Table 1.

Differentiating digital solutions

	Technology product	Digital solutions
Technological architecture and capability of base technologies	Often standardized, as lower configurability and physical nature requires growth by replication (e.g., manufacturing processes fixed by design) Subject to economies of scale in production of physical artifacts Specific product components or features may be locally adapted	Layered Modular Architecture and Modularity of Virtual Components: Digital technologies are free of constraints faced by physical products due to their interoperable layers, and thus have greater recombinative possibilities
Distributed nature of innovation and intensity of data	Product development lifecycle is determined by requirements (and completed to fixed schedule). Often structured product development process, tools and product forms are not integrated through a shared digital platform, and product release does not involve continual updating	Generativity: Innovation is distributed due to digital platforms’ capacity to produce unprompted change (driven by large, varied, and uncoordinated audiences self-organizing on platforms) Data can be transformed and reused as part of other digitally enabled functions (e.g., using analytics in/on various outputs).
End-user involvement in innovation	Limited to traditional end-user role as user of ‘product as designed’ User-led innovation can still be invoked for products as means for extending products (though not for extending products’ functionalities as much as digital)	Affordances: User-contexts reflecting differences in institutional environment may shape technology use and lead to participatory innovations (involving users) Co-creation enables new functionalities with end-users driven by specific user needs