Measuring and ensuring the success of services

Measuring and ensuring the success of services Image
Home arrow Resources arrow Measuring success

Although metrics, measurement and target setting may seem more linked to service management than design, metrics have an important role in achieving a service's vision. Service metrics define how a service will be built and how it will work. Designed metrics are needed to operationalise a new service.

Much of the discussion and effort around service measurement is linked to fine-tuning an existing operating model. The more glamorous strategic role for service metrics is not often considered.

Startups or organisations with established business metrics will, at some point, articulate a vision or set a strategic direction. Visions and strategies can be communicated in broad terms with bold statements about the future of the service, organisation or indeed the planet. However, making a vision a reality needs specifics.

A helpful test of whether a statement of vision or strategy is specific enough to be made real is whether the output or outcomes it implies are themselves measurable. For example, if a company wishes to become the 'most loved [insert service or industry type] brand in the world', then the next step is to break down into very clear statements what it will actually mean in concrete terms to be 'most loved'.

A description of the aspiration needs to be translated into aspects of the service or business that can be measured.

This discussion leads us to a good example of 'top-down' versus 'bottom-up', for as organisations routinely reframe their vision and corporate strategy, they often continue to measure the things they have always measured.

A new vision or strategy implies that certain aspects of what an organisation does are now more important than they were - or that something completely new has now become more important.

Similarly, aspects of the operating model and service may no longer be important enough to continue measuring - data from these metrics may simply be a distraction.

Operationalising a new strategy, or indeed a new service should trigger organisations to question what they are or are not measuring, and why it's important.

Why I love service design and why you might too

We discover why Joe Heapy, co-founder and managing partner of Engine Service Design, still finds...

The future of education: Pandemic stories

At Engine Service Design, we’re constantly looking to reimagine improved services and experiences...

Four tips for designing beautiful services

1. Understand in detail what your services are made of A beautifully designed service is made up of...

What is Service Design and why?

Service design is a creative and collaborative practice that determines precisely how an existing...

Book time with a service design expert.

Discover the transformative power of service design and unlock the full potential of your business. Get in touch with our service design experts today and start improving or innovating your services and customer experience.

Read our privacy statement.

Learn about the benefits of connected service design