The service sector in Iran, like many other countries, is gradually contributing more to the GDP growth than other sectors of the economy.
Perhaps that is the reason behind the decision to hold the first National Service Design Conference in Tehran early next year. The 4th National Job Fair at Sharif University of Technology was a good opportunity for the organizers to let different companies know about the service sector’s role in the job market and, in general, as an important part of the national economy.
Throughout the 20th century, societies used to be product-centric. But now, there are much more customer-centric, or service-centric societies than the product-centric ones, Hamidreza Nekooei, an industrial designer, told Financial Tribune.
Nekooei, who is the service design conference organizer, said today’s digital world has given birth to new phenomena such as service design, service management, and service marketing.
“Professional service designers are those who have the necessary expertise in marketing and customer services,” Nekooei said.
“Based on the services a company provides, service designers design a strategy for them which best fulfils the customers’ needs.”
There are three main sections in providing services. First of all, there is backstage service which takes place inside the company, and then we have the linkage point, which is the interface of a product, service or brand with customers or users. Ultimately, there is the strategy after providing the service.
After the customer receives a certain service from the provider, it is crucially important for the provider to persuade the customer to continue using such service.
Service design is considered an inter-disciplinary expertise which contains sociology, psychology, industrial designing, management, and marketing.
Service design serves both seasoned companies, who want to optimize their services in order to win their customers’ satisfaction, and the startup, which are mainly established based on creative ideas like internet-based or smart phone-based companies.
Some Iranian entrepreneurs have copied from a group of very successful foreign companies but only those who have localized the services are doing well.
Service designers are a certain group of highly talented individuals who help localize services based on every country’s culture and the citizens’ demands and customs.
In developed countries, as much as 75% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from the service sector, while the figure stands at around 40% in Iran, said Nekooei, predicting a very bright future for the industry in Iran.
The main advantage of the service sector is that it requires only minimal expenses to launch a business such as accounting, legal services and payroll management.
The US economy’s dependence on professional services, for instance, is growing at a faster pace. In 2010, American factories accounted for about a third of the US economy’s 2.4% growth rate. However, a year later they fueled less than a fifth of the nation’s smaller 1.8% GDP growth.
The service sector in the US accounted for 79.7% of the nominal GDP in 2011 while the industry sector accounted for only 19.1% of the GDP. The figures for the UK are 79.8% and 21% respectively.
