All organizations are becoming service organizations. But most weren't
built to deliver services successfully end-to-end, and the human,
operational and financial impacts are abundantly clear. In the digital
era the stakes are even higher, given how rapidly services change. Yet
default working practices (governance, planning, funding, leadership,
reporting, programme and team structures) inside large organizations
haven't changed. Rather than modernize just one service at a time, it's
the underlying organizational conditions that need to be transformed -
anything less is futile. The Service Organization is the result of years
of research and consulting, as well as dozens of interviews with
executives. It explores significant challenges that leaders will
recognize, and turns them into solvable puzzles by providing practical
advice and tools that reimagine what the organization does from the
perspective of its customers - and it organizes the activity needed to
deliver the best outcomes. This book is for everyone involved, from
designers to technologists and from operational staff to policymakers
and leaders. It includes surprisingly simple and doable, but
non-obvious, steps that don't depend on seniority or pay band and that
are typically overlooked by even the most progressive professions, teams
and companies. Kate Tarling sets a bold, ambitious and practical agenda
for all service organizations. Her book is full of behind-the-scenes
examples from the global companies, public sector bodies and non-profits
that are now delivering and leading successful services. It shows how to
reinvent organizations so they rely not just on 'transforming
technology' but on putting the success of their services at the heart of
how they operate.
