The Service Design Maturity Model A strategic framework to embed service design into an organisation In the past years, many organisations have been working on projects to improve service experiences. Increasingly, large organisations have started to understand the value of service design. This has resulted in a growing desire amongst organi sations that ‘understand’ service design to embed it into their Niels Corsten is Service Design Lead at Koos Service Design. He has contributed to service design projects in telecom, banking, mobility, insurance and healthcare industries, amongst others. He is currently involved in embedding service design in organisations, working toolkits, training programmes and on-the-job coaching. niels@koosservicedesign.com
Jules Prick is partner at Koos Service Design with over ten years of international experience in research, branding and service innovation. He founded Koos Service Design in Amsterdam in 2009, following his passion to create meaningful services. jules@koosservicedesign.com
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companies. We have helped some of our clients, including a Portuguese telecom provider, a leading European bank, an energy utility company and the Dutch Railways, achieve this ambition. Implementing service design capabilities is a somewhat unexplored territory for many service designers. When reflecting upon those projects, we observed striking similarities amongst them and soon began formulating a framework: The Service Design Maturity Model. We set out to create a model for successfully embedding service design at scale within organisations, including actionable advice on how to overcome barriers. Introducing the Service Design Maturity Model The model consists of five stages that show the process of embedding service design into an organisation and structures the transformation towards a service design-led company. The model helps to identify the current stage of maturity
through five pillars, which then serve as guidelines for further maturation. — People and Resources – The extent to which people, budget, time and facilities are available and dedicated to service design activities. — Tools and Capabilities – The extent to which service design methodologies and tools are applied within the organ isation, and the level of required skills and capabilities that are needed to apply service design. Beliefs and Behaviours – The degree to — which the organisational views, rituals and habits promote service design. Organisational Structure – The extent — to which the organisational structure allows and facilitates multidisciplinary service design work and the assigned roles that are needed to do so.
