TechBooth Africa managed to have a chat with Marathon Xp’s Jackie Kairo who serves as the company’s Design Director. Marathon Xp’s business is service design, a fairly new line of business in Kenya that many people are not aware of. It is present in Kenya, as well as South Africa and Spain. It has worked with local telcos such as Safaricom and Telkom, as well as lenders KCB and NCBA, among other companies.
According to the company, “service design is a multi-disciplinary holistic approach to designing, improving and innovating products/services to ensure they deliver an outstanding experience to the users. It ensures a seamless and holistic experience for users by considering all physical and digital touchpoints and stakeholders involved in a service.”
Service design, in simple terms, is a creative and practical approach to improving and enhancing the quality of services.
TechBooth Africa: Why is service design important?
Jackie Kairo: In Kenya, just like the rest of the world, new product launches have a very high failure rate. We believe that focusing on understanding and solving real problems that address user needs with a holistic approach would help organizations have a higher success rate for their product launches and transformation projects. This approach is crucial in today’s competitive business landscape, ensuring organizations deliver memorable experiences that stand out; experiences that their customers resonate with.
TechBooth Africa: How does service design differ from traditional product design?
Jackie Kairo: Traditional product design focuses on tangible objects, app screens, whereas service design ensures the entire process and experience are seamless. Product design focuses on the digital touchpoint while service design looks at all phydigital touchpoints and considers all stakeholders: the customer, the staff who deliver that service, the organisation set up and beyond.
When a customer interacts with your product, their experience is beyond the screens: from how they knew about the product, what motivated them to try it, how they signed up, their first use, how they paid for that service, how their needs were met and how they concluded their interaction. This will also determine if they ever use the product again. On the back end of that experience, we have the staff who are hired to deliver this experience. We design the optimal experience for the staff too to ensure they do not have unnecessary hurdles because their experience will ultimately impact the customers. We also look at the organisation set-up, are there opportunities to improve on the model for example?
Think of product design as perfecting a single dish at a party you’re throwing and service design as ensuring the whole party, from entrance to farewell, is memorable.
TechBooth Africa: What are the challenges in Kenya and Africa and how does service design address them?
Jackie Kairo: Kenyans are exposed to global tech products and services such as Netflix, Uber, Instagram etc. They begin to compare their experiences with local products and services and subconsciously expect the same ease of use. They become frustrated when their banking product, for example, brings headaches, delays, extra hoops to jump through etc. On the other hand, Kenyan and African organizations might be stuck in their “way we do things”. We then force customers to learn those mental models and adapt to them should they need our services. As soon as a better product comes along, that they resonate with, customers will not think twice.
A single bad user experience can have a substantial impact on customer loyalty and retention. 32% of customers would cease doing business with a brand after just one negative experience. 91% of unsatisfied customers don’t voice their complaints—they simply silently vanish, leaving without offering any feedback – PwC
TechBooth Africa: What are the real examples of service design in Kenya/Africa?
Jackie Kairo: M-PESA is a great example of Service Design thinking in its development and implementation. There is a need to understand user context: M-PESA was designed keeping in mind the local context of Kenya, where many people did not have access to traditional banking but did have access to mobile phones. The service was tailored to meet the financial needs of this unbanked population.
By considering the entire ecosystem, user needs, and stakeholder experiences, M-PESA essentially used service design thinking to create a successful and impactful mobile money service. Another example of this thinking in Kenya, in a different industry, is Kwanza Tukule and Twiga Foods.
By harmonizing service and systems design, a holistic approach is created that not only focuses on individual touchpoints but also considers the broader ecosystem, leading to more effective and enduring resolutions to the challenges faced across these sectors -Jackie Kairo
