Industrial customers’ organizational readiness for service innovations: Adopting data-based advanced services

Abstract

Manufacturing firms that deliver complex products and systems are increasingly offering advanced data-based services to their customers. Customers are not always readily interested or willing to procure advanced services, and manufacturing firms need knowledge on how to promote the customer’s service readiness. The aim in this paper is to develop and propose a framework on customer firms’ organizational readiness for service innovations. We explore the experiences of customers of a manufacturing firm delivering complex systems and related services. The interview-based study reveals that customers use versatile processes for new service adoption, and engage multiple people and use varied criteria when deciding the adoption of data-based new services. Organizational readiness for service innovations appears in terms of change requirements concerning service context, supplier relations, and organizational habits and culture. The findings suggest actions for the manufacturing firms as ways to promote the customers’ readiness for service innovations.