Debido a la importancia de los servicios, su desarrollo y entrega se ha transformado en un tópico de estudio en las Universidades y Empresas. Esto ha llevado al desarrollo de una Ciencia de Servicios. Una disciplina enfocada a encontrar mecanismos para incrementar la productividad y la innovación en empresas basadas en servicios, aplicando el método científico.

El gran impulsor de la Ciencia de Servicios, Gestión e Ingeniería, conocida como SSME (Service Science, Management and Engineering) es IBM . Quien se transformó de una empresa  de hardware computacional a una empresa de servicios.

IBM ya había realizado el trabajo de promover el currículum de las Ciencias de la Computación en el Siglo 20. Ahora está promoviendo a SSME para preparar los profesionales del Siglo 21 con las destresas necesarias para afrontar los desafíos del mundo de los servicios.

We've (at LBi) been talking about service design for a couple of years now, but in that time, I can honestly say that noone has come close to defining exactly what it means, how to do it effectively, or how we hire good people to do it with us. Instead, we see components of 'service thinking' crop up within discrete projects, aligned to the ascendent position that digital thinking tends to have nowadays. And that can be quite frustrating - especially if you take a more holistic view to solving design challenges.

This paper throws a couple more challenges (and while I can relate to this in the context of working for an uber-agency, it's just as relevant for small businesses, manufacturers, government, etc):

• one of the things that I feel, now I'm all grown up and working in the industry, is the overwhelming sense of 'misfit' within most of the organisations I come into contact with. I've a diverse background that spans the arts and science, and I have also been busy developing specialisms within the area I've been working within for the last 10 years. But what this means is that I could apply for a number of different roles within different departments in my company - and actually, would be pretty well stimulated by be able to do this. But that breaks the model. So...I'm T-shaped when most companies either want you to be I-shaped, or go into management. This paper points at the need for organisations to mature, and support broader, polymathic skillsets, and indeed, allow them to increase the value they can give back to the business
• Service science / design / thinking requires a truly robust and eclectic model for partnering, if you're serious about delivering anything. Most businesses tend to operate within sectors or value chains, and this means we need to break out of our silos and start engaging with partners in places we wouldn't ordinarily look.
• More soon!

But really, the bit I love most about all this stuff is the potential for designing around problems that are rooted in issues caused by our failing environment. It's gonna take some brave and ambitious souls to start solving some of these problems, for sure. Anyone want to start a business?

in the meantime the Service Innovation Journey went on to Aachen, where the famous RWTH Aachen opened its doors to show the current state-of-the-art in service standardization strategies. Well, standardization seems to be boaring at a first look, but the innovation forum turned out to be highly exciting and featured latest research from a joint initiative between DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V), fir (Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung) and a range of further research and industry partners.

Standardization might account for economic benefits which have been estimated at 16 billion euros a year for Germany alone. In addition it is seen as a major driver of innovation. And as we all know from the Web 2.0 world templates, norms and restricted solution space can definitely boost creativity and innovation. Just imagine Wikipedia or just Blogs without templates, open innovation without rules or innovation toolkits without predefined solution space. Well, what we all know from the software and internet realm also applies to the service world.

 It's norms and standards that make services tradable and ready for world-wide export, like containers can be seen as the icon of globalization. Interested in the "German Standardization Strategy"?

Could we imagine individualization and personalization at a large scale without standardization? Have a look at the current issue of CICERO magazine ... it comes with 160,000 different front covers and an additional 160,000 back covers based on  the 2007 Reuter's archive with about 50 million fotos ... customization at its best ... is there still the traditional divide between mass communication and individual communication ... the boundary seems to blur ... and this is why the innovation journey will soon focus on service customization - but this is another story to come soon ...

All the best

Kathrin
www.wi1.uni-erlangen.de / www.clicresearch.de

hope you all did a great job in commenting on the Cambridge/IBM discussion paper. If so, I can now go on and tell you about the next event on the Service Innovation Journey:

 Already on October 25th, 2007, the community met in Stuttgart to explore the Fraunhofer IAO's "magic" ServLab and how service innovators like the Accor hotel chain uses it to prototype its new hotel check-in processes. But let me start from the beginning:

The Fraunhofer IAO is part of the overall Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. The IAO focuses on innovations in industrial engineering. To learn more about them or their ideas and concepts you might want to consult their website or ideas brochure.

One of their compelling innovations is the ServLab - a lab that offers service firms an environment for service prototyping. There is some cool technology behind that provides 3-D-feeling and offers a virtual version of the customers own service context (e.g. the hotel lobby where a new check-in process has to be put into place). However, I think, the technology is not the key. The fascination comes from the communication it triggers. Suddenly invisible service innovations become tangible, understandable. The whole spectrum that protoyping allows as a communication tool for the product development world now opens up for service innovation.

Well, I don't have to try to explain why I am fascinated by this new communication tool that opens up a whole new range of options for service prototyping. Just have a look at the

• ServLab video or
• ServLab leaflet

where Walter Ganz, the father of the new tool, explains how it works.

All the best for now!

  

Kathrin
www.wi1.uni-erlangen.de / www.clicresearch.de

Overview of the document:

Section 1 of the document gives an introduction to service innovation and service science as an emerging field.

Section 2 clarifies the rationale for a science on services and defines its domain.

Section 3 looks at existing theoretical underpinnings and identifies knowledge and skills gaps in the field.

Section 4 points to potential approaches and opportunities to address the gaps.

Section 5 focuses on recommendations for education, business and policy.

Finally, section 6 invites feedback.

A glossary and rich appendix provides complementary background info. 

Feedback on the document is invited online till Friday, 30th November 2007:

 "The discussion or 'green' paper is intended to stimulate further dialogues among the stakeholders. (...) Anyone with an interest in service innovation and its implications for education, business and policy is invited to comment on the document by 30 November 2007. The document will be revised based on suggestions and comments received and then published as a 'white paper'." (page 1)

 The document was first presented at the Cambridge Service Science, Management and Engineering Symposium, which is documented with programme, presentations  and audio files at the symposium website.

So long ...

Kathrin
www.wi1.uni-erlangen.de / www.clicresearch.de

Participants had the chance to look behind the scenes of two "superior service providers" in Munich, one being Munich Airport, the other being the Technische Universität München (TUM).

TUM's president, Professor Wolfgang Herrmann, provided impressive insight in the strategy, structure and some key processes of Technische Universität München, that recently has won the "elite"-status in the Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments with its service-oriented strategy: "TUM. The Entrepreneurial University".

Dr. Michael Kerkloh, CEO of Munich Airport, gave a lively presentation about some reasons why Munich Airport had been named the winner of the "Best Airport in Europe" award for the third year in a row in an international survey of close to eight million passengers worldwide. In addition, participants had the chance to take a tour to the unknown part of this superior service provider.

And what are the conceptual underpinnings behind these kinds of superior services?

Germany has a specific (academic as well as practical) strength in systematic service design and service engineering. It is the basis for the realization of these kinds of "superior services".

Based on interdisciplinary research projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the following publications provide some insight in the area of systematic service design and service engineering:

Bullinger, H.-J. / Scheer, A.-W. / Schneider, K.: Service Engineering: Entwicklung und Gestaltung innovativer Dienstleistungen (Service Engineering: Design and Implementation of Innovative Services), 2nd ed., Springer: Berlin 2005.

 Lukzak, H. / Reichwald, R. / Spath, D.: Service Engineering in Wissenschaft und Praxis. Die ganzheitliche Entwicklung von Dienstleistungen (Services Engineering in Research and Practice. Holistic Service Design), DUV: wiesbaden 2004.

More soon …

Kathrin
www.wi1.uni-erlangen.de / www.clicresearch.de

As a first step you might want to look at the one or other of the following links that I would recommend you to consult:

• AIM Research,
• CITRIS and Services,
• CLIC Research,
• DL2100.de,
• MC+OI,
• serviceCLICs,
• ServINNO,
• SRII,
• Spohrer on Service,
• SSME at UC Berkeley,
• SSMEnetUK.

There are also some forthcoming events where you might find like-minded people. Have a look at the following:

• The "Service Innovation Journey Germany" starting with its first public event on September 17th, 2007, at Munich Airport and followed by a full series of service innovation events featuring most recent service research results with relevant impact on the real world. Further events shall happen in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Aachen, Berlin, Nuremberg, and Leipzig. This is where you will meet the leaders in service innovation from academia and business practice in Germany (more ... ).

• The "Frontiers in Service Conference" which takes place October 4-7, 2007, in San Francisco, California (16th Annual AMA). It is sponsored by IBM's Almanden Research Center, USA, the Center for Excellence in Service of the University of Maryland, USA, and the American Marketing Association in cooperation with INFORMS (more ... ).

• The MCPC 2007 - Innovation and Research Conference, which takes place October 7-10, 2007, at MIT Cambridge/Boston, and is followed by a Business Seminar at HEC Montreal on October 11-12, 2007. This event looks at service innovation from a personalization perspective and showcases mass customization innovations which represent a relevant subset of service innovations (more ... ).

• The "Service Forum 07", organized by the Tampere University of Technology, that will take place on October 29-30, 2007 at the Museum Centre Vapriikki, Tampere, Finland and focuses on knowledge-intensive service firms and their innovative business ideas (more ... ).

• The "Compete Through Service Symposium" (the 18th annual!) that takes place November 7-9, 2007 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Phoenix, organized by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (more ... ).

You have more service research links, groups, events or activities to suggest? Let us know and join the conversation!

Yours ...

Kathrin
www.wi1.uni-erlangen.de / www.clicresearch.de