Servitisation—the shift from a product-centred offer towards an integrated service—is a useful lens for higher education. A provider may offer excellent content, yet the experience surrounding that content determines how easily people can make use of it. For an international online audience, the service has to travel across time zones, languages and working lives.
Vargo and Lusch’s (2004) service-dominant logic places value in use and interaction. Applied to education, learners are active participants in creating that value. They bring their time, questions, experience and effort. Access to a platform is one part of the relationship, not the whole of it.
Education also asks for sustained trust and emotional investment (Zeithaml et al., 2020). A strong academic offer can be undermined by confusing administration, slow help or a digital environment that makes people feel alone. The quality of the content and the quality of the experience should reinforce each other.
Design begins with the differences between learners. One person may fit study around full-time work; another may need predictable structure, more direct guidance or greater independence. Nationality is not a reliable shortcut for those preferences. Cultural frameworks can suggest questions to ask, but the service should learn from the people using it (Hofstede, 2001).
A service blueprint makes the journey visible: discovering the offer, joining, finding materials, taking part, getting help and staying connected afterwards. Each touchpoint should have a clear purpose (Bitner, Ostrom & Morgan, 2008; Lovelock & Wirtz, 2016). An onboarding email and a support conversation may be as consequential to someone’s confidence as the interface itself.
The system should not feel like a system. People want clarity, responsiveness and connection, not layers of administration. The platform’s design, the tone of communication and the ease of reaching a person all contribute to whether the experience feels professional and welcoming.
That requires a shared service mindset across teaching, administration and technical support. I think of it as hospitality applied thoughtfully: guide people respectfully, understand their circumstances and make responsibilities clear. The digital environment should feel like a useful companion rather than a cupboard full of resources.
Asynchronous access can accommodate different schedules. Optional reminders and check-ins can help people stay connected, provided they are useful and welcome. Following Grönroos’ (2007) emphasis on value creation, support can anticipate friction as well as react to a problem after it has become urgent.
The journey continues beyond the point of participation. Early expectations, day-to-day experience and longer-term professional connection all influence reputation. Lemon and Verhoef’s (2016) customer-journey perspective helps connect those moments. More features are not the goal. Certainty, motivation and pride are much closer to the feelings a good service should support.
For me, the strategic opportunity is to treat learners as partners in an experience. Content gives the service substance; thoughtful design helps people use it. The ambition is a trusted global learning concierge: attentive, capable and useful across the practical realities of people’s lives.
References.
- Bitner, M. J., Ostrom, A. L. and Morgan, F. N. (2008) Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation, California Management Review, 50(3), pp. 66–94.
- Grönroos, C. (2007) Service Management and Marketing: Customer Management in Service Competition, 3rd edn. Chichester: Wiley.
- Hofstede, G. (2001) Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
- Lemon, K. N. and Verhoef, P. C. (2016) Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey, Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp. 69–96.
- Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2016) Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 8th edn. Harlow: Pearson.
- Vargo, S. L. and Lusch, R. F. (2004) Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing, Journal of Marketing, 68(1), pp. 1–17.
- Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J. and Gremler, D. D. (2020) Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, 7th edn. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.