Introduction from a paper by Zena Wood and Phil Godsiff

Servitisation is commonly considered a concept that only exists in the manufacturing sector. However, if the UK is to be an international leader in the adoption of servitisation business models, other sectors must be considered. Even in the early stages of the research field, it was noted that many industries could consider service offerings. The concept of servitisation is not only for product-centred companies, as service sector companies can also undergo the transformation. As servitisation extends its influence outside of manufacturing, B2C scenarios will need to be considered, especially when it begins to impact on “services” such as transport and insurance. Currently, much of servitisation literature tends to be focussed on B2B scenarios, where the immediate customer of the servitising firm is not the end-user; service industries tend to be much more B2C.

Adopting digital technologies can help facilitate a servitisation business model, but the role of different technologies in service-based offerings is an under-investigated area. Given the importance of digitalisation, the term digital servitisation has gained momentum. The concept of digital servitisation looks at the convergence of servitisation and digitalisation. Within manufacturing, these two topics have generally been researched in silos.

Digital Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS), which would be considered a form of digital servitisation, involves the wider use of innovative digital technologies to form new and innovative business models…

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