Service Development
Service Development and Research Services
LINK is a business-driven service design and research partner for technology, industrial and service companies. We help companies identify their customers’ real needs and use those insights to develop services, products and user interfaces that meet real-world requirements.
We conduct service development to support product and technology development. Service design, business development, and UX/UI design are seamlessly integrated with our technological expertise—even when the operating environment is critical or the user is working under demanding conditions.
We Study and Understand Real-World Contexts
We conduct research to deepen our understanding of our clients’ customers and identify the business value of those insights. User research reveals which features genuinely create value. The most competitive products and software are created when users are involved throughout the development process. Service design ensures that every development decision is grounded in real user insight and data.
Our areas of expertise include demanding operating environments and critical work processes. Industrial equipment, control room environments, and complex user interfaces place high demands on usability and ergonomics. In these contexts, human-centred design is a prerequisite for safety and operational reliability—not merely a competitive advantage. Based on user research, we establish clear guidelines for development and identify the most significant use cases for the next phase.
Diverse Research Methods
We conduct usability and ergonomics testing in both physical and digital environments throughout the various stages of development. We make extensive use of research methods such as user testing, ergonomic assessments, user experience studies, qualitative interviews, observation, and analysis of customer feedback and data.
We distil the results in a solution-oriented manner and in a format that developers and stakeholders can understand, so that customer insights are seamlessly integrated into the day-to-day work of product and software development. With the help of AI solutions, we can efficiently process large datasets, quickly identify patterns, and generate in-depth insights to support development.
Service Development at the Heart of Product Development
Software development and new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data, are constantly creating new business opportunities. These opportunities can only be fully realised when the right questions are asked during development: Who is the user, what are they trying to achieve, and in what context will the solution be used?
Through research, we build a comprehensive picture of users, the desired customer experience and the service’s critical touchpoints. We test ideas with customers early in the process and focus development efforts where they create genuine value.
Our multidisciplinary team works together seamlessly. At LINK, integrated collaboration means that customer insight and technological possibilities come together throughout the entire development process.
Service Development: From Strategy to Implementation
For us, research, design and technology do not operate in isolation—they support one another throughout the development process. Development that supports your strategy is grounded in practical needs and the ability to identify business opportunities in the market.
We always start with genuine observations and an understanding of users and their operating environments. Based on this, we identify real challenges and business opportunities and quickly put ideas to the test in practice through prototypes and experiments.
Strategic service design combines customer insight, service experience, and business objectives into a functional service concept. The end result is a service that works for users and generates value for the business while strengthening its competitive advantage.
What We Do
- Customer Insight and Research – Rapid Insight: User Research, Customer Profiles, and Customer Journey Mapping
- Co-creation – Go Create: Workshops and Facilitation
- Brainstorming and Scenario Workshops – Go Innovate
- Service Concepts: Strategic service design, concept description and a preliminary revenue model; visualisation of touchpoints and processes
- Konseptointi ja prototypointi – ProtoHUB: ideoiden konkretisointi ja nopea testaaminen
- Service Experience and Usability: user interfaces and optimisation of the user experience
- Ergonomics and usability evaluations and testing: conducted by experts or in collaboration with users
LINK's tip:
Get a head start on your development work!
To help our clients accelerate development, we have packaged selected services into ready-to-use development starter kits.
These packages support product, service and technology development.
We develop services that combine human interaction, the world around us, and agile digital solutions.
Explore examples of projects we have worked on.
Go Innovate
Brainstorming
Great things start with small ideas.
GO INNOVATE is a brainstorming and problem-solving framework for developing products and services in situations where new perspectives, clarity on the direction of development, or concrete ideas for further work are needed. It is particularly well-suited for complex development challenges that are difficult to define precisely.
We combine the client’s expertise, LINK’s multidisciplinary design and development experience, and creative design to achieve goal-oriented co-development. Our work is based on guided workshops where ideas are developed, prioritized, and documented to support decision-making and further development. We don’t just facilitate—we actively participate in the ideation process, combining design, technology, and business perspectives.
Visualization is a central part of our work. We produce real-time sketches, concepts, and illustrations that make ideas easier to understand and speed up decision-making. The final results are documented visually, making them immediately usable for further development.
GO INNOVATE APPLIES TO:
- Generating new product and service ideas
- Identifying and solving product and service challenges
- Strengthening organisations’ ideation and problem-solving capabilities
We’d be happy to tell you more. Get in touch!
Timo Manner
Director, Sales
Product development, service development, software development
Piritta Winqvist
Leading consultant, UX & Service design
service development, research, ergonomics design