The Role of Business Intelligence (Bi) in Service Innovation: an Ambidexterity Perspective

Advancement in information and communication technologies has been a key driver of the transition from a goods-based economy to a services-based economy where significant changes are occurring in the way that services are produced and consumed. There is tremendous opportunity to realize business value from service innovation by using the knowledge about services to develop and deliver new information services and business services. Organizations can seize this opportunity to use service innovation initiatives to set themselves apart from competitors. One of the means for organizations to achieve service innovation is to incorporate business intelligence (BI) both at the strategic and operational levels. A review of extant IS literature on service innovation and BI revealed that the strategic and operational role of BI in fostering service innovation from an organizational ambidexterity perspective is one that has not been explored. We address this gap in research by developing a theoretical model and hypotheses to examine the role of BI in service innovation. Our literature review revealed that firms use BI strategically and operationally for exploration and exploitation respectively to create opportunities for service innovations which have the potential to impact organizational performance.