《Ramp;D Comes to Services》.pdf

70 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW RD Comes to Services Bank of Americas Pathbreaking Experiments Service companies have long suffered from haphazard approaches to innovation . But a leading bank is proving that service development can be as rigorous as product development. by Stefan Thomke TH E H EART of business today lies a dilemma : Our The challenges in applying the discipline of formal economy is increasingly dependent on services, RD processes to services are readily apparent . Because Ayet our innovation processes remain oriented a service is intangible, often existing only in the moment toward products . We have well-tested, scientific method s of its delivery to a customer, it is difficult to isolate in a tra- for developing and refining manufactured goods-meth - ditional laboratory. And since many services are tailored ods that date back t o th e industrial laboratorie s of to individual buyers at the point of purchase, they cant be Thomas Edison-but many of them dont seem applicable tested through large samples . As a result, experiments t o the world of services. Companies looking for break- with new services are most useful when they are con- throughs in service development tend t o fall back on in- ducted live - with real customers engaged in real trans- formal and largely haphazard efforts, from brainstorm- actions. Live tests magnify the cost of failure, howe