Lauri Frank

Consumer value of camera-based mobile interaction with the real world

Camera-based mobile interaction with the real world allows consumers to connect digital information with the real-world environment, and furthermore, to interact with real-world objects and places. To explore and understand the types of consumer value in the context of such consumer-level applications, we applied the critical incident technique to reflect actual use experiences from 107 application users with a recognized consumer value framework by Holbrook. The findings of the study suggest that at the current state value is heavily based on utilitarian efficiency and excellence. Although the applications enable a diverse value, they have yet to fulfill their potential in providing hedonic and other-oriented value.

Vertical software industry evolution

ContextSoftware systems are commonly used in a variety of industries as a means of automating organizational business processes. Initially, such software is often developed in-house by the vertical organizations possibly with the support of professional IT service providers; however, in many cases, internally developed software is eventually replaced with the software products provided by independent software vendors. These vendors often use license fees to recover their software development investments, as well as to gain some margin. However, if the vendors customer base for a specific type of software is limited, then either the license fees are too high and hence the customers may prefer to develop the software internally, or the margin has to be decreased. As a result, the market for software products of that type may not materialize. ObjectiveThe paper introduces an analytical model that defines the minimum number of customers that the software vendor should have for its software to be less expensive as compared to the in-house software. MethodFollowing a conceptual-analytical approach, a model is constructed wherein the minimum number of a vendors customers is represented as a function of other factors affecting software development costs. This model is verified by applying it to estimate the minimum customer base in the segment of telecommunications billing mediation software. ResultsUsing the proposed analytical model, the minimum number of customers and the maximum number of software vendors in this segment are evaluated. The obtained results are found to be in line with the information available from a telecommunications software market database. ConclusionsBased on the model, a preliminary conclusion is made that in industries with high software development costs, heterogeneous legacy systems to integrate with, and a limited pool of potential customers, the number of software vendors is unlikely to be significant, and hence the in-house or custom-made software is unlikely to be superseded by the software products.

Overview of Telecom Operator Software Market

Telecommunications is an essential enabler of modern societies and a global vertical industry, providing communication and information services, with its annual revenue of over trillion euros. In this book, a company providing these services is referred to as a telecom operator or communications service provider (CSP). CSPs create value by offering connectivity to and via an infrastructure of networks for transferring signals. The core business processes in a telecom operator company therefore revolve, on one hand, around physical networks and their maintenance, and on the other, managing their customers and their use of the connectivity services over the networks.

Market scope of vendors in the OSS software market

This paper studies the market scope of vendors that produce software for telecommunications operators, i.e. the Operations Support Systems (OSS) market. The aim is to find out the strategies used by vendors in the OSS market. The market scope is studied on two dimensions: 1) the breadth of the scope in the OSS market; and 2) focus on the telecommunications industry. The breadth of market scope is divided into four categories: niche, vertical, layer and broad scope. We examine empirical vendor data from the years 2002 and 2005. Results show that all hypothesized strategies are present in the market. Most of the firms have either a niche, a vertical or a broad market scope, and they are specialized in telecommunications. The situation has not changed much from 2002 to 2005, but the number of vendors has decreased.

Adoption of Open Source Software and Software-as-a- Service Models in the Telecommunication Industry

A case research is carried out on adoption of open source software (OSS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the telecommunication industry. The study was conducted to examine the types of software deployed as OSS and SaaS and the conditions of adopting OSS and SaaS. Findings of the case study indicate that industry-specific software is not developed as OSS or deployed in SaaS mode. Based on the findings, we also arrive at conclusion: Adoption is hindered by specificity of processes and technology interfaces.

Perspectives on Digital Content Markets: A Literature Review of Trends in Technologies, Business and Consumer Behaviour

In this paper, we focus on digital content markets (DCMs), which have typically been seen as an offspring of technological and business innovations. However, recent trends indicate that these two perspectives are not enough when attempting to understand how DCMs actually work. Technology is obviously a prerequisite for business innovations, which in turn provide new possibilities for consumers. Nevertheless, consumer behaviour is not only a result of technological and business innovations, but by itself a crucial factor of DCMs. In this paper, we attempt to clarify the general view of DCMs by carrying out a literature study that is based on the above mentioned three perspectives: technology, business and consumer behaviour. As a result of our study, we present critical issues for both doing further research and improving the ways of trading and distributing digital content. Especially, we highlight the crucial role of societal transformations for the development of DCMs.

Software business in the telecommunications sector

Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) software of Communication Service Providers (CSPs) can be developed internally within the CSP or acquired from a Software Vendor. The software industry lifecycle model hypothesizes that software development is internal in the beginning of the industrys lifecycle, and that the share of external products increases when it matures. Empirical evidence shows signs of the OSS/BSS software industry approaching maturity. Current and future developments of the industry include the possibilities of utilizing the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and Open Source software (OSSw). Both have gained increasing interest by the CSPs. However, the relatively small markets (number of CSPs), added with complex and proprietary interfaces of technology and software, seem to hinder this development. The results of scenarios on the future of the industry propose that the adoption of SaaS and OSSw could be motivated by general cost-cutting, by alliances within the industry or by a focus of CSPs business on either providing network capacity or value-added services.

Scenarios on Adoption of Open Source Software in the Communications Software Industry

We examine the trends and developments affecting the adoption of open source software in the communications software industry. Based on expert interviews and scenario analysis, four alternative and possibly co-existing scenarios are derived. The analysis suggests that communication service providers will mostly deploy open source software in infrastructure software. Alternative developments include use of open source software in launching new services and in cloud computing. The present study is relevant particularly for technology managers considering open source strategies.

Visualising maritime vessel open data for better situational awareness in ice conditions

Situational awareness of maritime vessels in ice conditions is important for the operation of supply chains. In the artic sea areas, the ice conditions pose a major challenge for maritime vessels getting stuck in the ice and being significantly delayed in arrival to harbor. Data science and open data provide new opportunities to overcome these challenges. This paper introduces available open data sources and data visualizations that can be used to develop applications, for example, for detecting maritime vessel collision, predicting estimated time of arrival to harbor, as well as maritime vessel route optimization in ice conditions. The paper begins by introducing available open data sources and existing computational studies on maritime vessels in ice conditions, then presents the developed data science solution and visualizations of the open data along with the open source software code, and finally concludes with a discussion on the potential application areas and opportunities for further research.

Identifying the Sales Patterns of Online Stores with Time Series Clustering

During the past decades, electronic commerce, especially in the business-to-consumer (B2C) context, has emerged as a popular research topic in information systems (IS). However, this research has traditionally been dominated by the consumer focus instead of the business focus of online stores. In this explorative study, we aim to address this gap in prior research by identifying the most typical sales patterns of online stores operating in the B2C context. By segmenting the monthly sales time series of 399 online stores with time series clustering, we are able to identify four approximately equally sized segments, of which two are characterised by a clear upward or downward trend in the sales and two are characterised by strong seasonal sales variation. We also investigate the potential segment differences in terms of several key business and technical parameters as well as discuss more broadly the applicability of time series clustering to IS.