Evaluating the Design of Service-Dominant Business Models: A Qualitative Method

Background: Driven by factors such as digitization and rapid technological change, many contemporary organizations adopt a service orientation to sustain competitiveness and to improve their value propositions to customers. In doing so, organizations typically engage in collaborative service ecosystems to co-create value and exchange services, and conceptualize such collaborations using business models. The resulting models should be evaluated to support the development of service ecosystems and their long- term viability. Despite academic efforts on the evaluation of traditional, organization- centric business models, limited research is present supporting the evaluation of service- dominant business models, taking into account their key characteristics, such as service exchange and value co-creation in business networks. Method: Following a design science research methodology, we have iteratively designed a method addressing the qualitative evaluation of service-dominant business models, building on and integrating the theory on service-dominant logic, business model design and business model evaluation. To structure the steps of the design process, we leverage a situational method engineering approach, following a paradigm-based strategy. To evaluate the validity and utility our method, we have applied it to a real-life business case in the mobility domain, involving eight industry stakeholders in the process. Results: The method constitutes a set of guiding questions and a procedural description of their use, addressing the evaluation concerns of feasibility, viability, structural validity and robustness with respect to the service-dominant business model. The results of the evaluation demonstrate that the use of the method facilitates users to reflect qualitatively on design decision with respect the business model design and offers insights on its expected performance. Conclusions: This work contributes to extant research on service systems engineering and the instantiation of service-dominant logic, clarifying how service ecosystems can be evaluated through the business model concept and explicating how business models are impacted through service-dominant logic

Integrated and Decentralized Project Management

Software has become a prominent aspect of the modern world, as it is present and constantly aids people in their daily lives. Consequently, the software development industry has grown in size and competitiveness. Software companies, more than ever, need to keep the best practices for quick and efficient delivery, low maintenance, and overall better profit to succeed in such market. For this very reason, several project management techniques have been developed and put into practice over the years. Nevertheless, its utmost focus has to generate effective arranging of resources and tasks and turn it into the desired end product. Moreover, the selection of an adequate management techniques (taking into account the company and the project’s background) allows the result to better fit into the defined requirements and objectives and improve workflow and productivity along the way. However, the software development field and the project management itself became complex, containing several steps, rules, and involved parties. All this can lead to unorganized data, and an easy disruption of the management workflow. These problems, not only depend on the company’s culture but also on the multiple tools used to ensure proper planning and coordination. Thus, the correct and justified integration to other company’s tools create a synergistic environment from which the firm would benefit. In other words, the integration of specialized systems would enable a better project management - as not only the relevant and necessary information would be up-to-date throughout all systems, but also, workload would be correctly distributed by all employees. This report demonstrates a possible approach to this problem and describes the several phases to achieve the solution - from requirements gathering, analysis and research, and the design and development of a software project management system. Subsequently, the conceptualized solution is based in the current project management application used in Armis. However, it now integrates with the company’s customer relationship management application, as well as the financial software. Moreover, it provides a better, more controlled and organized sequence of actions of the management processes. The developed application comprises of a proof of concept based on the conceptualized solution. It was later evaluated and tested to assess its suitability and conformity with the proposed goals.Produtos de software tornaram-se peças fundamentais do mundo atual, estando presente e auxiliando as pessoas até na mais pequena tarefa. Consequentemente, a indústria de desenvolvimento de software tem crescido consideravelmente, tornando-se assim um ambiente bastante competitivo. De forma a garantir a sua sobrevivência e sucesso no mercado, estas organizações precisam de adotar as melhores práticas para que exista não só uma entrega de produto rápida e eficiente, mas também baixos custos de manutenção do mesmo e maior lucro. Assim, ao longo do tempo foram desenvolvidas e testadas várias técnicas de gestão de projetos. É de extrema importância a adoção de uma boa técnica de gestão, sempre considerando as práticas exercidas e a experiência da empresa, assim como o projeto em questão. Desta forma, o resultado final enquadrar-se-á nos requisitos e objetivos estabelecidos, consequente de um aumento da produtividade e melhor fluxo de trabalho. No entanto, a área de desenvolvimento de software e também da gestão de projetos tem-se tornado mais complexa ao longo dos anos, incluindo cada vez mais passos, regras e pessoas envolvidas no processo. Tudo isso pode levar à desorganização da informação relevante e à fácil interrupção do fluxo de trabalho na gestão de projetos. Esses problemas não dependem apenas da cultura organizacional, mas também das várias ferramentas utilizadas na gestão e coordenação de recursos. Assim, a integração correta e justificada às outras ferramentas da empresa cria um ambiente sinérgico, o qual seria vantajoso para a organização. Por outras palavras, a integração de sistemas especializados permitiria uma melhor gestão dos projetos - sendo que, não só as informações relevantes e necessárias estariam atualizadas em todos os sistemas, mas também a carga de trabalho seria distribuída corretamente por todos os funcionários. Este documento descreve uma solução possível ao problema exposto e descreve as várias fases para alcançar a solução - desde o levantamento de requisitos, análises e pesquisas, e design e desenvolvimento de um sistema de gestão de projetos de software. Posteriormente, a solução preconizada é baseada na ferramenta de gestão de projetos atualmente utilizada na Armis. No entanto, a solução integra agora outras ferramentas utilizadas pela empresa: a aplicação de gestão de clientes, assim como o software financeiro. Além disso, proporciona uma sequência melhor, mais controlada e organizada de ações relativos aos processos de gestão. A aplicação desenvolvida corresponde a uma prova de conceito baseada na solução idealizada, que, posteriormente, foi avaliada e devidamente testada para confirmar a sua adequabilidade e conformidade com os objetivos previamente definidos

DATA-DRIVEN SERVICE INNOVATION: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT OF A RESEARCH AGENDA

The potential created by ongoing developments in data and analytics permeates a multitude of research areas, such as the field of Service Innovation. In this paper, we conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to investigate the integration of data and analytics as an analytical unit into the field of Service Innovation – referred to as Data-Driven Service Innovation (DDSI). Overall, the SLR reveals three main research perspectives that span the research field of Data-Driven Service Innovation: Explorative DDSI, validative DDSI, and generative DDSI. This integrated theoretical framework describes the distinct operant roles of data analytics for Service Innovation, and thus contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of DDSI by providing three unified lenses, which researchers can use to describe and locate their existing and future research endeavors in this ample field. Building up on the insights from the SLR, a research agenda is proposed in order to trigger and guide further discussions and future research surrounding DDSI. Ultimately, this paper aims at contributing to the body of knowledge of Service Innovation in general and Data-Driven Service Innovation in particular by presenting a three-dimensional research space model structuring DDSI towards its advancement

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

Plataforma de Logística aplicada à Prestação de Serviços

Society is increasingly tied to technology. If you look around you, you see countless pieces of engineering to which people are becoming more and more accustomed and outstanding. This is due to the efficiency with which technological solutions respond to the needs of their users. Nowadays it is possible to do almost everything online: buying clothes, traveling, ordering food and being delivered at home, are examples of things that were unthinkable 30 years ago. The e-commerce brought a revolution that has shaken many industries. From music to retail, through to services, there was none to which the appearance of this new kind of business was indifferent. The possibility of selling online to any part of the world made it possible for even small businesses to export and compete with large companies. However, the application of this type of trade to services is not as strong as when compared to the sale of products. There are many more platforms for selling products via the Internet than platforms for providing services. With this, some companies started to provide this service, but without using technology. All the management of orders and receipts is done by telephone, and the records made in paper or on an Excel sheet, which causes employees to spend time on tasks that are not their area of expertise. This thesis aims at creating a platform to meet these needs by providing a range of tools to facilitate the work of service providers. To achieve this, a platform capable of supporting multiple service types and multiple marketplace service providers will be designed and developed. This platform will be composed of several applications, from the platform’s main site and back-office application, to mobile applications for couriers. These are aimed at a segmented response to the needs of the three existing types of customer: service providers, remittance agents and, of course, the final customer. In this context, a pilot laundry will be used as the pilot, which will lead to the evaluation and testing phase.A sociedade está cada vez mais ligada à tecnologia. Se olharmos à nossa volta, vemos inúmeras peças de engenharia, às quais as pessoas estão cada vez mais habituadas e dependentes. Tal acontece devido à eficiência com que as soluções tecnológicas respondem às necessidades dos seus utilizadores. Nos dias de hoje é possivel fazer praticamente tudo via internet: comprar roupa, viagens, encomendar comida e esta ser entregue em casa, são exemplos de coisas que há 30 anos era impensável que se conseguisse. O e-commerce trouxe uma revolução que abanou muitas indústrias. Da música ao retalho, passando pelos serviços, não houve nenhuma ao qual o aparecimento deste novo tipo de comércio fosse indiferente. A possibilidade de vender online para qualquer parte do mundo possibilitou que mesmo pequenos negócios pudessem exportar e competir com as grandes empresas. No entanto, a aplicação deste tipo de comércio a serviços, ainda não é tão forte como quando comparado à venda de produtos. Existem muito mais plataformas de venda de produtos via internet, do que plataformas de prestação de serviços. Com isto, algumas empresas começaram a prestar esse serviço, mas sem recurso à tecnologia. Toda a gestão de pedidos e estafetas é feita via telefone, e os registos feitos em papel ou numa folha de Excel, o que faz com que os funcionários gastem tempo em tarefas que não são a sua área de especialização. Esta tese visa a criação de uma plataforma que dê resposta a estas necessidades, providenciando uma série de ferramentas que facilite o trabalho dos prestadores de serviços. Para tal, será idealizada e desenvolvida uma plataforma capaz de suportar múltiplos tipos de serviços e múltiplos prestadores de serviços, ao estilo marketplace. Esta plataforma será composta por várias aplicações, desde o site principal da plataforma e aplicação back-office, até aplicações móveis para os estafetas. Estas têm como objetivo dar uma resposta segmentada às necessidades dos três tipos de cliente existentes: os prestadores de serviços, os estafetas e, obviamente, o cliente final. Neste contexto, será tido como cliente piloto uma lavandaria, que conduzirá a fase de testes e avaliação

Chatbot de Suporte para Plataforma de Marketing Multicanal

E-goi is an organization which provides automated multichannel marketing possibilities. Given its system’s complexity, it requires a not so smooth learning curve, which means that sometimes costumers incur upon some difficulties which directs them towards appropriate Costumer Support resources. With an increase in the number of users, these Costumer Support requests are somewhat frequent and demand an increase in availability in Costumer Support channels which become inundated with simple, easily-resolvable requests. The organization idealized the possibility of automating significant portion of costumer generated tickets with the possibility of scaling to deal with other types of operations. This thesis aims to present a long-term solution to that request with the development of a chatbot system, fully integrated with the existing enterprise modules and data sources. In order to accomplish this, prototypes using several Chatbot management and Natural Language Processing frameworks were developed. Afterwards, their advantages and disadvantages were pondered, followed by the implementation of its accompanying system and testing of developed software and Natural Language Processing results. Although the developed overarching system achieved its designed functionalities, the master’s thesis could not offer a viable solution for the problem at hand given that the available data could not provide an intent mining model usable in a real-world context.A E-goi é uma organização que disponibiliza soluções de marketing digital automatizadas e multicanal. Dada a complexidade do seu Sistema, que requer uma curva de aprendizagem não muito suave, o que significa que os seus utilizadores por vezes têm dificuldades que os levam a recorrer aos canais de Apoio ao Cliente. Com um aumento de utilizadores, estes pedidos de Apoio ao Cliente tornam-se frequentes e requerem um aumento da disponibilidade nos canais apropriados que ficam inundados de pedidos simples e de fácil resolução. A organização idealizou a possibilidade de automatizar uma porção significativa de tais pedidos, podendo escalar para outro tipo de operações. Este trabalho de mestrado visa apresentar uma proposta de solução a longo prazo para este problema. Pretende-se o desenvolvimento de um sistema de chatbots, completamente integrado com o sistema existente da empresa e variadas fontes de dados. Para este efeito, foram desenvolvidos protótipos de várias frameworks para gestão de chatbots e de Natural Language Processing, ponderadas as suas vantagens e desvantagens, implementado o sistema englobante e realizados planos de testes ao software desenvolvido e aos resultados de Natural Language Processing. Apesar do sistema desenvolvido ter cumprido as funcionalidades pelas quais foi concebido, a tese de mestrado não foi capaz de obter uma solução viável para o problema dado que com os dados disponibilizados não foi possível produzir um modelo de deteção de intenções usável num contexto real

Gamification Guidelines: Education

Ludificação consiste na utilização de características típicas dos jogos em aplicações cujo propósito não é o entretenimento, de forma a melhorar a motivação e os resultados dos seus utilizadores. A implementação deste conceito conta com vários casos de sucesso, no entanto, o contrário também é observável, com os casos de insucesso a serem muitas vezes causados pelo design pobre dos sistemas ludificados. Este trabalho tem como propósito a criação de diretrizes que ajudem a combater o problema do design pobre na ludificação. De modo a o tornar mais focado, decidiu-se analisar o mundo da educação, mais precisamente o ensino superior, para se perceber se um sistema de ensino ludificado é capaz de ajudar os alunos a terminarem os seus cursos sem contratempos. Foram estudadas algumas das mais populares frameworks de apoio à ludificação, dando origem à criação de um conjunto de cinco diretrizes que juntam os pontos fortes de cada uma delas, enquanto colmatam os seus pontos fracos. Estas diretrizes foram usadas no desenvolvimento de um plugin para o Moodle direcionado a estudantes universitários, o “Gamification Banner”. Todo um sistema ludificado foi preparado, não só o plugin do Moodle, mas também o curso onde ele se insere. Este sistema foi testado por um grupo de voluntários que o avaliou, e da avaliação resultante comprovou-se que os estudantes são a favor da ludificação, embora não tenha sido possível provar que as suas notas são influenciadas positivamente, dado o curto tempo dos testes. Conclui-se que vale a pena investir na ludificação do ensino superior, e que se deve continuar a estudar a possibilidade de as notas dos alunos serem influenciadas positivamente por sistemas ludificados. O sucesso do sistema desenvolvido espelha-se nas diretrizes que ajudaram a criá-lo. Estas demonstram potencial, mas precisam de serem testadas noutros cenários.Gamification consists in the usage of typical game elementsin non-entertainment applications in order to improve the motivation and results of their users. There are several success stories of the implementation of this concept, however, the opposite is also observed, with failed cases often being caused by a poor design of the gamified system. The purpose of this document is to create guidelines that can prevent the problem of poor gamification design. In order to make it more focused, it was decided to analyze the world of education, more precisely college education, to understand if a gamified educational system can help students finish their courses without any setbacks. Some of the most popular gamification design frameworks were studied, leading to the creation of a set of five guidelines that bring together their strengths while addressing their weaknesses. These guidelines were used for the development of a Moodle plugin aimed at college students called “Gamification Banner”. A whole gamified system was prepared, not only the Moodle plugin, but also the course in which it is inserted. This system was tested by a group of volunteers who evaluated it, and from the resulting assessment it was found that students favor gamification, although it was not possible to prove that their grades are positively influenced given the short time of the tests. It is concluded that it is worth investing in gamification in higher education, and that the possibility of grades being positively influenced by gamified systems should be further studied. The success of the developed system is reflected in the guidelines that helped to create it. These show potential but need to be tested in other scenarios