Service Ecosystem Engineering to Overcome Translational Gaps in Digital Transformation

Abstract

Digital transformation initiatives continue to fail at rates between 70% and 95%, as technology‑driven efforts further densify already complex application landscapes instead of translating technological potential into realized value (Koczerga, 2024, Bughin et al., 2019). To systematically address these translational gaps (Sung et al., 2003, Woolf, 2008), this paper introduces Service Ecosystem Engineering (SESE) as a paradigm shift from technology‑dominated to structure‑dominated transformation strategies grounded in the centrality of service (Spohrer et al., 2022) and the Translational Service Research and Design Methodology (Warg et al., 2025). SESE adopts a unifying service language in which service provides the overarching grammar and services act as the primary structuring paradigm. Drawing on Service Dominant Architecture (SDA) as a reference structure, SESE organizes value-creation systems as actors, roles, processes, and services across five systems for interaction, data, participation, institutions, and operant resources. In doing so, SDA serves both as medium for service design and outcome of software engineering (Gruhn and Striemer, 2018). This SESE approach decouples value-creation systems from specific technologies, and enables pace‑controlled modernization, interoperability, and ecosystem‑wide value cocreation, helping organizations overcome translational gaps and evolve as learning organizations.

Keywords: Translational Gaps, Service Ecosystem Engineering, Service Dominant Architecture, Value-cocreation, Service Design, Software Engineering, Service Innovation

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007704