Every business is a complex process, which sometimes seems to be impossible to manage. Sales, profits, services – all this you need to be able to control and think through every step to make everything clear and efficient. To facilitate this, analytics use mapping. It’s a tool that is designed to create so-called maps of all the processes in a service system. In fact, you create a visualization with which it is easier to understand the service, its stages, and how you can simplify the other processes associated with it. To make the work easier, people often turn to Mappitall, which provides various services related to mapping, as well as development, management, and analysis of data, etc. Now let’s learn more about mapping services and understand why they are so important.

What Is Service Mapping?

Every service, no matter what industry it comes from, is a series of actions. Basically, a certain number of people are involved, and sometimes it is a challenge to manage everything, so mapping comes to the rescue. It helps you understand all the steps, identify the pros and cons, as well as find ways to improve these services. Identify the pros and cons, as well as find ways to improve these services. Mapping helps to outline the entire so-called route of the service and related processes of employees who perform different roles in the process. It helps the team visualize and understand where problems are occurring and identify the most effective opportunities for improvement. Using this tool allows you to find unnecessary processes, variations, and steps that should be avoided or changed.

This is a great way to visualize the entire process of the service. It’s rare that one person knows the whole system and can show and explain in detail how everything works. Mapping is a must-have for any business industry. It is useful for:

  • integrating, transforming, and moving data,
  • establish a direct link between processes and sources,
  • making sure quality and efficiency of service,
  • identifying trends and reporting,
  • convincing of the service’s benefits and proper application of ideas.

Different Types Of Maps In Service Design

The types of maps depend on your ability to create them. In the list, you will find easy and more complex options. The application depends entirely on your goals and capabilities. So, the major mapping types in service design are the following:

1. Storyboard

This is not a new term in the field of design, but in the business sector, it has started to be talked about more often. A storyboard is a series of information blocks – from images and illustrations to text. It plays a crucial role in the visualization of any process because it helps to understand how the final product will look. In fact, you develop your service step by step starting from a trivial idea to how the consumer can benefit from it. Storyboards are not much different from the storyboards of the early 1930s, which were used at Walt Disney Studios, for example. It is believed that the standard for storyboards was formed there. Since then, the approach to creating storyboards has hardly changed. Millions of people around the world still use the same principle. Storyboards can be applied almost everywhere because they are handy manuals that you pass on to the designer. When you understand what goes next, you feel more confident at every point and lay out your idea step by step.

2. Customer Experience Map

You also need to analyze the customer’s experience in the service delivery process. After all, based on this you can understand their perception and emotions that the service evokes. A quality map shows the different types of experiences people have at different stages of using the service. Most often it is the expectation and reality, which is explained by the user experience. This mapping helps capture and visually depict all the results so that if necessary, changes can be made to the service design or to the processes themselves and their delivery. This works for customer interaction.

3. Customer Journey Map

Getting inside customers’ heads is sometimes easier than it sounds! Customer journey mapping is a description of the customer path from the moment they learn about you to the moment they buy and use your service. Here we are talking about analyzing this particular path. This way of mapping allows you to see the customer’s open needs, and their problems in the interaction with the company and improve the customer experience.

4. User Story Map

This is an excellent tool for creating a cohesive product design based on user experience. By analyzing and visualizing the customer experience, you can design the user experience, define the boundaries of the minimum operability of the product version, and form a unified understanding of the needs and image of the user by the team.

In essence, this mapping is about what you create and for whom. It focuses on the product and its components. which will be most useful to the customer.

5. Service Blueprint

This is essentially a map of the company’s business processes that details everything. With a business process map, you can understand which departments of the company are responsible for different steps and points of interaction with the client, and where to change the process or add a new one in order to improve engagement.

Maps Versus Plans In Service Design

Sometimes people think that a map and a plan are the same things. But here we need to bring the point to the bottom line. A map is used more to visualize and understand all the component parts of the service. The plan in turn is a detailed breakdown of how these parts should work and what they consist of. That is essentially the plan is based on maps. And for services, these are two important parts of making it work effectively.

Getting Started With Service Mapping

In order for service mapping to be effective, you need to think about all the specifics and answer the following questions before you get started:

  • Why do you need a map? What is its purpose?
  • Who is this map for?
  • Is the map being used for analysis, tactics, and design?
  • Will it provide all or part of the service?

After that, you will have a clear understanding of what to do and can turn to professionals who do everything qualitatively or try to do it yourself.

Conclusion

Mapping is a great tool for business. Process mapping can be applied in any industry to improve operations. Mapping includes task analysis, building process diagrams, charting, and creating work plans. The goal of all these tools is to improve operations and create value. So if you want to do effective mapping and improve your services, then this solution is perfect.