Integrated environment for the development of digital business models
A large number of companies and organizations are currently striving for greater digitization of their business models, which is usually changing both the products and services and the service provision processes massively. Examples are sensors in tools and machines that record their usage profile and enable predictive maintenance, or the integration of customers and suppliers into value creation processes without media disruptions. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular are still inexperienced with regard to the potential of digitization and the effects on their business models. This is the target group that the Chair of Business Informatics wants to support with the new laboratory for the development of digital business models.
In the field of digitisation, efficient and effective means for checking digitisation potential and feasibility as well as corresponding methods and tools are of great importance. This is particularly true for digitisation options that are "context-oriented", i.e. that enable the adaptation of a service or the functionality of a product to the current application environment. Context orientation requires the use of sensors or the evaluation of data in order to allow the systematic collection and evaluation of information about the situation of the service or product.
The aim of the new laboratory from a research perspective is to understand the needs of the SME with regard to digitisation, to develop and validate an appropriate method and to identify success factors for digitisation projects. With regard to the SME, the aim is to provide assistance in the exploration of possible solutions and the methodical approach.
On the one hand, the equipment of the laboratory includes components for context acquisition and processing, which can, for example, provide location-related and time-related information as well as the identification of persons or the categorisation of groups of persons. To determine business model options while integrating the context, the different development phases for digital business models are also supported in the laboratory. Both industrially established tools and innovative approaches are available.
