Uwe Leimstoll

Importance and Use of Information Technology in Small and Medium-Sized Companies

The following paper presents results from a longitudinal study about the importance and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in Swiss small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). In an empirical survey, 989 questionnaires were collected and analysed (return rate 17%). The results were weighted according to company size and industry sector and are representative for Switzerland. The findings show that Swiss SMEs-in their self-assessment-manage to gain (competitive) advantages from the deployment of information and communication technology. ICT is universally used (even) in (small and medium-sized) companies. There is a high degree of inter-organizational ICT use. ICT know-how and awareness are strongly rooted in management. The general conclusion is that IT matters for Swiss SMEs.

Personalization of E-Commerce Applications in SMEs: Conclusions from an Empirical Study in Switzerland

Personalization of e-commerce applications is an issue that is gaining increasing importance with the advancing maturity of such systems. There is already e-commerce software on the market offering integrated e-shop and personalization functions. However, the available software is too time-consuming and expensive for SMEs. With this in mind we saw a need to investigate the potential for personalization from the particular angle of SMEs. In addition to some theoretical fundamentals of personalization, this paper presents the results of an empirical study. With the help of a survey, we investigated the application potential for personalization tools in Swiss companies. The conclusions show that SMEs are (still) skeptical towards e-commerce applications which use personalization. It furthermore becomes clear that the heterogeneity of organizational and technical conditions impedes the development of standardized tools.

Context-aware website personalization

Today there is a need in on-line shops to support the visitors of a web page appropriately by analyzing their current situation. In this paper we introduce a model which supports the identification of the content the user is interested in and the shopping strategy of the current session. We use context information extracted from enterprise data, content data, the current and the historical behaviour of the user. This allows us to learn more about the interests and needs of the user. We monitor and analyze this content information at runtime and use it for the adaption of the web site during the users navigation.

Legal Requirements for the Personalization of Commercial Internet Applications in Europe.

Most electronic-commerce (e-commerce) applications require the collection and storing of information about customers. As a consequence, the performed transactions involve legal issues. For 3 years, we have been involved in a project that has studied the potentials of personalization of e-commerce systems from the particular angle of small- and medium-sized enterprises. In this article, we pick up a couple of scenarios that many e-commerce vendors face when implementing personalization on their Web sites. The specific focus of the discussion is the legal use of costumer profiles for e-commerce applications. Because most legal issues are difficult to understand for nonlawyers, in this article, we make use of a case study, which shows explicitly what e-commerce vendors need to keep in mind when implementing personalization on their Web sites.

An Evaluation of Australian and Swiss E-Shops in the Grocery Sector

The Extended Web Assessment Method (EWAM) is an evaluation tool specifically created for the assessment of electronic commerce applications. The method is based on an evaluation grid that includes a set of criteria with which to appraise the quality and success of e-commerce applications. The focus is on consumer perspectives and the specific features of the Internet as a medium. In this paper, we used the EWAM tool for a comparative analysis of Australian and Swiss e-shops selling grocery products. Using a comparative study between two different countries, we explored patterns for success or failure of such online applications. In general, the findings show that web sites in both countries do not fully meet the expectations of consumers. General expectations of consumers in online grocery shopping were explored and highlighted in this study.

Personalisierung Von E-Commerce-Applikationen in KMU: Schlussfolgerungen Aus Einer Empirischen Untersuchung

Personalisierung von E-Commerce-Applikationen ist ein Thema, das mit fortschreitender Reife der Systeme zunehmende Bedeutung erlangt. Es gibt heute bereits integrierte E-Commerce-Software, die E-Shop und Personalisierungsfunktionen integriert anbietet. Die erhaltliche Software ist fur KMU aber zu aufwandig und zu teuer. Vor diesem Hintergrund sahen wir ein Bedurfnis, die Potenziale der Personalisierung in KMU zu untersuchen. Neben den theoretischen Grundlagen der Personalisierung werden in diesem Paper die Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie vorgestellt. Mit Hilfe einer Umfrage untersuchten wir die Einsatzpotenziale fur Personalisierungstools in Schweizer KMU. Die Ergebnisse zeigen,dass einerseits ein Bedarf an Personalisierung besteht, andererseits die KMU personalisierten E-Commerce-Applikationen aber (noch) skeptisch gegenuberstehen. Ausserdem wird deutlich,dass die Heterogenitat der organisatorischen und technischen Gegebenheiten die Entwicklung von Standardtools erschwert.

Integration von Business Software — Eine Studie zum aktuellen Stand in Schweizer KMU

Die Integration von Informationssystemen ist ein Thema, das in der Literatur schon lange diskutiert wird. Aufgrund der technologischen Ent-wicklung haben sich die Voraussetzungen fur Integration in den letzten Jahren erheblich verbessert. Der vorliegende Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die Integration von Business Software in KMU und zeigt anhand empirischer Primardaten den aktuellen Stand in der Schweiz auf. Dabei wird unter anderem deutlich, welche Erfahrungen in bisherigen Integrationsprojekten gemacht wurden und welche An-forderungen an zukunftige Business-Software-Losungen gestellt werden. Es zeigt sich, dass bei einigen Software-Modulen die Intensitat der Nutzung und der Grad der Integration von der Unternehmensgrosse abhangig ist.

E-Business in the Era of Digital Transformation

In recent years, the development of information technology has reached a new level of evolution. It should be noted, however, that digitalization and digital transformation are not fundamentally new phenomena. A phase marked by strong digitalization, for example, was the result of the increased business use of the Internet in the early 1990s. The era of e-business began. The focus was on the digitalization of cross-company processes, which also brought new business models and interlinked value-added structures. Against the background of current developments, the question arises as to what role e-business now plays in digital transformation. The aim of this chapter is to show the current developments in e-business and their relationship to digital transformation. Following an introductory clarification of concepts and a consideration of the importance of mobile computing, the classic areas of e-business are addressed, in particular e-commerce, e-procurement and e-organization. The results show that e-business has always involved digital transformation processes and that these three perspectives of e-business are still helpful in analyzing the effects of digital transformation and identifying digitalization potential in and between companies. Besides information technology itself, the concepts of e-business become an important driver of digital transformation.

Perceived value of smartphones and tablets for mobile business in small and medium enterprises

A majority of people in industrialised countries is using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for private and business activities. The possibilities and opportunities of mobile business are considered in micro-enterprises as well as in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The question is: what is the perceived value of these devices? Do these devices have a positive impact on the productivity, flexibility and business processes of companies? The goal of this paper is to develop a model that helps to identify and explain this impact. The model is estimated using partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling. The results show that the model has only a medium to weak predictive power when using the full data set. The reason is unobserved heterogeneity in the data. The model is becoming a high predictive power after applying a prediction-oriented segmentation (POS) with six segments.