A Handbook for Smart Service Design

The design of Smart Services in a world of people, processes and things.
Shaun West, Oliver Stoll and Petra Müller-Csernetzky

You should read this book if:

… you want to understand how digital can enable new value propositions for your business

… you want to gain inspiration from real industrial cases

… you want to create a family of smart twin to help your business.

The handbook‘s purpose is to formalize the lessons learnt from an Innosuisse- funded project where over twenty different Digital Twin-based use cases were developed in collaboration between ten partners. During the project, we learnt many things: the Digital Twins helped us create new innovative smart services, formalize tacit knowledge, and improve decision-making. Perhaps most important was that the design of the Digital Twin was best achieved based on (business) questions. The Digital Twin enables the development of Smart Services within complex systems.

For this reason, we called the project Smart Twins – not because of the incredible technology but because of the services they supported. The handbook includes sections describing innovation processes for Smart Services, the prototyping phases, and Digital Twin based business models. The handbook also provides hands-on descriptions on how to use methods, tools, and approaches while working on a project focusing on the development of Smart Services.

The handbook focuses on complex product-service systems (PSS) composed of people, processes, and things. Product-service systems are all around us, and they are used on a day-to-day basis, e.g., smartphones; they consist of tangible products and many services. Some of the services are more visible than others, remembering that there cannot be (smart) products without a service of some description.

Product-service systems can be complex, and with digitalization, complexity increases distinctly. Depending on perspectives, the focus can be on the efficiency or out- comes. Considering such product-service systems, it is evident that boundaries are cross-functional and cross-organizational.

This adds to the challenge of design, management, and continual improvement of such systems. When looking at the term product-service system, many disciplines such as business, engineering, and operations are involved. By adding digital, we find that computer science plays a vital role in digitally-enabled product-service systems.

The different perspectives on product-service systems are challenging because it can be difficult to create working solutions within this complex environment. Understanding systems beyond a single perspective is challenging. The language to describe systems can vary between disciplines, making it hard to communicate effectively. This book highlights some critical challenges and shows how they can be overcome when developing Smart Services enabled by digital technologies embedded in existing PSS.

This book is for people involved in the development of Smart Services. It is not limited to an audience related to a specific discipline such as business, IT, or other areas. We will introduce the topic using five use cases and explaining smart services development.

A Handbook for Advanced Service Contracts

The handbook‘s purpose is to formalize and share the lessons learnt from a project supported by the Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS) Network-Plus, funded by the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Research Council (UK EPSRC).

We aimed better to understand real-world challenges around contracts for advanced services. A survey was conducted to determine general areas of concern for practitioners and academics engaged in delivering advanced services.

Approximately 100 surveys were completed. The survey results were used to form an agenda for a workshop where these concerns could be explored in greater detail. Approximately 30 participants attended, clearly illustrating areas of knowledge in advanced service contracts and areas where additional insights and empirical work are needed.

This handbook is the result of a collaboration between the Bristol Business School at the University of the West of England, the Tilburg University School of Economics and Management, and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts School of Engineering.

Each of the collaborators draws from experience in academia and industry, bringing different insights and a passion for a better understanding of the challenges associated with advanced service contracts. The project revealed important aspects: 

the selling and purchasing of advanced

– service contracts are very different from traditional product or service sales

– advanced service contacts are based on risk transfer

– the delivery of advanced services is regulated by the contract but delivered by trusting relationships.

Transitioning to selling or buying advanced services is a challenging task.
For practitioners, this handbook provides hands-on descriptions of how to design, contract, and deliver advanced services.

The handbook includes advice in avoiding costly, problematic areas associated with transitioning to advanced services.

For academics, this handbook provides insights into the gaps in the current understanding of the design, contracting, and delivery processes of advanced services.

We hope it provides incentives for future research work, ultimately facilitating the efficient adoption of advanced services.