Creating an ideal customer path using service design : Case Pharmacy Isokannel
Lehto, Else-Mari (2012)
HAAGA-HELIA ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201303213503
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201303213503
Tiivistelmä
The focus of today’s service is turning more and more towards the customers and providing them service experiences. Service design is field that helps companies to discover their strategic service potential, to innovate new services and develop old ones in a customer oriented way. So far, service design has not been used in pharmacies, though it could be just what the rigid and oldfashioned field would need to start providing truly customercentric service.
The aim of this thesis is to create a framework for service development work in pharmacies and using that framework develop an ideal customer path for the case pharmacy.
The theoretical foundations of this thesis are the six service design frameworks developed by esteemed serviced designers and design agencies. These models work as bases for the framework developed for this thesis. The developed framework has seven steps, starting from Orientation stage, where the goals are set for the project. The next step is the Discovering stage where the customer knowledge is gathered. On the Generating stage, new solutions are created based on the information. This is followed by the Filtering stage where the best ideas are selected. On the next Specifying stage these ideas are further developed and visualized. After this, the ideas are put in action on the Implementing stage. The final stage is the Evaluating, when the functionality of the implemented ideas and the need for further development are assessed.
On the service development project executed in the case pharmacy the main methods used to gather customer information were service blueprint, shadowing, contextual interviews of the customers, workalong and online ethnography. Based on the information gathered, solutions were created with the help of tools such as personas, focus group workshop of employees, design game that was developed for the workshop and different idea generation tools. The ideas were filtered using sticker vote tool and mind maps. The selected ideas were formed in to the ideal customer path that was visualized using scenario story and service blueprint methods.
The project resulted in an ideal customer path that had over 40 development suggestions. The case company considered the project to have been very useful for the company and has started to implement the development suggestions in the pharmacy. The results of the theses imply that the developed service design framework is functional and useful tool in developing pharmacy services. Because of the high similarity between all community pharmacies in Finland, the framework could be used in other development projects in Finnish pharmacies.
The aim of this thesis is to create a framework for service development work in pharmacies and using that framework develop an ideal customer path for the case pharmacy.
The theoretical foundations of this thesis are the six service design frameworks developed by esteemed serviced designers and design agencies. These models work as bases for the framework developed for this thesis. The developed framework has seven steps, starting from Orientation stage, where the goals are set for the project. The next step is the Discovering stage where the customer knowledge is gathered. On the Generating stage, new solutions are created based on the information. This is followed by the Filtering stage where the best ideas are selected. On the next Specifying stage these ideas are further developed and visualized. After this, the ideas are put in action on the Implementing stage. The final stage is the Evaluating, when the functionality of the implemented ideas and the need for further development are assessed.
On the service development project executed in the case pharmacy the main methods used to gather customer information were service blueprint, shadowing, contextual interviews of the customers, workalong and online ethnography. Based on the information gathered, solutions were created with the help of tools such as personas, focus group workshop of employees, design game that was developed for the workshop and different idea generation tools. The ideas were filtered using sticker vote tool and mind maps. The selected ideas were formed in to the ideal customer path that was visualized using scenario story and service blueprint methods.
The project resulted in an ideal customer path that had over 40 development suggestions. The case company considered the project to have been very useful for the company and has started to implement the development suggestions in the pharmacy. The results of the theses imply that the developed service design framework is functional and useful tool in developing pharmacy services. Because of the high similarity between all community pharmacies in Finland, the framework could be used in other development projects in Finnish pharmacies.