Product software
Lecture 1: 12-11-2018
Businesses make money through developing business plans and focusing on the right platform.
- Ecommerce: bol.com
- Storage & systems management: Dropbox
- Analytics & Business Intelligence: Google Analytics
- Data management & integration
- Security: fox-it
- Billing & Security provisioning: PayPal
- Content document: WordPress
- Supply chain management: Oracle
- CRM & Marketing: Sales force
- Communications & Collaboration: Slack
90% of the things above are B2B: Business to business
Societal context: ICT innovations create new products, services, companies, jobs, economic value,
social value
What is product software?
Differentiate from:
- Tailor-made (handgemaakt) software: Large ICT service companies such as CMG, ATOS-ORIGIN
- Embedded software: Consumer electronics, office machinery: Philips, OCE, AMSL
Software product: a packaged configuration of software components, or a software-based service
with auxiliary materials, which is released for and traded in a specific market. They depend on
hardware. Examples of software products:
- Open Source software
- ERP software
- Operating systems
- Search-engine
- Computer-aided-design
- Software development environments
- Hospital information system
- All software you are using in daily life
Key differences in software products
1. Market introduction requires precise synchronization of dependable software engineering
activities
2. The same product requires installation and usage in different organizations, with different
hardware and software platforms
, 3. The vendor company stays owner of the software and auxiliary materials, while the usage is
licensed to the customers
The biggest challenge of these companies is the talent of people
The industry is recession proof, because the industry is diverse
Organizational structure
Organizational structures because of:
- Growing organizations need functional specialists
- Management has limits in delegation
Categories (important for exam together with the picture below):
- F: Functional - HRM, Development, Sales, Marketing..
- P: Product - ERP, Middleware, BIS, Localizations…
- M: Market - Large accounts, SME, Public, Banking and insurers…
- G: Geographic - Benelux, Nordix, UK, France…
Standard F structure & Investment and profits
Profit=Revenue-Deductions
+ means revenue
– means deductions
,P-type for R&D
R&D departments are responsible for a product line
Product Management:
- Functional responsibility
- Liaison with Marketing
Architecture Board:
- Technical responsibility
- Interfacing of products
Quality and Delivery:
- Generic configuration management
- Testing and quality management
- Documentation and translation
Ownership R&D
Team has all roles for development of a product:
- Design
- Realization
- Testing
- Configuration Management
- Documentation
Architecture ~ Organizational structure (Conway’s law)
M-type for sales
- Centralized customer relationship management
o Relationship with Support
- Large international companies have first a G-type for Sales
Other departments
1. Marketing
- Always for the whole company
- Uniform market presentation
- Market launches
- Customer reference stories
, 2. Services
- Implementation, Technical installation, Training, Customizations, Organizational
improvement
- Pool of consultants
- P-, G-, M-type
3. Support
- 1st line (questions): Generic for all products
- 2nd line (simple defects): P-type
- 3rd line (complex defects): performed by R&D on standard product; or by Services on
customizations
Product management
Responsible for:
- Requirements management
- Release plan
- Roadmap
- Portfolio management
Positioned in Marketing and R&D
Lecture 2: 15-11-2018 [Slinger Online]
Software ecosystems (SECO): groups of companies working together/ a set of actors functioning as a
unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with relationships
among them
SECO scope levels
Three different scope levels for different entities of interest:
a. Software Supply Network (SSN): actors and their relationships
b. SECO: SSNs and their relationships
c. SECOs: SECOs and their relationships
Why model software ecosystems?
- To determine ecosystem strategies
- Can supply insights
- Determine strategies for participants (make participants explicit)
- Can be used for risk assessment
Model SECOs by using a: Product Deployment Context (PDC), or a Software Supply Network (SSN)
