SERVICE BLUEPRINT:

Services Blueprinting is a versatile and practical technique used for service improvement and innovation. This technique allows to clearly visualize service processes and delivery from the customers' point of view. The uniqueness of Services Blueprinting is the unrelenting focus on the customer as the center and foundation of your business. Components of Service Blueprints There are five components of a typical service blueprint Customer Actions, Onstage/Visible Contact Employee Actions, Backstage/Invisible Contact Employee Actions, Support Processes, and Physical Evidence. Customer actions include all of the steps that customers take as part of the service delivery process. Customer actions are depicted chronologically across the top of the blueprint. What makes blueprinting different from other flowcharting approaches is that the actions of the customer are central to the creation of the blueprint, and as such they are typically laid out first so that all other activities can be seen as supporting the value proposition offered to or co-created with the customer. The next critical component is the onstage/visible contact employee actions, separated from the customer by the line of interaction. Those actions of frontline contact employees that occur as part of a face-to-face encounter are depicted as onstage contact employee actions. Every time the line of interaction is crossed via a link from the customer to a contact employee, a moment of truth has occurred. The next significant component of the blueprint is the backstage/invisible contact employee actions, separated from the onstage actions by the very important line of visibility. Everything that appears above the line of visibility is seen by the customer, while everything below it is invisible. Below the line of visibility, all of the other contact employee actions are described, both those that involve non visible interaction with customers (e.g., telephone calls) as well as any other activities that contact employees do in order to prepare to serve customers or that are part of their role responsibilities. The fourth critical component of the blueprint is support processes separated from contact employees by the internal line of interaction. These are all of the activities carried out by individuals and units within the company who are not contact employees but that need to happen in order for the service to be delivered. Vertical lines from the support area connecting with other areas of the blueprint show the interfunctional connections and support that are essential to delivering the service to the final

customer. Finally, for each customer action, and every moment of truth, the physical evidence that customers come in contact with is described at the very top of the blueprint. These are all the tangibles that customers are exposed to that can influence their quality perceptions. Following is the figure showing the blueprint of banking services:

Value of blueprinting a banking service could be listed as: y y y y y y y Reinforce a customer oriented focus among employees Identify process bottleneck Clarify interdepartmental interfaces Highlight the use of resources viz. employee time and costs Rational basis to facilitate strategic and tactical decisions Encourage quality improvement suggestions by all Pinpoint where customers are inconvenienced

ROLE OF SERVICESCAPE:
Booms and Bitner defined a servicescape as "the environment in which the service is assembled and in which the seller and customer interact, combined with tangible commodities that facilitate performance or communication of the service". Depending on the nature of desired and designed encounter a servicescape can be of the three possible types. 1] A SELF SERVICE SERVICESCAPE 2] AN INTERPERSONAL SERVICESCAPE 3] A REMOTE SERVICESCAPE SERVICESCAPE IN BANKING: A SELF SERVICE SERVICESCAPE The service is designed around a customer helping self with the service .The role of service employees is limited. Customer performs most of the activities, either on their own or with a little help from the provider. Examples are ATMs. The service provider must plan the facility exclusively with the customer in mind. The facility design can attempt to position it for the desired market segment, by making the facility pleasing and appropriate to use for them.

AN INTERPERSONAL SERVICESCAPE When a service encounter requires a close interaction between the customer and provider the servicescape must be facilitate this interaction. An interpersonal servicescape is appropriate. Banks are examples of this type of servicescapes, they must be designed to attract, satisfy and facilitate the activities of both conducive to the interaction between the two. Roles of Servicescape A servicescape is not a passive setting it plays an important role in service transactions. An evaluation of the roles they have in service encounters will reveal how important it is to design an appropriate servicescape .A servicescape plays four important roles. Package Servicescapes package the service offer and communicate an image to the customers of what they are going to get. It is the corporeal manifestation of the service idea for interest groups to form a shared appreciation-ma perceptible metaphor for an intangible service. They are predetermined to render an intended image to the service concept and evoke a particular sensory

and emotional reaction that sets the stage for a germane experience that augments the efficacy of the offer. Appropriate servicescaping is a sure shot way to create an image that the service provider is seeking to put up. It also helps moderate customer expectation and reinforces his experience and reminiscences. Servicescape is an outward appearance of organization and thus can be critical in forming initial impressions or setting up customer expectation. Facilitator Another important job of servicescape is to act as an a facilitator in assisting both the customers and service employees to make most of the opportunity it should make the service consumption comfortable convenient for the customer. For employees it should be pleasant to conduct activities. This setting is designed can enhanced or inhibits the efficient flow of activities in the service setting making it easier or harder for customer and employee to accomplish their goals. Socializer Design of servicescapes aids in socialization of both the customers and employees, conveying expected roles, behavior and relationship. Compare the servicescape of a public bank with that of a private bank. In a public bank a large part of the floor is marked as restricted, leaving little space in the form of an arrow aisle along the outer walls of the hall for customers. The message is clear customer must not enter the restricted area, that is where the most important job of the bank, internal operations, is conducted and by entering hat area, customers will be interfering with that task. Whereas private banks approach customers with conviviability. The air conditioned lounge with comfortable seats and a cold water dispenser as you pass through a spotlessly clean glass door, makes customers feel welcome. They are allowed more space to move and occupying a seat across from executives desks suggest that customer are indeed central to all activity. The service with public bank also suggests that customers have a formal official relationship with public bankers, whereas servicescapes in private banks encourage casual affable interactions. Differentiator With the layouts a customer can make out what kind of bank it is. A dominance of green at IDBI bank differentiates it with red of HDBC bank. Candle lit tables with smooth classical music and tables with clothes and pre-laid cutlery differentiates a restaurant from other with flour cent colors and pattern on the walls, blasting music, crowded with young boys and girls and motorcycles at the makeshift parking in front. Clearly the design of the servicescape differentiates one provider from its competitors, and hints at eth segment the services are targeted at. Companies adapt servicescape to reposition the services or identify new customer segments.