Digital Servitization Barriers of Medical Technology Firms: An Exploratory Study

Digital transformation creates tremendous innovation opportunities for medical technology firms. By offering digital services, medical technology firms can support healthcare providers to improve the efficiency and outcomes of care delivery. The shift towards digital-enabled services business models is referred to as digital servitization. However, digital servitization in healthcare is still in its infancy and many medical technology firms struggle to successfully develop and commercialize digital services. As existing research on the topic is scarce, this study investigates the prevailing barriers to digital servitization for medical technology firms. Interviews were conducted with 11 executives of medical technology firms. As a result, 5 key dimensions of digital servitization barriers were identified. This study contributes to current research in digital servitization literature by investigating digital servitization barriers in healthcare. The findings of this paper suggest that medical technology firms need to develop distinct organizational capabilities to overcome these healthcare ecosystem-specific barriers, taking the varied interests of all stakeholders involved into account.