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Service blueprint
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Jump to: navigation, search The service blueprint is a technique used for service innovation. The technique was first described by Lynn Shostack, a bank executive, in the Harvard Business Review in 1984. The blueprint shows processes within the company, divided into different components which are separated by lines.

Contents
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1 Customer Actions 2 Onstage / Visible Contact Employee Actions 3 Backstage / Invisible Contact Employee Actions 4 Support Processes 5 Physical Evidence 6 Building a blueprint 7 References

[edit] Customer Actions

This component contains all of the steps that customers take as part of the service delivery process. This element is always on top of the service blueprint.

[edit] Onstage / Visible Contact Employee Actions

This element is separated from the customer actions by a line of interaction. These actions are face-to-face actions between employees and customers.

[edit] Backstage / Invisible Contact Employee Actions

The line of visibility separates the Onstage from the Backstage actions. Everything that appears above the line of visibility can be seen by the customers, while everything under the line of visibility is invisible for the customers. A very good example of an action in this element, is a telephone call; this is an action between an employee and a customer, but they dont see each other.

[edit] Support Processes

The internal line of interaction separates the contact employees from the support processes. These are all the activities carried out by individuals and units within the company who are not contact employees. These activities need to happen in order for the service to be delivered.

[edit] Physical Evidence

For each customer action, and every moment of truth, the physical evidence that customers come in contact with is described at the very top of the service blueprint. These are all the tangibles that customers are exposed to that can influence their quality perceptions.

[edit] Building a blueprint

The process of structuring a blueprint involves six steps:[1] 1. The identification of the service process, that is supposed to be blueprinted 2. The identification of the customer segment or the customers that are supposed to experience the service 3. Picturing the service from the customers perspective 4. Picturing the actions of the contact employee (onstage and backstage), and/or technology actions 5. Linking the contact activities to the needed support functions 6. Adding the evidence of service for every customer action step

Motivations for an Enhanced Blueprint Traditionally, service blueprints have been done entirely with lines and text boxes to depict anything from user actions to support processes. Our research explores how to introduce new elements to the blueprint for capturing the meanings or emotional qualities that the customer experiences during key moments of the service. Our motivation is to augment the listing of customer-provider actions with some working form of a bellwether that could be used to temper the ups and downs of the customers relationship with the provider. Attending to this relationship

is an important factor in maintaining and sustaining the customer base, as the customers emotional state during the service contributes to their overall perception of the service.

[edit] References
1. ^ Wilson Alan/ Zeithaml, Valerie A./ Bitner, Mary Jo/ Gremler, Dwayne D. (2008): Services Marketing: Integrating Customers Focus Across the Firm, Glasgow, 2008. (p. 203-206)

Shostack, G. Lynne. "Designing Services that Deliver", Harvard Business Review, vol. 62, no. 1 January - February 1984, pp. 133139. Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation, by MJ Bitner, AL Ostrom, FN Morgan A Key to Service Innovation: Services Blueprinting

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