Finnish consumers' expectations on developments and changes in payment habits. Survey in connection with the research project 'Finnish payment habits 2010'

The Bank of Finland’s Finnish Payment Habits 2010 project predicts that Finnish payment habits will face substantial changes. The causes for these changes include: the standardisation and integration of European payment systems, development of payment services-related legislation and regulation at EU level, changes in payment services-related cost factors and pricing, and new opportunities offered by technological advances. The last few years have seen a surge in new payment instruments and services. Increasing reliance on information and communication technology is characteristic to the development of these payment instruments, the vast majority of which have however failed to entice consumers. To increase our understanding of changes in payment patterns, this report analyses consumer needs, tastes and payment habits as new payment systems are adopted. Research data was collected in September 2005 using a mail-survey covering the central payment methods and addressed to 2,000 randomly-sampled Finnish consumers. According to our findings, security and trustworthiness are the most important characteristics of any new payment instrument. Other essential characteristics are the ability to produce good transaction-related information, compatibility with shopping and payment habits, accessibility, ease of use, time and cost savings, as well as time and place independence. New payment instruments – electronic billing and paying for shopping by mobile phone – are not likely to supersede conventional payment methods by 2010 when judged by the aforementioned characteristics: Trust and cost factors do not separate consumers well-disposed towards electronic bills and mobile payments from those set against these payment methods. A relatively restricted group of differentiating factors was found. Ease of use is a common differentiating factor for both electronic bills and mobile payments adoption. Additionally, accessibility is a differentiating characteristic in mobile payments adoption.payment habits; payment services to consumers; consumer behaviour; diffusion of innovations; theory of planned behaviour (TPB)

Safety concepts to enable autonomous train operations in semi-restricted industrial areas

The work performed has been enabled by Business Finland, which provided funding for a research project ‘Autonominen juna -kehityshanke’ - VTT (45715/31/2020), which included collaboration with Proxion Oy, Electric Power Finland Oy, and Steel Wheel Oy for the development of autonomous train in industrial sites. Typically, these sites have small internal rail network forlow-speed transportation of raw materials, semifinished goods, and final products. Since most of the traffic within these sites is caused by the trucks and trains of the industrial site itself, and since the vehicles and persons from outside would need permission to enter, many of such sites can be described as semi-restricted.The study considers other (manual) train traffic in semi-restricted industrial areas but does not consider the driving of an autonomous train on the public main line. The study had two main research objectives. The first objective was to identify and analyse safety risks related to the daily operation of the autonomous train on its route in a semi-restricted industrial area: charging / refuelling station, loading / unloading places, railway switches and level crossings. The second objective was to define concepts to secure the path of an autonomous train and principles to control level crossings and their safety-related systems in three different train traffic control concepts:− An autonomous train has a static local permit in a semi-restricted industrial area− The autonomous train has a dynamic local permit in a semi-restricted industrial area− The rail yard traffic control sets the access permit for the autonomous train in a semi-restricted industrial areaThis report summaries the analysis of new safety risk related to autonomous train operations in semi-restricted industrial areas, including the concepts for safe pathways and safe level crossing controls for autonomous train operations

Safety concepts to enable autonomous train operations in semi-restricted industrial areas

The work performed has been enabled by Business Finland, which provided funding for a research project ‘Autonominen juna -kehityshanke’ - VTT (45715/31/2020), which included collaboration with Proxion Oy, Electric Power Finland Oy, and Steel Wheel Oy for the development of autonomous train in industrial sites. Typically, these sites have small internal rail network forlow-speed transportation of raw materials, semifinished goods, and final products. Since most of the traffic within these sites is caused by the trucks and trains of the industrial site itself, and since the vehicles and persons from outside would need permission to enter, many of such sites can be described as semi-restricted.The study considers other (manual) train traffic in semi-restricted industrial areas but does not consider the driving of an autonomous train on the public main line. The study had two main research objectives. The first objective was to identify and analyse safety risks related to the daily operation of the autonomous train on its route in a semi-restricted industrial area: charging / refuelling station, loading / unloading places, railway switches and level crossings. The second objective was to define concepts to secure the path of an autonomous train and principles to control level crossings and their safety-related systems in three different train traffic control concepts:− An autonomous train has a static local permit in a semi-restricted industrial area− The autonomous train has a dynamic local permit in a semi-restricted industrial area− The rail yard traffic control sets the access permit for the autonomous train in a semi-restricted industrial areaThis report summaries the analysis of new safety risk related to autonomous train operations in semi-restricted industrial areas, including the concepts for safe pathways and safe level crossing controls for autonomous train operations

Adoption of a Comprehensive Web-Based Wealth Management Service

The design of electronic financial services differ crucially from that of conventional services due to their inability to adjust sporadically to the needs and wants of consumers, as adaptability is strongly associated with the human component of services production. In this regard, identification of the motives driving adop- tion and consumption is the precondition for successful implementation of electronic services. This article reports the results of a survey conducted for an R&D project with the objective to design an innovative and comprehensive wealth management service for consumers, a service that is offered mainly via the internet. In this study, the authors found that the conventional wisdom of mainstream finance and technology adoption theories, return-risk thinking, and cost-benefit analysis of product characteristics were insufficient to predict adoption. Rather, the adoption decision appears to be dominated by the perceived fit between the new service and the consumer’s established consumption patterns. </p

Successful projects or success in project management - are projects dependent on a methodology?

The purpose of this paper is to bridge two seemingly disparate views of project management: proponents of project management methodologies promote a view where a standard set of predefined project practices guarantee project success, while a contingent view of projects suggests that project management needs to be adaptive to project actuality and context. Our aim in this paper is to understand how these different forms of managing projects impact project success. We investigate projects through a lens of discretion, defined as autonomy in the project team to adapt the project to its context as opposed to a reliance on a pre-defined set of rules for project management. We also look at the role of exploration, that is, whether the project focuses on the development of new knowledge, or whether the focus is on furthering existing competences. Based on our analysis, we propose a framework to determine the right amount of discretion in a project, highlighting which project management methodology is suited for the work at hand or whether discarding methodology altogether is more likely to lead to project success

What’s the difference between work and fun? : Explaining the difference between utilitarian and hedonic IT use

Information systems theory tells us that the deepest going difference between utilitarian and hedonic information technology use is that different sets of motivational factors direct the two types of use. However, recent advances in social sychology and consumer behavior research suggest that there is an even more profound difference: Only utilitarian IT use depends on the self-control mechanism and the limited resources consumed bμ exercise of self-control. This causes the daily and weekly rhythms of utilitarian and hedonic use to be different. Utilitarian information technology use decreases throughout the day and the week while hedonic information technology use does not. In this paper, we test for the first time whether the daily consumption pattern of utilitarian information technology use indeed reflects the hypothesized patterns at the aggregate level. Our data suggests that it does, which means that the self-control mechanism should be integrated in the information systems models that seek to explain information technology use.Peer reviewe

Autoradioiden RDS-TA-tekniikan käytön tehostaminen

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When the Sea meets City: Transformation towards a Smart Sea in Finland

The Baltic Sea is increasingly becoming a living laboratory for rapid prototyping and testing solutions from cleaner and safer shipping to remote and autonomous navigation. The maritime industry in Finland is rapidly undergoing digital transformation to make activities at sea smarter. A Smart Sea can be understood as an ecosystem across city and sea interface in which businesses, knowledge institutions, citizens, municipal agencies and government collaborate towards shared situational awareness and create value in multiple dimensions – economic, social and environmental. This article presents Smart Sea implementation journey in Finnish public sector through notable improvements and setbacks, and identifies larger transformation effects for the society

Miljoonan euron tilaisuus : Tavoitteiden kautta tuloksiin, case: Millennium-teknologiapalkinnonjako

Tämän kehittämistyön tarkoituksena oli tutkia Tekniikan Akatemia -säätiön järjestämän Millennium-teknologiapalkinnonjakotilaisuuden mahdollisuuksia toimia nykyistä paremmin säätiön tavoitteita edistävänä keinona. Tutkimuskysymyksenä oli, millä tavoin Millennium-teknologiapalkinnonjakotapahtumasta saadaan aidosti tuloksellinen säätiön tavoitteita edistävä keino. Tavoitteena oli etsiä Millennium-teknologiapalkinnonjakotilaisuuden suunnitteluvaiheessa kohdattavia haasteita. Työssä selvitettiin mitä tapahtumantuotannossa ja projektin käynnistämisvaiheessa tulisi tehdä toisin, jotta palkinnonjaosta saadaan strategialähtöistä, suunnitelmallista ja tavoitteellista toimintaa. Lähestymistapana käytettiin tapaustutkimusta ja kehittämistyön aihetta lähestyttiin tapahtumamarkkinoinnin näkökulmasta. Siinä korostuu suunnitelmallisuuden ja tuloksellisuuden tärkeys. Tietoperusta koostui markkinointiviestinnän, tapahtumamarkkinoinnin, tapahtuma-tuotannon ja projektijohtamisen kirjallisuudesta. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin dokumenttianalyysiä ja aineiston tuloksia tarkennettiin ja päivitettiin työpajoissa. Työn tuloksena laadittiin projektin käynnistämisaikataulu ja projektiorganisaatiorakenne-ehdotus Millennium-teknologiapalkinnonjakoa varten. Projektissa toimivien henkilöiden rooleja kirkastettiin ja tehtiin mallit projektisuunnitelman sekä tapahtumabriefin sisällöistä.The main aim of this master´s thesis was to examine how could The Millennium Technology Prize Awarding Ceremony’s be more implemented as a key element towards the main aims of the foundation itself. The research question was how could the Millennium Technology Prize Awarding Ceremony genuinely make an effective tool for the foundation’s main objective. The main goal was to find out the Prize Awarding Ceremony’s main challenges during the planning stage. The purpose was to solve what needs to be done differently from the starting point to the production, to accomplish a more strategic, systematic and target-oriented operation throughout the process. Thesis was a case study from event marketing point of view. The document analysis as qualitative research method was used to highlight the challenges of the Prize Awarding Ceremony’s planning process. Workshops focused on finding tools to develop the event planning process. Theory literature was combined of marketing communications, event marketing, event management and project management subjects. The importance of systematic planning and target-orientation was highlighted. As a result, a project starting tool and project management structure were suggested for the Millennium Technology Prize Awarding Ceremony. The roles of the project team were clari-fied and a model of the project plan and event brief was compiled