Smart Services Maturity Level in Germany

Digitization of business processes is changing the industry. Enterprises using data as efficiently and smart as possible, can often create a clear competitive advantage and be more responsive to their customer needs. Through the smart use of data, new business models can be created. The most well-known changes of digitization are taking place in the B2C market. The B2B market is affected by this change too. Enterprises recognize the ongoing shift to a service-oriented society and therefore should be able to react directly to the customer needs. Service based business models, such as implementing Smart Services, are developed and intergarted in existing enterprise offerings. This paper reports upon a study of the maturity level regarding Smart Services of three selected German enterprises. The aim is to highlight the the impact of the ongoing digital transformation and map the maturity levels with regards to digitization and Smart Services. The case studies offer a first assessment about the current situation of Smart Services, using sub-categories to pinpoint developments, in manufacturing enterprises. The analysis shows that the maturity levels of these enterprises depend on their technology management, financial resources and corporate culture. The three cases have a high maturity level and already implemented Smart Services in their business model strategy. Nevertheless, there is still potential for improvement, especially regarding `Simultaneous Engineering' and `Automation Level'. It can be stated that within these enterprises financial resources, critical awareness as well as know-how of digitization and Smart Services are available. The cases were organizationally rather set in rigid structures. In order to reach an even higher degree of maturity and thus to remain competitive in the future, the enterprises should fundamentally rethink their corporate culture. These case studies may be considered as a pilot study into this topic, with refinements and improvements to further studies possible.