Designing Interaction Channels for Services A Framework for Understanding and Modeling Communication Needs in Designing a Service

Service is an intangible artifact. While manufacturing industry provides functionality through physical products they produce, what service industry provides through their services is experience and processes. How providers and users of a service interact with one another is a key to achieve a high quality service experience. During the service, a user needs to actively engage in the interaction with a service provider. A provider of a service needs to keep adapting their service contents in response to the user’s changing needs and emerging contexts, while exploring new demands and improving them. This paper proposes the notion of interaction channels as a foundation for designing services. Our approach is to look at features of interaction channels, which are connected to elements of the technical, emotional, and social aspects of communication in services. This paper presents a list of features of interaction channels that have been demonstrated in communication support tools and mechanisms we have developed over the last several years. Such features would constitute a framework for understanding and modeling communication needs in designing services.