Assessment, Development and Deployment of Innovative Services

Abstract

Products are becoming gradually similar and thus, interchangeable due to the global convergence of producers and consumers, as well as the increasing homogeneity of product attributes and technologies. Differentiation merely by products has become highly complex and difficult. One potential solution for restoring or strengthening differentiation in the market is doing so by means of expanding existing products with specially tailored services (hybrid products) in order to achieve a sustainable, competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to address the major topics related to the assessment, development and deployment of innovative services in theory and practice as well as to underline the importance of digitisation for the development of such services. Hence, a thorough discussion of the concept of Service Engineering is a key feature of this paper. Additionally, the status of service development in Austrian companies has been assessed. A six-step maturity model is introduced, allowing the assessment of the current status quo as well as the target-setting. Furthermore, a procedure model for developing and implementing innovative services is presented.