De senaste åren har fenomenet molnbaserade affärssystem vuxit sig allt större eftersom de innefattar fördelar som mindre investeringar, högre tillförlitlighet och ökad flexibilitet jämfört med ett traditionellt on-premise system. Tidigare studier har undersökt vilka affärssystemkompetenser en ledning behöver i ett on-premise men lite är känt om vilka affärssystemkompetenser som en ledning behöver i ett molnbaserat affärssystem. Detta kompetensbehov beskrivs som kunskaper om systemet där en ledning bland annat ska besitta kännedom om såväl systemets olika anpassningsalternativ och integrationer som kunskap för att genomföra en systemuppdatering. Ett molnbaserat affärssystem skiljer sig ifrån ett on-premise vad gäller till exempel IT-infrastruktur. Studien utvidgar tidigare förståelse för en lednings kompetensbehov i ett molnbaserat affärssystem jämfört med ett on-premise system. Studiens forskningsfråga har besvarats genom en kvalitativ studie och med en tematisk analys. Resultatet av studien visar på ett nytt kompetensbehov hos en ledning inom datasäkerhet, avtal och affärsstrategier men resultatet visar även på ett förlegat kompetensbehov kring integrationer, anpassningar, rapportering och uppdatering. Nyckelord: affärssystem, molnbaserat affärssystem, ledning, kompetensbehov, kompetensförändring / In recent years, the phenomenon of cloud-based enterprise systems has grown larger as they include benefits such as lower investment, higher reliability and increased flexibility compared to a traditional on-premise system. Previous studies have examined what ERP system competencies a management needs in an on-premise, but little is known about the ERP system skills that a management needs in a cloud-based ERP system. This competence is described as knowledge of the system, where the management must, among other things, have knowledge of both the system's different customization options, integrations, but also knowledge to carry out a system update. A cloud-based ERP system differs from an on-premise in terms of, for example, IT infrastructure. This study extends previous understanding of management's ERP system competence in a cloud-based system compared to an on-premise system. The research question has been answered through a qualitative study and with a thematic analysis. The result of the study was that management acquires new competencies in data security, agreements and business strategies, but comes to the understanding of an older, outdated, competence regarding integrations, customization, reporting and updates.

Background: High-tech's rapid growth and prioritization of expansion over profitability can lead to vulnerability in economic downturns. The SaaS market, a part of the high-tech industry, offers affordable and flexible software solutions but is also susceptible to market volatility. To succeed, SaaS startups must strike a balance between growth and profitability. Stochastic frontier analysis can measure technical efficiency and productivity in the SaaS market, offering insights into resource and labor utilization. We present an empirical study that explores factors that influence a firm's profitability, aiming to inform decision-making for SaaS companies. Purpose: Our academic work is centered around gaining a comprehensive understanding of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market and the role of labor and research and development expenses toexplore these factors and their influence on a firm's profitability. This study seeks to address this gap in knowledge by conducting an empirical analysis to examine the technical efficiency distribution among SaaS firms, with the aim of gaining insights into resource and labor utilization. By analyzing technical efficiency distribution among SaaS firms, the study will provide insights into resource and labor utilization and its effect on profitability. The research questions will focus on the relationship between technical efficiency, labor utilization, and production functions on profitability. Methodology: We utilized Model I - Cobb Douglas Panel Data Regression with Fixed Effects, Model II - Cobb Douglas Panel Data Stochastic Frontier Analysis using the Kumbhakar and Lovell (1990), and Model III - Transcendental Logarithmic Panel Data Cobb Douglas Stochastic Frontier Analysis using the Kumbhakar and Lovell (1990). These models allowed us to measure the technical efficiency of SaaS firms and examine the interplay between various variables, such as employee count and R&D expenseswith liabilities and assets as control variables. Results and analysis: The three models revealed that labor, assets, and R&D expenses positively and significantly affect profitability in SaaS firms. The SaaS industry also exhibits decreasing returns to scale in two models, suggesting that increasing all inputs proportionally leads to a less-than-proportional increase in output with the third model exhibiting an increasing return to scale. Also, top performers in technical efficiency tend to have higher marginal product of labor (MPL) values than bottom performers.Conclusions: Technical efficiency is positively correlated with profitability, indicating that more efficient SaaS firms achieve higher profitability levels. The relationship between technical efficiency and profitability is stronger when using the Translog model compared to the Cobb-Douglas model. The study also found that the factors contributing most to profitability in SaaS firms are the number of employees and assets, followed by research and development expenses.  Recommendations for future research: Further studies could explore the extent to which factors such as the quality of the workforce, technology, and business processes impact MPL and technical efficiency in SaaS firms. Additionally, future research could investigate the effects of market competition, firm size, and industry regulation on profitability in the SaaS industry. Finally, research could investigate the potential benefits of diversifying investment portfolios to include SaaS stocks, given the significant impact of labor, assets, and R&D expenses on profitability.

The choice of pricing model for software products is a complex procedure due to the different characteristics compared to physical products. This thesis investigates and compares software pricing models in a B2B setting, and describes how KAM plays a role in executing a pricing model. The research has been conducted as an opportunist case study on Adebro, a technology company in the B2B sector. The thesis have come to the following conclusions, with data from interviews and literature: Perpetual license is, and will continue to be, an attractive pricing model for Adebro. However, a subscription-based usage independent pricing model is also attractive for the future. Implications of switching pricing model would be largest when changing between a perpetual and subscription model, where revenue will have the most visual impact. The most important task for KAM is to communicate the change to current and new customers. KAM and the pricing model must also be structured to support each other to be successful. The thesis contributes to science by providing research on pricing models for manufacturing related software. However, studies concerning the weighting of importance for different pricing parameters would be of interest for the future.

Implementering av affärssystem inom verksamheter kan ge många fördelar, exempelvis effektivisering och automatisering. Hur systemet levereras till kunden kan påverka förtroendet hos kunden. Förtroendet är viktigt för att bibehålla en god relation mellan kund och leverantör och för att kunden inte ska känna osäkerhet kring att implementera affärssystem. Affärssystem kan implementeras lokalt hos kunden On-Premise eller i molnet  vilket tillhandahålls hos leverantören i form av Software as a Service (SaaS). Syftet för studien var att undersöka skillnader i kunders förtroende till On-Premise och SaaS-system och kartlägga faktorer vilket kan påverka förtroendet som testades med en modell för att mäta förtroende skapad av McKnight (2009). Utifrån modellen samt tidigare forskning inom området formulerades åtta hypoteser. Hypoteserna testades med hjälp av svar från en enkät som skickades ut till kunder av On-Premise och SaaS-system. Totalt blev det 72 svar som analyserades med hjälp av ett ANOVA test vilket slutligen bekräftade fyra av åtta hypoteser. Resultatet indikerade att det inte föreligger någon signifikant skillnad mellan de två urvalsgrupperna. Resultatet tyder på ett ökat förtroende för SaaS vilket tidigare inte innehaft ett lika högt förtroende, dessutom visar det på att digitaliseringen rör sig framåt med ett ökat förtroende för molntjänster trots de risker som tillkommer. Studiens resultat har potentiell relevans för leverantörer av både On-Premise- och SaaS-system genom att öka förståelsen för kundernas förtroende. Slutligen kan leverantörer anpassa system efter kundernas behov, förbättra säkerhet och kvalitet samt främja en gynnsam och långsiktig relation mellan leverantör och kund. / Implementation of business systems within organizations can provide many advantages, such as efficiency and automation. How the system is delivered to the customer can impact the trust of the customer. Trust is crucial for maintaining a good relationship between the customer and the supplier and for preventing the customer from feeling uncertainty about implementing business systems. Business systems can be implemented locally at the customer's site On-Premise or in the cloud, provided by the supplier in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS). The purpose of the study was to examine differences in customer trust in On-Premise and SaaS systems and to identify factors that may affect trust, tested with a model to measure trust created by McKnight (2009). Based on the model and previous research in the field, eight hypotheses were formulated. The hypotheses were tested using responses from a survey sent to customers of On-Premise and SaaS systems. In total, there were 72 responses that were analyzed using an ANOVA test, which ultimately confirmed four out of eight hypotheses. The results indicated that there is no significant difference between the two sample groups. The results suggest an increased trust in SaaS, which previously did not have as high trust. Additionally, it shows that digitization is progressing with increased trust in cloud services despite the associated risks. The study's results have potential relevance for providers of both On-Premise and SaaS systems by increasing understanding of customer trust. Ultimately, providers can tailor systems to customer needs, improve security and quality, and promote a favorable and long-term relationship between supplier and customer.

近年來，雲端運算中的軟體即服務(Software as Service，SaaS)穩健與快速地成長。SaaS服務提供者在建置服務的過程中，無不希望盡可能地讓租戶共享資源，避免租戶擁有特殊資源，需要獨立維護，以降低維護營運成本。另一方面，也要能讓租戶們擁有一定程度的客製化能力，以製做出屬於租戶私有之服務邏輯。因此如何讓租戶在共有一切資源的前提下，又能提供客製化能力，將是SaaS服務提供者的一大課題。本研究所提出的中介軟體框架將在共用硬體及資料庫與單一應用程式的共用架構下，採用Force.com Universal Table資料架構，並提供三大特色功能，Tenant Aware、Data Access以及Tenant Customizability，來解決隔離性、存取Force.com Universal Table資料架構以及提供租戶客製化能力三大議題。透過此中介軟體框架應可幫助SaaS提供者，建置出一個資源共享、租戶具有客製能力與維護性高的多租戶雲端軟體服務。 / In recent years, Software as a service (SaaS), the service model of cloud computing, has been growing healthy and rapidly. When SaaS providers build service, they want tenants to share same resources, and not to have its own special resource which will cause providers to maintain it separately. SaaS providers want tenants sharing the same resources to reduce maintenance cost. But the current trend is to provide the customizability to tenants for customizing its own service. How to share resources under the premise of providing customizability to tenants will be the main challenge to SaaS providers. In this thesis, we propose a middleware framework based on shared hardware、database with a single application instance. Our framework will use the Force.com Universal Table schema as the foundation. The key features of our framework are Tenant Aware、Data Access and Tenant Customizability. These features will address the issues of isolating tenants, accessing the Force.com Universal Table schema and providing customizability to tenants. This middleware framework will help SaaS providers to build a resource-sharing, customizable multi-tenant SaaS with lower maintenance cost.

I takt med att världen digitaliseras och att allt fler företag börjar upptäcka fördelarna med molnbaserade IT-system, så misslyckas fortfarande hela 2/3 av alla IT-projekt trots att liknande projekt har gjorts många gånger förut. Denna kandidatuppsats har som syfte identifiera, beskriva och förklara de faktorer som påverkar en övergång från dagens lokalt lagrade system till molnbaserade IT-system, ur kund-, projektgrupp- och systemimplementatörsperspektiv. Primära empiriska data har samlats in genom kvalitativa intervjuer av fyra respondenter. Intervju-erna fokuserade på deras erfarenheter och uppfattningar om vilka faktorer som påverkar en övergång från lokalt lagrade system till molnbaserade IT-system. Respondenterna har olika perspektiv och har olika arbetsbakgrund, men gemensamt är att samtliga arbetar inom IT-området. Tre av dem har syste-mimplementatörsbakgrund och den fjärde arbetar som IT-chef hos ett kundföretag. En viktig slutsats från denna studie är att det inte finns lika stora risker vid en övergång till ett molnbaserat IT-system som marknaden upplever. De faktorer som har en hög påverkan på en fram-gångsrik övergång från lokalt till molnbaserade IT-system, Ur ett systemimplementatörsperspektiv är det individen och den individuella förmågan och kompetens. Ur ett projektgruppperspektiv är det att etablera en effektiv kommunikation.  Ur ett kundperspektiv är deras mognad och samsyn för projektet

Cloud computing has been given a great deal of attention during recent years. Almost all the technology market leaders and leading hosting service providers (like IBM, Microsoft and Verizon) have entered into the Cloud market as Cloud Providers. Cloud computing promises to provide highly available, secure, low cost, agile and highly scalable solution to the consumers. Scania is a global company and one of the world’s leading heavy vehicle manufacturers with 35,000+ employees. All the large organizations such as Scania, aim to constantly update themselves with the latest technology in order to meet their business requirements but, these organizations must always be convinced that there is a strong reason(s) to implement new technology. This research provides the method and criteria in relation to initiating Cloud computing. A number of Scania’s specific business requirements that it is possible to map to the Cloud are addressed in this thesis. The methodology of research is split in two parts. Firstly, the identification of business cases at Scania and their requirements with the Cloud and Secondly, the evaluation and comparison of the functionalities and capabilities of different vendors. The accumulated data is then compared and suitable vendors, according to those business requirements are suggested. This thesis also shares the experience of moving on premise applications to the Cloud. These are Scania specific applications which are currently being hosted in-house. The research also addresses the possibilities of portability between the Cloud providers. Although there is no standardization in relation to Cloud computing, some initiatives such as OpenStack are available and its current position and some application and data migration tools are also discussed. The thesis concludes with a general discussion, recommendations in relation to adapting Cloud computing and selecting the Cloud provider. This recommendation applies to every organization including Scania.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to build a practical guide to get a clear understanding about the implementation process of Customer Relationship Management in the cloud within Small. It also describes the different concepts that are Customer Relationship Management, Cloud computing and CRM in the cloud, especially related to the SMEs, in order to have a great insight that gives the opportunity to implement successfully this paradigm.   Scientific method: The research lies in the interpretative field of inquiry. Abduction is used to combine empirical data with theoretical studies in orderto tryto investigate patterns that could give an understanding of the phenomena that is studied. Descriptive research approach using multiple-case study design is used.   Theoretical frame of references: The first part of the theoretical frame of references explores existing theories. This leads to CRM and Cloud Computing. The second part explores different means of analysing our problematic.   Empirical method: The chosen approach is qualitative. Interviews have been conducted for data collection. Documentsarehave beengathered and analysed to support the interviewguides. We also gathered a previous practical guide from Salesforce in order to compare our results.   Analysis: Analysing hosted CRM implementation of three SMEs using Salesforce, it describes the key facts that have to be taken into account to implement the Salesforce CRM solution.   Conclusion: The findings show how three companies can be analysed to draw conclusions about the implementation process. According to interviews, theories, documents from hosted CRM provider, some suggestions have been advised to avoid problems concerning the implementation in SMEs.

In general, a common reference architecture can be derived for Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture. However, while designing particular applications one may derive various different application design alternatives from the same reference SaaS architecture specification. To meet the required functional and nonfunctional requirements of different enterprise applications it is important to model the possible design so that a feasible alternative can be defined. In this thesis, we propose a systematic approach and the corresponding tool support for guiding the design of the SaaS application architecture. The approach defines a SaaS reference architecture, a family feature model and a set of reference design rules. Based on the business requirements an application feature model is defined using the family feature model. Selected features are related to design decisions and a SaaS application architecture design is derived. By defining multiple application architectures based on different application feature models we can even compare multiple alternatives and based on this select the most feasible alternative.

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