The I3CON Service Engineering Approach - A Modular Approach for Developing New Construction Services

The service industry has become the most important part of Europe's industry sectors. The construction sector is not an exception. In order to stay competitive, excellent products are no longer enough, even for the most traditional industries, construction being one of them. The service sector has been identified as the key aspect of future European markets. Product services combinations frame tomorrow's businesses. The intangibility of services, their nature of activities rather than things, as well as the necessity of customer's participation in service development, make service performance and consumption extremely individual compared to industrial products. Nevertheless it is still possible and even reasonable to systemise the process of service development, from the service idea through its planning to the actual performance and to support it by different methods. This would let the service provider reach high quality and efficiency, which is reflected in customer satisfaction and high acceptance of services and their easy implementation. Good planning and development have to provide a solid basis for high quality services. Service engineering applies a systemic approach to the creation and development of services. It conceives the creative process of service development as a system, a successive and comprehensive process, targeted at a certain objective. This approach, balancing between creativity and system, can push innovation in the service area with respect to quality, time, and costs. The I3CON Service engineering approach, presented in this paper, was developed specifically for the construction industry, with due consideration to the unique characteristics of this sector as well as changing requirements within it. This approach helps companies design and develop new, and to improve existing, services and service models in a structured, modular step-by-step way.