Supporting Remote Customer Involvement in Distributed Agile Development: A Coordination Approach

Author(s):  
Sultan Alyahya ◽  
Reem Bin-Hezam ◽  
Mohamed Maddeh
2020 ◽  
pp. 120-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gedas Baranauskas

This paper summarizes the main theoretical points within the scientific discussion on the issue of digitalization in Mass Customization concept and online Mass Customization frameworks. Origins of a stand-alone Mass Customization concept drawback to the second half of the 1990s, but major theoretical content changes and development have been identified in the last 2 decades. An intensive application of combined technology and management solutions, digital society and business transformations in the past decade has shifted the orientation of the concept to intangible products management, customer involvement and mutual value creation via frameworks in the online environment. The main purpose of the research is to reveal and present the role and impact of the digitalization sub-domain to the Mass Customization concept, its transition to the e-concept version and modelling of new combined online customization frameworks. The decision relevance of this scientific problem is multiple issues in transitions of practical organizations to the modern and mixed technological-management approach-based Mass Customization version as well as application limitations of existing online customization frameworks. The analysis of the research topic is carried out in the logical sequence. Firstly, the author presented the influence of the digitalization sub-domain to theoretical transformations of traditional Mass Customization concept. Then, a case study of the organizational transition to electronic Mass Customization and Personalization and online customization frameworks was conducted. Methodological tools and research methods used in the paper have been integrative literature review and narrative synthesis of qualitative findings of 53 articles, and a simplified Robinson conceptual modelling framework together with a c-tuple method for the simulation of new combined online customization frameworks. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that within last decade both practical and academic attention to sustainable and agile development of new, fully digital customized products and personalized services as well as flexible online customization frameworks and solutions significantly have increased. Furthermore, here the extent by 6 new online customization frameworks is offered next to 3 standard theoretical online customization frameworks, which became difficult to apply in the environment and preferences of modern e-business organizations and digital end-users. The results of the research can be useful for continuous scientific researches to test and validate 6 new online customization frameworks in a feedback loop part and evaluate the influence of these frameworks to a digital end-user behaviour, their role in frameworks and attitude aspects. Keywords customization, digital, online frameworks, personalization, standardization


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Sestak ◽  
Zdenek Havlice

Author(s):  
Sultan Alyahya ◽  
Ohoud Almughram

Abstract The integration of user-centered design (UCD) activities into agile information systems development has become more popular recently. Despite the fact that there are many ways the merging of UCD activities into agile development can be carried out, it has been widely recognized that coordinating design activities with development activities is one of the most common problems, especially in distributed environments where designers, developers and users are spread over several sites. The main approach to coordinate UCD activities with distributed agile development is the use of informal methods (e.g. communication through using video conference tools). In addition to the temporal, geographical and socio-cultural barriers associated with this type of methods, a major limitation is a lack of awareness of how UCD activities and development activities affect each other. Furthermore, some agile project management tools are integrated with design platforms but fail to provide the necessary coordination that helps team members understand how the design and development activities affect their daily work. This research aims to support the effective management of integrating UCD activities into distributed agile development by (i) identifying the key activity dependencies between UX design teams and development teams during distributed UCD/agile development and (ii) designing a computer-based system to provide coordination support through managing these activity dependencies. In order to achieve these objectives, two case studies are carried out. Our findings revealed 10 main dependencies between UCD design teams and development teams as shown by six types of activity. In addition, the participatory design approach shows that developing a computer-based system to manage seven of these selected dependencies is achievable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6735
Author(s):  
Ganesh Dash ◽  
Debarun Chakraborty

This study explores the relationship between digital marketing practices, customer satisfaction, customer involvement, and purchase intention. The focus is on the life insurance digital marketing strategies during a pandemic and the resultant lockdown and shutdown. This work sought to analyze the digital transformation of marketing practices and the customers’ resultant purchase intentions. COVID-19 was taken as the prevailing pandemic and its impact on the digital transformation of marketing strategies. Five dimensions of digital marketing strategies with eighteen items and three items each of customer satisfaction and purchase intention were considered for practical purposes. It used structural equation modeling to study 535 responses of life insurance customers. Findings indicate that SEM/SEO, display, and E-CRM practices significantly impacted customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Further, a mediation-cum-moderation approach was undertaken. Customer satisfaction significantly affected purchase intention and played a good mediator between digital marketing practices and purchase intention. Additionally, customer involvement moderated the relationship between content marketing and communication with purchase intention. This research work helps life insurance marketers in general. The digital channel managers expressly understand their key areas of strengths regarding the five dimensions of digital marketing strategies. Accordingly, they frame their plans for decision-making to improve customer satisfaction and resultant purchase intentions. It provides a direction for future adoption of specific marketing strategies during a pandemic and consequent shutdown and lockdowns.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-217
Author(s):  
George Papageorgiou ◽  
Anastasia Ioannou ◽  
Athanasios Maimaris ◽  
Alexander Ness

Abstract This paper presents a strategic approach for implementing a Smart Pedestrian Network (SPN) navigation System that is geared towards promoting sustainable mobility. The SPN system is being designed to reach multiple market segments by providing information on suitable walking routes aiming to satisfy potential users’ needs, but also multiple stakeholder demands. The paper presents the main objectives of the SPN system as well as its system structure, application features, functions, and relevant data sources. The proposed strategic implementation framework deems necessary for scaling up so that the SPN system is successfully implemented in a variety of urban conditions. The framework emphasizes the element of adaptability, so that SPN can be adjusted where and when necessary, to deal with a variety of contexts and specific sustainable mobility issues, depending on the particular municipality conditions. The proposed framework combines elements of both the waterfall and agile software development methods, as well as, aspects of Open Innovation, Customer Involvement and Co-Creation taking a multiple stakeholder approach.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Anning-Dorson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how service firms across two different cultural contexts use their customer involvement capabilities to create competitive advantage. The study further assesses the possible complementarity effect of innovation and involvement capabilities in enhancing firm competitiveness. Lastly, the study draws on the complementarity of capabilities and social institutions to examine whether different cultural contexts explain the use of involvement capability among service firms. Design/methodology/approach The study sampled service firms from an emerging economy (India) and high-income economy (The UK), which have different cultural contexts (collectivism/individualist) to assess the hypothesized relationship. Data collection processes were adapted to the contexts to optimize reliability and relevance. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used in analyzing the data. Findings The study finds that cultural contexts explain the positive relationship between customer involvement capability and firm competitiveness such that in collectivist cultures, involvement capability is more positively related to competitiveness but negative in individualistic contexts. However, in both contexts, service firms can through capability bundling increase firm competitiveness. The study found that the complementarity effects of innovation and involvement capabilities were found to be positive in both contexts. Originality/value This study departs from previous studies by arguing that customer involvement is a complementary capability that helps exploit the potential of innovation capability of service firms. This study further demonstrates that cultural context defines the effectiveness of involvement capability in achieving firm competitiveness.


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