Attention IT Service Providers: Scientific Rigor Required

 

The technology services industry is one part of an increasingly service-oriented world.

 

In recent years, awareness has been building that the knowledge required to understand service systems is not as advanced as it needs to be; the development of knowledge that is ultimately applied in industry has not kept pace with the shift to service-dominant economies. In response, a movement has grown to establish service science as a distinct academic discipline fully supported by partners in industry and government. To their great credit, some players in the technology industry have been active in encouraging this progress. It remains an emerging field.

 

Companies in the technology services sector fondly refer to themselves as ‘leading IT service providers’. If they want to lead anything, they must pay attention to the future of their industry and support the emergence of service science.

 

 

The technology services industry – if we allow ourselves such a generalization of players, markets and offerings – is a grouping characterized by vast diversity.

 

It is an industry often described as complex, sometimes portrayed as sophisticated. Regardless, leading players exhibit diversity on many levels:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Among industry participants, technology-related firms played leading roles in the development of service science towards mainstream acceptance. The list includes such companies as IBM, HP, BT, Cisco, Microsoft, SAP (News - Alert) and Oracle. But interest in service science extends well beyond technology services, and includes such non-IT-related companies as law firm Clifford Chance; financial services firms HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and JP Morgan (News - Alert); CPG firms Tesco, Unilever and Marks & Spencer; and engineering firms Arup and Laing O’Rourke.

 

That is to say nothing of the two other stakeholder groups – academia and government – that are central to the development of service science and the realization of its potential.

 

The common factor linking the interest of all stakeholder groups is the increasingly important role of services in modern economies:

 

 

 

 

As with other aspects of technological, economic or societal change, academia is motivated to not only understand this shift towards services but also to engage in teaching and research that develops knowledge and tools for use by affected parties.

 

 

All of the above hints at some of the key features of service science: it is an emerging discipline; some of its foundations lie in existing fields of study; building on these sources to create a distinct field of study should expand the frontiers of our understanding of services and how to create value with them.

 

Like the technology services industry, service science is a complex field due to its underlying diversity. The introduction of scientific rigor, however, to questions of strategy, leadership, design and management in services is welcome. It holds a lot of promise for the technology services industry and exerts influence over what will be deemed wise courses of action for such firms into the future.

 

There is a lot of work to do before service science can be considered mainstream, but progress to date can be seen in academic journals, articles and textbooks, and in teaching programs at more than 250 universities – all tangible outcomes from financial and intellectual investments made thus far.

 

For our part, Ovum is and will continue to be an active member of the service science community, taking part in debates, engaging with stakeholders, driving scientific rigor and highlighting relevant developments. We intend to draw from and contribute to a better understanding of our complex industry, and in so doing to provide our clients with guidance based on a firm foundation of knowledge, not guesswork.