Anna Sell

Are You Efficient, Trendy or Skillfull? An Exploratory Segmentation of Mobile Service Users

In the study at hand we describe users of mobile phones and mobile services, based on a random sample describing the Finnish general population. A lot of attention has been paid recently to investigating users of mobile phones because mobile services demand has not developed as expected in the Finnish market. We add to this body of knowledge through offering a description of Finnish mobile consumers, and a look at different users’ future interest to use different services.

Segmentation Matters: An Exploratory Study of Mobile Service Users

Despite the penetration of mobile phones in the world the number of mobile services in actual use is-besides voice calls and SMS-rather few. In the study at hand, the authors describe users of mobile phones and mobile services and build the basis for segmentation of the consumer market based on a large random sample of the population. Selecting the correct segmentation base is one of the key steps in any segmentation procedure. The authors carried out life-style segmentation and found five segments-the skillful, the efficient, the trendy, the basic and the social-which offer a systematic description of the mobile consumers, and gives insight on how different users make use of mobile services. The findings are potentially important as mobile service providers do not appear to pay enough attention to consumer segments and the needs of the mobile service users.

Mobile Digital Calendars: An Interview Study

This paper reports on a series of qualitative interviews conducted as an exploratory research effort to understand the motivations behind knowledge workers’ usage of mobile digital calendars. Other findings reported on are general complaints related to the design and usage of mobile digital calendars. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen professionals who are regular users of mobile digital calendars, and have been using their system of choice for more than one year. The respondents were categorized into three categories characterized by their motivations for use and usage styles. These categories serve to better explain the reasons to use mobile digital calendars.

Mobile digital calendars in knowledge work

This article investigates the usage of mobile digital-calendar solutions in a knowledge work setting through the means of an empirical survey (n = 220) among managers and experts in a global telecommunications company. It is indicated, that the mobile digital calendars are not only perceived especially value adding in a highly mobile work context and when using a central company calendar is mandated, but also in other user groups overall satisfaction with this type of calendar tool seems high. Mobile digital calendars seem to answer the needs of a highly mobile and temporally pressured user group.

Segmentation Bases in the Mobile Services Market: Attitudes In, Demographics Out

In this paper we present two different segmentations based on the same consumer data, done utilizing the same segmentation method, but with different segmentation bases. We compare these two analyses with regard to their potential to increase our understanding of the elusive mobile services consumer markets, in a situation where few consumers are actual users of mobile services (besides calls and SMS) outside the early adopter category. Our findings are that using socio-demographic segmentation bases yields modest useful information, whereas using attitudes as segmentation base is more informative. In the future, attention should be paid to understanding attitude selection better to yield even more relevant segmentations in the mobile services market, and to discovering whether combinations of different segmentation bases might be the most powerful base to do segmentation upon.

Context, Gender and Intended Use of Mobile Messaging, Entertainment and Social Media Services

The added value of mobile services is decided by the context in which they are used. In this paper, the authors study how the context-of-use influences the intention to adopt mobile messaging, entertainment and social media services. While doing so, the authors compare the intended use between males and females. The results are based on a large scale survey study among Finnish consumers. According to the findings, the context-of-use matters for mobile entertainment and messaging services, but not for social media services. Fit with social context is only important for social media services, whilst work-related context matters only for messaging services. In general, context-of-use is more decisive for men than women. However, while ubiquitous context-of-use is much more important for males, social and work context are relevant only for females. The results have important implications for service providers on how to develop and implement specific context-aware mobile services.

My Wellness as a Mobile App. Identifying Wellness Types among the Young Elderly

Keeping ageing people healthy and active is of major importance both on an individual and societal level. We focus on a forgotten consumer group, 60-75 year olds – the young elderly – to uncover their wellness-related attitudes, habits and goals and explore prerequisites to introduce wellness-related mobile applications as a cost-effective solution to keeping the young elderly well longer. Preliminary results on a mixed-method study of young elderly and their use of mobile applications are presented.

SMEs’ online channel expansion: value creating activities

SMEs are faced with new business opportunities through online channels, i.e., electronic commerce and mobile commerce. The model by which they create and capture value is challenged, making the adoption of a business model that fits the organisation a crucial strategic decision. The purpose of this paper is to study value creating activities taken by SMEs when making a transition to an online multichannel context. Sixteen SMEs in Sweden are studied using a qualitative research approach and through the lens of an e-transit business model configuration. The results show that SMEs are required to take various value creating activities denoted as primary and secondary transition activities and that there is a discrepancy between actions taken and their perceived degree of importance. One main conclusion is that the combination of value creating activities an SME should focus on during different stages of an online channel expansion differ depending on the type of transition (e.g., from physical store to electronic commerce or from electronic commerce to mobile commerce) and will change over time.

Outsourcing public sector services to electronic commerce players

In December 2000, the municipal social service department of the city of Turku, Finland, outsourced its open care grocery shopping to an online grocery retailer. Prior to the implementation of the online service, the open care employees had taken care of grocery shopping for all those customers who were not able to do it themselves. The city officials expected that an outside e-commerce player would among other things bring time savings so that the open care service would be able to focus on the hard core of open care - caring for the elderly and the disabled at home. This paper examines the expected and realised value from outsourcing from the viewpoint of the three main stakeholders: the customers, the employees and the management. The findings are based on employee and customer surveys as well as interviews with the open care management.

Go Vendla Go! Creating a Digital Coach for the Young Elderly

The proportion of ageing citizens is high and increasing in most EU countries and there is a growing political pressure to make sure that the costs for the elderly care programs do not grow out of bounds. The focus of the ageing population programs is at the 75+ age group. The younger age group – the “young elderly” that is the focus in our research – does not get much attention. Recently, we have noticed a growing insight that preventive programs could be helpful as healthier young elderly will help produce healthier seniors (the 75+ age group) which over time will have significant effects on the costs for health and social care for the ageing population. Our study is a synergistic combination of two timely research areas: digitalisation and the ageing population. The focus combination of digital wellness services and the young elderly is unique. We build on a research program that is operating since January 2014. Our current research in progress aims at finding out how a digital coach – a personal trainer called Vendla – can be worked out for digital wellness services.