# A digital business ecosystem maturity model for personal service firms

**Authors:** Ricardo Guerrero, Christoph Lattemann, Simon Michalke, Dominik Siemon  
**arXiv:** [2211.01104](https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.01104)  
**Date:** 2022-11-02  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/arxiv-id/2211.01104v1/

## Key points

- Personal service industry faces challenges in the digital age
- Lack of expertise to build digital business ecosystems
- Researchers proposed a maturity model based on DSR guidelines
- The model offers guidance for personal service firms to transition from analog to digital and achieve a digital business ecosystem
- The design of the model is grounded in literature review, interviews, and validation test involving company representatives from personal services, business ecosystems, and digitalization
- The proposed maturity model provides practical steps for personal service firms to develop their digital capabilities systematically
- Key dimensions include strategy development, customer experience management, process automation & optimization as well as data analytics & insights
- Each dimension has different levels of maturity stages that allow companies to assess their current level of digitization and identify areas for improvement.

## Summary

The personal service industry, which includes education, retail, hospitality, and craftsmanship sectors, faces significant challenges in the digital age. Personal service firms lack the expertise to implement processes and practices that can effectively build digital business ecosystems. To address this gap, a team of researchers from Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH and LUT University proposed a maturity model based on Design Science Research (DSR) guidelines. The model offers specific guidance for personal service firms to transition from analog to digital and achieve a digital business ecosystem. The design of the model is grounded in a systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a validation test involving company representatives from the field of personal services, business ecosystems, and digitalization. The results revealed several dimensions, capabilities, and maturity stages indicating an evolutionary path towards digital maturity for personal service firms. The proposed maturity model provides practical steps for personal service firms to develop their digital capabilities systematically. It outlines key dimensions such as strategy development, customer experience management, process automation & optimization as well as data analytics & insights. Each dimension has different levels of maturity stages that allow companies to assess their current level of digitization and identify areas for improvement. This research is particularly relevant given the increasing importance of digital transformation across industries globally. By adopting this maturity model framework developed by the researchers at Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH and LUT University, personal service firms can overcome obstacles related to digitization while achieving greater efficiency in their operations through effective implementation of digital technologies.