Servitization was originally defined as the process of value creation by adding services to physical products (Vandermerewe & Rada, 1988). Servitization became popular because of the fiercer competition that leads to the so-called commoditization trap. In addition, servitization became a new business norm because of the emergence of relationship marketing and value co-creation concepts. Companies are no longer competing merely on product, but also on value added services to meet the more complex demands of their customers. Companies extend their offerings by adding variety of services such as support, after sales services, knowledge, and self-services by the customers. The development of digital technology has brought a new dimension to servitization. It opens up many opportunities for service innovation, service platform, and business model innovation. Digital servitization is a new term that is expected to grow in the future. “Digital servitization calls for collaboration across firm boundaries as smart solutions interact with product-service-software systems of other companies to implement smart autonomous ecosystems” (Kohtamaki et al., 2019).
Dr. Reza is currently collaborating with PT MDI, a subsidiary of PT Telkom, to develop “Generic Digital Servitization Strategies for Startups and Small Business in Indonesia”.