The role of IT for extended products' evolution into product service ecosystems

Abstract

This paper elaborates on the notions of extended products and product service systems. It argues that product service systems evolve rapidly into offerings which cross traditional domains of competition, and move into service ecosystems. The paper investigates the role of ICT in the development of product services systems, and relates the concepts of software-as-a-service and cloud computing to product service systems. It shows that it is almost unavoidable to connect product service ecosystems to larger service ecosystems in other domains. This development has many consequences, opening many areas of future research. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2013.