Improving service scalability in IoT platform business

Abstract. This thesis aims to improve the scalability of several case companies’ business which offer their services through their own IoT platforms. The case companies are still in the early stages of their lifecycle, and their aim is to grow their businesses significantly in the future. Thus, enabling high scalability in service production is important for them. A literature review was conducted to find the most critical factors that affect scalability of services that are provided through an IoT platform. Interviews with open-ended questions were used to determine the current state of the case companies regarding the factors that were presented by the literature review. Based on the literature review and the current state analysis, two productization models were created including commercial and technical portfolios. Resource drivers were also included in the models. The created productization models for IoT service offerings are suggested to ease sales item management and to clarify the service offerings for both the provider and the buyer. Further, linking the resource drivers to the processes needed to offer the services illustrates the needed resources in different service production processes. The presented productized service models are one step that the case companies can take to improve their service scalability, but the models are not a solution to all scalability problems. However, similar models could be used in other companies that provide their service offerings through an IoT platform to improve their service scalability as well.Palvelutuotannon skaalautuvuuden parantaminen alustan kautta toimivissa yrityksissä. Tiivistelmä. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on parantaa alustatalouden kautta palveluitaan tarjoavien case yritysten skaalautuvuutta. Case-yritykset ovat vielä elinkaarensa alkuvaiheessa ja niiden tavoitteena on kasvattaa liiketoimintaa merkittävästi tulevaisuudessa. Tämän johdosta korkean skaalautuvuuden mahdollistaminen yrityksien palvelutuotannossa on tärkeää. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa pyritään löytämään merkittävimmät tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat skaalautuvuuteen alustatalouden kautta tehtävässä palveluntarjonnassa. Case yritysten nykytila analysoidaan avoimin kysymyksin suoritettavilla haastatteluilla, joilla pyritään selvittämään tekijät, joissa case yrityksillä olisi parantamisen varaa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen ja yritysten nykytila-analyysin pohjalta luodaan kaksi tuotteistusmallia, joissa kaupallinen ja tekninen tuoteportfolio on eroteltu toisistaan, lisäksi resurssiajurit on kuvattu mukaan malleihin. Tuotteistusmalli helpottaa eri tuotenimikkeiden hallintaa ja lisää palvelun selkeyttä niin myyjän kuin ostajankin puolella, lisäksi resurssiajureiden ottaminen mukaan malliin havainnollistaa tarjoajayritykselle sen tarvitsemia resursseja eri palveluprosessin vaiheissa. Työn loppupäätelmänä luodut tuotteistusmallit toimivat yksinä toimenpiteinä, joidenka voidaan nähdä parantavan case-yrityksien skaalautuvuutta, mutta ne eivät ole ratkaisu kaikkiin skaalautuvuuden ongelmiin. Samankaltaisia malleja voitaisiin kuitenkin hyödyntää muissakin yrityksissä, jotka tarjoavat palveluitaan alustatalouden kautta toimialasta riippumatta

Smart Service Innovation: Organization, Design, and Assessment

Background: The emergence of technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, and wireless communication drives the digital transformation of the entire society. Organizations can exploit these potentials by offering new data-driven services with innovative value propositions, such as carsharing, remote equipment maintenance, and energy management services. These services result from value co-creation enabled by smart service systems, which are configurations of people, processes, and digital technologies. However, developing such systems was found to be challenging in practice. This is mainly due to the difficulties of managing complexity and uncertainty in the innovation process, as contributions of various actors from multiple disciplines must be coordinated. Previous research in service innovation and service systems engineering (SSE) has not shed sufficient light on the specifics of smart services, while research on smart service systems lacks empirical grounding. Purpose: This thesis aims to advance the understanding of the systematic development of smart services in multi-actor settings by investigating how smart service innovation (SSI) is conducted in practice, particularly regarding the participating actors, roles they assume, and methods they apply for designing smart service systems. Furthermore, the existing set of methods is extended by new methods for the design-integrated assessment of smart services and service business models. Approach: Empirical and design science methods were combined to address the research questions. To explore how SSI is conducted in practice, 25 interviews with experts from 13 organizations were conducted in two rounds. Building on service-dominant logic (SDL) as a theoretical foundation and a multi-level framework for SSI, the involvement of actors, their activities, employed means, and experienced challenges were collected. Additionally, a case study was used to evaluate the suitability of the Lifecycle Modelling Language to describe smart service systems. Design science methods were applied to determine a useful combination of service design methods and to build meta-models and tools for assessing smart services. They were evaluated using experiments and the talk aloud method. Results: On the macro-level, service ecosystems consist of various actors that conduct service innovation through the reconfiguration of resources. Collaboration of these actors is facilitated on the meso-level within a project. The structure and dynamics of project configurations can be described through a set of roles, innovation patterns, and ecosystem states. Four main activities have been identified, which actors perform to reduce uncertainty in the project. To guide their work, actors apply a variety of means from different disciplines to develop and document work products. The approach of design-integrated business model assessment is enabled through a meta-model that links qualitative aspects of service architectures and business models with quantitative assessment information. The evaluation of two tool prototypes showed the feasibility and benefit of this approach. Originality / Value: The results reported in this thesis advance the understanding of smart service innovation. They contribute to evidence-based knowledge on service systems engineering and its embedding in service ecosystems. Specifically, the consideration of actors, roles, activities, and methods can enhance existing reference process models. Furthermore, the support of activities in such processes through suitable methods can stimulate discussions on how methods from different disciplines can be applied and combined for developing the various aspects of smart service systems. The underlying results help practitioners to better organize and conduct SSI projects. As potential roles in a service ecosystem depend on organizational capabilities, the presented results can support the analysis of ex¬ternal dependencies and develop strategies for building up internal competencies.:Abstract iii Content Overview iv List of Abbreviations viii List of Tables x List of Figures xii PART A - SYNOPSIS 1 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Motivation 2 1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions 4 1.3 Thesis Structure 6 2 Research Background 7 2.1 Smart Service Systems 7 2.2 Service-Dominant Logic 8 2.3 Service Innovation in Ecosystems 11 2.4 Systematic Development of Smart Service Systems 13 3 Research Approach 21 3.1 Research Strategy 21 3.2 Applied Research Methods 22 4 Summary of Findings 26 4.1 Overview of Research Results 26 4.2 Organizational Setup of Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 27 4.3 Conducting Smart Service Innovation Projects 32 4.4 Approaches for the Design-integrated Assessment of Smart Services 39 5 Discussion 44 5.1 Contributions 44 5.2 Limitations 46 5.3 Managerial Implications 47 5.4 Directions for Future Research 48 6 Conclusion 54 References 55 PART B - PUBLICATIONS 68 7 It Takes More than Two to Tango: Identifying Roles and Patterns in Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 69 7.1 Introduction 69 7.2 Research Background 72 7.3 Methodology 76 7.4 Results 79 7.5 Discussion 90 7.6 Conclusions and Outlook 96 7.7 References 97 8 Iterative Uncertainty Reduction in Multi-Actor Smart Service Innovation 100 8.1 Introduction 100 8.2 Research Background 103 8.3 Research Approach 109 8.4 Findings 113 8.5 Discussion 127 8.6 Conclusions and Outlook 131 8.7 References 133 9 How to Tame the Tiger – Exploring the Means, Ends, and Challenges in Smart Service Systems Engineering 139 9.1 Introduction 139 9.2 Research Background 140 9.3 Methodology 143 9.4 Results 145 9.5 Discussion and Conclusions 151 9.6 References 153 10 Combining Methods for the Design of Digital Services in Practice: Experiences from a Predictive Costing Service 156 10.1 Introduction 156 10.2 Conceptual Foundation 157 10.3 Preparing the Action Design Research Project 158 10.4 Application and Evaluation of Methods 160 10.5 Discussion and Formalization of Learning 167 10.6 Conclusion 169 10.7 References 170 11 Modelling of a Smart Service for Consumables Replenishment: A Life Cycle Perspective 171 11.1 Introduction 171 11.2 Life Cycles of Smart Services 173 11.3 Case Study 178 11.4 Discussion of the Modelling Approach 185 11.5 Conclusion and Outlook 187 11.6 References 188 12 Design-integrated Financial Assessment of Smart Services 192 12.1 Introduction 192 12.2 Problem Analysis 195 12.3 Meta-Model Design 200 12.4 Application of the Meta-Model in a Tool Prototype 204 12.5 Evaluation 206 12.6 Discussion 208 12.7 Conclusions 209 12.8 References 211 13 Towards a Cost-Benefit-Analysis of Data-Driven Business Models 215 13.1 Introduction 215 13.2 Conceptual Foundation 216 13.3 Methodology 218 13.4 Case Analysis 220 13.5 A Cost-Benefit-Analysis Model for DDBM 222 13.6 Conclusion and Outlook 225 13.7 References 226 14 Enabling Design-integrated Assessment of Service Business Models Through Factor Refinement 228 14.1 Introduction 228 14.2 Related Work 229 14.3 Research Goal and Method 230 14.4 Solution Design 231 14.5 Demonstration 234 14.6 Discussion 235 14.7 Conclusion 236 14.8 References 23

On Engineering Support for Business Process Modelling and Redesign

Currently, there is an enormous (research) interest in business process redesign (BPR). Several management-oriented approaches have been proposed showing how to make BPR work. However, detailed descriptions of empirical experience are few. Consistent engineering methodologies to aid and guide a BPR-practitioner are currently emerging. Often, these methodologies are claimed to be developed for business process modelling, but stem directly from information system design cultures. We consider an engineering methodology for BPR to consist of modelling concepts, their representation, computerized tools and methods, and pragmatic skills and guidelines for off-line modelling, communicating, analyzing, (re)designing\ud business processes. The modelling concepts form the architectural basis of such an engineering methodology. Therefore, the choice, understanding and precise definition of these concepts determine the productivity and effectiveness of modelling tasks within a BPR project. The\ud current paper contributes to engineering support for BPR. We work out general issues that play a role in the development of engineering support for BPR. Furthermore, we introduce an architectural framework for business process modelling and redesign. This framework consists of a coherent set of modelling concepts and techniques on how to use them. The framework enables the modelling of both the structural and dynamic characteristics of business processes. We illustrate its applicability by modelling a case from service industry. Moreover, the architectural framework supports abstraction and refinement techniques. The use of these techniques for a BPR trajectory are discussed

Approaches to Semantic Web Services: An Overview and Comparison

Abstract. The next Web generation promises to deliver Semantic Web Services (SWS); services that are self-described and amenable to automated discovery, composition and invocation. A prerequisite to this, however, is the emergence and evolution of the Semantic Web, which provides the infrastructure for the semantic interoperability of Web Services. Web Services will be augmented with rich formal descriptions of their capabilities, such that they can be utilized by applications or other services without human assistance or highly constrained agreements on interfaces or protocols. Thus, Semantic Web Services have the potential to change the way knowledge and business services are consumed and provided on the Web. In this paper, we survey the state of the art of current enabling technologies for Semantic Web Services. In addition, we characterize the infrastructure of Semantic Web Services along three orthogonal dimensions: activities, architecture and service ontology. Further, we examine and contrast three current approaches to SWS according to the proposed dimensions

SOAP over JMS support for the Stuttgarter workflow machine

Web services constitute the function layer of the two-level programming model that is characteristic for workflow-based applications in a heterogeneous and distributed environment. The model involves two parts. First descriptions of business process models defining the sequence and activities that are carried out during the execution of the business processes (programming in the large). Second the individual components implementing the various activities (programming in the small). The Stuttgarter Workflow Machine (SWoM) is a workflow management system (WFMS) implementing partially the WS-BPEL standard for the business process model description. The purpose of the system is to manage the life cycle of business processes, to navigate through the associated process models and invoke the appropriate web services implementing activities. The purpose of this diploma thesis was to architect, design and implement enhancements for the Stuttgarter Workflow machine to support the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) with the Java Message Service (JMS) as underlying transport alternative to the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The document describes and illustrates the necessary tasks enabling the participating web services to exchange messages via persistent message queuing providing more reliability and robustness for the transmission of business data. The work covers the creation and administration of the necessary Java Messaging Service (JMS) resources. Furthermore the automated generation of components in particular message-driven beans performing the message consumption and components for the invocation of partner web services via JMS messages. The approach used for the implementation includes distinct queues for each process model for scalability. A main focus is on the end to end message dispatching from individual web services participating in a business process instance to another. As a result it is shown that it is possible to deploy process model descriptions in WS-BPEL and generated components on WebSphere as application server automatically allowing the Stuttgarter Workflow Machine to rely on the Java Message Service as message oriented middleware (MOM)

Business model requirements and challenges in the mobile telecommunication sector

The telecommunications business is undergoing a critical revolution, driven by innovative technologies, globalization, and deregulation. Cellular networks and telecommunications bring radical changes to the way telecom businesses are conducted. Globalization, on the other hand, is tearing down legacy barriers and forcing monopolistic national carriers to compete internationally. Moreover, the noticeable progress of many countries towards deregulation coupled with liberalization is significantly increasing telecom market power and allowing severe competition. The implications of this transition have changed the business rules of the telecom industry. In addition, entrants into the cellular industry have had severe difficulties due to inexistent or weak Business Models (BMs). Designing a BM for a mobile network operator is complex and requires multiple actors to balance different and often conflicting design requirements. Hence, there is a need to enhance operators’ ability in determining what constitutes the most viable business model to meet their strategic objectives within this turbulent environment. In this paper, the authors identify the main mobile BM dimensions along with their interdependencies and further analysis provides mobile network operators with insights to improve their business models in this new ‘boundary-less’ landscape

A comparative analysis of business process modelling techniques

Business process modelling is an increasingly popular research area for both organisations and academia due to its usefulness in facilitating human understanding and communication. Several modelling techniques have been proposed and used to capture the characteristics of business processes. However, available techniques view business processes from different perspectives and have different features and capabilities. Furthermore, to date limited guidelines exist for selecting appropriate modelling techniques based on the characteristics of the problem and its requirements. This paper presents a comparative analysis of some popular business process modelling techniques. The comparative framework is based on five criteria: flexibility, ease of use, understandability, simulation support and scope. The study highlights some of the major paradigmatic differences between the techniques. The proposed framework can serve as the basis for evaluating further modelling techniques and generating selection procedures

An approach to relate business and application services using ISDL

This paper presents a service-oriented design approach that allows one to relate services modelled at different levels of granularity during a design process, such as business and application services. To relate these service models we claim that a 'concept gap' and an 'abstraction gap' need to be bridged. The concept gap represents the difference between the conceptual models used to construct service models by different stakeholders involved in the design process. The abstraction gap represents the difference in abstraction level at which service models are defined. Two techniques are presented that bridge these gaps. Both techniques are based on the Interaction System Design Language (ISDL). The paper illustrates the use of both techniques through an example

From service-oriented architecture to service-oriented enterprise

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) was originally motivated by enterprise demands for better business-technology alignment and higher flexibility and reuse. SOA evolved from an initial set of ideas and principles to Web services (WS) standards now widely accepted by industry. The next phase of SOA development is concerned with a scalable, reliable and secure infrastructure based on these standards, and guidelines, methods and techniques for developing and maintaining service delivery in dynamic enterprise settings. In this paper we discuss the principles and main elements of SOA. We then present an overview of WS standards. And finally we come back to the original motivation for SOA, and how these can be realized