Servitization is the transformation of industrial companies from primarily being a supplier of products to increasingly selling services related to the products. The purpose of servitization is to improve revenue, extend the life of the product in the market, create more competitive businesses and establish a closer relationship between the customer and the supplier.
The ambition of Servitize.DK is for more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to embrace the opportunities of servitization, and as a result increase their strength in the competitive international market, where services geared to customers’ needs continue to become an increasingly key competitive parameter. Thus, the project has a strong focus on operationalising existing knowledge within the field of the individual company.
The purpose of Servitize.DK is to promote competitiveness, growth and value creation among Danish industrial SMEs through an increased dissemination of product-service business concepts within the companies. The value creation must be “additional”, in other words, in relation to a situation in which they had not participated in the activities.
The primary target group for Servitize.DK is industrial SMEs with 20 – 250 employees. Servitize.DK started in 2019 and will continue to 2022.
Servitize.DK consists of three tracks, which together support the project’s aim that more SMEs embrace servitization.
Servitize.DK Transform is a key component in the project. Transform consists of implementing 120 company-specific development processes based on the needs, challenges and potentials of companies in the implementation of product-service business models. The process typically consists of five workshops that are tailored to the situation of the individual company.
Servitize.DK Forum is the programme’s network, dissemination and knowledge sharing platform. The purpose of the Servitize.DK Forum is to widely disseminate knowledge about servitization among small and medium-sized Danish manufacturing companies, facilitate networks and to put servitization on the public agenda.
Servitize.DK Research supports the research needs within this field in close co-operation with business-related activities and with the involvement of business cases. Research consists of two initiatives. There is a follow-up research of the Transform process at the Department of Business Development and Technology (BTECH) at Aarhus University ensuring optimal development of the competitiveness of companies, while servitization research activities and transformation processes in 20 companies are continued at CBS.
The following success criteria have been set for the project: