The traditional path of developing products first and then services later in the development cycle - or organically - places undue burden on the services' variable costs and usually delivers a less satisfying experience to customers. Considering the products and service as a Whole Offering, like customers do, provides greater satisfaction, greater scale, reduced costs, and usually less complexity. Ceatro Group is a consultancy that helps organizations with customer insights, customer experience, product and service innovation, and strategy efforts.

1. How Should Service Strategies Tie to
Product Strategies
December 2012

2. At Ceatro We Believe the Goal
of a Service Strategy is to:
Design and deliver the right service offerings
to achieve the right customer and business
outcomes for each segment at the right cost
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

3. Good Service Strategies Are:
 Integrated with product strategy
 An outgrowth of the experience strategy
 Defined by segments and segments’ needs
 Intentionally structured to include value-added services
and supporting services
 Multi-channel
 Heavily managed for cost and value exchange
 Executively endorsed
 Constantly measured, monitored, and updated
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

4. We Think About Service Strategy
as a Critical Piece of the Entire Strategy
What is your business strategy for achieving your
goals and satisfying your segments’ needs?
What is the overarching experience you want your different
segments to have?
What will the mix of product, value-add services, supporting
services, and other services and processes be in achieving that?
For product, how can you For value-add services, how For supporting services, how
deliver the best experience can you deliver the best can you deliver the best
with the most value for the experience with the most experience with the most
best cost? value for the best cost? value for the best cost?
Which channels will these all be delivered in?
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

5. Ceatro Approaches a Service Strategy
as a Primary Strategy
 In most organizations, service strategies do not exist; instead individual
channel strategies have been built (call center, web, email, sales, in person,
etc.) overtime, adjusted, and glued together
 If a service strategy was designed it usually occurs after the product is
designed, which makes it a secondary strategy
 We believe that your service strategy is an integral part of how you exchange
value with your customer segments and should be designed as an integrated
strategy with your product strategy
 Customers and organizations get better outcomes when the entire suite of
offerings that customers get is designed together as a holistic experience.
This results in:
– Higher satisfaction rates
– More intuitive experiences
– Lower costs
– Less operational complexity
– Fewer feature offerings (more refined portfolio)
– Greater goal achievement (revenue, outcomes, etc.)
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

6. Service Strategy Landscape
Normal Improved
The
Product
Design this The
Product
Then design the
supports
Social
Web
Site Email
Service
Strategy
Field Call
Sales Ctr
Much Better
Design this Everything We Offer
to Customers
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

7. Which, Coincidentally, is How Your Customers See It
The Whole Offering
“Everything They Offer to Me that
Meets or Exceeds My
(Known + Unknown)
Needs” - customer
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

8. This is More Than Semantics
 Though there is still a service strategy in that Whole Offering, designing
everything together enables you to stay strategic, aligned, planful, and
resource-lean
 This approach allows you to think about the entire experience you offer to
each segment and determine the right mix of product, value add services, and
support services to meet their needs
 It also enables you to determine the right mix to meet the organization’s
needs – cost, strategy, outcomes, missions, etc.
 If executed well it creates an ideal design model in which you consider needs,
design solutions, then figure out how to make it, and who will own it. Too
often organizations do this backward – resulting in offerings that don’t satisfy
needs Sales
Marketing
Everything We Offer Product
to Customers Support
Services
Value Services
illustrative
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

9. Organizational Evolution Usually Prevents
This From Happening All at One Time; That’s OK.
 Unless an organization is creating a brand new product platform or is a start
up, designing everything from scratch isn’t always feasible
 Instead, in pursuit of the service strategy we reconsider all the critical pieces
and attempt to rationalize the portfolio of customer-facing offerings over a 3-
5 year time horizon where possible
 In collaboration with you, we set out an ideal and help you aim for it
Today 1-2 years 3-5 years
The Sales
Product The
Product Marketing
Product
Support
Web
Social Services
Site Email
Value
Service
Services
Field Call Strategy
Sales Ctr
Confidential Copyright: Ceatro 2012

10. Better Understanding. Better Experiences. Better Results.
www.ceatro.com
Cambridge Innovation Center
1 Broadway, 4th floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
+1-617-338-4525