Manuel Trenz

How to Succeed with Cloud Services

How can cloud providers be successful? Severe competition and low up-front commitments create enormous challenges for providers of consumer cloud services when attempting to develop a sustainable market position. Emergent trends like consumerization lead to high growth rates and extend the reach of these services far into the enterprise sphere. Using a freemium model, many providers focus on establishing a large customer base quickly but fail to generate revenue streams in the long run. Others charge consumers early but do not reach their growth targets. Based on a representative sample of 596 actual cloud service users, the study examines how consumer cloud services can become self-sustainable on the basis of the user base and revenue streams they generate. The authors identify two mechanisms that influence the success of consumer cloud services, dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms, and show how they drive different elements of success. They find that satisfaction impacts the success of cloud services in terms of user generation and continuance, while switching barriers need to be in place to generate revenues. The results indicate that focusing on a single success element can be misleading and insufficient to understand the success of cloud services. The key findings are used to derive recommendations for three generic strategies that cloud providers can apply to become successful in their competitive market environment.

The Blurring Line Between Electronic and Physical Channels: Reconceptualising Multichannel Commerce

This paper proposes a revision of the multichannel concept as it has been applied in previous studies on multichannel commerce. Digitalization and technological innovations have blurred the line between physical and electronic channels. A structured literature review on multichannel consumer and firm behaviour is conducted to reveal the established view on multichannel phenomena. By providing empirical evidence on market offerings and consumer perceptions, we expose a significant mismatch between the dominant conceptualization of multichannel commerce applied in research and today’s market realities. This tension highlights the necessity for a changed view on multichannel commerce to study and understand phenomena in converging sales channels. Therefore, an extended conceptualization of multichannel commerce, named the multichannel continuum, is proposed. This is the first study that considers the broad complexity of integrated multichannel decisions. It aims at contributing to the literature on information systems and channel choice by developing a reference frame for studies on how technological advancements that allow the integration of different channels shape consumer and firm decision making in multichannel commerce. Accordingly, a brief research agenda contrasts established findings with unanswered questions, challenges and opportunities that arise in this more complex multichannel market environment.

Beyond the Personalization–Privacy Paradox: Privacy Valuation, Transparency Features, and Service Personalization

Abstract Digital services need access to consumers’ data to improve service quality and to generate revenues. However, it remains unclear how such services should be configured to facilitate consumers’ willingness to share personal information. Prior studies discuss an influence of selected individual traits or service configurations, including transparency features and service personalization. This study aims at uncovering how interactions among individuals’ privacy valuation, transparency features, and service personalization influence their willingness to disclose information. Building on information boundary theory, we conducted an experimental study with 286 participants on a data-intense digital service. In contrast to our expectation, we found no indication that providing transparency features facilitates individuals’ information disclosure. Relative to the personalization–privacy paradox, individuals’ privacy valuation is a strong inhibitor of information provision in general, not only for personalized services. Personalization benefits only convince consumers who exhibit little focus on privacy. Thus, service providers need to align their service designs with consumers’ privacy preferences.

Adverse consequences of access to individuals’ information: an analysis of perceptions and the scope of organisational influence

Organisations are highly interested in collecting and analysing customer data to enhance their service offerings and customer interaction. However, individuals increasingly fear how such practices may negatively affect them. Although previous studies have investigated individuals’ concerns about information privacy practices, the adverse consequences people associate with external actors accessing their personal information remain unclear. To mitigate customers’ fears, organisations need to know which adverse consequences individuals are afraid of and how to address those negative perceptions. To investigate this topic, we conducted 22 focus groups with 119 participants. We developed a comprehensive conceptualisation and categorisation of individuals’ perceived adverse consequences of access to their information that includes seven types of consequences: psychological, social, career-related, physical, resource-related, prosecution-related, and freedom-related. Although individuals may limit their interactions with an organisation owing to consequences they associate with both the organisation and other actors, organisations can apply preventive and corrective mechanisms to mitigate some of these negative perceptions. However, organisations’ scope of influence is limited and some fears may be mitigated only by individuals themselves or government regulation, if at all.

Uncertainty in cloud service relationships: Uncovering the differential effect of three social influence processes on potential and current users

Abstract Consumer cloud services are characterized by uncertainty before usage but also for individuals who are already using the service. Our cloud service relationship model posits that individuals facing continuous uncertainty during adoption and continuance decisions rely on their social environment to make evaluations and decisions. Drawing on a representative dataset of 2011 Internet users, we distinguish three social influence processes from social influence theory (identification, internalization, and compliance) and uncover their differential effect on potential and current users’ uncertainty evaluations and on usage intentions. Our results can help cloud providers to successfully manage their relationships with potential and current users.

Perception and Valuation of Multichannel Integration Services

The goal of this chapter is to understand the impact of multichannel integration services on consumer preferences. Since multichannel retailers are under severe pressure from pure online retailers, the physical infrastructure that decreases their ability to compete via prices could offer opportunities to differentiate themselves. This chapter analyzes whether, which and why multichannel integration services can lead to a competitive advantage. The chapter is divided into two major parts: an analysis of the perception and valuation of multichannel integration from a theoretical perspective and an experimental study testing the theorized relationships on the perceptions of multichannel integration services and their outcomes. The last part includes an in-depth discussion of the results in the light of the literature unveiled in the previous chapter.

Purchase Specific and Individual Differences

The goal of this chapter is to identify conditions under which different types of multichannel integration services are more or less useful for consumers. The chapter is divided into two major parts: a theoretical discussion of the phenomenon and an empirical study assessing the proposed relationships. In the first part, regulatory focus theory is presented and discussed as a lens to comprehend varying preferences for multichannel integration services. In the second part, a conjoint study based on a representative sample of German internet users is implemented differentiating six transaction characteristics. The importance of each of these characteristics is estimated on an individual level to gain in-depth insights on the possibilities of multichannel integration and to understand, how online and offline channels can be integrated to create value. Two post hoc analyses give indications on how multichannel integration services can influence market preferences between different vendor types and how to assign prices to different types of multichannel integration services.

Offline, Online and Multichannel Commerce

The goal of this chapter is to give an overview on previous literature on offline, online and multichannel commerce. The aim of this in-depth literature review is to motivate the current study based on existing knowledge and to be able to reflect newly generated insights considering a comprehensive set of established perspectives and findings. This chapter is divided into three parts: a structuration of the differences between online and offline commerce, an overview on consumer behavior literature with regards to offline, online and multichannel channel choice and a synthesis of the small number of studies on multichannel integration. The last part also includes a precise differentiation between types of multichannel integration and a delimitation of the type of multichannel integration activity in focus of this work: multichannel integration services.