Service Delivery

Service Delivery: Meaning:
Customers of service organization obtain benefits and satisfactions from the services themselves and
from how those services are delivered. The way in which service systems operate is crucial. Service
systems which operate efficiently and effectively can give marketing management considerable
marketing leverage and promotional advantage. It is clear that a smooth running service operation
offers competitive advantages, particularly where differentiation between service products may be
minimal.
In service systems the marketing implications of operational performance are so important that the
two functions have to co-operate. In services, marketing must be just as involved with the
operational aspects of performance as operations managers; that is, with the ‘how’ and the ‘process’
of service delivery.
Operations management is not just concerned with manufacturing. Here we define operations as
the means by which resource inputs are combined, reformed, transformed or separated to create
useful outputs (goods and services).
Operations management is concerned with planning, organizing and controlling this resource
conversion process which is illustrated in Figure 8.1. The concept of ‘useful’ is important; for the
purpose of the process is to add ‘utility’ or ‘value’ over and above the costs incurred in obtaining
system inputs and in undertaking the transformation process.
Operation System
Classification of services operating systems:

Services operating systems may be classified in a number of ways.
Two considered here for illustrative purposes are according to:
(a) The type of process;
(b) The degree of contact.
A. The type of process:

Three types of processes of relevance to service organization are:
(a) Line operations;
(b) Job shop operations;
(c) Intermittent operations.
Line Operations:
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In a line operation there is an arranged sequence of operations or activities undertaken. The service
is produced by following this sequence. In manufacturing, an assembly line for domestic appliances
typifies this type of process; in services, a self-service restaurant typifies this process.
In the latter people move through a sequence of stages although there is no reason why customers
should not remain stationary and receive a sequence of services. The high degree of inter-
relationship between different elements of a line operation mean that performance overall is limited
by performance at the weakest link in the system and hold-ups can arise (e.g. a slow check-out
operator in a self- service cafeteria).
Also it tends to be a relatively inflexible type of process although tasks in the process can be
specialized and made routine giving more speedy performance. This process is most suitable in
service organizations with high volumes of fairly continuous demand for relatively standard kinds of
service.
A job shop operation produces a variety of services using different combinations and sequences of
activities. The services can be tailored to meet varying customer needs and to provide a bespoke
service. Restaurants and professional services are examples of job shop operations. While flexibility
is a key advantage of this type of system it may suffer from being more difficult to schedule, from
being more difficult to substitute capital for labour in the system and from being more difficult to
calculate the capacity of the system.
Intermittent Operations:
Intermittent operations refer to service projects which are one off or only infrequently repeated.
Examples include the construction of new service facilities, the design of an advertising campaign,
and the installation of a large computer or the making of a major film. The scale of such projects
makes their management a complex task. Such projects provide an appropriate field for the ready
transfer of many project control and scheduling techniques like Critical Path Analysis. The scale and
infrequency of these projects make them different in kind from line and job shop operations.
B. The Degree of Contact:
Managing service operations with a high level of customer contact with the service delivery process
presents different challenges compared with those systems where there is a low level of customer
contact. The amount of customer contact has an effect on may of the decisions operations managers
have to make. These kinds of systems (high contact or low contact) have an effect upon service
operations and have implications for managers of service systems.
Some of these are:
(a) High contact systems are more difficult to control since the customer can make an input to the
process or even disrupt the process;
(b) In high contact systems the customer can affect the timing of demand and it is more difficult to
balance the capacity of the system to meet demands placed upon it;
(c) Workers in high contact systems can have a great influence upon the customers’ view of the
service provided;
(d) In high contact systems production scheduling is more difficult;
(e) It may be more difficult to rationalize high contact systems (e.g. by substituting technology);
(f) It may be beneficial to separate high contact and low contact elements of a service system and
encourage staff specialization in these different functions because of the varying skills required.
Both of the schemes outlined are useful ways of classifying service systems for operational purposes.
Both however imply that the sequence of operations involved in the service process can be made
explicit to enable the systems to be categorized according to degree of contact. One step that
service managers can take to understand their process of service delivery is to flow chart the system
and the interactions with customers within that system.

Service Delivery

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Service Delivery: Meaning:

Classification of services operating systems:

Two considered here for illustrative purposes are according to:

(a) The type of process;

(b) The degree of contact.

A. The type of process:

(a) Line operations;

(b) Job shop operations;

(c) Intermittent operations.

B. The Degree of Contact:

Some of these are:

(d) In high contact systems production scheduling is more difficult;

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