Service and public systems: opportunities for systems engineering

In considering the impact of technology on society and productivity, most of the attention has been focused on production and manufacturing, However, in most technologically-avanced countries, the service sector is larger than its manufacturing base, for example, more than 70 percent of all employment in the United States is in services. Yet, the service sector is one of the least researched and lowest in productivity areas of the economy. Financial, health, transportation and food services are all a part of the services sector, as is public services (including police, fire, sanitation, education, etc.). A large number of issues deserve to be addressed, including: How do organizations develop and deliver new services and why? Can the same approaches he applied to services as to products? How can service quality be measured and improved? What role can technology in particular, information systems play in enhancing service productivity? There are many opportunities to apply systems engineering approaches to issues arising in the services area.