Stage-gate or perfectly agile – The future of smart service innovation: A systematic literature review

Smart services become increasingly important among manufacturing companies. However, many companies struggle to offer smart services that are economically successful. Developing smart services is complex, challenging and includes manifold elements from business model innovation to software engineering. Therefore, it is essential to approach smart service development as part of a well-defined and efficient process. A dominant approach to align smart service development and related product development processes is neither found in academia nor in practice. By conducting a systematic literature review, we present the current status of servitization literature according to smart service innovation. We identified core dimensions and related activities of service innovation processes based on a vast variety of different designations. Additionally, we consolidated core dimensions and activities in a framework to build the foundation of a guiding process for smart service innovation. Finally, a flow chart proposes an appropriate sequence of smart service innovation activities.