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. 2007 May 26;16(2):129–165. doi: 10.1007/s11518-007-5041-y

A calculus for services innovation

James M Tien 1,✉, Daniel Berg 1
PMCID: PMC7104594  PMID: 32288407

Abstract

Innovation in the services area — especially in the electronic services (e-services) domain — can be systematically developed by first considering the strategic drivers and foci, then the tactical principles and enablers, and finally the operational decision attributes, all of which constitute a process or calculus of services innovation. More specifically, there are four customer drivers (i.e., collaboration, customization, integration and adaptation), three business foci (i.e., creation-focused, solution-focused and competition-focused), six business principles (i.e., reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture not numbers, reach beyond existing demand, get strategic sequence right, overcome organizational hurdles and build execution into strategy), eight technical enablers (i.e., software algorithms, automation, telecommunication, collaboration, standardization, customization, organization, and globalization), and six attributes of decision informatics (i.e., decision-driven, information-based, real-time, continuously-adaptive, customer-centric and computationally-intensive). It should be noted that the four customer drivers are all directed at empowering the individual — that is, at recognizing that the individual can, respectively, contribute in a collaborative situation, receive customized or personalized attention, access an integrated system or process, and obtain adaptive real-time or just-in-time input. The developed process or calculus serves to identify the potential white spaces or blue oceans for innovation. In addition to expanding on current innovations in services and related experiences, white spaces are identified for possible future innovations; they include those that can mitigate the unforeseen consequences or abuses of earlier innovations, safeguard our rights to privacy, protect us from the always-on, interconnected world, provide us with an authoritative search engine, and generate a GDP metric that can adequately measure the growing knowledge economy, one driven by intangible ideas and services innovation.

Keywords: Services, innovation, decision informatics, software algorithms, automation, globalization, collaboration, customization, integration, adaptation, standardization, telecommunication, organization, business principles

Footnotes

James M. Tien is the Yamada Corporation Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is also an Honorary Professor at several Chinese Universities and an elected member of the U. S. National Academy of Engineering. He received the BEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1966) and the SM, EE and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1967, 1970, 1972). He has held leadership positions at Bell Telephone Laboratories (1966–69), at the Rand Corporation (1970–73), and at Structured Decisions Corporation (1974–Present). His areas of research interest include the development and application of computer and systems analysis techniques to information and decision systems. He has been honored with both teaching and research awards, including being elected Fellow (of IEEE, AAAS, and INFORMS) and being a recipient of the IEEE/SMC Joseph G. Wohl Outstanding Career Award, the IEEE/SMC Norbert Wiener Award, and the IEEE/EAB Major Educational Innovation Award.

Daniel Berg is an Institute Professor of Science and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.). While at Westinghouse, he was an adjunct Professor of Industrial Administration and Engineering at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and Engineering School of Carnegie-Mellon University. He served as Professor of Science and Technology and Dean of Mellon College of Science as well as Provost at Carnegie-Mellon. At R.P.I. he served as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost and President. His present research interests concern the role of technology in the service sector. He is acting director of the Center for Services Research and Education at R.P.I. and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a Fellow of AAAS, AIC, IEEE and INFORMS. Dr. Berg is active as a board member for and advisor to many universities, federal agencies, and industrial organizations.

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