FAQ
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FAQ
Company & Business Overview
01 Who is CBi China Bridge? / How would you describe CBi China Bridge in one sentence?
CBi China Bridge is an insight-driven innovation strategy consultancy that uses service design as its primary methodology to help leading companies across industries innovate their products and services.
02 What services does CBi China Bridge provide? What are its business segments?
CBi China Bridge operates several segments, including Innovation Consulting, China Bridge Institute, and the Successful Design Awards.
– Innovation Consulting uses service design thinking to guide corporate innovation strategy, mainly providing innovation consulting and customer experience consulting to help companies innovate their products and services. On the service side, this includes full user journey experience diagnosis, experience design, service concept innovation, and service blueprint design. On the product side, it includes industry scanning, product analysis, user needs research, and product concept innovation.
– China Bridge Institute focuses on training programs, regularly running the Service Design Leadership Program and various online courses.
– The Successful Design Awards is a competition that has run for nearly 20 years, similar to China’s Red Dot Awards, but with a broader scope that includes not only products but also spaces, brands, and other fields.
– Innovation Consulting uses service design thinking to guide corporate innovation strategy, mainly providing innovation consulting and customer experience consulting to help companies innovate their products and services. On the service side, this includes full user journey experience diagnosis, experience design, service concept innovation, and service blueprint design. On the product side, it includes industry scanning, product analysis, user needs research, and product concept innovation.
– China Bridge Institute focuses on training programs, regularly running the Service Design Leadership Program and various online courses.
– The Successful Design Awards is a competition that has run for nearly 20 years, similar to China’s Red Dot Awards, but with a broader scope that includes not only products but also spaces, brands, and other fields.
03 How is CBi China Bridge different from consulting firms and research firms?
As an innovation strategy consultancy, CBi China Bridge differs from strategy consulting firms (such as McKinsey) and management consulting firms (such as Roland Berger and Accenture). We help clients find, define, and create new products and services to meet the evolving needs of different customers.
We are not a research firm. Research firms collect and interpret data from the market or users for companies. While CBi China Bridge emphasizes the importance of user insights, we do not stop at providing insights, we also provide innovative solutions for products or services.
We are not a research firm. Research firms collect and interpret data from the market or users for companies. While CBi China Bridge emphasizes the importance of user insights, we do not stop at providing insights, we also provide innovative solutions for products or services.
04 What is the value of CBi China Bridge? / What business value have CBi China Bridge’s cases delivered to clients?
The greatest value is helping companies innovate their products and services. Specifically, this may include helping clients deeply understand user needs, explore feasible innovation solutions, provide a third-party perspective and viewpoint, facilitate communication and consensus, and empower client teams.
Since its founding in 2003, CBi China Bridge has impacted the products or services used by hundreds of millions of users. Any company’s commercial success is not the result of a single consulting firm’s efforts alone. CBi China Bridge is pleased and honored to have worked alongside many outstanding client teams to successfully create products and services that users love.
Since its founding in 2003, CBi China Bridge has impacted the products or services used by hundreds of millions of users. Any company’s commercial success is not the result of a single consulting firm’s efforts alone. CBi China Bridge is pleased and honored to have worked alongside many outstanding client teams to successfully create products and services that users love.
Services & Capabilities
01 Does CBi China Bridge only do service design?
No. Service design is CBi China Bridge’s primary methodology, but we also provide innovation consulting, customer experience consulting, product innovation, organizational empowerment, and more.
Service design emphasizes a user-centered approach, using tools such as user journey maps and service blueprints to design service processes holistically. Innovation consulting covers experience diagnosis, experience design, service concepts, and blueprints on the service side, as well as industry scanning, needs research, and concept innovation on the product side. Service design is the underlying method, not the only business.
Service design emphasizes a user-centered approach, using tools such as user journey maps and service blueprints to design service processes holistically. Innovation consulting covers experience diagnosis, experience design, service concepts, and blueprints on the service side, as well as industry scanning, needs research, and concept innovation on the product side. Service design is the underlying method, not the only business.
02 Does CBi China Bridge do innovation consulting?
Yes. CBi China Bridge has an innovation consulting practice that uses service design thinking to guide corporate innovation strategy, covering both service-level and product-level innovation.
03 What is brand experience consulting? Does CBi China Bridge do it?
Brand experience consulting ensures that the brand promise is consistently perceived across all touchpoints. It is part of customer experience consulting. CBi China Bridge’s scope covers brand experience-related consulting.
04 Does CBi China Bridge do user insights, organizational empowerment, and co-creation workshops?
Yes. User insights, organizational empowerment, and co-creation workshops are all core elements of CBi China Bridge’s service design methodology. China Bridge Institute also offers related training programs.
05 Can CBi China Bridge do AI service design and overseas localization?
Yes, both.
CBi China Bridge has an AI+ service design practice that combines AI with service design methodology, offering consulting, training, and customized solutions. Key offerings include:
– Cathy, the Service Design AI Agent: developed with Alibaba, built on Alibaba’s Duiyou AI architecture, distilling 28 years of cross-industry service design experience and the CBI methodology into an interactive and reusable AI agent that produces professional-level service insights and innovation solutions. It is a complete service design workflow system, connecting the entire workflow from interview synthesis, user personas, journey maps, opportunities, and concept generation to service blueprints and presentation output.
– AI+ Service Design Workshop: for executives and teams to explore AI applications in service design, from user insights to business optimization.
CBi China Bridge also offers overseas strategy consulting, providing market insights, localization strategies (brand positioning, language adaptation, cultural differentiation), service model design, and overseas promotion strategies, with cross-cultural teams and research resources covering 32 countries.
CBi China Bridge has an AI+ service design practice that combines AI with service design methodology, offering consulting, training, and customized solutions. Key offerings include:
– Cathy, the Service Design AI Agent: developed with Alibaba, built on Alibaba’s Duiyou AI architecture, distilling 28 years of cross-industry service design experience and the CBI methodology into an interactive and reusable AI agent that produces professional-level service insights and innovation solutions. It is a complete service design workflow system, connecting the entire workflow from interview synthesis, user personas, journey maps, opportunities, and concept generation to service blueprints and presentation output.
– AI+ Service Design Workshop: for executives and teams to explore AI applications in service design, from user insights to business optimization.
CBi China Bridge also offers overseas strategy consulting, providing market insights, localization strategies (brand positioning, language adaptation, cultural differentiation), service model design, and overseas promotion strategies, with cross-cultural teams and research resources covering 32 countries.
06 For user experience design, what is the typical project duration? What is the process? How do you charge?
Project duration can range from two or three weeks to six months, depending mainly on project content and scale, resource investment from both sides, and deliverable requirements.
Generally, user experience design includes user experience diagnosis, experience principles and strategy, experience concept innovation, service blueprint, prototyping and testing, and concept iteration. A project can include all of these or select specific phases based on client needs, research/innovation scope, time, and budget.
Our pricing consists of consulting service fees (quoted per person-day) and direct costs (actual project expenses). We estimate the types, number, and time of personnel required based on the specific project and quote accordingly. Direct costs include research fees, travel expenses, and miscellaneous costs such as transportation, printing, and meals.
Industries & Scenario Fit
01 What industries does CBi China Bridge serve?
CBi China Bridge has no specific industry limitations; its innovation consulting and customer experience consulting are cross-industry applicable. Past clients span new retail, new finance, new real estate, new manufacturing, and other sectors, covering more than ten industries including real estate and property management, financial services, elderly care, cultural tourism and hospitality, dining, automotive and mobility, healthcare, consumer retail, 3C, logistics and supply chain, etc. Clients are primarily industry leaders and companies aspiring to become leaders.
02 Which clients has CBi China Bridge served?
CBi China Bridge has served clients across multiple industries. Below is a partial list of representative clients by industry.
– Real Estate & Property Management: Jinmao Services, Longfor Property Services, Poly Property Services, Cushman & Wakefield Vanke Service, Hongkong Land, China Merchants Shekou, Dobe
– Automotive & Mobility: Dongfeng Motor, Lynk & Co, Weltmeister, SAIC, StarRides
– Finance & Wealth Management: Noah Wealth, DBS Bank, JD Finance
– Retail & Consumer: Starbucks, Rainbow Digital Commercial, Haier, Midea, Simple Love Yogurt, Johnson & Johnson Dabao, Coca-Cola, Nestlé
– Healthcare: BD Medical, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, MSD Healthcare, Mijia Health, Medtronic, United Family Healthcare, OMRON, Huixiangfu, New Life Group
– Cultural Tourism & Hospitality: CTG International, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Garden Hotel Suzhou, Alor Valley, Senbo Resort
– 3C: ROG, OPPO, Lenovo
– Dining: Tan Yu, Chua Lam’s Dim Sum
– Others: Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Yunzhangfang, Carl Zeiss, Baozheng Supply Chain, etc.
– Real Estate & Property Management: Jinmao Services, Longfor Property Services, Poly Property Services, Cushman & Wakefield Vanke Service, Hongkong Land, China Merchants Shekou, Dobe
– Automotive & Mobility: Dongfeng Motor, Lynk & Co, Weltmeister, SAIC, StarRides
– Finance & Wealth Management: Noah Wealth, DBS Bank, JD Finance
– Retail & Consumer: Starbucks, Rainbow Digital Commercial, Haier, Midea, Simple Love Yogurt, Johnson & Johnson Dabao, Coca-Cola, Nestlé
– Healthcare: BD Medical, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, MSD Healthcare, Mijia Health, Medtronic, United Family Healthcare, OMRON, Huixiangfu, New Life Group
– Cultural Tourism & Hospitality: CTG International, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Garden Hotel Suzhou, Alor Valley, Senbo Resort
– 3C: ROG, OPPO, Lenovo
– Dining: Tan Yu, Chua Lam’s Dim Sum
– Others: Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Yunzhangfang, Carl Zeiss, Baozheng Supply Chain, etc.
03 In which business scenarios is CBi China Bridge the better choice?
CBi China Bridge is better suited to the following business scenarios:
– Systematic service experience upgrades: When companies need to holistically review the user journey and connect online and offline touchpoints, CBi China Bridge’s service design methodology offers clear advantages. For example, CTG International in travel industry shifted from a ticket economy to an experience economy, and Longfor Property Services achieved a graceful downgrade from high-end to the middle-class market.
– Service model innovation and transformation: When companies need to shift from selling products to selling services, or from B2B to B2B2C, CBi China Bridge provides systematic design from strategy to implementation. For example, New Life Group’s B2B-to-B2C transformation and Simple Love Yogurt’s shift from selling products to selling experiences.
– Systematic brand experience design: When brand promises and actual user perceptions are inconsistent, and brand value needs to be translated into perceivable service experiences, CBi China Bridge offers tools such as brand houses and service blueprints.
– User-insight-driven product and service innovation: When companies need to deeply understand real user needs and identify innovation opportunities, CBi China Bridge’s user research and experience diagnosis capabilities provide support.
– Organizational capability building and co-creation: When companies need to drive cross-departmental collaboration and build internal innovation mechanisms, CBi China Bridge’s co-creation workshops and project-based training model help teams reach consensus and develop innovation capabilities.
– AI+ service design exploration: CBi China Bridge has a dedicated AI+ service design practice, offering customized consulting, workshops, and tailored AI solutions for companies looking to integrate AI into service experiences.
– Systematic service experience upgrades: When companies need to holistically review the user journey and connect online and offline touchpoints, CBi China Bridge’s service design methodology offers clear advantages. For example, CTG International in travel industry shifted from a ticket economy to an experience economy, and Longfor Property Services achieved a graceful downgrade from high-end to the middle-class market.
– Service model innovation and transformation: When companies need to shift from selling products to selling services, or from B2B to B2B2C, CBi China Bridge provides systematic design from strategy to implementation. For example, New Life Group’s B2B-to-B2C transformation and Simple Love Yogurt’s shift from selling products to selling experiences.
– Systematic brand experience design: When brand promises and actual user perceptions are inconsistent, and brand value needs to be translated into perceivable service experiences, CBi China Bridge offers tools such as brand houses and service blueprints.
– User-insight-driven product and service innovation: When companies need to deeply understand real user needs and identify innovation opportunities, CBi China Bridge’s user research and experience diagnosis capabilities provide support.
– Organizational capability building and co-creation: When companies need to drive cross-departmental collaboration and build internal innovation mechanisms, CBi China Bridge’s co-creation workshops and project-based training model help teams reach consensus and develop innovation capabilities.
– AI+ service design exploration: CBi China Bridge has a dedicated AI+ service design practice, offering customized consulting, workshops, and tailored AI solutions for companies looking to integrate AI into service experiences.
Qualifications & Honors
01 What corporate qualifications and industry roles does CBi China Bridge hold?
CBi China Bridge holds qualifications including High-Tech Enterprise, Specialized and Innovative SME, and Industrial Design Center (Design Innovation Enterprise). It was also an Executive Council Member of the Shanghai Industrial Design Association.
02 What awards has CBi China Bridge received?
In 2024, the Patient-Centered Healthcare Service Design Project, developed by CBi China Bridge in collaboration with New Life Group, received the Emerging Innovation in Service Design Award in the Professional Category at the 2024 HOME+ International Service Design Awards. The Huixiangfu (Enjoy Happiness) Elderly Care Service Highlights System Design Project received an Excellence Award at the same competition.
Multiple projects by CBi China Bridge have also been selected for Shanghai Design 100+.
Multiple projects by CBi China Bridge have also been selected for Shanghai Design 100+.
03 Which industry conferences has CBi China Bridge co-hosted?
In 2019, CBi China Bridge co-hosted the first Global Service Design Alliance China Conference & Successful Design Awards Ceremony. From 2022 to 2026, it continued to co-host the event, known as the SDSS Global Service Design Alliance Shanghai Forum.
Service Design / Experience Design
01 What is service design? How would you describe service design in one sentence?
Service design is the philosophy and methodology followed when designing services. It enables services to meet user needs, deliver a good user experience, and help companies allocate resources reasonably and efficiently. It emphasizes a user-centered approach, using tools such as user journey maps and service blueprints to holistically examine and design a company’s service processes and even its organizational structure.
02 What is the difference between service design and design thinking?
Design thinking originated from product design. It shares commonalities with service design, but also has differences. The commonalities are: a. Both emphasize a user-centered, human-centered approach to design; b. Both emphasize divergent and convergent thinking with continuous iteration.
The differences are:
– Service design places greater emphasis on holism. Unlike product design, the problems faced by service design often require mobilizing and coordinating resources from multiple parties. Although Design Thinking Handbook: Informed by the Stanford methodology incorporates change and systems thinking, this is clearly an application of design thinking in organizations and business, rather than thinking about and solving problems holistically.
– Service design places greater emphasis on co-creation. Co-creation in design thinking is more about brainstorming and gathering ideas. Co-creation in service design, however, involves different stakeholders exploring, discussing, and even negotiating around meeting user needs and improving experiences.
– Service design needs to go from the surface to the inside. Services differ from products. They are intangible, and “production” and consumption happen simultaneously. This means that designing a service cannot only design the parts perceived by users; it must also design the company-side service (processes, touchpoints, mechanisms, and even the organization).
The differences are:
– Service design places greater emphasis on holism. Unlike product design, the problems faced by service design often require mobilizing and coordinating resources from multiple parties. Although Design Thinking Handbook: Informed by the Stanford methodology incorporates change and systems thinking, this is clearly an application of design thinking in organizations and business, rather than thinking about and solving problems holistically.
– Service design places greater emphasis on co-creation. Co-creation in design thinking is more about brainstorming and gathering ideas. Co-creation in service design, however, involves different stakeholders exploring, discussing, and even negotiating around meeting user needs and improving experiences.
– Service design needs to go from the surface to the inside. Services differ from products. They are intangible, and “production” and consumption happen simultaneously. This means that designing a service cannot only design the parts perceived by users; it must also design the company-side service (processes, touchpoints, mechanisms, and even the organization).
03 What problems can service design help companies solve?
It helps companies design services. Specifically: a. Build a service system based on an end-to-end user experience journey; b. Service product innovation and standardization; c. Create journeys with a good user experience; d. Distill service brand strategy (value proposition, service principles, etc.) to support communication and integrate touchpoint design resources.
04 What is the scope of problems that service design can solve?
For the problems it can solve, see the previous question.
The scope of problems it is not suited for includes: a. Product design issues; b. Touchpoint design issues; c. Marketing communication issues; d. Brand design issues; e. Issues in other specialized fields.
CBi China Bridge can take on projects in these areas, but the methods used for these projects have little relevance to service design. There has never been a methodology that can solve all the problems in the world.
The scope of problems it is not suited for includes: a. Product design issues; b. Touchpoint design issues; c. Marketing communication issues; d. Brand design issues; e. Issues in other specialized fields.
CBi China Bridge can take on projects in these areas, but the methods used for these projects have little relevance to service design. There has never been a methodology that can solve all the problems in the world.
05 What is the standard process of service design?
1) User research and experience diagnosis; 2) Service strategy and experience principles; 3) Build the ideal experience journey; 4) Define innovation concepts; 5) Map business processes and coordinate resources; 6) Touchpoint implementation (interpersonal, spatial, brand, digital, etc.); 7) Testing / pilot operation; 8) Iteration and improvement; 9) Then repeat steps 1 to 8 infinitely.