Recently I came across several articles by researchers and
experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL
provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden
services:
A means of delivering
value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without
the ownership of specific costs and risks.
An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service
characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have
four basic characteristics (IHIP):
· Intangibility—Services are the results of
actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set
of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.”
· Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”;
services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver
services-that is people. Because the people element adds variability, the
service is variable. This holds true especially for the value proposition—not
everyone perceives the same value from the same service.
·
Inseparability—Because of the intangible and
variable nature of services, it is hard to pull them apart into discrete and
unique elements; also the production of a service cannot be separated from its
consumption—as soon as the service is delivered it is consumed.
· Perishability—Services do not have a shelf life
because of their intangibility; services are highly subject to supply and
demand; the value proposition of services diminishes quickly. Because of their
ethereal nature, we must work much harder to ensure the value makes it to the
customer or business.
When defining and designing your services keep these
characteristics in mind. You should not let only these aspects drive your
decisions as to how you create services for your customers. Rather consider
them constraints and boundaries in which you need to define and design.
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