Software Product Management in the Era of Data-Driven Products, Services and Ecosystems - Scientific Conference in conjunction with Software Product Management Summit (SPMS) 2023

Based on the technological developments of recent years and the associated digitization of products, a paradigm shift from hardware to software is noticeable in almost all areas. Not only in the social environment, but also in the core areas of operational organizational structures, digitized products and the associated intelligent services are anchored as a central value creation component (Power and Jerijan 2001; Sandberg et al. 2020; Stonig et al. 2022). The integration of digital components not only allows companies to expand value creation at the product level (reconfiguration), but also offers the possibility of providing customer-specific services downstream based on improved data availability. Especially in markets captured or saturated by commoditization, data-driven services, represent a differentiation potential to generate competitive advantages (Porter and Heppelmann 2014; Hunke et al. 2018; Strobel et al. 2022). 

Despite organizations' interest in data and its potential, this paradigm shift poses challenges for decision makers at all management levels (Hunke et al. 2021; Sjödin et al. 2021). The implementation of the as-a-service paradigm and the continuous and value-creating management of customer data represent entirely new fields of activity, especially for non-IT companies. Also, designing financially sustainable digital business models and generating value from data works according to different rules than selling hardware and is therefore a frequently encountered dilemma for entrepreneurial planning and implementation (Vial 2019; Kühne and Böhmann 2019; Strobel 2020). Moreover, data-driven products and services often require a cross-company approach, so development is increasingly taking place in ecosystems (Vargo and Lusch 2008; Bosch and Bosch-Sijtsema 2010; Trieflinger et al. 2022). For companies that used to be embedded in linear value chains, the dynamics of ecosystems is a serious problem to reorganize the development processes and to operate their own software product management across companies (Marheine and Petrik 2021; Petrik 2022). 

The current challenges and solution approaches of software product management in organizations in the context of data-driven products, services, and ecosystems are therefore the research focus of the SPMS 2023 conference. For the Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI) conference proceedings (C-ranked according to VHB-JOURQUAL 3) to be prepared, we are particularly interested in, but not exclusively limited to, the following topics:

Data-driven product and service strategies
Software architecture management (e.g. microservices)
Approaches to developing software in dynamic networks (e.g., DevOps, model-driven development)
Management of software platforms and platform-based ecosystems
Process management of data-driven products and services
Product management approaches to the implementation of digital twins, Internet of Things and AI-based systems
Design of digital and data-driven services (e.g., smart service engineering)
Management and design approaches to digitizing regulated industries (e.g., healthcare, energy)
Data-driven approaches to demonstrably increase sustainability goals (e.g., circular economy, repurposing and reuse)
Managing agile teams to realize value in data-driven projects
Introducing and scaling software product management in startups and SMEs

Other exciting contributions from the core areas of software product management (e.g., portfolio management, quality management, maintenance management, price management, test management, release management, security management) are also encouraged.

Accordingly, the goal of this year's conference is to address research on software product management in the era of data-driven products, services, and ecosystems, and to address a wide range of areas of tension such as value generation through data, software implementation in data-driven products and services, data-driven startups, agility, processes, approaches, and strategies for data-driven business models and data ecosystems that still need to be addressed, and provides an opportunity for submissions on current research projects at the intersection of software engineering, information systems, and digital business.

Submission details

For submission, new and unpublished topics should be submitted as papers for publication that can serve as a basis for discussions at the conference. Accepted papers will be published in the GI conference proceedings as part of the GI Edition LNI (C-ranked according to VHB-JOURQUAL3). Two submission formats will be accepted:

Short papers with the maximum number of pages of 6 pages (includes title, abstract, main text and figures) without bibliography.
Full papers with the maximum number of pages of 12 pages (includes title, abstract, main text and figures) without bibliography.
The papers should be written using the LNI template.

Important deadlines

Submission: 20.01.2023 
Notification of authors: 17.02.2022
Submission of revised and final papers: 17.03.2023
Completion of conference proceedings: 15.04.2023
Konferenz: 03.05.2023-04.05.2023


Organizing Committee

Prof. Dr. Andreas Helferich, ISM Stuttgart (Orga Chair)
Dr. Dimitri Petrik, University of Stuttgart (Chair Program Chair)
Dr. Gero Strobel, University of Duisburg-Essen (Chair Program Chair)
Dr. Katharina Peine, highQ Computerlösungen GmbH (Chair Industry Chair)