelihood, potential and sustainability of an organisation. Service innovation can be applied to a completely new or an improved and updated service, part of a service or a service process, such as a customer process, value chains, or service infrastructure. It can also be a service created for a product or complementary to it, and it can combine existing elements into a new service. Today digitalisation is also part of many services.
Service design
Service design is applying design methods for service development to create user-oriented, feasible, viable and desirable services. It focuses on the experience and functionality of a service. Services are usually experienced and tested while consumed in real-life service situations during the interaction between the customer and the organisation. However, it is possible to innovate and develop services using service design as it allows testing and experiencing services during the development phase.
Service design helps to save resources as it investigates the root problem to tackle, listens to users, and tests services with users and service providers during the development phase to find the most suitable solutions and to eliminate any faults before a service is finalised and delivered to markets. Visualising the development process and who is involved in it can help to find opportunities, partnerships and develop service eco-system networks.
Warm-up exercises on different areas of service design
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Examples of Service Design and Service innovation
Time for self-reflection
“Have you done it?”
Take a moment to reflect on service innovation and service design, and if there are similarities to what you have already done. Use the questions below to support you in this.
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Is there something familiar in service innovation and service design to you? If yes, what?
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Have you done something like this before?
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If yes, what, when and how?
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How did you feel about it?
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What were the results?
Ideation exercises
EXERCISE 1
The worst idea ever
The aim of this exercise is to initiate a brainstorming session where even the persons who feel nervous about potential criticism can actively participate. The idea is that even just discussing the worst ideas can lead to connections or sources of inspiration that can lead to positive solutions, demonstrating their unexpected value.
Steps to do the exercise
1. The first step of the exercise is to initiate a brainstorming session. Show the group an object that you choose – it could be a coffee mug, a hat/scarf, or any other ordinary object that you have at hand. Ask the group to come up with ideas how to turn this object into a product that is appealing for customers. However, the rules, are that only bad ideas are welcome. The participants should use their creativity to suggest ridiculous ideas. 2. Start the brainstorming and on a flipchart/board write down the worst ideas that come from the audience. 3. Once you have the worst ideas written down, ask the audience to list the attributes that make those ideas bad. Write down those attributes on the flipchart. 4. The next step is to ask the participants to think about the opposites of those negative attributes to find what would turn those bad ideas into possible solutions. 5. Have a group discussion elaborating on the value of worst ideas. Could the worst ideas lead to connections or sources of inspiration that can lead to positive solutions? How to do this exercise individually A person could easily do this exercise alone by choosing an object and writing their own bad ideas. However, the exercise would be more fun to do if someone from the family is involved in the brainstorming. All other rules for the exercise are the same. Handouts / props An object for the brainstorming session – a pen/mug/hat or any other ordinary object at hand A flipchart/white board to write down the worst ideas A pen
EXERCISE 2
Blind portraits
The aim of the exercise is to become better at observing what surrounds you and to practice noticing details. The exercise could serve as a warm-up or as an icebreaker at the beginning of a session with participants who do not know each other.
Steps to do the exercise
1. The first step of the exercise is to divide the group in pairs. A simple way to do this is to print out some simple images (a sun, a tree, a cat, a chair, etc.), cut them in half, fold the papers so that the images cannot be seen, put them in a hat and ask the participants to each pick one piece from the hat. Then they will have to find the person who is having the other half of their image. In case of uneven number of participants, the facilitator may join the group. 2. The pairs sit facing each other with a pen and a piece of paper in their hand. Their task is to draw each other without looking at the paper. The time for drawing is 5 minutes. Instruct the participants to focus on the eyes/lips/hair or some other part of the person sitting against them and begin drawing. There are two main rules here: the participants should maintain a continuous line and not look at the paper. They should concentrate on how their hand moves in relation to the subject’s face. Encourage them to continue observing and adding details until the time is over. 3. When the time given has passed, ask the participants to look at their drawings and check how they managed to capture the details and fill the space on the paper. After observing their drawings, they should exchange them with their partner. 4. Have a group discussion. How did they feel during the exercise? What are the details they noticed while drawing? What about the portraits delivered by their partners? How to do this exercise individually A possible way to do this exercise individually is to involve a member from the family. Another option would be for the person to find a picture of a stranger on the Internet and perform the exercise looking at their portrait. All other rules for the exercise are the same. Handouts / props Images of simple objects printed out Scissors to cut the images in half A hat or any other container to put the folded images in Sheets of paper Pens/pencils for drawing the portraits
EXERCISE 3
Group sketching
The aim of this exercise is to discover connections to a certain idea/concept through group sketching. It is built on the idea that visual thinking can help to trigger and develop ideas that discussion and writing might otherwise leave unturned. Group sketching involves participants building on each other's ideas in a visual manner.
Steps to do the exercise
1. The first step of the exercise is to present to the audience a concept, idea, or topic you want them to explore further. 2. You start by giving a piece of paper and a pen to one participant who sketches an image related to the topic. Then they pass it to the next participant who draws another related image on the same piece of paper. This is repeated multiple times around the group. While participants are waiting for their turn, they draw separately on their own piece of paper. 3. Once all participants have sketched their images the final images are then reviewed and discussed with the aim of discovering connections that individuals had not spotted on their own. Participants also display their individual sketches and analyse them together with the group. How to do this exercise individually The only way to do this exercise individually would be to involve a member from the family or a friend since it requires group work. All other rules for the exercise are the same. Handouts / props Paper Pens/pencils for drawing A flipchart/board to put the final image Tape or pins to hold the image to the flipchart/board
SERVICE DESIGN PROCESS MODEL AND TOOLKIT
Service design model and toolkit
ServiceDigiCulture training uses the CREATE service design process model for service innovation. It helps in designing and innovating services through finding the problem to solve, gaining further insight, ideating and testing solutions, and finalising the service.
Click the boxes below to access the phases of the service design model and toolkit.
Time for self-reflection
“What have you used before?”
The service design process and some of the tools may seem familiar to you, or you may have used them in another context. Take a moment to reflect on the presented service design process and tools using the questions below.
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Does the service design process seem familiar to you?
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Have you done something similar earlier? If yes, what and when?
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Are you familiar with any of the tools mentioned?
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If yes, which ones? Where, when and how have you used them?
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What is new?
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How do you think you could use the service design process at your work?
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Which tools would be most useful for you at the moment?
PRACTICAL EXERCISES OF SERVICE INNOVATION
Case examples of service innovation
Guided user journey and service blueprint exercise
In this exercise you will go through a service from its beginning to the end detailing all its steps. The exercise provides an example of a hotel service which helps you to create a similar process for your own service. The service in this exercise is examined from:
1. The customer’s point of view using the User Journey
2. A Service Blueprint by adding the perspective of the organisation that delivers the service, and this way creating an overview of how the customer perspective and company perspectives meet
3. Comparing the user journey and the company’s/organisation’s tasks in the service blueprint
This exercise helps not only to provide an overview of the service, but also to detail all the steps that a customer takes and all that a company needs to do to deliver the service. This creates an understanding about what you need to take into consideration when creating and delivering a service, including resources and technical applications. In addition, you might also find occasions for service innovation while analysing the overview of the user journey and service blueprint.
Go ahead, give it a try and look at the hotel example to create a user journey and blueprint for your own activity.
Time required: 1-2 hours
Materials:
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Big sheets of paper, tape to attach the paper, or download the templates for this exercise.
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Pens and markers of different colours.
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Sticky notes.
1. Start with the user journey
The first step is to look at the customer’s point of view with the user journey. A user journey details all the steps and phases a customer goes through while using the service. The image below shows an example of a user journey during a dental appointment. Have a look at it and see how the process of dental appointment delineated in steps.
Now it is your turn. Select one of your services, or a specific part of it, and create a similar user journey for this. You can use big paper sheets or download the template for this purpose.
Write the name of your service and your company or yourself on the top of the paper and start marking the service step by step. You can use pens or markers of different colours or sticky notes to support the process. The benefit of sticky notes is that you can move them around when needed.
2. Company’s/organisation’s role and service blueprint
Next it is time to look at the company’s/organisation’s perspective for delivering the service, the steps and action a company takes to deliver a service. Adding a company's/organisation’s perspective creates a service blueprint. It is a flowchart-like visual presentation of a full service detailing the steps of a customer and the organisation for all the steps and phases of the service. The actions of the customer and the company/organisation are connected but might be activated differently during the journey. For example, when the customer makes a room reservation (user journey), the company has a system setup for it and people to deliver the service. Some of the company’s/organisation’s actions are visible to the customer, such as the website where the booking is made, while some of the actions happen beyond the customer’s view, such as booking an appointment for the patient in dentist’s systems (a so-called backstage contact action) or a booking as a support process. The website to make the booking is physical evidence of the service and also a contact point between the company and the customer.
Look at the service blueprint below to identify different actions the company/organisation does to create and maintain the service. Here is vocabulary to help you in your journey with the service blueprint:
Physical evidence = Tangible elements that are part of the service that customers meet during their service journey, such as computers, ticket machines or information screens, that have a role in forming customers’ experiences and perceptions of the service.
Customer actions = Activities and steps the customer takes during the service.
Frontstage contact actions (also called onstage) = Service actions and behaviour of employees in direct contact with customers. These are visible to the customer.
Backstage contact actions = Service actions and behaviour of employees that are not visible to customers even though these steps contribute to service delivery and experience.
Support process = Actions supporting services to be delivered and performed by employees.
A line of visibility = Divides what customers’ experience in direct contact with the company and what they see of the service from what they do not. It is the line between onstage and backstage actions.
Touchpoints = Moments of interaction between the customer and the company, for instance a phone call to the company.
It is your turn again. Continue working on the selected service, or the part of it you selected, and this time add the company’s/organisation’s steps, and actions to create a service blueprint that is a combination of the customer’s actions and company’s/organisation’s actions. Take another big paper sheet or download the template for the purpose. Write the name of your service and your company (or yourself) on the top of the paper. Add first the user journey from above and then start writing down the company’s/organisation’s perspective. You can use pens or markers of different colours or sticky notes to support the process. The benefit of sticky notes is that you can move them around when needed.
3. Compare the user journey and company’s /organisation’s actions
When you are ready, have a look at the service blueprint template. Are the customer actions and company/organisation actions in line with each other? What is missing? What could be done – where is an opportunity? What is unnecessary or too much? These questions help you to add, eliminate and move elements on the template. Once ready, give your template another look, and see if you can find any innovation opportunities on the template. Mark and write these down. You can again use sticky notes for this. Now look at the template and highlight the most essential points to consider in the service.
If you want to continue this further, you can write your findings on a document and create an action plan for your service.
Go one step further:
Customer (user) journey map and customers’ emotional reactions
You can develop the customer journey one step further by adding customers’ emotions to the customer journey. To do this, for each step add a smiley face if a customer is happy, neutral or not. You can also add very happy and very unhappy to the scale. Ideally, it is the customers and users themselves who add their emotions to the map using for instance colour coded sticky notes or sticky notes with different smiley faces on them. The average level of emotions can be calculated from these and added onto the map: the positive emotions place higher than the neutral and negative emotions. If drawing a line, it creates a wavy line through the emotions.
Value mapping and stakeholders
Usually an organisation does not operate in isolation, but has stakeholders to deliver services and goods to it, such as food supplements or laundry service to a restaurant.
A stakeholder map helps you to identify the most relevant stakeholders for a service. These are added on nested circles around a centre so that the most important ones are the closest to the centre. It is useful to add each stakeholder on a sticky note that you can move around the canvas. But before adding them, list all the relevant stakeholders. You can also add relationships between the stakeholders onto the map. Once you have added all of them onto the map canvas, identify gaps and add what you might need.
A value network map brings a stakeholder map one step further by adding value streams of various stakeholders onto the map.
An ecosystem map can be created from either map by adding on it other actors, places, tangibles like website, tickers, etc. and marking how these are related to each other. For instance, who takes care of the restaurant’s laundry and where.
Innovating services in practice
This exercise guides you to innovate and rethink services using the CREATE service design process model and all its tools. You will focus and work on a specific challenge and scenario throughout the exercise resulting in a new service as the final outcome. Possibilities for innovation are many. You can:
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Innovate a completely new service from opportunities that you identify.
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Rethink and innovate old services into something new, or combine different parts and elements into a new service.
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Create a new service of a product or to support a product. Similarly, a product can support the newly innovated service.
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Also rethink and innovate your products.
A set of instructions for each step of the CREATE model and handbooks guide you through the process.
Delivery
This exercise can be done individually, in small groups of 3-4 people or in pairs. If you are working on this exercise on your own outside organised training, you can work together with your colleagues from your company or another organisation even from another sector. You may also involve customers or potential customers or other people to your development process, for example in research. In such case, please take care of permissions and protection of their data. While working on this exercise, remember to take into consideration the nature of the sector and/or company.
Time required: Not specified, depends on the case and training schedule
Materials: CREATE service design process model and tools, and materials needed for the tools you select for your process, handbooks and possibly online platforms for online working.
Support: ServiceDigiCulture handbooks and training materials, trainers in guided training
Feedback, discussion and peer support are an important part of the process. If you are studying material individually online, for example, Social Media can be harnessed for this.
Other: Mind map of yourself may help you during this exercise.
Let’s get to work!
First form the team: Get your team together and agree on common rules and practical things, for example, internal communication, where the working materials will be stored, purchasing process, times, meetings, roles, and any practicalities. Then move on to the development process.
C - Cruising the problem area. Identify the problem to solve.
1. Identify the problem to solve. This may be a problem, a challenging area, an opportunity or area of need. You can select your own or use one from the example list herewith. You may also find one from the mind map you created of yourself.
2. Define the process and the tools. Discuss about your selected case, plan the process and select the tools to use to identify the root problem. Think what kind of information you need to obtain and from who, and what to do alone and what with others, and whom with. 3. Cruise the problem area. Work on your case using the tools. Look at and reflect regularly on the information obtained to see if you need to use another tool, change the process or go back to a previous step if needed. Visualise the process and information as it helps to process information and getting the big picture. You can also use visualisation for analysing and decision making for example by circulating and underlining essential points. 4. Evaluate, select the problem to solve and move to Phase 2, Research. Look at the outcome, the selected problem to investigate, and if you are happy with it, move on to the next phase.
R – Research. Investigate to gain insight about the identified problem
1. Plan the process and select the tools. Look at the work done in the previous phase and start planning the work for research. Select the tools and think what kind of information you need to obtain and from who.
Remember to think: a. About what to do alone and what with others b. What could be the role of customers and social media in your research? c. If service society, digitalisation and sustainability are important to your problem? 2. Conduct research. Work on your case using the tools. Look at and reflect on the obtained information regularly to see if you need to use other tools, change the process or go back to the previous phase. Visualise information and results obtained. Besides showing the big picture, this helps you to see patterns and what you need to focus on. 3. Evaluate the results and move to Phase 3, Exploring ideas. Analyse and look at the outcomes, the research results on your selected problem. If you are not happy, investigate the problem further or even go back to phase 1, cruising the problem area. If you are happy with the research results and insight gained, move on to the next phase.
E - Exploring ideas. Generate multiple possible ideas.
1. Plan the process and select the tools. Look at the work done in the previous phase and start planning the work for ideation. Select the tools, organise ideation settings and contact people involved, for example customers, peers or stakeholders.
Remember to: a. Think what to do alone and what with others, and how users, customers stakeholders are involved, and if you may also use social media. b. Think about practical issues, such as permissions, premises, use of ICT, and materials for ideation, idea evaluation and selection. 2. Ideate! Generate ideas for your problem. Be open and do not judge. The time for evaluation will be later. Remember to visualise ideas and information, and that you can also have ideas linked to digitalisation and sustainability. 3. Are you happy with the ideas? Then move to Phase 4, Alternative prototypes. Look at the ideas. Are they good for the purpose and user-oriented? Do you need more ideas? If needed, generate more or go back to previous phases depending on what kind of material you need more of. If you are happy with the ideas, move on to the next phase.
A - Alternative prototypes. Create and select concepts and prototypes
1. Plan the process and select the tools. Look at the work done in the previous phase and start planning the work for evaluating ideas and generating alternative concepts and prototypes.
Remember to: a. Think who should be involved? Plan what to do alone and what with others, and how users, customers stakeholders are involved, and if you use social media. b. Plan where concept and prototype development takes place, premises, permissions and any practicalities from tangible for evaluation to coffee catering. 2. Evaluate and select the ideas. Keep the challenge in mind when evaluating ideas. You can also invite customers and stakeholders to evaluate them. When evaluating ideas: c. Take into account the problem at hand, viability and feasibility, user-orientation and the nature of the sector, but also include the nature of the company and your own professional identity and skills. d. Do not throw ideas away as you may need them later. 3. Create alternative concepts and prototypes for your problem. Create these based on the selected ideas. Create first concepts, usually between 3-5, and evaluate and select those to develop further into prototypes. Concepts are visual versions of the idea that can be evaluated and the most interesting (ones) can be developed into a prototype(s). Concept evaluation and selection usually takes place in a separate meeting, and both use defined specific criteria for selection. You can invite customers and experts to select the concepts. The selected concepts are developed into prototypes. Prototypes can first be rough prototypes, that are tested, but these develop into more advanced prototypes through testing. A prototype at this phase should be carefully thought out be part of the service path including both the customer and the organisation providing the service. Therefore even a smaller service, like an app, should be knitted into the organisation’s service journey for the customer and internal service blue print, event though the prototype would be of the app only. In such case, planning of the adaptability of the app to the overall service structure should be started already at the earlier phases. During this process, remember to think whether digitalisation and sustainability are part of the concepts and prototypes, and specify how these would work. When selecting concepts and prototypes, consider the problem at hand, the nature of the sector and organisation, what is feasible and viable, and of course the users 4. Evaluate the concepts and create prototypes, and then move to Phase 5, testing. Look at the outcomes of this phase, the prototypes. If you are not happy with them, you can go back and general more concepts for the selection of the prototype, or even go back to the research if necessary. If you are happy with the results, you can move on to the next phase.
T – Testing. Test prototypes, pilot, solicit user feedback.
1. Plan the process and select the tools. Select the tools and plan who will test the prototypes, for example customers, peers or stakeholders, how to find and contact them, when this takes place and how, and what material and permissions are needed.
Remember to: a. Take into account the nature of what is tested, on whom and in which sector. b. Think about practical issues from permissions to tangible tools, ICT for testing, and also legal issues and premises. For example, can social media be used? c. Plan also how results will be collected and analysed. 2. Conduct testing. Conduct testing with people utilising selected materials and premises. Collect and analyse the results. Remember that visualising information and results can help, and that any feedback, even people talking after testing, can be useful. Evaluate the results and select one prototype for finalising in Phase 6, Exiting. If you are not happy with the results or something is missing, go back to previous phases. If you are happy with the outcomes, move on to the next phase. During testing and results evaluation, remember to take into account the problem at hand, nature of the sector and other conditions during idea evaluation, customers, your own professional identity and company, but also what is feasible and viable.
E – Exiting. Finalise the service/product; put into action
Plan the finalisation process. Carefully plan the process of finalising your outcome into a service to be launched to markets. Think about the target groups, how and where to sell, how will you produce it, the quality criteria, and how will you follow up with the service/product. It is worth to consider cultural and sectoral factors in different markets. Think also about risks and alternative solutions, and plan follow-up and process updates.