Service in the AI Era: Science, Logic, and Architecture Perspectives

Are you prepared for the coming AI era?

AI advances will profoundly change your daily service interactions, so this book provides readers with a necessary understanding of service, the application of resources (e.g., knowledge) for the benefit of another. In just minutes, you can learn about today’s use of early-stage AI for automation and augmentation, and essential elements of service science, service-dominant (S-D) logic, and Service Dominant Architecture (SDA).

Ultimately improved service for all is possible with human-level AI and digital twins – but requires investing wisely in better models: Better models of the world both complex natural and social systems (science), better mental-models in people to improve interactions (logic), better cultural and structural models of organizations to improve change (architecture), and better trusted and responsible AI models. The service innovation community studies and builds better models to improve interactions and change in business and society.

The book challenges all responsible actors – individuals, businesses, universities, and governments – to invest systematically and wisely to upskill with AI (the X+AI vision). The service innovation community is a growing transdiscipline harnessing all disciplines to become better T-shaped professionals. Extensive end notes, bibliography, and index are provided.

About the Author

Jim Spohrer is a retired IBM executive and active in the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP.org). He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from MIT and a PhD in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence from Yale. One of the founders of the field of service science, with over ninety publications and nine patents, his awards include AMA ServSIG Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions to the Service Discipline, Evert Gummesson Service Research, Vargo-Lusch Service-Dominant Logic, Daniel Berg Service Systems, and PICMET Fellow for advancing service science.

Paul P. Maglio is a Professor of Management and Cognitive Science at the University of California, Merced. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from MIT and a PhD in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego. One of the founders of the field of service science, Dr Maglio was the Editor-in-Chief of INFORMS Service Science (2013-2018) and is lead editor of the of Service Science, Volumes I and II. He has published more than 125 papers in computer science, cognitive science, and service science.

Stephen L. Vargo is a Shidler Distinguished Professor and Professor of Marketing at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He has published in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Service Research, MIS Quarterly, and other top-ranked journals, in addition to three books. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of the AMS Review and is on the editorial/advisory boards of 17 other journals. Professor Vargo has been awarded the Shelby D. Hunt/ Harold H. Maynard Award (twice) and the AMA/Sheth Foundation Award for his contributions to marketing theory, as well as the Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions Award, among other recognitions. The Web of Science Group has named him to its “Highly Cited Researchers” list (top 1%) in impact in economics and business, worldwide, for each of the last eight years.

Markus Warg is a Professor for Leadership, Service Design and Risk Management at University of Applied Sciences Wedel/Hamburg. He has a degree in economics and doctorates in business administration. In 2015 Warg published the Service Dominant Architecture (SDA), is chairman of the supervisory board of SDA SE and heading the Institut für Service Design, Hamburg.