Service systems, service scientists, SSME, and innovation

Abstract

Researchers, educators and practitioners are showing interest in service systems, and in the potential of establishing the new academic discipline, services sciences, management and engineering (SSME). The service scientist might identify the stakeholders and interview them to learn of the boundaries of the service system and of any problems and opportunities that the stakeholders see. The scientist might create a formal model of the service system, including a table of all stakeholder interactions. They should also extrapolate the year-over-year evolution of the system and hour-by-hour activities of stakeholders. A service scientist might solve known problems by connecting new service systems to the problematic aspects of the original service system. Models and analytical methods for service systems will allow us to find opportunities for efficiency gains and to create new information based services.