Design Opportunities in Service-Product Combined Systems

This paper aims to examine recent research issues related to the integration of service and product in view of industrial design. Further, it attempts to identify new opportunities for further research regarding “product-servicization” vs. “service-productization”. In the continued efforts to provide the users with fuller experiences, one major trend is the blending of products and services. Much existing research seems to either present cases or propose frameworks regarding the ‘connection’, rather than ‘integration’ between products and services. Broadly, two major approaches seem to exist in this area: 1. product-servicization, 2. service-productization. The former generally indicates adding more services to existing products, whereas the latter generally refers to making services tangible and/or visible in the form of a product. However, findings of an extensive literature search conducted for this study suggest one important deficiency in dealing with service issues around the product: the ‘integration’ between the actual product design and service elements for supporting new service-product system. That is the rationale behind this research, an attempt to investigate the possibility for the integration of product design and service factors which could be embedded in the design of product itself in new service-product system. This paper is largely based on qualitative research. New design research opportunities are identified by qualitatively analyzing relevant literature, synthesizing the information and presenting some cases to support the main argument of the research. Design-led Service-Productization is not, and should not be re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Rather, it should bring practical and tangible design issues related to new service-product system. Findings suggest that this approach could provide a new model of new product development integrated with a service scheme, which is a more proactive approach than “product-servicization”. Further development of this research could lead to establishing a framework for the Design-led Service-Product Integration. Keywords: Product-servicization; Industrial design; Service; Product; Integration</p

Productization of legal services

Abstract. The goal of my research was to find out how to productize legal services. This study includes analyzing previous literature about productization of expert services and finding out special issues related to legal services. The goal of the study is to create a conceptual model for productization of legal service. The study includes literature review, regulation review, survey and interviews, which all are combined to find out, what is essential in legal services and how to productize them and successfully turn productized services to business models. Several key points were recognized in the literature review. There is a process to productize an expert service. Main points of this process are recognizing the value creation to customer, understanding the service structure and making service phases more repeatable and modular. There were also some special features related to legal services that must be taken account when productizing these services. There were also major issues about earning model in these productized services. Some issues were related to law, others to Finnish bar association rules and others to court processes. Main findings of this review were that it is possible to productize legal services and create an earning model around these services, but in field of legal services there are limitations to that. In the empirical part of the study there are two different methods: survey and interviews. Survey was related to acceptable costs in courts. The results of this survey were that it is currently difficult to create earning model around productized and automatized legal services that are related to litigation as there is no clear line whether these costs are accepted in courts. In interviews several productization experts with background of productizing legal services were interviewed as well as representatives of Ministry of justice, Finnis bar association and Finnish lawyers’ association. These interviews revealed some other key points related to productization of legal services. Main points were that some customers are looking for other value than just the documents or litigation, for example certainty and that there are major differences between productability of different fields of law. Two main points for preventing productization and automatization were recognized: reluctance to change processes in private businesses and in courts as well as current court process. It was possible to create conceptual model for productizing and automatizing legal services. The concept derives from model for productizing expert services, but it does also take account special features of legal services. Main phases of the model are recognizing the value created to customer, understanding the services structure, analyzing the earning models, analyzing scalability of service phases, restructuring services in order to make some service phases modular, analyzing the regulation and finally automatizing phases that are suitable for automatization in the viewpoints of regulation and value creation. Most important finding of the study are the main restrictions and limitations for how to productize legal service, as it differs from productizing expert services in general. Other main finding of the study is the conceptual model how to productize legal service. The model can be used in most law firms to restructure their business and create new productized legal services as well as turn them into profitable business. This model can be used in law firms, but also in other firms offering legal services or willing to do so. The study added previous research on productization of expert services by expanding it more in the field of law and specially in certain country. The results of the study can be used in future business and productization studies related to law firms, as well as productization of expert services. The results on limitations and requirements can be directly applied only in Finland, but conceptual model can be used regardless of nation.Lakipalvelun tuotteistaminen. Tiivistelmä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten lakipalvelut voidaan tuotteistaa. Tutkimus kattaa kirjallisuuskatsauksen asiantuntijapalveluiden tuotteistamisesta sekä lakipalveluiden erityispiirteistä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on luoda konsepti lakipalvelun tuotteistamiseksi. Tutkimuksen vaiheet ovat: kirjallisuuskatsaus, sääntelykatsaus, kyselytutkimus ja haastattelut. Näiden tulosten perusteella todetaan, mitkä ovat olennaiset seikat lakipalveluiden tuotteistamisessa, mikä on prosessi tuotteistamiseen ja miten luoda onnistuneita ansaintamalleja tuotteistettujen lakipalveluiden ympärille. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa tunnistetaan useita avainseikkoja lakipalveluiden tuotteistamiseksi. Kirjallisuudessa on jo aiemmin käsitelty prosessia asiantuntijapalvelun tuotteistamiseksi. Tässä tärkeimpinä seikkoina ovat olleet arvonluonnin ymmärtäminen, palvelun rakenteen hahmottaminen sekä palvelun vaiheiden muuttaminen modulaarisemmaksi ja toistettavammaksi. Lakipalveluista tunnistetaan myös erityispiirteitä, mitkä täytyy huomioida niiden tuotteistamisessa. Merkittävimmät seikat liittyvät olemassa olevaan sääntelyyn eli lakeihin, Suomen asianajajaliiton sääntöihin sekä oikeuslaitoksen ja viranomaisen prosesseihin. Tämän vaiheen päälöydökset ovat, että on mahdollista tuotteistaa lakipalvelu ja luoda ansaintamalli tuotteistettujen palveluiden avulla, mutta lakipalveluiden osalta tähän on tiettyjä rajoituksia. Tutkimuksen empiriaosiossa käytetään kahta erilaista metodia: kyselytutkimusta ja haastatteluita. Kysely liittyy hyväksyttäviin kuluihin oikeudessa. Tämän kyselyn tuloksena on, että on haastavaa kehittää ansaintamalleja tuotteistettujen ja automatisoitujen lakipalveluiden ympärille, koska näistä aiheutuvien kulujen laskuttamisesta ei ole olemassa selkeää linjaa. Haastattelujen kohteena on sekä useita lakipalveluiden tuotteistamisen asiantuntijoita että edustajia oikeusministeriöistä, Suomen lakimiesliitosta ja Suomen asianajajaliitosta. Haastatteluiden perusteella tunnistetaan muita avaintekijöitä lakipalveluiden tuotteistamisessa. Yksi tällainen seikka on, että useat asiakkaat hakevat dokumenttien ja oikeudenkäyntipalvelun lisäksi varmuutta siitä, että asia on hoidettu. Toinen havaittu avaintekijä oli, että eri oikeudenalojen palveluiden välillä on merkittäviä eroja tuotteistamisen mahdollisuuksissa. Haastatteluissa havaittiin myös kaksi olennaista seikkaa, jotka estävät lakipalveluiden tuotteistamista: muutosvastarinta sekä yksityisellä että julkisella puolella ja nykyiset viranomaisprosessit. Näiden vaiheiden perusteella voidaan luoda konsepti lakipalvelun tuotteistamiseen ja automatisointiin. Konsepti johdetaan asiantuntijapalvelun tuotteistamisen konseptista, mutta siinä huomioidaan myös lakipalvelun erityispiirteet. Tämän mallin pääasialliset vaiheet ovat arvonluonnin tunnistaminen, palvelun rakenteen ymmärtäminen, ansaintamallin pohtiminen, skaalattavuuden analysointi, palvelun uudelleenjärjestely modulaarisuuden ja skaalattavuuden lisäämiseksi, sääntelyn analysointi ja lopulta automatisaatio. Malli huomioi automatisointikohteita valittaessa sekä sääntelyn että arvonluonnin näkökulmat. Tutkimuksen tärkein tulos on lakipalveluiden tuotteistamiseen liittyvät merkittävimmät rajoitukset ja esteet. Tämä löydös on merkittävä, koska lakipalvelun tuotteistaminen eroaa asiantuntijapalvelun tuotteistamisesta. Toinen merkittävä tulos on konsepti lakipalvelun tuotteistamiseen. Mallia voidaan käyttää useimmissa lakitoimistoissa liiketoiminnan uudelleenjärjestelyyn ja uusien tuotteistettujen lakipalveluiden ja niihin liittyvien ansaintamallien kehittämiseen. Mallia voidaan käyttää laki- ja asianajotoimistojen lisäksi myös muissa lakipalveluita tarjoavissa yrityksissä. Tutkimus tuotti uutta tietoa aiempaan tuotteistamista koskevaan tutkimukseen laajentamalla sitä lakialalle sekä kohdentamalla sitä tietylle maantieteelliselle alueelle. Tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan käyttää tulevissa lakialaa koskevissa liiketoimintaa ja tuotteistamiseen käsittelevissä tutkimuksissa. Tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan käyttää myös tutkittaessa asiantuntijapalveluiden tuotteistamista pidemmälle. Osa tuloksista koskee vain Suomea johtuen sääntelyjen eroista eri valtioissa, mutta konsepti lakipalvelun tuotteistamiseen on yleismaailmallinen

Productization of professional services and its implications for marketing

The focus of this research is on productization of professional services in business markets, taking into account the customer and market driven way of operating. The objective is to define a customer and market driven service productization process. The research is a qualitative content analysis based on the current literature and prevailing theories of service development, service productization, services marketing and relationship marketing. As a result of the research, two productization processes are identified. The focus of the first process is on systemizing the internal working methods of a service firm via productization, while the focus of the second process is on productizing professional services in a customer and market driven manner. The latter is suggested to replace the traditional service development methods in both strategically planning the service offerings and in development of new and existing services. As the research is fully relying on theoretical frameworks, to further validate the research outcomes empirical studies on the topic are suggested

Productization and interntional product strategy of K-12 education-related services – a case study

Service business has been fast-growing industry during the past decades. Recently, scholars and executives have realized the service industry's dominance in growth of the global economy. However, service development has received remarkably less attention compared to manufacturing. Finnish government officials have newly perceived the opportunity to exploit high appreciation of Finnish education in growing, international education market. The case company aims at increasing its international presence with K-12 education-related services. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to theoretically and empirically analyze the combination of productization and international product strategy with strong focus on K-12 education-related services. The author built the theoretical framework based on literature review that analyses different stages of productization of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and the characteristics of the international product strategy. The productization process includes three main phases: service offering standardization, service offering tangibilization and concretization, and service process standardization and systematization. In international product strategy, high importance is given to standardization-adaptation dichotomy. The empirical data for this thesis was collected through interviewing the case company professionals and external experts in the field. The results show that K-12 education-related services can be productized to some extent through applying the named methods. Standardization has multiple benefits that can be achieved by developing a core product and supplementing it with more customized or preferably standardized parts and modules. However, flexibility is required in order to match the specific requirements of the target country in terms of culture, legislation and regulations

Commercialization challenges of adsorbent materials for water and wastewater treatment

Abstract. Adsorption is commonly used to remove low-concentration natural organic matter or industrial contaminants from drinking water to improve the water’s taste, color, or safety. Adsorption is carried out with adsorbents, which are solid materials. Scientific research on adsorbent materials has increased exponentially, resulting in rapid advancements in preparation methods, chemical modification, and adsorbent quality assurance, revealing remarkable capacities to absorb organic and inorganic pollutants from natural water and industrial wastewater. However, the experimental new adsorbent materials are only seldomly productized and commercialized despite extensive research. The goal of the thesis was to facilitate the commercialization processes of adsorbent materials for water and wastewater treatment through productization. To achieve the goal, a productization platform for adsorbent materials was first developed through a literature review of business models, productization, and the new technology introduction. The second step was to perform qualitative research. Companies in Finland that represent adsorbent materials producers and vendors, consultants providing water treatment design services, and end-users of adsorbent materials were interviewed for the empirical research. The assessments of the opportunities and challenges in the adsorbent materials productization are based on the analysis of the current status of the interviewed companies. Finally, the research results and the concept of the literature review were combined to recommend a reference business model and productization structure of adsorbent materials for water and wastewater treatment. Clarifying offerings and building a business strategy to support the commercialization of the offering are the two aspects of the productization platform for adsorbent materials. The empirical results led to a determination of the water and wastewater treatment requirements and customer expectations. Materials, legislation and standards, cost, customer, and logistics were listed as the five most important water and wastewater treatment requirements, followed by a long list of consumers (companies with water and wastewater treatment plants) expectations (adsorbent materials should be legally proven, tested, validated, cost-effective, previously used for the same purpose, marketed, etc. ). These requirements and expectations indicate that an adsorbent materials manufacturer, distributor, and service provider should have compelling business models. A business model assists in integrating needs and expectations into the product application by understanding and linking the product’s commercial and technical structure, which results in a commercially successful product. As a result, even though companies face numerous challenges, the productization of adsorbent materials offers innumerable opportunities. Conclusively, a constructive and descriptive business model, as well as a productization framework, were recommended. An effective business plan and perfect productization of the adsorbent materials can aid in commercializing novel adsorbent materials. "The offerings (adsorbent materials) can be offered as — adsorbent materials as a product-oriented and adsorbent materials as a result-oriented," was the key recommendation for commercializing novel adsorbent materials

Productization of building information models

Abstract. Building information models contain a great amount of data in various lifecycle phases throughout building projects. Data is generally not seen as an asset yet building information models’ (BIM) value is recognized. Seeing BIM models value as an asset and maintaining a structured product lifecycle management (PLM) in organization leads to need of productization of BIM Models, just like tangible products. Building information modeling is a known term within the building industry, but product lifecycle management is unconventional. Productization practices that include PLM have few examples in the academia or of use in the building industry. This thesis aims to study the possibilities of productizing building information models to commercial and technical items and presents background to it. Building information models are currently not seen as commercial products, but it is acknowledged they are valuable and have great potential in changing the practices and productivity in the whole building industry. BIM models are not handled as products, and they are not included to order-delivery-invoicing practices and systems as commercial products. BIM models can contain a broad and multidimensional amount of information and some structuring practices of BIM models remind closely of bill of material (BOM) in technical product structures. Information content of BIM models increases and becomes more precise continuously, but to benefit financially of the additional value of BIM models is insufficient in terms of understanding their possibilities in content and commercial value. This thesis presents the definition and current state of the productization practices of BIM models and offers a recommendation to productize BIM models as a part of construction object configuration commercially and technically. The work is done reviewing current literature and via a current state analysis of a case company. Within the thesis, it is recommended to be establish a new product category into construction product offering alongside to hardware, software, and services: BIM products. From the commercial aspect, it is recommended to divide BIM models into three categories based on their status in a commercial product portfolio: open BIM models, BIM model products and BIM model systems. The recommendations of building a BIM model product structure are based on a BIM framework theory, which allows to separate the broad and multidimensional information structures of BIM models in structured and understandable form. The results of this study can be generalized and used in the building industry internationally. The results of this thesis are significant for any organization wanting to change their building information models’ status from technical tools into commercial products in a structured way.Tiivistelmä. Rakennusalan tietomallit sisältävät merkittävän määrän dataa rakennushankkeen eri elinkaaren vaiheissa. Datan ei ole tyypillisesti ajateltu olevan yrityksen pääomaa, mutta kuitenkin on tunnistettu, että tietomalleilla on arvo. Mikäli tietomallien arvo tunnistetaan, ja niitä halutaan alkaa kohtelemaan yrityksen pääomana, johtaa se tuotteen elinkaarenhallinnan (PLM) käytäntöjä noudattavalta organisaatiolta tarpeeseen tuotteistaa tietomallit, kuten fyysiset tuotteetkin. Termeinä tietomalli on tunnettu rakennusalalla, kun taas PLM on harvinaisempi; PLM ja tuotteistuskäytännöt ovat rakennusalalla vähän tutkittuja ja vähän käytössä. Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on tutkia mahdollisuuksia siihen, miten tietomallit tuotteistettaisiin kaupallisiksi ja teknisiksi tuotteen osiksi, sekä esittää taustatietoja tietomallien tuotteistukselle. Tällä hetkellä tietomalleja ei ajatella kaupallisina tuotteina, vaikka niiden arvo ja mahdollisuudet jopa koko rakennusalan muuttamiseen ja tuottavuuden parantamiseen tunnistetaan. Tietomalleja ei myöskään käsitellä kuten tuotteita, eivätkä ne ole osa tilaus-toimitus-laskutus-käytäntöjä tai -ohjelmistoja kaupallisina tuotteina. Tietomallit voivat kuitenkin sisältää huomattavan määrän monimuotoista informaatiota, ja jotkut tietomallien rakenteen kuvaukset muistuttavat jopa tuotteistamisesta tuttuja teknisten tuoterakenteiden BOM:a (Bill-of-Material). Tietomallien datasisältö lisääntyy ja tarkentuu jatkuvasti, mutta kuitenkin ymmärrys tietomallien sisältöön liittyvistä kaupallisista mahdollisuuksista on liian vähäistä, jotta niistä voitaisiin hyötyä kaupallisesti. Tämä tutkimus esittelee ja määrittelee tämänhetkiset tietomallien tuotteistuskäytännöt ja tarjoaa ratkaisuehdotuksen tietomallien tekniseen ja kaupalliseen tuotteistukseen osaksi rakennusalan tuotevalikoimaa. Työ on tehty perehtymällä kirjallisuuskatsaukseen ja tekemällä nykytila-analyysi valitusta case-yrityksestä. Tämän työn tuloksena suositellaan uuden tietomalli-tuotekategorian perustamista nykyisten rakennusalan tuotevalikoiman fyysisten tuotteiden (HW), ohjelmistotuotteiden (SW) ja palvelutuotteiden (service) rinnalle. Tutkimuksen perusteella tietomallituotteet olisi myös syytä jakaa kaupallisen käytön perusteella kolmeen pääkategoriaan; ilmaiset tietomallituotteet, kaupalliset tietomallituotteet ja tietomallijärjestelmätuotteet. Tietomallien tuoterakenteen muodostamiseen ehdotetaan käytettävän BIM framework-teoriaa, jonka avulla monimuotoisia tietorakenteita on helpompi strukturoida. Tämän tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan käyttää yleisesti rakennusalalla niin kansallisesti kuin kansainvälisesti. Tutkimuksen tulokset ovat merkittäviä sellaisille organisaatioille, jotka tunnistavat tietomalliensa datasisällön arvon pääomana ja siten haluavat johdonmukaisesti muuttaa heidän tietomalliensa statuksen teknisestä apuvälineestä kaupalliseksi tuotteeksi ja siten osaksi tuoteportfoliotaan

How are open innovation practices applied to the experience sector?

Masteroppgave i bedriftsøkonomi – Universitetet i Nordland, 201

Productizing Performance Measurement System for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This study strives to formulate a performance measurement system (PMS) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to offer guidelines for its productization. To achieve that end, a set of requirements for successful PMS for SMEs are derived from the literature, confirmed empirically and summarized into a outlining of a product. Additionally, this study provides a roadmap to productizing this performance measurement system. The evidence from previous literature suggests that a successful PMS for SMEs has following qualities: it is able to assist organization in strategy work, it provides a balanced view of the organization, it enables recognizing and incorporates causal relationships between results and determinants, is dynamically adaptable, clear and simple to operate, accounts for stakeholder perspective and is developed with and for its users. To productize such a system successfully one has to recognize a need for such a service, outline the service, pilot it, concretize it and finally collect feedback and develop it further. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study for a small Finnish company providing financial administration services. The empirical material for the study consisted of nine interviews within the case company and with the representatives of their clients. The data from the interviews was analyzed with thematic coding and complemented with financial statements and other readily available material. Based on the empirical and theoretical research, it is suggested that small and medium-sized enterprises base their performance measurement in proper budgeting tool. It can be stated that budgeting, when implemented properly, meets the qualities of successful performance measurement system for SMEs and can be employed to achieve multiple ends. Budgeting tool can be complemented with proper key performance indicators, forecasting tools and strategy development consultation to achieve even more comprehensive performance measurement

Developing a business model for the IoT platform ecosystem

Abstract. The focus of this study is to analyze the present business model for different companies around a common project. Different kinds of products and what is productization is explained. This is followed by a brief explanation on what is IoT and the most important building blocks of business models in a service dominant company. The current state of case studies presents the analysis of important elements in the business model and platform governance context. The results discuss the weaknesses and strengths of each company with regards to different elements. The chosen business model for case studies is discussed in different elements in details and the most important elements of them is how to increase customer interaction by offering complex solution

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