Page 182 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Unit 9: Service Product and Operation

enquiry data access and customer and product details. The service providers are trained to pick Notes
up the phone on the first ring.
Service flowcharts allow managers to better understand servuction processes. Designing the
process becomes the key to product design. In the design stage, it is ensured that the visible part
of operations is supported by invisible processes. Flowcharts seek to identify the following:
The time it takes to move from one process to another;
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The costs involved with each process step;
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The amount of inventory build-up at each process step;
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The bottlenecks in the system.
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A customer blueprint has three core elements:
Identification of all those functions that is essential to deliver a service along with the
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appropriate personnel with requisite responsibility, authority and accountability.
The relationships amongst different functions of service components are explained by
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graphics and charts. The relationship is based on time and sequence with each other. For
a hotel, the sequence of housekeeping in relation to reception and registration has to be
elaborated with a specific time interval.
Setting up of standards for each function with tolerance levels and variance from standards.
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These tolerances for variance should not adversely affect the service quality adversely.
9.5.2 Benefits of Blueprinting

The objective of blueprinting is to show how information, assets and customers are processed.
To put all of them in a blueprint is to imply that they are elements of uncertainty.
The following are the benefits of blueprinting a service process:

Through blueprinting, marketing and operations personnel are able to communicate
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with each other on paper before they do so in real time.
It provides a check on logical flow of the whole process.
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Bottlenecks represent points in a system where the consumer waits the longest. This
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identification would help the service manager understand the reasons for the delay and
come out with solutions.
Balanced Production Line: This implies that process times and inventories of all steps are the
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same. If not, the consumer never waits for the next process. This implies for the service
manager that there will be incomplete service experience.
It is an effective tool for managers to recognize the benefits of a changing system to
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process consumers more effectively.
It helps the marketer to set target times initially based on consumers’ expected level of
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service.
9.5.3 Operations Blueprint

There are alternative ways to develop service blueprints. Instead of going by the service manager’s
own experience and knowledge of service delivery, an alternative way to develop a blueprint
would be to start from consumer scripts. This is a process where consumers are allowed to
describe the process they follow while using the service. Their usage becomes the guideline for
blueprinting.

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