In his March blog entry, Jari Kaivo-Oja discussed service design and the future of the service industry in Finland. A significant number of Finns are employed by the service industry, and the numbers will increase in the future. The service industry does not only consist of business-to-consumer services; it also includes business-to-business (B2B), business-to-government (B2G) and business to networks (B2N) activities. While the industrial society required high-quality industrial design, the service society shifts the focus to service design.
The different service design domains require experienced professionals that master the tools for creating digital enterprise-level services. Service design will not be outsourced to cheaper countries, but will become an increasingly important strategic advantage to Finnish companies when competing both in the domestic and international markets. The domain includes a variety of business models, from turnkey service solution agreements to limited function-based service agreements. Being able to take full benefit from the new service models, both the clients and the service providers must develop and adapt to Service Oriented Architecture in their operations.
For example, the Finnish forestry and metal industries should adopt the best practices of good service design and strive towards creating new service innovations. Flexible and integrated service solutions allow the service provider to produce added value to the clients.
