This paper deals with the implementation of SaaS in the Russian market, especially in the Ural region of the Russian Federation -- Republic of Bashkortostan. SaaS is usually considered as an alternative way for the dominant model of software installation at the customer office. SaaS has certain key differences related to the use of different types of outsourcing and switching from buying products for permanent use to the system with subscription fee, depending on the specific use of resources. The goal of the theoretical part of the paper is to construct the comprehensive picture of Cloud computing, cloud services especially SaaS, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of SaaS technology, call attention to issues of risk, safety, the process of deployment, focus on the analysis of the status of SaaS information systems in the world and analyze situation on the Russian market. The goal of the theoretical part of the paper is to get acquainted with the companies in the Ural region of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Bashkortostan, to show their attitude to cloud-based technologies, highlight the exploration and use of SaaS in the Republic of Bashkortostan, compare the current situation in Russian enterprises with the status of SaaS in the world. By questionnaire survey I will obtain basic data of the awareness and use of SaaS in this region of Russia. The expected benefits of work may include extending the knowledge of readers about Cloud computing and one of its services - the form of SaaS. Next benefit is that Czech managers and directors can use this paper during the decision on the implementation of this model in their business.

Industry 4.0 has introduced technologies such as machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing, which has disrupted markets across different industries. These technologies are prime examples of what has come to be known as disruptive innovations. With the advancement of disruptive innovations, organizations are constantly looking for new ways to satisfy customer needs. Therefore, organizations have begun to investigate alternative business models that differ from the conventional way of selling products/services. Within B2C-markets, the rise of subscription-based services has not gone unnoticed and has turned into a prominent business model among Fortune-500 organizations. Within B2B-practices however, subscription-based business models are mostly unheard of. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how IndustryInternet of Things (IIoT) solution providers successfully can transition to a subscription-based business model when launching IoT-based disruptive innovations in industry 4.0 B2B-markets. This purpose was investigated in a quantitative study by constructing a questionnaire based on an adjusted six-factor Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model. The model was used to stipulate factors influencing buying intention for IoT-technologies. The study was further complemented by qualitative interviews, which aimed to shed more light on buyer's perception of subscription-based business models for IoT-technologies. The respondents consisted of purchasing function employees within the chemical-, food and beverage-, and life sciences industries in Scandinavia and the US. The quantitative results showed that performance expectancy had the most significant impact on buying intention. The qualitative results stipulated themes based on each UTAUT2 factor while also enlightening how interviewees emphasize the importance of not hiding costs and raised concerns regarding the transfer of data ownership when purchasing IoT-technologies. To conclude, the authors stipulated a conceptual framework for the implementation of subscription-based business models when introducing of IoT-technologies within B2B-markets.

Microservice-based applications thrive when each service performs a specific, well-defined task independently, contributing to the overall system. However, what happens when these independent services overlap? Could consolidating some of these services yield substantial benefits? This thesis delves into the securities overlap among services within the Nasdaq Risk Platform. By evaluating metrics such as memory consumption, JVM overhead, and CPU utilization, it identifies potential candidates for consolidation. A proof-of-concept consolidation of actual Nasdaq Risk Platform services was deployed and compared against a non-consolidated version. The analysis revealed that the consolidated version performs similarly but exhibits a more uniform and stable usage curve. Additionally, by reducing the number of JVMs and combining the service securities cache, the total RAM usage decreased by 28%.

Diese kumulative Dissertation leistet einen Erklärungsbeitrag zu der Frage der theoretischen Beziehung zwischen der Informationstechnologie-(IT-)Governance und der Adoption von IT-basierten Innovationen auf Organisationsebene. IT-Governance kann in diesem Zusammenhang als der Ort der Verantwortungshoheit für IT-Entscheidungen verstanden werden. Adoption bezieht sich auf die Aneignung einer technologischen Innovation durch eine Organisation. Zwei übergeordnete Forschungsfragen leiten diese Dissertation: (1) Wie beeinflusst die Form der IT-Governance die Aneignung neuer Technologien, und umgekehrt (2) wie beeinflussen neue Technologien die Form der IT-Governance? Hinsichtlich Forschungsfrage (1) wurden vier Studien zu Innovationen im Mobile Government durchgeführt, d.h. zu der Nutzung von mobilen Technologien im öffentlichen Sektor mit dem Ziel Verwaltungsdienstleistungen und interne Prozesse zu verbessern. In Bezug auf Forschungsfrage (2) wurde in weiteren vier Studien die Aneignung von Unternehmenssoftware as a Service (SaaS), d.h. die Nutzung von Geschäftsanwendungen als webbasierte Dienste, untersucht. Zusammenfassend gibt diese Dissertation Aufschluss darüber, wie IT-Governance und entsprechende Mechanismen die Innovativität in bestimmten organisationalen Kontexten begünstigen können (in öffentlichen Verwaltungen z.B. durch die Verknüpfung von organisationalen und technologischen Verantwortlichkeiten) und umgekehrt wie die Form der IT-Governance selbst durch das Aufkommen von technologischen Neuerungen (z.B. durch externe Bereitstellungsmodelle wie SaaS) umgestaltet wird bzw. werden muss. Methodisch demonstriert diese Arbeit den Reichtum, der durch den wechselnden Einsatz von qualitativen und quantitativen Ansätzen erzielt werden kann. Abschließend werden eine Reihe von Implikationen für IT-Entscheider in öffentlichen und privatwirtschaftlichen Kontexten aufgezeigt. / This cumulative dissertation contributes to the question of the theoretical relationship between information technology (IT) governance and the adoption of IT-based innovations. IT governance has been described specifically as the locus of responsibility for IT functions within organizations. Innovation adoption in this context refers to the decision of an organization to make use of a technological innovation. Two principal research questions (RQ) guide this dissertation: (1) how does the mode of IT governance influence adoption of new technologies, and conversely (2) how does the adoption of new technologies affect organizational IT governance? In order to address RQ1, I conducted four studies in a public sector context regarding innovations in Mobile Government referring to the use of mobile technology to improve government services and internal processes. Regarding RQ2, I investigated the adoption of enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) in four further studies. In this context, it is hypothesized that for some applications SaaS-based provision leads to a ‘governance shift’ of IT responsibilities from IT towards business units. In summary, this dissertation sheds light on the question of how IT governance and its mechanisms can foster innovativeness in certain contexts (e.g., through aligning organizational and technological responsibilities in public sector organizations), and conversely how the mode of IT governance itself can be shaped by the emergence of new technological innovations (e.g., external delivery models such as SaaS). Methodologically, this work demonstrates the richness provided by alternating between qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches. Finally, a number of relevant practical implications for IT decision makers in governmental and entrepreneurial contexts are outlined.

Incorporating data and analytics within marketing decision-making is today crucial for a company’s success. This holds true especially for SaaS-businesses due to having a subscription-based pricing model dependent on good service retention for long- term viability and profitability. Efficiently incorporating data and analytics does have its prerequisites but can for SaaS-businesses be achieved using the analytical framework of cohort analysis, which utilizes subscription data to obtain actionable insights on customer behavior and retention patterns. Consequently, to expand upon the understanding of how SaaS-businesses can utilize data-driven methodologies to improve their operations, this study has examined how SaaS-businesses can utilize cohort analysis to improve marketing decision-making and what the prerequisites are for efficiently doing so. Thus, by utilizing a multimethodology approach consisting of action research and a single caste study on the fast-growing SaaS-company GetAccept, the study has concluded that the incorporation and utilization of cohort analysis can improve marketing decision-making for SaaS-businesses. This conclusion is drawn by having identified that: The incorporation of cohort analysis can streamline the marketing decision-making process; and The incorporation of cohort analysis can enable decision-makers to obtain a better foundation of information to base marketing decisions upon, thus leading to an improved expected outcome of the decisions. Furthermore, to enable efficient data-driven marketing decision-making and effectively utilize methods such as cohort analysis, the study has concluded that SaaS- businesses need to fulfill three prerequisites, which have been identified to be: Management that support and advocate for data and analytics; A company culture built upon information sharing and evidence-based decision-making; and A large enough customer base to allow for determining similarities within and differences between customer segments as significant. However, the last prerequisite applies specifically for methods such as or similar to cohort analysis. Thus, by utilizing other methods, SaaS-businesses might still be able to efficiently utilize data-driven marketing decision-making, as long as the first two prerequisites are fulfilled.

Digital teknik används alltmer av företag för att utveckla sina erbjudanden, och framstegen inom området har haft en betydande inverkan på att företag omprövar och förändrar sina affärsmodeller. En viktig teknologi inom detta område är molntjänster (eng. Cloud Computing), som möjliggör lagring och tillhandahållande av information som en tjänst via internet. Inom molntjänster finns olika tjänstemodeller, och en av dem är Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). SaaS utgör en tredjedel av den totala mjukvarumarknaden och förväntas fortsätta växa inom industrin för internetbaserad mjukvara och tjänster. SaaS har potentialen att främja transformationen av affärsmodeller genom att introducera en ny logik för att skapa, leverera och fånga värde. För att lyckas med användningen av SaaS behöver tjänsteleverantören implementera och införa nya affärsmodeller. Trots att många företag strävar efter att utveckla digitala tjänster, upplever många företag svårigheter med att skapa verkligt kundvärde med sina digitala tjänster. Dessutom möter företagen utmaningar när det gäller att generera en lönsam intäktsström och bedöma vilken intäktsmodell som är lämpligast för tjänsten. Med grund i detta formulerades studiens syfte: att undersöka hur ett företag kan styra affärsmodellens utveckling mot ett SaaS-baserat erbjudande. En litteraturstudie genomfördes inom områdena affärsmodeller och affärsmodellsinnovation. I denna studie betraktas affärsmodellen som en modell bestående av tre komponenter: skapa, fånga och leverera värde, där varje komponent byggs upp av aktiviteter. Baserat på dessa teoretiska områden utvecklades en analysmodell. I litteraturstudien presenteras även tjänstefiering och digital tjänstefiering för att ge förståelse för drivkraften och relevansen av molntjänster. Studien utfördes som en flerfallsstudie av åtta företag som erbjuder en SaaS-lösning. Dessa företag är verksamma inom olika branscher och befinner sig på olika stadier i utvecklingen av sitt SaaS-erbjudande. Empirisk data samlades in genom 15 semistrukturerade intervjuer, där respondenterna var personer med relevant kompetens inom studieområdet. Studien visade att kunderna spelar en central roll i utvecklingen av affärsmodellen för en SaaS-baserad lösning. Kunden har särskild betydelse i de tidiga faserna av affärsmodellens utveckling, och deras påverkan på styrningen av affärsmodellens utveckling är av stor vikt. När det gäller affärsmodellens komponenter framkom det att komponenten för att fånga värde spelar en betydande roll i styrningen av affärsmodellens utveckling. Vidare har studien visat att mognadsgraden och vidareutvecklingen av affärsmodellens komponenter sker i en särskild ordning (skapa värde→leverera värde→fånga värde), där företagets mognadsgrad styr vilken affärsmodellskomponent deras utvecklingsaktiviteter fokuseras på. Studien visade också att utvecklingsprocessen mot en SaaS-baserad affärsmodell är en iterativ process, där det är svårt att undvika behovet av att aktivt iterera affärsmodellen mot kunder för att fortsätta utveckla den. / Digital technology is increasingly being used by companies to develop their offerings, and advances in the field have had a significant impact on businesses reconsidering and changing their business models. One important technology in this area is cloud computing, which enable the storage and provision of information as a service over the internet to customers. Within cloud services, there are different service models, and one of them is Software-as- a-Service (SaaS). SaaS accounts for one-third of the total software market and is expected to continue growing in the industry of internet-based software and services. SaaS has the potential to promote the transformation of business models by introducing a new logic for creating, delivering, and capturing value. To succeed in the use of SaaS, the service provi- der needs to implement and adopt new business models. Despite many companies striving to develop digital services, many of them struggle to create real customer value with their digital services. Additionally, companies face challenges in generating a profitable revenue stream and choosing the appropriate revenue model for their service. Based on this, the following purpose of the study was formulated: to investigate how a company can steer the development of its business model towards a SaaS-based offering. A literature review was conducted in the areas of business models and business model innovation. In this study, the business model is considered as a model consisting of three components: creating, capturing, and delivering value, where these components consist of activities. Based on these theoretical areas, an analytical model was developed. The litera- ture review also presents servitization and digital servitization to provide an understanding of the driving force and the relevance of cloud services. The study was conducted as a multiple case study of eight companies offering a SaaS so- lution. These companies operate in different industries and are at different stages in the development of their SaaS offering. Empirical data was collected through 15 semi-structured interviews, where the respondents were individuals with relevant expertise in the study area. The study showed that customers play a central role in the development of the business model for a SaaS-based solution. Customers have particular significance in the early stages of business model development, and their influence on the development of the business model is of great importance. Regarding the components of the business model, it emerged that the value capture component plays a significant role in guiding the development of the business model. However, the study has shown that the maturity and further develop- ment of the business model components occur in a specific order (value creation→value delivery→value capture), where the company’s maturity level determines which business model component their development activities focus on. The study also demonstrated that the development of a SaaS-based business model is an iterative process, where companies need to actively iterate their business model with customers to continue its development.

This thesis examines how to design a mathematical inventory model for a ”Fast Moving Consumer Goods”-company (FMCG-company), which determines the optimal reorder point and order quantity such that the average inventory cost is minimized. The thesis was made in collaboration with a ”Software as a Service”- company which provided the data containing information about the products and inventory management of one of their customers, a FMCG-company. The thesis first considers a basic EOQ-model, with constant demand rate, that suggests a reorder time and order quantity for the products. Since constant demand rate might be an unrealistic assumption for a FMCG-company, the thesis also considers a (R,Q)-model, where the demand was based on a forecast made by using the Holt-Winters model on previous sales history. The solutions were found by investigating the singular points and comparing them to the critical point. The thesis shows that the EOQ-model gives useful results for the most indemand products, while the reorder times for the less popular products are instead impractically high. The (R,Q)-model showed more stable solutions for all products and therefore proves to be a better inventory model for FMCG-companies, as expected. Simulations of the (R,Q)-model showed various inventory cases, where some showed a mismatch between the inventory level and the demand. The cases shows how demand planning can be applied for different products for when to consider changing inventory strategy or discontinuing products and how the orders can be made optimally. / Detta examensarbete undersöker hur en matematisk lagermodell kan utformas för ett ”Fast Moving Consumer Goods”-företag (FMCG-företag), som bestämmer den optimala beställningspunkten och orderkvantiteten så att den genomsnittliga lagerkostnaden minimeras. Examensarbetet gjordes i samarbete med ett ”Software as a Service”-företag som tillhandahöll data innehållandes information om produkter och lagerhantering hos en av deras kunder, ett FMCG-företag. Avhandlingen behandlar först en grundläggande EOQ-modell, med konstant efterfrågan, som föreslår en återbeställningstid och orderkvantitet för produkterna. Eftersom att en konstant efterfågan kan anses vara ett orealistiskt antagande för ett FMCG-företag, tar avhandlingen även upp en (R,Q)-modell, där efterfrågan baserades på en prognos gjord med hjälp av Holt-Winters-modellen på tidigare försäljningshistorik. Lösningarna hittades genom att undersöka de singulära punkterna och jämföra dem med den kritiska punkten. Avhandlingen visar att EOQ-modellen ger användbara resultat för de mest efterfrågade produkterna medan beställningstiderna för de mindre populära produkter är ofta opraktiskt höga. (R,Q)-modellen visade mer stabila lösningar för alla produkter och visar sig därmed vara en bättre lagermodell för FMCGföretag, som förväntat. Simuleringar av (R,Q)-modellen visade olika fall, där vissa visade en obalans mellan lagernivån och efterfrågan. De olika fallen visar hur efterfrågeplanering kan tillämpas för olika produkter för när man ska överväga att ändra lagerstrategi eller avveckla produkter och hur beställningarna kan göras optimalt

Background: The companies of Industry 4.0 need to invest in digitalising their organizations as software is growing into a decisive manufacturing determinant. Especially in the SaaS business and the transformation to Industry 4.0, there are many small companies that are driving the transformation while competing for market share. In this context, the SaaS providers need to develop an understanding of the success of their solution. While the Information Systems Success Model by DeLone and McLean has found some application in the context of SaaS solutions, there is no specific model for the SaaS industry. Furthermore, there is the underlying need to understand which antecedents cause or influence the success of an information system. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an Information Systems Success Model for Software-as-a-Service companies and to understand the antecedents and their relationships to the success of SaaS solutions from the SaaS provider’s point of view. Method: This study followed an abductive approach due to the possibility to simultaneously review existing theory and examine the empirical findings in the analysis. Furthermore, an exploratory study was conducted utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data was gathered through a standardized online survey of the customers of a SaaS provider and then analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with SaaS providers, SaaS customers, and researchers of related fields and then analysed using a hermeneutic data analysis approach. The results of both methods were then triangulated to create the adapted model. Conclusion: Three antecedents of information systems success in the SaaS context were identified as part of this study. The antecedents are Management Support, User Involvement, and Trust. These antecedents can be used as levers by the SaaS provider to steer the success of their solution. Furthermore, the antecedents are integrated in a comprehensive Information Systems Success Model to measure and understand the success of SaaS solutions from the SaaS provider’s point of view.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:19:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giuvane Conti.pdf: 4640595 bytes, checksum: 144683112870e74bdbcd0335c9aac15a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The growth of the smartphone market, combined with the technologies used in these devices, motivates the use of this equipment in field applications because of its georeferencing potential and internet access. In cloud computing, a prominent concept is the Internet of Things (IoT) due to the exponential growth of data where are generated in day-to-day. The idea of centralization of this data, acquired from various areas, such as agriculture, urban mobility, urbanization, government, health, business, etc., are current challenges that the IoT find out to solve. It still in contrast, NoSQL databases, which have some differentiating features from relational models and they have the potential to solve some of these challenges, such as horizontal growth, high data availability and easy storage of complex structures. Another promising technology to solve some of these challenges is the RESTful, a web service that provides faster and works with fewer bytes than the communication with Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). In this context, this research was developed with the goal of creating a GIS Mobile application, to collect geospatial data (points, lines and polygons) and store them in an application server, in Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture, using RESTful and NoSQL. The structure follows the concept of IoT, with high potential for integration data from different areas, such as in this study. In this research were performed tests in field at the Fazenda Escola Capão-da-onça (FESCON) on 11 and 13 August 2015. A planning missions, has been pre - set to get the best results from Global Positioning System (GPS). On those dates were collected geo data on crop plots, lines and points of interest, such as erosion areas, failures in the soil and low productivity areas. The samples taken were successful and had no problems or failures, that is, the application provided facility of use and synchronization of the data with the application server. The results of the field surveys, have been exported to files in KML format and presented on thematic maps with the help of Google Earth tool. In conclusion, the project has a high potential for registration of agricultural properties and spatial geo data and, your architecture is relevant for the development of geospatial, agricultural projects in GIS Mobile area, where need to handle complex data and provide high data availability, such as Rural environmental registry (CAR, in brazil); Precision agriculture; Georeferenced control of agricultural, natural resources and urbanization data; and Business logistics applications. / O crescimento do mercado de smartphones, combinado com as tecnologias empregadas nestes aparelhos, motiva seu uso em aplicações a campo devido ao seu potencial de georreferenciamento e acesso a internet. Em computação na nuvem, um conceito proeminente é a Internet of Things (IoT) ou Internet das Coisas devido ao crescimento exponencial de dados que são gerados no dia-a-dia. A ideia da centralização destes dados, provenientes de várias áreas, como: agricultura, mobilidade urbana, urbanização, governamentais, saúde, empresariais, etc., são desafios atuais que a Internet das Coisas procura solucionar. Destaca-se ainda, os bancos de dados NoSQL, os quais possuem potencial para solução de alguns destes desafios. Outra tecnologia promissora para solucionar alguns destes desafios é o padrão RESTful, um web service que apresenta rapidez e trabalha com quantidades reduzidas de bytes em sua comunicação. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o objetivo de criar um Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG) Móvel, que realize a coleta de dados geoespaciais (pontos, linhas e polígonos), se comunique com um servidor de aplicação, no modelo Software as a Service (SaaS) que irá armazenar os dados em um banco de dados MongoDB e sua arquitetura segue o conceito de Internet das Coisas. Foram realizados testes a campo na Fazenda Escola Capão-da-onça (FESCON) nos dias 11 e 13 de agosto de 2015. Um planejamento de missões, foi pré - estabelecido, para obter os melhores resultados do Sistema de Posicionamento Global (GPS). Nas referidas datas foram coletados polígonos em talhões de culturas, linhas e pontos de interesse, tais como áreas de erosão, falhas no solo e áreas de baixa produtividade. As coletas realizadas foram bem sucedidas, o aplicativo proporcionou facilidade de uso e de sincronismo dos dados com o servidor de aplicação. Os resultados, dos levantamentos à campo, foram exportados para arquivos no formato KML e apresentados em mapas, com auxílio da ferramenta Google Earth. Conclui-se que, o projeto apresenta alto potencial de uso para cadastro de propriedades agrícolas e dados espacializados e, sua arquitetura é pertinente para o desenvolvimento de projetos geoespaciais, agrícolas em SIG Móvel, que necessitem tratar dados complexos e apresentem alta disponibilidade de dados, tais como: Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR); Agricultura de precisão; Controle georreferenciado de dados agrícolas, recursos naturais e urbanização; e Aplicações empresariais de logística.

This diploma work is focused on the Cloud Computing and its possible applications in the Czech Republic. The first part of the work is theoretical and describes accessible sources analysis related to its topic. Historical circumstances are given in the relation to the evolution of this technology. Also few definitions are quoted, followed by the Cloud Computing basic taxonomy and common models of use. The chapter named Cloud Computing Architecture covers the generally accepted model of this technology in details. In the part focused on theory are mentioned some of the services opearating on this technology. At the end the theoretical part brings possibility of the Cloud Computing usage from the customer's and supplier's perspective. The practical part of the diploma work is divided into sections. The first one brings results of the questionnare research, performed by the author in the Czech Republic, focused on the usage of the Cloud Computing and virtualization services. In the sekond section is pre-feasibility study. The study is focused on the providing SaaS Services in the area of long-term and safe digital data store. Lastly there is an author's view on the Cloud Computing technology future and possible evolution.