Identifying and Evaluating the Demand Side Factors Influencing the Choice of Software-As A Service: An Integrative Framework

The ever increasing internet bandwidth and the fast changing needs of businesses for effectiveness and integration within and with the partners and the distributed /mobile employee force is leading organizations to adopt information systems infrastructures that are cost effective as well as flexible. The question seems to be: what is driving organizations to go in for SAAS rather than the SWS model of software provisioning? Some of the major drawbacks of SWS model of software provisioning are the high upfront and implementation costs. Also the software is difficult and costly to maintain and upgrade. Long lead times, high costs, complex planning sessions and deployment delays inherent to SWS, make SAAS a viable may to overcome these challenges and provide easy-to-use and cost-effective tools for system integration. Whereas there have been studies reporting technology, cost, quality ,network externalities and process as the main variables in the utility function of the user , but most of the studies have modeled either one or two in the their models . The study is an attempt to create an integrative framework with a comprehensive list of factors which affect choice of SAAS .The proposed framework is also tested on an initial sample of 15 respondents and the relative importance and the weights of the factors identified

An Identification of Non-Technical Issues in SOEA Implementation

Today’s business environment pushes organizations to be adaptive and collaborative. This push drives the development of service-oriented enterprise architecture (SOEA) in support of the organization. To realise the advantages offered by SOEA, research on avoiding SOEA implementation failure is of considerable merit. In the review of literature on SOEA implementation failure, two research problems were identified: first, there is a paucity of research on non-technical issues (NTIs) in SOEA implementation; and second, the definition of an NTI in the Information Systems (IS) field remains implicit, incomplete, and incongruent. Addressing these two research problems therefore becomes the research objective of this paper. The overarching research design framework is qualitative, mixed-method research. Under the guidance of this framework, literature reviews, semi-structured interviews, and an online survey were conducted. The key findings are a clarified scope for NTIs in the field of IS and the identification of the critical NTIs in SOEA implementation

Ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallinta suurissa yrityksissä

Ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallinta on prosessi, jonka avulla yritykset hallinnoivat ja optimoivat ohjelmistojensa käyttöä. Se sisältää ohjelmistoinventaarion ylläpidon ja ohjelmistolisensoinnin seurannan. Lisäksi sen avulla varmistetaan, että kaikki käytössä olevat ohjelmistot ovat asianmukaisesti lisensoituja. Sen hallinta auttaa yrityksiä välttämään oikeudellisia riskejä ja hallitsemaan IT-kustannuksia tehokkaammin. Ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallinta on keskeistä yritysten strategisessa päätöksenteossa ja resurssien optimoinnissa. Se vaatii jatkuvaa seurantaa ja päivitystä vastaamaan yritysten muuttuvia tarpeita. Ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallinnan tehokkuus yrityksissä perustuu sen kykyyn mukautua jatkuvasti muuttuvaan teknologiseen ympäristöön ja liiketoiminnan vaatimuksiin. Tämä prosessi kattaa ohjelmistoinventaarion ja lisensoinnin hallinnan lisäksi, myös ohjelmistojen elinkaaren hallinnan aina hankinnasta poistoon. Strateginen lähestymistapa tähän hallintaan mahdollistaa yrityksille paremman kontrollin IT-budjettiinsa. Näin varmistetaan, että ohjelmistoinvestoinnit tuottavat parhaan mahdollisen hyödyn. Keskeistä on myös ohjelmistojen käyttöasteen analysointi, joka auttaa tunnistamaan tarpeettomia ohjelmistoja ja eliminoimaan niistä aiheutuvat kustannukset. Yritykset hyödyntävät ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallintaa myös riskienhallinnassa. Riskienhallinnalla vältetään lisensointiin ja yhteensopivuuteen liittyviä ongelmia, jotka voivat aiheuttaa sekä taloudellista että oikeudellista haittaa. Tämän järjestelmällisen lähestymistavan avulla yritykset voivat lisätä IT-toimintansa läpinäkyvyyttä ja tehostaa päätöksentekoa ohjelmistoresurssien osalta. Ohjelmisto-omaisuuden hallintatyökalut auttavat ylläpitämään tarkkaa tietokantaa kaikista organisaation käyttämistä ohjelmistoista. Tunnistamalla käyttämättömät tai alikäytetyt ohjelmistot voidaan saavuttaa merkittäviä kustannussäästöjä. Lisäksi ne voivat tarjota ominaisuuksia, kuten automaattisen lisenssien seurannan ja vaatimustenmukaisuuden hallinnan. Näin voidaan varmistaa, että kaikki ohjelmistot ovat asianmukaisesti lisensoituja. Työkalut voivat myös tukea yritysten strategista päätöksentekoa, resurssien optimointia, tehostaa IT-budjetin hallintaa ja lisätä IT-toimintojen läpinäkyvyyttä

How do bidders’ organism reactions mediate auction stimuli and bidder loyalty in online auctions? The case of Taobao in China

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.Currently, it is critical to nurture bidder loyalty in the highly competitive online auction business. This study investigated the mediating effect of consumer perceptions between technological/brand stimuli and bidder loyalty to an online auction website by applying the traditional and evolutionary stimulus-organism-response models. We tested these models using 449 bidders from Taobao, an online auction service provider in China. Based on the results of covariance-based structural equation modelling, we showed that consumer perceptions fully mediate technological stimuli, but only partially mediate brand stimuli, and bidder loyalty. These results can be used to further improve the related research and practice.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

How to improve customer retention and lifetime value on subscription-based models: In company project with "The Bam and Boo" toothbrush

The present In-Company project aims to study how subscription-based business models can improve their retention and customers lifetime value. This project was made in collaboration with ‘The Bam and Boo’ Toothbrush, a Portuguese brand bamboo toothbrushes subscription service that is in the market since June 2017 and currently accounts with more than 22.000 active subscribers. To achieve these project results we have used quantitative data from the company database reports, and qualitative data collected on a focus group session with a group of participants that resembles the brand’s target. From this data we were able to trigger some critical stages of retention and consumption patterns, and valuable insights regarding consumers behaviors and purchase profiles. Some of the critical questions that needed to be answered were related to – understand the moment of customers churns, which are the motives that led customers to make this action, and how is the company able to improve its customers lifetime and value. We present solutions on areas such as Communication, Customer Relationship Management, Product, and Organizational Strategy, in order to improve the company retention rates and overall results. For that the company should consider delivering a more personalized service and content to its customers, run a stronger email marketing strategy, rethink its portfolio, and share the company values and mission with its community.O presente projeto-empresa visa estudar de que forma conseguimos melhorar a retenção e o valor dos clientes em modelos de subscrição. Este projeto foi realizado em colaboração com a empresa 'The Bam and Boo', um serviço de subscrição de escovas de dentes de bambu. A marca portuguesa está no mercado desde Junho, 2017 e atualmente conta com mais de 22.000 subscritores ativos. De forma a alcançar os resultados propostos neste projeto recorremos a dados quantitativos, obtidos através da base de dados de clientes da empresa, e dados qualitativos, recolhidos de uma sessão com um grupo focal no qual os participantes representavam o target da marca. Assim, foi-nos possível detetar pontos críticos em relação aos padrões e comportamento dos consumidores, e os seus perfis de compra. As questões principais que pretendemos responder neste projeto são – compreender o momento em que os clientes desistem das suas subscrições, por que motivos o fazem e de que forma a marca pode aumentar o valor e a retenção dos seus clientes. Apresentamos soluções em áreas como – comunicação, gestão e relacionamento com os clientes, produto e estratégia da organização; com o fim de melhorar as taxas de retenção e os resultados da empresa como um todo. Para isso, a empresa deve reconsiderar algumas das suas políticas e oferecer um serviço mais personalizado e diversificado aos seus clientes, montar uma estratégia de email marketing mais forte, reconsiderar o seu portfólio de produtos, e a forma de partilha dos seus valores e missão com a sua comunidade

Pricing the Cloud: An Auction Approach

Cloud computing has changed the processing and service modes of information communication technology and has affected the transformation, upgrading and innovation of the IT-related industry systems. The rapid development of cloud computing in business practice has spawned a whole new field of interdisciplinary, providing opportunities and challenges for business management research. One of the critical factors impacting cloud computing is how to price cloud services. An appropriate pricing strategy has important practical means to stakeholders, especially to providers and customers. This study addressed and discussed research findings on cloud computing pricing strategies, such as fixed pricing, bidding pricing, and dynamic pricing. Another key factor for cloud computing is Quality of Service (QoS), such as availability, reliability, latency, security, throughput, capacity, scalability, elasticity, etc. Cloud providers seek to improve QoS to attract more potential customers; while, customers intend to find QoS matching services that do not exceed their budget constraints. Based on the existing study, a hybrid QoS-based pricing mechanism, which consists of subscription and dynamic auction design, is proposed and illustrated to cloud services. The results indicate that our hybrid pricing mechanism has potential to better allocate available cloud resources, aiming at increasing revenues for providers and reducing expenses for customers in practice

Economic Perspective on Cloud Computing: Three Essays

Improvements in Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and standardization of interoperability standards among heterogeneous Information System (IS) applications have brought a paradigm shift in the way an IS application could be used and delivered. Not only an IS application can be built using standardized component but also parts of it can be hosted by different organizations in different locations provided it can be accessed using the Internet. This dissertation is an attempt to uncover unique aspects of this phenomenon known as Software as a Service (SaaS). The first essay examines design decision making by SaaS providers by analyzing effects of two non-functional attributes of an IS Application - modularity and architectural performance. We model the relationship of the two attributes with factors such as demand, price, and user\u27s preference. The model includes marginal cost and maintenance cost to recognize the service aspect of SaaS. Our results show the optimal values of various decision variables while taking into account user\u27s sensitivity to modularity, architectural performance and price. The service component in cloud computing necessitates that the service providers plan for requisite delivery capacity. The second essay addresses optimal infrastructure capacity planning while taking into account the opportunity cost of having low capacity and cost of unused capacity in the case of high capacity. We develop a model which provides insight to a SaaS provider on optimal capacity planning of IT infrastructure when faced with a variable demand and performance expectations. The third essay focuses on financial risks faced by SaaS providers in the context of provider\u27s risk tolerance. We analyze the financial risk of provider\u27s decision making on pricing, capacity and other factors that may lead to financial risk as they are based on incomplete information. We built a model using Mean Variance Analysis theory for investigating the effect of provider\u27s risk tolerance on infrastructure capacity planning while taking into account modularity in software architecture and operational performance. This dissertation extends our understanding of significant issues facing a SaaS provider. The models presented here can form the basis for an extensive exploration of the phenomenon of SaaS specifically and Cloud Computing in general

Designing Sensor-based Predictive Information Systems for Forecasting Spare Part Demand for Diesel Engines

As digital technologies become prevalent and embedded in the environment, "smart" everyday objects like smart phones and smart homes have become part and parcel of the human enterprise. The ubiquity of smart objects, that produce ever-growing streams of data, presents both challenges and opportunities. In this dissertation, I argue that information systems extending these data streams, referred to as "predictive information systems with sensors", can generate added value and will be gaining momentum in academia and in the industry. Subsequently, seeing apparent complexity in designing IS artifacts with such functionality, I introduce a framework for Designing Information Systems with Predictive Analytics (DISPA), extending Design Science Research specifically towards rigorous design of predictive analytics. The framework is evaluated based on a case study of MAN Diesel and Turbo, a lead designer of marine diesel engines generating multiple applicable artifacts in the process. Additionally, the framework exemplification in the case context led to supplementing the framework with a set of Design Principles for Designing Predictive Information Systems as well as a matrix for pre-assessing financial feasibility of predictive information systems with sensor technologies. This work provides a contribution to information systems research, and in particular to design science research, by introducing a model for Designing Information Systems with Predictive Analytics (DISPA) that can serve as a method for developing IS artifacts. The framework constitutes an Information System Design Theory consistent with the established definitions from the literature (Gregor & Jones, 2007; Kuechler & Vaishnavi, 2012; Walls, Widmeyer, & El Sawy, 1992). In addition, the paper introduces and systematically evaluates a number of spare-part forecasting methods, which can be considered a contribution to operations research literature