Product as a Service – PaaS stories, sources and resources

See a discussion of this key regenerative business principle here

Stories of value through product as a service

We don’t buy CDs and DVDS much any more – we stream music and videos instead. Think about all the CDs and DVDs not being made or scratched.

AirBNB delivers accomodation without owning a single hotel bed.

Car sharing exists in multiple forms. In my home town Melbourne (Aus) I have choices from by-the-hour hire cars like GoGet to community shared car arrangements like CarNextDoor.

Office furniture as a service – FaaS from Ahrend.

Sources and design thinking for PaaS

The 1999 best seller Natural Capitalism is free to download by chapter – and Chapter 7 Muda, Service, and Flow is a good introduction.

My manufacturing background is probably showing, but the classic Lean Solutions by Womack and Jones is a detailed handbook on finding and maximising value. In particular read their discussion of mobility as a service in Chapter 10 Solve My Complete Problem Permanently.

Resources for exploring PaaS

The resources now available in the Circular Design Guide – from a collaboration between IDEO and The Ellen Macarthur Foundation include:

• The Service Flip
• Product Redesign Workshop

Product as a Service resources from the Circular Economy Toolkit.