Business services are activities that benefit businesses without delivering physical products, and they are often essential for companies that need to be able to keep up with work demands. These services provide marketing, production, safety, cost and convenience for the company, and they may include transportation, utility and real estate services.
Design and management are important areas for service business managers to consider. The design of a service offering must be attractive to customers. This requires a different perspective than the one used in product design, and it involves understanding what customers want and need to do with a given service.
The four critical elements of service design (design, delivery, support and customer experience) are interrelated. To successfully manage a service business, it’s important to get all four of them working in harmony.
Defining business services is crucial for business leaders to understand the value they offer their customers, and it helps them decide whether it’s time to add them to a business’s offerings. It’s also helpful for those who want to improve the way their business does its work.
1. The value of a service is intangible
Most modern business theorists believe that goods and services fall somewhere on a continuum with pure commodity good on one terminal point and pure service on the other. The range is broad, but it includes products like restaurants or hotels that don’t deliver a tangible goods, but provide an experience that is worth the price of admission.
2. Intangibility
A service is an intangible asset that can’t be physically touched by the person, and it can’t be stored for future use. Examples of intangible assets are teachers, doctors and other health care professionals who work with patients.
3. Inconsistency
The demand for services can change over time, and there’s no consistency with how they are delivered to the customer. This makes it difficult for service providers to meet the expectations of their customers.
4. Inseparability
Consumption and production occur simultaneously for services. This is different than the case for physical products, which can be sold at a later date and stored for future use.
5. Delivery and transport
Many companies rely on a variety of delivery services to ensure they have the products they need when they need them. These can include couriers, logistics and shipping firms.
6. Real estate
The real estate industry helps businesses find and rent workspaces for their employees, as well as provide them with property management services for office spaces. This helps to cut costs and increase productivity while still maintaining the comfort of a company’s office environment.
7. Childcare
The childcare industry provides a range of services, including providing day care for employees’ children. This helps to promote a healthy work-life balance and saves companies money by allowing workers to be home with their kids when they need to be.
8. Financial Services
The finance industry provides a wide variety of services to businesses, including accounting, payroll, taxation and financial planning. Some of these services are provided by an internal team, but others are outsourced to professional firms that specialize in these functions.