Difference between revisions of "Service Systems Engineering"
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Service Systems Engineering (SSE) has been a Proprietary Process closely guarded by [[Product Business (glossary)]] and [[Service Business (glossary)]] to their competitive advantage. Traditional Systems Engineering Practices (TSE) have been primarily applied in Aerospace, Defense, and Aeronautics enterprises while Service Systems Engineering (SSE) have been applied by [[Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) (glossary)]] services providers [AT&T SRP 2008]; [Eppinger 2001]; [Whitten and Bentley 2007]. | Service Systems Engineering (SSE) has been a Proprietary Process closely guarded by [[Product Business (glossary)]] and [[Service Business (glossary)]] to their competitive advantage. Traditional Systems Engineering Practices (TSE) have been primarily applied in Aerospace, Defense, and Aeronautics enterprises while Service Systems Engineering (SSE) have been applied by [[Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) (glossary)]] services providers [AT&T SRP 2008]; [Eppinger 2001]; [Whitten and Bentley 2007]. | ||
| − | These early efforts were, and in some instances continue to be very important for [[Product (glossary)]] and Service Business. However, with the explosive growth and ubiquity of the World Wide Web and advances in computer science, in ICT, and in Business Processes Management through "[[social networking (glossary)]]”, we are at the on-set of closely inter-related [[Service Systems (glossary)]]. Product Business (manufacturing, agriculture, etc.) and Service Business distinctions are disappearing [Spohrer 2011]. | + | These early efforts were, and in some instances continue to be very important for [[Product (glossary)]] and Service Business. However, with the explosive growth and ubiquity of the World Wide Web and advances in computer science, in ICT, and in Business Processes Management through "[[Social Networking (glossary)|social networking (glossary)]]”, we are at the on-set of closely inter-related [[Service System (glossary)|Service Systems (glossary)]]. Product Business (manufacturing, agriculture, etc.) and Service Business distinctions are disappearing [Spohrer 2011]. |
These services –or service innovations- must take into account social aspects, governance processes, business processes, operational processes, design and development processes where customer, service provider, product provider, and intermediaries need to collaborate toward the optimization of customer experience and customer provided value (co-creation). The inter-relations among different stakeholders and resources require Methods, Processes and Tools (MPT) to dynamically adapt and deliver either foreseen or newly discovered services to rapidly adapt to changing enterprise and end-user environments. | These services –or service innovations- must take into account social aspects, governance processes, business processes, operational processes, design and development processes where customer, service provider, product provider, and intermediaries need to collaborate toward the optimization of customer experience and customer provided value (co-creation). The inter-relations among different stakeholders and resources require Methods, Processes and Tools (MPT) to dynamically adapt and deliver either foreseen or newly discovered services to rapidly adapt to changing enterprise and end-user environments. | ||
Revision as of 19:56, 2 August 2011
Introduction
The growth of Service in the ever evolving Global economy has brought much needed attention to service science and Service Systems Engineering (SSE) (glossary). The primary areas of research include the development of formal methodologies for understanding end-user (customer) interactions with enterprises from socio-economic and technological perspective for value co-creation and productivity improvements. service systems require trans-disciplinary collaborations between society, science, enterprises and engineering. Service transactions are customized and personalized to meet the particular customer need, this takes a disciplined and systemic approach among different stakeholders and resources to take an end-user (service oriented customer-centric) approach in the design and delivery of the service. [Hipel et al. 2007]; [Tien and Berg 2003]; [Vargo and Akaka 2009]; [Maglio and Spohrer 2008].
Growth of Service Businesses
Service Systems Engineering (SSE) has been a Proprietary Process closely guarded by Product Business (glossary) and Service Business (glossary) to their competitive advantage. Traditional Systems Engineering Practices (TSE) have been primarily applied in Aerospace, Defense, and Aeronautics enterprises while Service Systems Engineering (SSE) have been applied by information and communications technologies (ict) services providers [AT&T SRP 2008]; [Eppinger 2001]; [Whitten and Bentley 2007].
These early efforts were, and in some instances continue to be very important for product and Service Business. However, with the explosive growth and ubiquity of the World Wide Web and advances in computer science, in ICT, and in Business Processes Management through "social networking (glossary)”, we are at the on-set of closely inter-related service systems . Product Business (manufacturing, agriculture, etc.) and Service Business distinctions are disappearing [Spohrer 2011].
These services –or service innovations- must take into account social aspects, governance processes, business processes, operational processes, design and development processes where customer, service provider, product provider, and intermediaries need to collaborate toward the optimization of customer experience and customer provided value (co-creation). The inter-relations among different stakeholders and resources require Methods, Processes and Tools (MPT) to dynamically adapt and deliver either foreseen or newly discovered services to rapidly adapt to changing enterprise and end-user environments.
Even in the case of static, pre-determined interaction rules the major problems faced in the definition, design and implementation of services has been the integration and interoperability needs among different entities, stakeholders and the information flows required for the governance, administration, management and operations of the service [Maier 1998]; [Jamishidi 2009]; [Pineda 2010]; [Luzeaux and Ruault 2010].
Service Innovation
Service innovation is comprised of several dimensions. Service innovation can come through the creation of a service concept which is sufficiently different that it is not merely an improved service; but in reality a new service concept. To maintain the rigor and value of innovation, we must distinguish between an improved service (which may generate some additional value) and a truly new and innovative service concept, which may generate a great deal of value.. Dr. Noriaki Kano would say that every service concept has its inherent attributes and we should strive to continuously improve these; but this is not innovation.
To be innovative, the change in a value proposition cannot be incremental, it must be sufficient to impact customer and competitor behavior (e.g., new market creation). Value innovation involves a shift in perspective of customer needs that requires a rethinking of what service value proposition is delivered. [Kano 1996]
Innovation can also come through a significant change in the way or the reason the customer is engaged or connected. In a service value chain, the customer may well change from being just a receiver of service value to being a co-creator, or active participant in the design and delivery (consumption) of service value. At the retail level, when a customer designs the time, route and price selection for a book or plane ticket purchased online, he is co-creating the service. Value innovation involves a shift in perspective of customer needs that requires a rethinking of how a service value proposition is delivered.
Finally service innovation can come through significant changes in the way the enterprise is organized to create a service value proposition from concept through delivery. A considerable improvement in the enterprise structure and/or governance can be seen as innovation. Value innovation involves a shift in perspective of customer needs that requires a rethinking of how an enterprise organizes to support a service value proposition.
The Services Sector
Continuous Improvement can reasonably be planned and predicted. Not so with innovation and breakthroughs. The most effective way to obtain innovation and breakthroughs is to encourage the culture, environment, and atmosphere which are conducive to innovation and breakthroughs. Innovative co-creation requires the integration of people, ideas, and technology for the purpose of creating value for themselves, their customers, companies, and society.
The lone inventor sees the problem and must work to create the solutions to all the dimensions of the problem. Co-creators see the problem and realize that there may already be several creators each already having a piece of the solution. Co-creation embraces the value of things “not invented here” because of the velocity they can bring to ideation and time to market. This service innovation process is facilitated by modern mass (and at the same time, personal) communication technology evident in social networking platforms.
We are very mindful of the evolution taking place in the global economy and the world markets. It would be foolish to pretend we can exhaustively cover all the major advances being made and the boundless possibilities in the services sector for the rest of the century. The services sector covers wide areas of application studied by many different fields (e.g., business science, social science, cognitive science, political science, etc.) and only until recently the new field of Service Systems (10 to 15 years ago) has been introduced for the trans-disciplinary analysis and study of services.
As a consequence much of the existing literature on services and service-innovation is scattered. Thus, the main objective of this Knowledge Area is to document the Systems Engineering processes, methodologies and existing tools as applied to the Service Development Process (SDP). We also discuss the main challenges and Research areas required in Service Systems Engineering to realize the full potential of Service Systems.
Service SE Knowledge Area Topics
This Knowledge Area (KA) describes best practices in Service Systems Engineering during the SDP and outlines current MPT research leading toward the Services of the 21st Century. We do not attempt to describe the initial efforts and research leading toward the introduction of Service Science which was initially proposed and introduced by IBM [Spohrer, 2004] as Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) but do recognize their leadership in getting support from academia and government to define 21st century curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate level to respond to the markets need for engineers of the 21st Century [NAE 2011].
The rest of the KA is organized in the following way: The Service Systems Background article presents some background on the transition from a manufacturing oriented economy toward the service economy being brought by the World Wide Web through co-creation of end-user value. We also describe how this transformation is impacting industries such as healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, supply chain, environmental, etc.
This article also describes the scope of SSE discipline to contribute toward the needs of the service sector companies in strategic differentiation and operational excellence [Chang 2010] pointing out some differences between product-oriented Traditional Systems Engineering (TSE) and Service Systems Engineering (SSE)(glossary).
The Fundamentals of Service and Properties of Services articles takes the reader through a general discussion of services and current attempts to classify different types of services; particular attention is paid to the properties of Service Systems for the service sector such us transportation, consulting services, healthcare, etc.
The Scope of Service Systems Engineering and Value of Service Systems Engineering articles are the heart of the KA covering the value of service systems engineering, the needs of defining (or using when available) Service Architectural Frameworks, and the stages of the Service Development Process from Concept to Life Cycle Management.
The Service Development Process article summarizes the major Service Systems Engineering Process activities that need to be carried out during the SDP and the needed output (work products) in each of the SDP stages.
Topics
The topics included in this Knowledge Area include:
- Topic: Service Systems Background
- Topic: Fundamentals of Services
- Topic: Properties of Services
- Topic: Scope of Service Systems Engineering
- Topic: Value of Service Systems Engineering
- Topic: Service Systems Engineering Stages
References
Citations
AT&T SRP. 2008. Technical Approach to Service Delivery. General Services Administration, AT&T Bridge Contract No. GS00Q09NSD0003, http://www.corp.att.com/gov/contracts/fts_bridge/technical/07_vol_I_section_1.pdf. accessed on June 1st 2011.
Eppinger, S. 2001. Innovation at the Speed of Information. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
Jamshidi, M. 2009. System of Systems Engineering: Innovations for the 21st Century. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN # 978-0-470-19590-1.
Hipel, K.W., Jamshidi, M.M., Tien, J.M., and White, C.C. 2007. The Future of Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Application Domains and research Methods. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part C: Applications and Reviews 37 (5): 726-743.
Kano, N. 1996 “Guide to TQM in Service Industry”, Asian Productivity Organization, 92833311302, ISBN: 97892833114300.
Maier, M.W. 1998. Architecting Principles for System of Systems. Systems Engineering 1 (4): 267-284.
Maglio P. and Spohrer, J. 2008. Fundamentals of Service Science. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36 (1): 18-20. DOI: 10.1007/s11747-007-0058-9.
Pineda, R. 2010. Understanding Complex System of Systems Engineering. Invited paper. International Engineering Network Plenary. Metz, France.
Spohrer, J.C. 2011. Service Science: Progress & Directions. International Joint Conference on Service Science. Taipei, Taiwan.
Tien, J,M. and Berg, D. 2003. A Case for Service Systems Engineering. Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering 12 (1): 13-38.
Vargo, S.L. and Akaka, M.A. 2009. Service-Dominant Logic as a Foundation for Service Science: Clarifications. Service Science 1 (1): 32-41.
Whitten, J. and Bentley, L. 2007. Systems Analysis and Design Methods. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 13:978-0-07-305233-5.
Primary References
Hipel, K.W., Jamshidi, M.M., Tien, J.M., and White, C.C. 2007. The Future of Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Application Domains and research Methods. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part C: Applications and Reviews 37 (5): 726-743.
Maglio P. and Spohrer, J. 2008. Fundamentals of Service Science. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36 (1): 18-20. DOI: 10.1007/s11747-007-0058-9.
Tien, J,M. and Berg, D. 2003. A Case for Service Systems Engineering. Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering 12 (1): 13-38.
Vargo, S.L. and Akaka, M.A. 2009. Service-Dominant Logic as a Foundation for Service Science: Clarifications. Service Science 1 (1): 32-41.
Additional References
All additional references should be listed in alphabetical order.