Understanding Smart Service Systems Transformation – A Socio-Technical Perspective

Authors

Verena Wolf, Paderborn UniversityFollow

Abstract

Value co-creation in actor-to-actor relationships has fundamentally changed through the prevalence of new digital technologies. Research offers a plethora of methods for designing value propositions. While current methods and frameworks propose that the development of smart service systems also requires an organizational transformation process, only a few—if any—attempts have been made that demonstrate how this transformation can be achieved. In fact, it is a complex and large-scale endeavor at which many organizations fail. Partial and uncoordinated change can lead to discrepancies with existing organizational structures, processes, management, people, technologies, and culture. To provide more transparency on transformation paths and the emergence of new organizational structures that support service creation, we perform a qualitative research approach. Based on initial data, we identify six facets that serve as an analytical lens for understanding smart service systems transformation. We perform a single case study, which illustrates the successful transformation from a socio-technical perspective towards a customer-centric service provider. Our findings show that organizations need to cannibalize existing structures and discard old processes to leverage the full potential of establishing smart service systems. Our research contributes to an advanced understanding of smart service systems transformation and provides new ideas for service research.

Recommended Citation

Wolf, Verena, "Understanding Smart Service Systems Transformation – A Socio-Technical Perspective" (2020). ECIS 2020 Research-in-Progress Papers. 30.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2020_rip/30