Service Thinking

Chapter 1

Service Thinking Will Transform 21st Century Business

The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.

—Douglas Engelbart

We propose and support a prodigious claim: Service Thinking is a new approach to business that will change virtually every aspect of creating and sustaining enterprises. Specifically, these changes will impact the:

• fundamental nature of the relationship between the provider and the customer;

• role of the employee;

• basic functioning of the front end of the enterprise: marketing, sales, and delivery;

• enterprise approach to strategy;

• organization of the entire enterprise;

• operational infrastructure;

• governance of resource allocation; and ...