The informatics technology and innovation in the service production

This paper aims to analyze how informatics technology affects the innovation of the service production process. As its main characteristic, the production of services is very intensive in human capital to produce outputs, and since the development of informatics technology affects certain tasks used to produce output, it will bring innovation to the procedures in the production of services. Thus, evaluating the use of informatics (e.g., computers) in the service sector represents innovation in services and, more precisely, in their production process. Based on a Brazilian database with detailed information on sectors, occupations and the use of computer technology and using panel regressions with fixed effects, we show that the use of computers changed the execution of certain tasks, increasing the demand for a specific type of non-routine tasks. The use of informatics technology in the service sector displayed a shift toward non-routine analytical activities. Regarding the impact of informatics technology on the service sector relative to non-service sectors, while informatics technology has been used intensely to automate manufacturing, displacing workers from routine tasks, the same cannot be said for the service sector. The analysis of the use of informatics technology in different segments of the service sector shows that informatics technology has a heterogeneous effect on the production process that varies according to how sectors use technology to complement or substitute labor tasks.