Enabling data-driven decision-making for a Finnish SME: a data lake solution

In the era of big data, data-driven decision-making has become a key success factor for companies of all sizes. Technological development has made it possible to store, process and analyse vast amounts of data effectively. The availability of cloud computing services has lowered the costs of data analysis. Even small businesses have access to advanced technical solutions, such as data lakes and machine learning applications. Data-driven decision-making requires integrating relevant data from various sources. Data has to be extracted from distributed internal and external systems and stored into a centralised system that enables processing and analysing it for meaningful insights. Data can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured. Data lakes have emerged as a solution for storing vast amounts of data, including a growing amount of unstructured data, in a cost-effective manner. The rise of the SaaS model has led to companies abandoning on-premise software. This blurs the line between internal and external data as the company’s own data is actually maintained by a third-party. Most enterprise software targeted for small businesses are provided through the SaaS model. Small businesses are facing the challenge of adopting data-driven decision-making, while having limited visibility to their own data. In this thesis, we study how small businesses can take advantage of data-driven decision-making by leveraging cloud computing services. We found that the report- ing features of SaaS based business applications used by our case company, a sales oriented SME, were insufficient for detailed analysis. Data-driven decision-making required aggregating data from multiple systems, causing excessive manual labour. A cloud based data lake solution was found to be a cost-effective solution for creating a centralised repository and automated data integration. It enabled management to visualise customer and sales data and to assess the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Better skills at data analysis among the managers of the case company would have been detrimental to obtaining the full benefits of the solution

LOCATION-BASED MARKETING: CONCEPTS, TECHNOLOGIES AND SERVICES

siirretty Doriast

International business networks through social media : case study of a cleantech SME

The extensive use of digital technology, especially social media have fundamentally transformed the way we communicate, collaborate, consume, create, and share information. Social media are no longer platform used by individuals and consumers but also used by big, medium- as well as small-sized companies worldwide. Social media are nowadays a part of companies internationalization strategy because it allows companies to perform several business functions. However, there is a lack of research on understanding how SMEs can utilize social media in internationalization. Thus the objective of this research is to explore the importance of SM in SMEs' internationalization process. More specifically, the objective of the thesis is to examine how social media can be used as a network building channel or tool in SME's internationalization process. The objectives of the research will be achieved through an intensive single case study research of an international cleantech Finnish SME. The empirical research was conducted through semi-structured interviews. Altogether seven semi-structured interviews were conducted in the case company in December 2019. The interviewees consisted of managers and employees. An inductive approach was adopted in the research, and the data were analyzed based on the thematic analysis. The study reveals that social media can be used as a supportive tool for SMEs to build and maintain international business networks. Also, the research reveals that there are three different mechanisms, which show in practical how social media enable SMEs to build new international business networks and what these, in turn, bring to the SME. Based on the findings, a model was created that combines both the micro and macro levels of a company. The results of the study, as well as the model developed, will help SMEs to use social media more effectively for maintaining and forming international network relations

How to design for persistence and retention in MOOCs?

Design of educational interventions is typically carried out following a design cycle involving phases of investigation, conceptualization, prototyping, implementation, execution and evaluation. This cycle can be applied at different levels of granularity e.g. learning activity, module, course or programme. In this paper we consider an aspect of learner behavior that can be critical to the success of many MOOCs i.e. their persistence to study, and the related theme of learner retention. We reflect on the impact that consideration of these can have on design decisions at different stages in the design cycle with the aim of en-hancing MOOC design in relation to learner persistence and retention, with particular attention to the European context

Enterprise Search in the European Union: A Techno-economic Analysis

This Report contributes to the work being carried out by IPTS on the potential of Search, discussing, in particular, the prospects of Enterprise search as well as the main challenges and opportunities. It is part of CHORUS+, an initiative supported by the Directorate General Information Society and Media. Information about CHORUS+ is available at http://avmediasearch.euJRC.J.3-Information Societ