Transforming into a platform provider: strategic options for industrial smart service providers

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify strategic options and challenges that arise when an industrial firm moves from providing smart service toward providing a platform. Design/methodology/approach - This conceptual study takes on a multidisciplinary research perspective that integrates concepts, theories and insights from service management and marketing, information systems and platform economics. Findings - The paper outlines three platform types - smart data platform, smart product platform and matching platform - as strategic options for firms that wish to evolve from smart service providers to platform providers. Research limitations/implications - Investigating smart service platforms calls for launching interdisciplinary research initiatives. Promising research avenues are outlined to span boundaries that separate different research disciplines today.Practical implicationsManaging a successful transition from providing smart service toward providing a platform requires making significant investments in IT, platform-related capabilities and skills, as well as implement new approaches toward relationship management and brand-building. Originality/value - The findings described in this paper are valuable to researchers in multiple disciplines seeking to develop and to justify theory related to platforms in industrial scenarios.