Communicating servitisation offers for mitigating weather-related risk for the construction industry through a simulation based serious game  

Climate change is a pressing global challenge that significantly impacts the day-to-day operations of various sectors, including the construction industry. The construction sector, in particular, experiences severe consequences due to the unpredictability of weather conditions. This unpredictability poses significant challenges for effective planning, risk management, and obtaining appropriate insurance coverage for construction projects. Servatization is transforming business models across many sectors, including the financial sector, where parametric insurance products are being introduced as Digitally Enhanced Advanced Services (DEAS) to facilitate weather risk management for the construction industry. While these services aredesigned to enhance accuracy and streamline the operations and processes, their complexity often makes them difficult for end users to understand and evaluate. As a result, limited exposure and understanding of servitisation offerings can negatively impact the uptake of the service. This research collaborated with real-life servitisation designers - (EHAB) within the construction industry to capture the key factors impacting the communication and understanding of servitisation offer. Based on these insights, it then designed & developed a prototype simulation based serious game to communicate the servitisation offer to end users. The serious game enables users to experience weather-related risks and the operational logic of parametric insurance through interactive, simulation-based gameplay, allowing long-term impacts to be explored within a short game cycle.Quantitative methods was used to evaluatethe effectiveness of simulation-based serious games, involving 50 participants from the construction sector. The evaluation focused on perceived usefulness, ease of use, engagement, and overall user experience. The results indicate positive user perceptions and suggest that serious games can provide an effective and engaging medium for communicating complex servitisation offerings related to weather risk management in construction.