Overview
Today, when purchasing a car, numerous ancillary products can be purchased and bundled with the auto loan. If the loan is paid off early, consumers may be eligible for a refund on these products. Our client recognized this as an opportunity and launched a service to help financial institutions calculate refund amounts and ensure customers received what they were owed. They had moderate success until federal regulations went into effect mandating that lenders are now required to refund customers’ money in every case and within strict timeframes (30 days in some cases). This caused a surge in demand for the manual process-driven service our client was unprepared to meet. They urgently needed a holistic approach to develop a profitable, automated, scalable solution without disrupting ongoing operations.
They urgently needed a holistic approach to develop a profitable, automated, scalable solution without disrupting ongoing operations.
When we say “holistic approach,” we mean designing solutions considering the entire service ecosystem—from the end-to-end customer journey to the intricate behind-the-scenes operations. It’s about viewing the service as a cohesive whole, where every interaction, every touchpoint, and every internal process works harmoniously to create a seamless experience. This approach is not limited to improving individual components in isolation; it focuses on understanding how each element—both frontstage (customer-facing) and backstage (internal processes)—interacts and evolves to meet the needs of a diverse set of service actors, including lenders, partners, car dealers, and product providers.
A key complexity with the refund service is the involvement of multiple third parties, like providers who manage the ancillary products and the numerous car dealers nationwide that sell them. The client needed better visibility into these third-party processes and a deeper understanding of what causes delays in processing refunds.
Building Service Design Capabilities
While the primary focus was reimagining their refund service, the client also saw this project as an opportunity to establish and mature their service design practice. They reached out to us with the aim of not just reimagining the service but also embedding service design methodologies into their organization. They wanted to develop these capabilities within their team, recognizing that the best way to cultivate service design was to integrate it into the day-to-day work of real projects.
Our engagement began by helping them craft a vision and a strategic plan for scaling the service into a successful offering. Along the way, we worked closely with their internal team to introduce service design principles, guiding them to not only understand the “what” but also the “how” of building these capabilities. This project wasn’t just about delivering a solution; it was about demonstrating the value of service design to secure broader support for its adoption across the organization.
Approach
Identifying tackle-now solutions
Our partnership kicked off with a collaborative workshop, co-designed with the client’s internal service design team. We started quickly by assembling a cross-functional group to map out the current state of the service. Together, we identified pain points and opportunities across the service ecosystem and each actor involved, including lenders, dealers, and providers. A key outcome of this workshop was the creation of a set of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to guide the development of future-state solutions.
At the conclusion of the workshop, we used a backcasting technique to break down future-state solutions into smaller, actionable capabilities. This process helped the group to prioritize “tackle-now” capabilities—quick wins that could be addressed immediately without regret, providing immediate value and momentum toward the larger vision.
Researching the Multi-Actor System
Following the workshop, our team conducted in-depth research to investigate refund processing delays. Contrary to initial beliefs, we discovered that dealers were not the bottleneck; rather, delays stemmed from service providers. However, dealers were unaware of the legal timelines for refund processing, leading to a lack of urgency. This critical insight allowed the client to refocus their efforts on understanding provider processes and ensuring state-mandated deadlines were met.
Developing a North Star Vision
Using insights from our research, we conducted a second series of workshops to refine the service vision. Through service blueprinting, we mapped out a future experience that defined the necessary capabilities needed to operationalize the service. This process led to a detailed capability map outlining the necessary steps and dependencies for phased development. This capability map highlighted dependencies, ensuring that each team member understood how their work contributed to the larger vision. By aligning every team member’s efforts with the North Star Vision, the client gained a clear path forward, boosting confidence in their ability to scale the service sustainably.
Outcome
Service Blueprint – a framework visualizing service delivery. It specifies how a customer interacts with the service across time (the front stage), and how people, processes, policies, and technology work as a system (backstage) to create the intended service experience.
The result of this project was twofold. First, we helped our client reimagine their refund service into a scalable, automated solution that met legal requirements while enhancing all actors’ experiences. Through co-creating a service blueprint and capability map, they gained a clear understanding of the interconnected roles of different actors within the ecosystem, enabling them to navigate these complexities with greater efficiency.
Secondly, by introducing service design principles into the project, we planted the seeds for building their internal capabilities. We demonstrated the practical value of service design, securing broader organizational support for its adoption. This hands-on experience provided the foundation they needed to mature their organization’s service orientation and guide growth by a robust, human-centered design approach.
Impact
Ultimately, this case story is not just about a single service transformation; it’s about showing how service design can become a catalyst for broader organizational change. By aligning their vision with strategic objectives and integrating service design into their core practices, we enabled the client to secure funding for future development and set the stage for long-term success. This project served as a compelling demonstration of the value of service design, paving the way for its deeper integration across the organization and ensuring that future services are designed with both scale and sustainability in mind.