Being Innovative About Service Innovation: Service, Design and Digitalization

Moving beyond questions about “services” and “the services economy,” this panel considers fresh ways of thinking about service innovation in the era of pervasive digitization. Panelists will argue that our understanding of digital services and products is radically transformed if we consider all exchanges to be service-for-service exchanges in which customers and suppliers co-create value in exchange networks. Innovation can then be understood as the continual process of breaking down knowledge (information) and reintegrating it to create new knowledge-based resources. Pervasive digitalization and generative digital platforms are revolutionizing service exchange possibilities. Value exchanges nonetheless occur within contexts that are material and social, tangible and tacit. The dynamics of these dimensions of service exchange challenge our concepts and methods for designing for service. Representing different approaches and disciplines, panelists will share their views on how the IS field might rethink service innovation, design and digitalization.