Itsepalvelun käyttäjäkokemus yritysten väliselle rahoituspalvelulle

Several companies offer online loans for small and medium sized businesses in Finland. There seems to be no clear differentiating factors between the services of these lending companies. One possible differentiating factor could be the offering of a better user experience for the customer companies in the future. This work is done for an online lending company called Luottorahoitus. This study examines what kind of user experience should be designed into a business-to-business financing service. The objective of this thesis was to conceptualize and design a self-service system for Luottorahoitus customers. The main objectives for the system are to improve customers' user experience and establish more loyal customer relationships. I applied user experience design together with persuasive design in designing the self-service system. During the work I analyzed the user data and interviewed the users to construct the potential user groups for the self-service system and to understand their needs. Based on this understanding I innovated and implemented an user interface prototype with persuasive features. I conducted user testing to evaluate how well the prototype filled the users' needs. In addition I evaluated what persuasive principles could affect the users' behaviors using expert evaluations. As results of the study I can state that the persuasive user experience designed in the self-service system depends highly on behavior change the system aims for. The designed system filled the evaluation criteria for the persuasive user experience well. Based on the results I can say that the persuasive features designed into the system, especially rewards, reminders and self-monitoring, can affect the users' target behaviors positively in the context of business-to-business online financing. The target behaviors of the system were better payment behavior and customer loyalty. All the test users perceived the system as a useful tool for managing their loans and valued its easiness of use and simplicity.Suomessa on useita pienille ja keskisuurille yrityksille suunnattuja verkossa toimivia luotonantajia. Näiden tarjoajien palveluiden välillä ei kuitenkaan ole nähtävissä suuria erottumispiirteitä. Yhtenä mahdollisena erottumistekijänä tulevaisuudessa voidaan nähdä entistä paremman käyttäjäkokemuksen tarjoaminen asiakasyrityksille. Tämä työ on tehty yritysluottoja tarjoavalle online-palvelu Luottorahoitukselle. Tämä työ tutkii sitä, millainen käyttökokemus yritykseltä yritykselle rahoitusta tarjoavan palvelun itsepalvelusysteemiin tulee suunnitella. Työn tavoitteena on konseptoida ja suunnitella itsepalvelujärjestelmä Luottorahoituksen asiakkaille. Järjestelmän pääasiallisena tarkoituksena on parantaa Luottorahoituksen asiakkaiden käyttäjäkokemusta ja luoda lojaalimpia asiakassuhteita. Järjestelmän suunnittelussa hyödynnetään käyttäjäkokemussuunnittelun sekä suostuttelun ja houkuttelun periaatteita. Työn aikana selvitettiin järjestelmän potentiaaliset käyttäjäryhmät ja niiden tarpeet käyttäjätietojen analysoinnin sekä haastattelujen avulla. Tämän ymmärryksen pohjalta innovoitiin sekä toteutettiin käyttöliittymäprototyyppi, jossa hyödynnettiin suostuttelun periaatteita. Lisäksi työssä arvioitiin käyttäjätestien avulla, kuinka hyvin käyttöliittymä vastasi käyttäjien tarpeita sekä asiantuntija-arvioiden avulla, mitkä järjestelmässä olevat suostuttelun periaatteet voivat vaikuttaa käyttäjän käytökseen. Työn tuloksena voidaan todeta, että systeemiin suunniteltava käyttökokemus on pitkälti riippuvainen siitä, millaiseen käytökseen systeemillä pyritään vaikuttamaan. Työn aikana suunniteltu järjestelmä täytti sille asetetut käyttäjäkokemuksen sekä suostuttelun vaatimukset onnistuneesti. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että järjestelmään suunnitellut houkuttelevat ominaisuudet, erityisesti palkitseminen, muistutukset sekä oman käyttäytymisen seuraaminen, vaikuttavat tässä kontekstissa positiivisesti käyttäjän kohdekäyttäytymiseen eli parempaan maksukäyttäytymiseen ja asiakaslojaaliuteen. Kaikki testikäyttäjät kokivat systeemin lisäksi hyödylliseksi apuvälineeksi luottojen hallintaan ja arvostivat sen käyttökokemuksessa erityisesti sen helppokäyttöisyyttä ja yksinkertaisuutta

Towards a Service-Oriented Enterprise: The Design of a Cloud Business Integration Platform in a Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprise

This case study research followed the two-year transition of a medium-sized manufacturing firm towards a service-oriented enterprise. A service-oriented enterprise is an emerging architecture of the firm that leverages the paradigm of services computing to integrate the capabilities of the firm with the complementary competencies of business partners to offer customers with value-added products and services. Design science research in information systems was employed to pursue the primary design of a cloud business integration platform to enable the secondary design of multi-enterprise business processes to enable the dynamic and effective integration of business partner capabilities with those of the enterprise. The results from the study received industry acclaim for the designed solutions innovativeness and business results in the case study environment. The research makes contributions to the IT practitioner and scholarly knowledge base by providing insight into key constructs associated with service-oriented design and deployment of a cloud enterprise architecture and cloud intermediation model to achieve business results. The study demonstrated how an outside-in service-oriented architecture adoption pattern and cloud computing model enabled a medium-sized manufacturing enterprise to focus on a comprehensive approach to business partner integration and collaboration. The cloud integration platform has enabled a range of secondary designs that leveraged business services to orchestrate inter-enterprise business processes for choreography into service systems and networks for the purposes of value creation. The study results demonstrated enhanced levels of business process agility enabled by the cloud platform leading to secondary designs of transactional, differentiated, innovative, and improvisational business processes. The study provides a foundation for future scholarly research on the role of cloud integration platforms in enterprise computing and the increased importance of service-oriented secondary designs to exploit cloud platforms for sustained business performance

"Silver" product design: Product innovation for older people

Aging populations challenge companies across different countries and industries to respond to the changing needs, demands and expectations of their growing shares of older customers. This opens room for improving or developing innovations - products as well as services - that correspond to the diverse expectations. New product development for older customers or 'Silver' product design is one way to approach the 'silver' market - without explicitly excluding younger customers. Research in this field is still in its infancy. Silver product design focuses on individual autonomy, representing an elementary aspect of good life, disappearing in a more or less continuous manner over the life cycle of a human being. Offering solutions that will allow people to maintain or recover autonomy and to use products and services in an independent manner therefore seems to be a promising avenue for companies innovating across different industries. The general concept of autonomy can be perceived as a boundary-spanning argument and a common denominator for starting development initiatives leading to innovations targeting the silver market. Cross-case analysis based on four different product innovations addressing typical needs of older people are used to present how firms in different industrial contexts and user-settings address such needs, which have their roots in a need to stay autonomous and independent. Technological, marketing and strategy-related observations as well as communalities and differences of the cases are being discussed and very first implications for managing the front end of silver product development sketched. --Demographic change,aging,older users,silver market,innovation management,silver product design,individual autonomy

The Complementary Perspective of System of Systems in Collaboration, Integration, and Logistics: A Value-Chain Based Paradigm of Supply Chain Management

The importance and complexity of the problems associated with coordinating multiple organizations to configure value propositions for customers has drawn the attention of multiple disciplines. In an effort to clarify and consolidate terms, this conceptual research examines both supply chain management (SCM) and system of systems (SoS) literature to postulate, from a value-chain perspective, what roles integration and collaboration play in helping supply chains satisfy customer requirements. A literature review analysis was used to identify the commonalities and differences between supply chain management and system of systems approaches to examining interfirm coordination of value creation efforts. Although a framework of integration and collaboration roles in value creation is proposed, further empirical testing of the concept is required to substantiate initial conclusions. The concepts proposed may help clarify where strategic and operational managers need to focus their efforts in coordinating supply chain member firms. The incorporation of SoS engineering into the supply chain field will draw the linkage between the constituent principles, and concepts of Systems Theory as appropriate for the supply chain management field. This is the first effort to reconcile two separate but parallel scholarship streams examining the coordination of multiple organizations in value creation. This research shows that there are some methodologies, principles, and methods from the SoS field that can supplement supply chain management research. Mainly due to a unit of analysis issue, systems based approaches have not been in the mainstream of supply chain management field development

Next Generation Business Ecosystems: Engineering Decentralized Markets, Self-Sovereign Identities and Tokenization

Digital transformation research increasingly shifts from studying information systems within organizations towards adopting an ecosystem perspective, where multiple actors co-create value. While digital platforms have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in consumer-facing industries, organizations remain cautious about fully embracing the ecosystem concept and sharing data with external partners. Concerns about the market power of platform orchestrators and ongoing discussions on privacy, individual empowerment, and digital sovereignty further complicate the widespread adoption of business ecosystems, particularly in the European Union. In this context, technological innovations in Web3, including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, have emerged as potential catalysts for disrupting centralized gatekeepers and enabling a strategic shift towards user-centric, privacy-oriented next-generation business ecosystems. However, existing research efforts focus on decentralizing interactions through distributed network topologies and open protocols lack theoretical convergence, resulting in a fragmented and complex landscape that inadequately addresses the challenges organizations face when transitioning to an ecosystem strategy that harnesses the potential of disintermediation. To address these gaps and successfully engineer next-generation business ecosystems, a comprehensive approach is needed that encompasses the technical design, economic models, and socio-technical dynamics. This dissertation aims to contribute to this endeavor by exploring the implications of Web3 technologies on digital innovation and transformation paths. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, it makes three overarching contributions: First, a conceptual perspective on \u27tokenization\u27 in markets clarifies its ambiguity and provides a unified understanding of the role in ecosystems. This perspective includes frameworks on: (a) technological; (b) economic; and (c) governance aspects of tokenization. Second, a design perspective on \u27decentralized marketplaces\u27 highlights the need for an integrated understanding of micro-structures, business structures, and IT infrastructures in blockchain-enabled marketplaces. This perspective includes: (a) an explorative literature review on design factors; (b) case studies and insights from practitioners to develop requirements and design principles; and (c) a design science project with an interface design prototype of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Third, an economic perspective on \u27self-sovereign identities\u27 (SSI) as micro-structural elements of decentralized markets. This perspective includes: (a) value creation mechanisms and business aspects of strategic alliances governing SSI ecosystems; (b) business model characteristics adopted by organizations leveraging SSI; and (c) business model archetypes and a framework for SSI ecosystem engineering efforts. The dissertation concludes by discussing limitations as well as outlining potential avenues for future research. These include, amongst others, exploring the challenges of ecosystem bootstrapping in the absence of intermediaries, examining the make-or-join decision in ecosystem emergence, addressing the multidimensional complexity of Web3-enabled ecosystems, investigating incentive mechanisms for inter-organizational collaboration, understanding the role of trust in decentralized environments, and exploring varying degrees of decentralization with potential transition pathways

How Does the Implementation of Social Entrepreneurship Business-to-Business Marketing Strategy?

XYZ as a social entrepreneur in Bogor, produces handicrafts from newspapers to raise public awareness of environmental and social issues. This study aims to identify the marketing mix applied by XYZ, analyze customer perceptions of the marketing mix, and formulate recommendations for XYZ's marketing mix 4.0 to increase demand for newspaper craft products. Convenience sampling was used, and descriptive data analysis was performed. The respondents included three internal company representatives, 13 customers, and 12 prospective customers. According to the research findings, XYZ successfully implemented a 4P marketing mix strategy that covered product, price, place/distribution, and promotion. XYZ's marketing strategy in these areas has been rated highly in the excellent category of product (100%), price (85%), place/distribution (77%), and promotion (92%). However, the research also suggests that a company could enhance its marketing tactics by adopting the 4C marketing mix (co-creation, currency, communal activation, and conversation) based on insights gathered from customers and potential customers to better cater to the market's needs

Partner selection in B2B informational service markets

This study investigates the impact of selection criteria associated with interpersonal interaction (good personal relationships; enriching the service offering with interpretation and advice) on supplier consideration. More specifically, it examines how the importance of these criteria is contingent upon service-related dimensions. An experimental study among client firms in the market research industry that combines a conjoint and a between-subjects design leads to several new insights. First, while good personal relationships play an important role in the selection of a service provider, its impact is increased if the service offering is subjective in nature and decreased if it is strategically important. Second, enriching the service offering with interpretation and advice is more important for subjective as well as for strategically important service offerings. Third, as to other selection criteria, the study results show some interesting differences between consideration and choice. Price has a substantive impact only on choice, while a strong brand name is helpful for the service provider only in the consideration stage

Developing Blockchain-enabled Marketplace Interfaces: A Design Science Research Study

Digital transformation\u27s scope evolves from being limited to the organizational level to inter-organizational collaboration in supply chain networks and business ecosystems. Blockchain-enabled marketplaces have the potential to transform business networks by eliminating intermediaries. To investigate the interface design and visualization of blockchain-enabled marketplaces, we employed a design science methodology and synthesized knowledge from literature, practice, and qualitative expert interviews. Our research provides (1) theoretically grounded and prescriptive knowledge expressed in meta-requirements and design principles inspired by effective use theory, and (2) presents concrete design features and an expository prototype instantiation. The prototype is evaluated through focus group workshops and interviews with experts and potential users. Our work contributes to recent calls to investigate the design and visualization of blockchain-enabled marketplaces, advances research on blockchain applications in B2B contexts, and expands the literature on information system design for marketplace-oriented transformations

All Things Considered? – Technology Design Decision-making Characteristics in Digital Startups

Digital startups offer innovative products, for which they require a suitable technology solution. Choosing an appropriate technology design among the range of available designs is crucial, as the wrong design decision could have disastrous consequences for product development and quality, and waste valuable resources. While the literature has highlighted the role played by the decision context, little is known about ‘how’ technology design decisions are reached in digital startups. Using an exploratory research design, we investigate how technology design decisions are made in digital startups, and identify decision-making characteristics, consisting of three decision paradigms and seven decision attributes. Our empirical evidence suggests that in addition to the decision context, these decision-making characteristics play an important role in enabling digital startups to reach satisfactory technology design decisions. Our study thus lays the basis for more research on the topic, contributing to knowledge and practice of digital startups