Future Service Design

When the National Library of New Zealand wanted help identifying what services it should provide in the future, and a high level model of how these services would be delivered, it engaged Maven to assist.

Consideration was given to the needs and preferences of different customer groups, along with the implications for services, staff, systems, and building design. 

The conceptual design of future services needed to be based on ensuring New Zealand’s documentary heritage and digital memory were trusted, safe, and easily accessible to the widest possible range of users.  In this context, the design of the future services encapsulated the Library’s need to move from predominantly low-volume and highly mediated services, to high-volume services largely self-accessed by customers.

The approach taken was to:

  • Summarise relevant aspects of the Library’s vision, statutory requirements, organisational structures, core processes, resource allocations and technology environment.
  • Identify existing services by customer group and channel, along with existing strengths, issues, and opportunities for improvement.
  • Identify future customer segments consistent with the Library’s vision, the needs and preferences of each segment, along with service implications and opportunities.
  • Identify a future services portfolio and develop high-level service definitions including the service attributes, target customer groups, and delivery channels.
  • Identify the changes required in the Library’s people, processes, technology and building layout to support the future services model.

What we learned 

  • True service innovation requires a clear future vision that allows for a fresh examination of ‘who our customers are going forward and what are their service needs’?
  • Rapid progress can be made working with a small team of quality staff who are focused on getting an initial services concept ‘80% right’.
  • Future services need to be ‘brought to life’ early using a combination of story-telling and visual imagery.
  • Deciding which current services should be stopped is crucial to releasing resources.