Figure 4-20: In-home display
Over time, as we all become more accustomed to the products around us
having intelligence and connectivity, our ability to understand connected
products as services without depending on physical manifestations may
become more sophisticated. The idea of a heating system without a visible
controller, or a door lock without a visible lock may seem strange right now,
but in time, as long as they work, we might be more open to such things.
It will probably always be appropriate for some systems to have highly visible
devices, and for some to focus more on service design (see figure 4.21). The
key is to pitch your UX to best suit your product, and the needs of your users.
If your service is the focus of the UX, you can still make beautiful devices but
make sure the service design is at least as good. And if the device is the hero
of your UX, make sure it’s attractive, usable and does what it needs to do,
elegantly.
4- 21: Diagram or table: service enabled device vs device enabled service.
Service ecosystems
Services are delivered through the interactions of networks of people,
organizations, infrastructure and physical components. The devices, and even
the digital components, are only part of the experience. A part of the Oyster
experience is the interactions you may have with station staff when buying a
ticket or asking for help. In order to help you they will have been trained to
provide good customer service, but they will also need access to good
information about the transactions on your card and system information.
Making this whole system work smoothly is a lot more complicated than just
making cards, machines and a website: it requires someone to take a holistic
view of how the service is experienced, and make sure all the components
work reasonably smoothly together (see figure 4-22).
Figure 4.22: the London Oyster ecosystem
Complex IoT services, such as a connected home, require the co-ordination of
multiple devices working together, perhaps even using a degree of intelligence
to automate some functions without explicit user instructions (for example,