Service Thinking

Chapter 3

Service Systems: Specialization Plus Integration

Always design a thing by considering it in its next largest context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.

—Frank Lloyd Wright

To illustrate the transformational impact of Service Thinking on business, we now expand our analysis from one-to-one service design and delivery to service systems. Service systems are the new form of business architecture.

While the service interaction is often between two individuals—such as the hotel guest checking in with the front desk attendant or the bank customer dealing with the teller—the service delivery is always between two “service systems.” Service systems are a combination ...