Engineering’s Role in the Evolutionary Understanding of Complex Service Systems

Abstract

In the United States, over 70% of the labor force is engaged in services, and an estimated 75% of the GDP in 2005 was derived from services. Industrialized countries around the world share similar statistics, while emerging economic powers, such as India and China, are seeing dramatic growth in their service economy. The service sector has evolved from a low-skill, labor-based position to one where high-skill professional services, particularly business-to-business services, are a leading driver of innovation, accelerated business globalization, and economic disruption. This rapid shift, due to the complex and inter-disciplinary nature of service system design, deployment, support and evolution, has resulted not only in a gap between the practice, definition and science of service systems, but also in a need for service scientists who are able to understand that complexity, design solutions that address the complexity, and evaluate those solutions in light of the complexity. This talk will summarize the state of service economy and discuss the case for a science of service systems as well as the need for engineering disciplines to participate in the evolution of complex service systems.

This presentation was part of the session : Innovation: Implementing New Approaching to Continuing Engineering Education

IACEE 11th World Conference on Continuing Engineering Education

Jakita O. Thomas is a research scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center in the Service Practices group which focuses on the socio-technical aspects of service systems. She has over 8 years of research experience in learning, complex cognitive skill development, and education technology design. Jakita has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. Cheryl A. Kieliszewski is a research scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center primarily focused on the human element of service system design. She has over 10 years of research and applied human factors engineering experience. Cheryl has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Distance Learning and Professional Education ; International Association for Continuing Engineering Education