Open Service Design @ Work
Giandomenico Sica
g.sica@publay.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosica
May 1, 2009
The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Introduction
\"Publay\" is an innovation center in the service field.
We are a not for profit institution that works in partnership
with public and private companies of the tertiary sector.
In particular, we work together with our associate partners to
improve the quality of their services.
The distinguishing feature of Publay is that we innovate their
services by directly involving in the design process their
customers and stakeholders.
We co-design the service with them, in an open and
participatory way.
Open Service Design @ Work
2
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Some preliminary consideration
A service is different from a product:
1. It is \"intangible\". A service can't be experienced - touched, tasted, smelled,
heard, etc. - before the purchase.
2. It is \"inseparable\". A service can't be separated from the service provider. The
employee who provides the service is part of the same service.
3. It is \"variable\". The quality of the service can vary during the time and in
relation to the single provider.
4. It is \"perishable\". A service can't be stored or archived for future use or sales.
The service experience is something that is defined in the interaction between provider
and user.
Adopting a metaphor, we can say that a service is like a movie. It has a plot and screenplay (the
service structure), a director (the service manager) and some actors (the employees).
In this context, we focus on the service concept and structure.
Open Service Design @ Work
3
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Our “open design” process 1/2
Imagine that you are one of our associate partners and we want to innovate
your service, specifically your service concept and structure.
In order to achieve this goal we do the following activities:
- We prepare a description of the service, together with you.
- We prepare a detailed peer review of the service, involving an
international and interdisciplinary panel of experts.
- We publish the description of the service in our website and we ask the
readers to provide us with comments and feedback about it.
- We gather all the comments, integrate them in the review and we publish
the final document in our website, open for comments.
- We prepare a research plan - through which we try to understand and
define what kind of information we need to improve the design process -
and we publish it in our website, open for comments.
Open Service Design @ Work
4
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Our “open design” process 2/2
- We carry out the research, which consists of identifying, collecting,
structuring, and analyzing information that is necessary and useful for
improving the quality of the service.
- We prepare a periodical report, providing an interpretation and
explanation of the results, and an overview on how to improve the service,
based on our analysis.
- We publish this report in our website, open for comments.
- Periodically we revise the service description and the research plan,
according to the output of the research analysis.
In developing these activities, we possibly work together with your marketing
department, in order to involve directly the real service customers and stakeholders
in the dialogue and in the service design process.
Open Service Design @ Work
5
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Current status
At present we are in the start-up phase.
We have defined a four steps launch process:
1. Find first associate partners (public and private
companies in the service sector).
2. Launch of the first project.
3. Launch of the website.
4. Official Publay's launch.
We started our activities in April 2009, and we are planning to
become fully operative in September 2009.
Open Service Design @ Work
6
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009

Contact
g.sica@publay.com
nicosica
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosica
Open Service Design @ Work
7
Giandomenico Sica - g.sica@publay.com
May 1, 2009 - The “one minute” institutional presentation
lunedì 4 maggio 2009