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Exploring Business Model Changes in Software-as-a-Service Firms

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Software Business (ICSOB 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 336))

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Abstract

This paper reports the findings from research on the changes in the business models of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firms. The extant literature defines these firms through the use of cloud computing technologies as part of their products and service. However, current literature is missing consideration of the effects of adopting these technologies on the elements of business model, including value proposition, activities, structure and revenue logic. This paper presents findings from 324 responses to a questionnaire survey on how these business model elements of software firms have changed as a result of adopting cloud computing technologies and competitive pressures, and identifies the differences in changes between the SaaS firms originating from software product and software services business. The findings suggest that the SaaS firms are generally unifying their core product offering and pricing across customers and increasing their sales efforts. Besides, the two types of SaaS firms are different in terms of their software-related activities. The present study therefore provides insights into development of the software market, where SaaS firms are claimed to challenge the proprietary software vendors. The findings also imply that the conceptualization of SaaS in IS adoption and IT outsourcing studies can be improved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, Agora, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Eetu Luoma, Gabriella Laatikainen & Oleksiy Mazhelis

Authors
  1. Eetu Luoma
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  2. Gabriella Laatikainen
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  3. Oleksiy Mazhelis
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Correspondence to Eetu Luoma .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Krzysztof Wnuk

  2. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Sjaak Brinkkemper

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Luoma, E., Laatikainen, G., Mazhelis, O. (2018). Exploring Business Model Changes in Software-as-a-Service Firms. In: Wnuk, K., Brinkkemper, S. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2018. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 336. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04840-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04840-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04839-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04840-2

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