publishing commercial information on the internet

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publishing commercial information on the internet

Roy Piek

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on the internet

Master thesis

.. to obtain a Master of Science degree at the University of Groningen

Institution: University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Management and Organization, Master of Science in Business Administration on Business and ICT.

Author: Roy Piek

s1373994

E-mail: roypiek@hotmail.com

Course: Master Thesis

1st Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ir. J. L. Simons

2nd Supervisor: Dr. A. Boonstra

Company: DigiBrochure.nl and Verhuur.nl

Date: June 28, 2005

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Preface

In order to graduate for my study Master of Science in Business Administration at the University of Groningen, I started my graduation assignment in September 2004. I was provided the possibility to do a graduation assignment at

DigiBrochure.nl, a new startup company by Verhuur.nl

The limited size of Verhuur.nl and DigiBrochure.nl and the informal relations made it possible for me to learn a lot about the way a small company is managed. The freedom that was given me by Wubbe Alvering was very appreciated by me. I had a great time working for DigiBrochure.nl and conducting the research what

resulted in this research paper. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Wubbe Alvering for his time and trust. I also want to thank Wilma, Desiree and Max for the past months. It was nice working with you all. Special thanks to Laura, with whom I enjoyed working and made time available for reading this research paper. Your remarks where very instructive for me.

Prof. Dr. Ir. J.L. Simons provided the input of the University of Groningen for this assignment. Mr. Simons theoretical insights and knowledge about the

methodology and subject were very useful and constructive. I would like to thank mr. Simons for his effort and time he put into this assignment. Finally I would like to thank my family and friends who supported me during the assignment. I would like to specially thank Martine for her patience and support.

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Management summary

This research paper reports about the quality characteristics that are applicable for publishing methods that publish commercial information on the internet.

DigiBrochure.nl is a company that tries to market the service of designing and creating commercial publications for companies with the help of a publishing method called DigiBrochure. DigiBrochure.nl deals with the problem that they do not know what quality characteristics are important to publish commercial

information on the internet in an attractive and appealing way. The objective of this assignment is twofold. First, to formulate a set of quality characteristics tailored for publishing information online and second to find out how DigiBrochure faces these quality characteristics. To come up with an answer for these objectives the main research question is formulated as:

“What are the alternative technologies for publishing information online and what quality standards are important for publishing commercial information on the internet and to what extend does DigiBrochure face these quality standards?”

In order to answer this main research question the three most important publishing technologies are described (HTML, Adobe PDF and Macromedia Flash). For each technology a description is given and the main advantages and disadvantages are analyzed and discussed. It seems that HTML-based publishing is stretched to its limits. The design features, the lack on interactivity options and the inability to create a good look and feel indicate that this technology is not suited for publishing commercial information in an attractive and appealing way.

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publishing (scientific) papers that have to be searchable for a library system or the company’s intranet. PDF is used for commercial publications on the internet but is not really meant for this. Flash however can be seen as the new dominant

technology for publishing online. The possibilities on interactivity, design and desktop like applications make it a very good technology to use.

Next to the overview of available technologies an analysis is give about the different views on software quality and the three main hierarchical models are described (Boehm, McCall and ISO). It is argued that the term “quality” can be viewed at from multiple angles, is hard to define an it is hardly possible to create a set of quality characteristics that are complete. The different characteristics are sometimes in conflict, subject to constraints and hard to measure.

Further, the quality characteristics tailored for publishing information online are founded and based within the software quality characteristics. The quality characteristics for online publishing are introduced, founded within a software quality characteristic and discussed. At the end, a hierarchical tree structure of quality characteristics for online publishing is given.

Finally, DigiBrochure is faced with these quality characteristics to come up with an overal picture how DigiBrochure stands in relation to the quality characteristics. It appears that DigiBrochure “scores” not good on readability, interactivity and maintainability, while the portability and efficiency are quality characteristics that are good within the DigiBrochure publishing method.

About the quality characteristics for publishing commercial information online it can be concluded that DigiBrochure needs more functionality, readability and

interactivity to have a qualitative good publishing method. DigiBrochure itself should have an employee with deep knowledge of Flash, XML and HTML to make DigiBrochures and to ensure the reliability and maintainability of the publishing method.

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Chapter 1 Introduction

This research deals with the quality standards that are necessary for publishing commercial information on the internet. In this first chapter the motive for choosing this research topic will be addressed and the developments that lead to the fact that choosing the right publishing method is more important than ever before.

The chapter starts with an introduction about the company which generated the business goal statement for this research; Verhuur.nl, which also facilitates, funds and has an interest in this research. In paragraph 1.2 and the sub seeding paragraphs the purpose of this research and the importance of the research for companies is discussed. Next, the technological breakthroughs that made electronic publishing possible are discussed with the help of Mills and Walter (2003) and the disruptive character of the technological innovations is explained.

So, the chapter is split up in two paragraphs. The first paragraph (1.1) addresses Verhuur.nl. Paragraph 1.2 discusses the context and the importance of the

research. This is made clear by introducing the customer buying cycle in paragraph 1.2.1. Paragraph 1.2.2 deals with the increasing cable capacity in the Netherlands which is the major (technical) driving force behind website improvements. In paragraph 1.2.3 an overview of the technological breakthroughs that lead to the arise of electronic publishing is given. The disruptive character of electronic publishing will be discussed in paragraph 1.2.4.

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006

1.1 Verhuur.nl and its business goals

In this paragraph Verhuur.nl is introduced. Verhuur.nl is a company which facilitates the website www.verhuur.nl. On the website people or organizations that want to rent something come in contact with, mainly Dutch, rental companies.

Verhuur.nl is part of the Easy-2-Find group.

1.1.1 Verhuur.nl its business statement

Verhuur.nl is a specialized company that concentrates on the intermediate function between rental companies on one end and potential customers (for these rental companies) on the other end. Verhuur.nl purpose is to bring potential customers into contact with the rental companies in the Netherlands.

The mission of verhuur.nl is stated as follows:

“Verhuur.nl wants to become the leading webportal for the rental business, which brings searchers for rental equipment and services and rental companies

together”¹

A company’s business is defined by what needs it is trying to satisfy, by which customer groups it is targeting, and by the technologies and competencies it uses and the activities it performs. A strategically revealing mission statement

incorporates three elements (Abell, 1980 and Thompson and Strickland, 2003):

1 Customer needs, or what is being satisfied.

The customers needs, Verhuur.nl, satisfies should be split up in two groups. The need, Verhuur.nl, wants to satisfy for rental companies is to give rental companies

1 Depicted from: Verhuur.nl, Business model, 2000

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the opportunity to create a complete profile off their company and the products / services they offer on a website that only focuses on the rental business in the Netherlands. In such way, Verhuur.nl generates another sales channel for the rental companies. Another need, Verhuur.nl satisfies is the fact that it makes the rental business more transparent.

Second, the need Verhuur.nl wants to satisfy for people or organizations that want to rent something is to give organizations and individuals the opportunity to easily find a rental company which offers the product they desire within a specified geographical region.

2 Customer groups, or who is being satisfied.

Verhuur.nl tries to satisfy the need for all rental companies in the Netherlands despite the size of the company. Verhuur.nl has a broad array of opportunities for small business that only have one or two products for rent as well as large rental companies with hundreds of products to offer. By choosing other types of profiles on Verhuur.nl both groups can be satisfied.

Second, Verhuur.nl tries to satisfy the need by potential customers of rental companies by providing one, well designed website, where as many rental companies as possible (within the Netherlands) have published information about their company and which products / services they have to offer. Further, visitors of Verhuur.nl can come into contact with the rental company of their choice.

3 The company’s activities, technologies, and competencies, or how the

company goes about creating and delivering value to customers and satisfying their needs.

The majority of activities within Verhuur.nl are tailored to increase the volume of rental companies that have a subscription on Verhuur.nl. The primary process of Verhuur.nl consists of calling rental companies and try to interest them for a subscription with Verhuur.nl. To create value and to satisfy the rental companies, the profiles are made up by employees of Verhuur.nl, to decrease the work for the

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rental company. The profiles are made up in such a way that the companies product offer are presented in an attractive and appealing way. Search results (defined as the amount of visitors that read the rental company’s profile) are monitored and when search figures are not good enough, Verhuur.nl contacts the rental company to discuss the search results.

Verhuur.nl uses a CRM system to come into contact with all the rental companies and to document all contact between the rental company and Verhuur.nl. The website of Verhuur.nl is constructed in such a way that it is easy for visitors to search for a certain product or rental company and for rental companies to give a good overview of their product offer. Verhuur.nl also tries to give a lot of

information about the rental business because many people and organizations do not know that you can almost rent anything. This information is collected in certain specials surrounding a topic, like vacation or wedding. So, they try to generate more awareness of the possibilities the rental business has to offer. Verhuur.nl invests a lot of resources in increasing the amounts of visitors on the site. The more visitors on Verhuur.nl the higher chance the rental companies come into contact with these potential customers. A lot of marketing efforts are done to increase the amount of visitors.

1.1.2 History

Verhuur.nl was founded in the year 2000 by Wubbe Alvering. Mr. Alvering has a lot of experience in running companies in various businesses. He is managing director of a local Dutch newspaper called “Lougblad, De krant voor Westerwolde”². This newspaper is published ten times a year in the region of Vlagtwedde in the southern part of the province of Groningen. Mr. Alvering also managed an advertising agency, but this company was ended in the year 2000. Next to these two companies, mr. Alvering also manages a company with the name

“Webbrothers”. This company bought a lot of internet domains a few years ago and sells them to individuals or companies with an interest in a certain domain.

2 www.lougblad.nl

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Then, in the year 1999, mr. Alvering launched the Easy-2-Find group. Easy-2-Find itself is an investment company with three shareholders. The purpose of the company is to finance concepts made by the shareholders. The shareholders have all invested in the company and acquired a certain number of shares. A few times each year, they come together and discuss the profitability of the Easy-2-Find Group, which investments have to be made and, whenever needed, decide which concepts have to be supported. Easy-2-Find is closely related to the internet, and only has shares in companies that have internetrelated activities. They have had, for example, shares in the company Aqtion ID BV located in Winschoten. This is a company which builds information systems, websites and other internet related applications. Easy-2-Find has also funded Verhuur.nl. During one of the shareholder meetings, mr. Alvering was appointed the managing director of Verhuur.nl.

In the same period of the launch of the Easy-2-Find Group, mr. Alvering noticed that the rental business in the Netherlands was very scattered. His initial idea was to launch a business related magazine focused on the rental business. He thought it could be marketed because there are enough news items and stories to write about the rental business. Furthermore, there were enough potential companies or organizations willing to advertise in the magazine. Mr. Alvering analyzed the market, wrote a business plan and discussed that with the other shareholders within Easy-2-Find. The shareholders were enthusiastic about the proposed plan, but had their doubts about the initial investment that was needed and the sub seeding financial risk the shareholders had to face. All shareholders also had (and have) the belief that the internet was (for the future) a better medium to make a profit. Eventually, the launch of a business related magazine for the rental business was put on-hold.

Mr. Alvering still believed that the rental business was potentially a good business to target. After a few discussions with the shareholders, the idea was launched to develop a website that could bring rental companies and people or organizations who needed to rent something together.

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They wanted to perform the role of an intermediary. They started with a thorough market research and found out that there was not a single website on the internet that offered this service and that the need for a website that performed the role of intermediary was welcome and had value for the rental companies. The domain www.verhuur.nl is the best domain for a search engine focused on the rental business in the Netherlands, so this domain was acquired.

1.1.3 Business model of Verhuur.nl

The intention of Verhuur.nl is to become the leading website for people who want to rent something. For the rental companies, Verhuur.nl offers the opportunity to give a full description of their company profile, a complete overview of all products (including pictures and specifications) the rental company has to offer, a link to their website and contact data. Rental companies can also define in what geographical region they want to offer their products.

For people and organizations that want to rent something, Verhuur.nl offers three different search possibilities. First, visitors have the opportunity to search for a certain product or service. This search can be narrowed by entering a zip code or by selecting the various geographical regions. Second, visitors can search by company name. Third, a certain theme can be selected. These themes are constructed around a certain topic, for example a wedding. The wedding-theme offers visitors a lot of information about the topic, like things to remember while preparing a wedding, related websites, but also where to rent a wedding car or a photographer. So, general information surrounding a certain topic is presented as well as the rental possibilities. The themes offer a good starting point and create advertisement space for rental companies that offer products related to the theme.

The business model of Verhuur.nl is constructed around two types of financial revenues. The main stream of revenues comes from the annual fees the rental companies have to pay. Verhuur.nl offers a wide variety of subscriptions. A

company that offers only one product can subscribe to Verhuur.nl for € 90,- a year.

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Companies which offer an array of products can acquire a subscription for € 360,- a year. Then there are also possibilities to publish a banner behind the company name in the search results. These so-called “logo-banners” cost € 480,-. The second stream of revenues comes from the advertisements companies can acquire for a certain period. The advertisement space is offered in banner places.

A company can place a banner for a certain period on a certain place on the website. The price, Verhuur.nl can charge for these banners depends on the visitors that visit the page, the banner is placed. This year, the website has over 1 million visitors and all these visitors view a total of 6 million pages. The companies that want to place a banner on the homepage for example, need to pay a minimum of € 1800,- a year (depending on the place on the homepage). For other pages, lower prices have to be paid. Every year the prices for banners, and subscriptions are analyzed and altered if needed. In total, more than 450 companies have a subscription to Verhuur.nl. This is about 5 percent of the total rental market. The general business model of Verhuur.nl is presented in the next figure.

Figure 1: business model of Verhuur.nl

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006 1.1.4 Search for extra functionalities

In the period from the start-up phase in 2000 until July 2004, Verhuur.nl grew from only a few subscriptions to over 450 today. The turnover and cash flow increased conform the expectations and continuous improvements were made to the website.

The growth in turnover in the past few years was, however not rapid enough to make a profit. Trend analysis indicated that the gap between the current financial position and the break-even point was hard to bridge. Therefore, mr. Alvering decided to do something more rigorous. First, he changed the lay-out of the website and created more appealing advertisement (banner) spaces. The prices for a subscription and the prices for banners increased to boost turnover. Second, in the search for sustainable, unique and better service than the main competitors (www.verhuurweb.nl, www.verhuurnet.nl, www.detelefoongids.nl and the main search engines) mr. Alvering initiated the idea to give the rental companies with a subscription on Verhuur.nl the possibility to enhance their subscription on Verhuur.nl by placing their catalogue or information folder online. The way of publishing these catalogues and information brochures should, however, be attractive and unique. The unique offer to the rental companies was that, with the help of this new publishing method, rental companies now had the opportunity to have an attractive way of presenting online catalogues, folders, magazines or brochures on Verhuur.nl. During the search for a unique and attractive publishing method, mr. Alvering came in contact with a company called Forward Thinking³. They developed a program called Turnpages, that was able to turn PDF files into an electronic brochure that could be read just like a book. The effect of “turning pages like in a book” is very appealing and is rather unique for the internet-world.

In August 2004 a license was bought.

The service, Verhuur.nl was intending to introduce was to give rental companies the opportunity to publish their information folder or brochure, in an attractive way, on their profile within Verhuur.nl. However, during the first few weeks of creating electronic catalogues, brochures or folders for rental companies, Verhuur.nl found

3 www.forwardthinking.nl, www.turnpages.nl

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out that the ability to turn PDF files into electronic brochures, catalogues, folders or magazines was attractive not only for the rental business, but also for many more businesses. The vacation business for example is a very good example of a business that is very interested in electronic brochures. Verhuur.nl decided to try to market this new product in various other businesses as well.

1.1.5 DigiBrochure as a spinn-off from Verhuur.nl

To find out if electronic brochures could be a new way of publishing on the internet for companies, the license is extended till June 2005. During that period a few different businesses and industries are targeted to find out if there are sufficient companies that have serious interest in electronic brochures. To set things up, the domain www.digibrochure.nl was acquired and a second brand name was acquired by the Chamber of Commerce in Groningen. In the future, the plan is to spin-off DigiBrochure from Verhuur.nl and make it a company on its own. Before such a decision is made, DigiBrochure needs to prove itself not only financially by making a certain turnover to give it a financial perspective, but also the publishing method itself should be considered. The publishing method must meet certain quality standards.

In August 2005, a meeting with the shareholders will take place. During that meeting a go or no go decision will be made. That decision depends on three aspects. First, the practical information, collected during the test phase, that comes out of the different businesses is very important. Second, the financial

consequences the launch of DigiBrochure.nl has for the shareholders (investors) and for Verhuur.nl. Third, this research paper about the theoretical view whether or not DigiBrochure meets the quality standards that will be made up in this research.

If DigiBrochure proves itself sufficient on all three aspects, it is likely the company is launched and invested in.

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006 1.1.6 Business goal statement of DigiBrochure.nl

As stated before a strategically revealing mission statement incorporates three elements (Abell, 1980 and Thompson and Strickland, 2003). The business goal statement for DigiBrochure is constructed as follows.

1 Customer needs, or what is being satisfied.

All companies are putting extensive money, time and resources in the process of trying to keep visitors longer on the company website and inform them about the product and service information the company has to offer. These visitors should be informed in an attractive and appealing way to create a positive user experience.

DigiBrochure thinks it has come up with a service that enables companies to create this positive user experience by publishing the information in a new and attractive way for a relative low price. DigiBrochure uses software that turns PDF files into a Macromedia Flash application that simulates the “turning pages of a book”. This way of presenting information is new, attractive and appealing for internet users.

2 Customer groups, or who is being satisfied.

DigiBrochure focuses on Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) in the rental business and vacation business which are active in the Netherlands. The choice for the rental business is because of the deep knowledge and experience in the business and the good and broad contacts that Verhuur.nl build up. The vacation business is targeted because of the extensive use of paper catalogues, vacation brochures and magazines that can be turned into a DigiBrochure.

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006 3 The company’s activities, technologies, and competencies, or how the

company goes about creating and delivering value to customers and satisfying their needs.

DigiBrochure its activities are designed in two teams. First, there is the sales team that tries to find interested companies in a DigiBrochure in the rental business and the vacation business. Sales are performed by using the telephone.

Second, the transformation team turns PDF files into DigiBrochures and tailors the DigiBrochure to the demands and wishes of the clients. This transformation team also performs the task of helpdesk and sends the finished DigiBrochure to the client.

The technology, DigiBrochure is using is developed by a company called Forward Thinking. DigiBrochure has a license off the program and can use it for a certain period of time. The management of DigiBrochure.nl is investigating if it is possible and wishful to create a software package on its own. A CRM system is used to document the contact data between the sales team and the client and to monitor the status of the construction off the DigiBrochures.

The ultimate value, DigiBrochure, is creating for there clients is the fact that it offers a unique and attractive way of publishing their information on the clients website.

1.2 Research context

The increasing popularity of the internet has forced all organizations to thoroughly analyze their business models, strategies and internal processes. The value of communication has increased dramatically.

Customers are more informed then ever before, because they are able to analyze different companies and purchase the product from the company with the best product offer. So, the power of customers has increased. Before the rise of the internet, companies printed and published folders, brochures, catalogues, magazines and so on to inform potential customers about their products or services.

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Although the printed media are still here and probably will stay as a communication tool for a while, the internet has partly taken over the role of information channel for potential customers. Companies nowadays give information about the company, its products and services on their website. For most companies, their website

functions as a promotional information channel to reach potential customers.

Usually, the goals of websites are defined in terms of amounts of traffic towards the website or the amount of visitors during one month. These are derived goals from the more primary goals of any website like a reduction in transaction costs or an increase in turnover. An owner of a website should not only wonder how to generate traffic to the website but finding ways to generate visitors that really use the website. Which steps are necessary to come to a sale or other actions that benefit the websites owner. The most important attribute for a websites success is the perceived user experience. A positive user experience lead to more results out of the website activities. Positive experiences will lead to more repeating visits to a website. Positive internet experiences are an important element in today’s

customer driven market. An important element that lead to a positive user experience is the usability of a website. If a visitor cannot find what he wants, he leaves the website and searches further for other sites that can fulfil his need.

1.2.1 Customer buying cycle

As stated before, one of the primary goals of a company website is to come into contact with potential customers and, ultimately to facilitate business transactions.

These business transaction can take place with the help of the internet (E- commerce) or can take place by directing the internet user to a store.

There are several views in the marketing literature on customer buying processes (Berthon et al., 1996; Churchill et al., 1993). All these approaches basically

suggest a basic thread; the customer buying cycle (Merwe, van der R., 2003). This customer buying cycle consists of four distinct phases. These phases are:

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006 1) Need recognition

A potential customer realizes a specific need (For example, buying a certain book).

During this phase potential customers visit the company website. The interface is most important at this stage, because this determines the user’s first impression of the site. Berthon et al. (1996) suggests that, on the internet, there is a previous phase, namely, finding the site. No further attention is given to this potentially previous phase because in this research the main focus lies on the content and appearance of the website.

2) Gather information

The customer gathers information on the internet, in various stores, in different media and other sources of information. During this phase, customers explore the site and search for the right products / services in which they are interested.

Navigation, logic and clear menus are important in this phase.

3) Evaluate information

Customers make the choice whether to buy the product or not. In this stage of the customer buying cycle the content of the website is most important. Content refers to the actual information on the site.

4) Make purchase

The customers purchases the products / services they have chosen. The reliability of the site is extremely important at this stage.

The different phases in the customer buying cycle should be taken into account when designing and developing a company website. The topic of this research, which electronic publishing method to choose, is important for the second, gather information, phase. When potential customers have found the company website, they need to be informed in a readable, logic, well presented way.

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What companies often forget is that attractivity plays a vital role to turn potential customers in customers who actually buy something.

So, the goal is to turn potential customers in buying customers. To do so, all four phases have to be successfully walked through. The right publishing method helps to go from phase 2, gathering information, to phase 3, evaluate information. These two phases have altered significantly by the popularity of the internet. On the internet, potential customers can make a comparison off several companies within a few minutes. To be able to present the commercial information in a readable and attractive manner is vital to go from step 2 till 3 in the customer buying cycle.

Now that the position of a publishing method regarding positive user experience and within the customer buying cycle is made clear the arise of the different technologies used for presenting information on the internet will be discussed.

Paragraph 1.2.2 will deal with the driving force behind website improvements, the ever increasing cable capacity. Paragraph 1.2.3 will deal with the different technology development stages the world has gone and will go in the near future.

The different technology development stages will give the problem regarding electronic publishing methods a perspective within time.

1.2.2 Cable capacity developments

Figure 2 illustrates the developments in the capacity of the cable network in the Netherlands.

In the nineties, the first generation cables had a capacity of 115k per second. In the year 2000, the cable capacity increased to around the 38-52 mb per second. The trend towards the year 2020 indicates that the cable capacity will be up to 100 mb per second. These cable capacities will be available for the “general” households.

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Figure 2: Capacity of the cable infrastructure in the Netherlands (based on report by TNO4)

Organizations like Universities and high tech companies will probably have higher connections available. In general, the increase of the cable capacity in the

Netherlands has an autonomous growth percentage of 60 percent. The rapid increase of the cable capacity reduces the download times and waiting times for websites and other internet services. The enhanced cable capacity also gives companies the opportunity to investigate how to upgrade their website and to enhance their website by more powerful internet services. The use of extensive images, movies and other tools or programmes were not suitable for the limited bandwidth, internet users were using. Nowadays, these options can be used to enhance the appearance and value of a companies’ website. The opportunities to publish the company and product / service information also broadened. Previously, most companies published their commercial information based on the HTML technology or sometimes on Acrobats Adobe PDF technology.

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Nowadays, besides the two technologies mentioned before, companies can also use “newer” technologies like Macromedia’s Flash, streaming video or dynamic HTML. These technologies have additional functionalities. The decision on how to publish their company and product / service information cannot easily be answered anymore. Companies have to thoroughly analyze the pros and cons of each technology and the sub seeding efforts that have to be made to improve and maintain the website.

Mills and Walter (2004) discuss in their paper that companies need to develop a content strategy. Content strategy is defined as the overall game plan for

leveraging intellectual property for financial and strategic advantage. Developing a content strategy has become a corporate necessity, because effectiveness and efficiency of digital communication have become competitive facets of business in every sector of the economy. So, because of the advances in technology, new publishing methods will appear, all with their advantages and disadvantages. This gives companies the opportunity for diversification from the mainstream by adopting a publishing method which is not regular. By doing so, companies can enhance their website in such a way that it turns potential customers to buying customers.

The different possibilities in electronic publishing follow a few stages that have occurred in the past decades or that will start in the near future. Paragraph 1.2.3 discusses these so-called publishing technology development stages.

1.2.3 Publishing technology development stages

Publishing technology has a very long history of developments and innovations, dating back to the invention of writing, which will not be discussed in this research paper. Also, the 20^th century waves of publishing technology predating the personal computer, including the invention of hot metal linecasters, phototypesetting and

4 Report by TNO: Ontwikkeling van diensten en kabelinfrastructuur, available at:

http://www.nederlandbreed.nl/downloads/pdf/TNO%20Rapport%20061004.pdf

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dedicated (mainframe- and minicomputer-based) publishing systems will not be discussed, since these technologies have all disappeared from the marketplace.

In this paragraph, the developments in publishing will be discussed, to mark the time the publishing world is currently in. Also the place of electronic publishing becomes clear, to better understand the bigger picture. In the last decade, the technological developments are very rapid. Figure 3 gives an example at which rate the power of some technologies doubles or the cost per capacity halves (Mills and Walter, 2003).

Figure 3: Technology developments

Just like computing in general, publishing has had its own stages of development marked by advances in technology. Figure 4 summarizes current and emerging stages of publishing technology and highlights the key directions and innovations of each stage (Mills and Walter, 2003).

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Figure 4: Publishing technology development stages (based on Mills and Walter, 2003)

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The column headings of the chart identify five technology stages. The first three - desktop, server and World Wide Web – are current stages that are still evolving.

The second two columns – network services and semantic web – are emerging technologies that will shape the publishing world during the coming decade. The stages overlap and continue to evolve, building on each other (from left to right in figure 4). The rows of the chart summarize directions and innovations associated with each stage:

Technology directions are discussed in terms of their economic drivers, the focus of development during each stage, the resulting benefits and the key points of impact. In each stage, the markets, methods, media and economics of publishing are changed.

Innovations of each stage are discussed in terms of platform changes, new forms of content and new media channels. Platform innovations enable economic

breakthroughs. New forms of content open new publishing markets and change the dynamics of market leaders and laggards. DigiBrochure is a company that tries to create a position within a new publishing market. Because of advances in

technology, DigiBrochure is able to create a new product that is interesting for companies.

Mills and Walter (2003) have identified the following stages which are depicted in figure 4.

Desktop stage – This stage started in the 1980s. In this stage, the full-color display of content and graphical user interfaces were introduced. Technology development at this stage focused on the digital representation of content, such as text, tables, graphics, images, audio and video, as well as technologies like PDF and

PostScript. During this period new devices for data input where also introduced, like scanners, mice and graphical tablets. For data output, developments were made in the area of printers (laser and ink-jet printers), digital film and audio and color displays. The main economic driving force was a rapid reduction in page costs as content went digital.

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Server stage – The server stage started in the late 1980s. Its main contribution is the client-server architecture and the database technologies for content, media and publishing workflows. Technology developments in this stage focused on the client- server architecture, the separation of data representation and management from applications. During this period the CD ROM appeared and corporate multi-user applications such as enterprise publishing, ERP and CRM evolved. The main economic driving force was to share information internally within businesses, among internal systems and process steps.

World Wide Web stage – This stage began in the early 1990s. This phase is characterized by inexpensive, global connectivity and access to content and media through linked websites. Technology developments focused on internet protocols as standards, enhancing bandwidth for internet usage, digital information

exchange. During this period hand-held devices like PDA’s and mobile phones appeared. In this period the electronic book was first introduced. DigiBrochure wants to capture a part of the market in this electronic book technology by selling DigiBrochures, which look different from the leading technologies present today (HTML and PDF). The economic driving force of this stage was the rapid increase in the ability to deliver digital page content and media globally via networks. With the arrival of the internet, online publishing (the market DigiBrochure operates in) was no longer the sole province of specialized providers (such as AOL). During this stage, everyone – from journals, newspapers and magazines, to corporate

brochures and newsletters, catalogues, technical documentation and encyclopedias – had a common platform for publishing electronically.

Network-services stage – This stage is already emerging. It is characterized by a shared-resource architecture, integration of content publishing with core business and supply chain processes, and multimedia, rich content delivery. Technology developments are in the area of bandwidth on demand, with anything and everywhere over internet protocols, rich media, mobility, increase in media channels and devices and anything, anywhere delivery of content and media.

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Another term that fits in this stage is the “create once, publish everywhere” content workflows. The economic driving force behind this stage is to five to ten times shift in speed and total process cost.

Semantic–web stage – The semantic web stage has just started. It has two major developments. Firstly, semantics (the meaning of something) is encoded

separately from content. This results in a new form of content. Secondly, semantics is encoded separately from process. This results in a new kind of platform and a new form of process. Technology developments are focused on the movement from simple HTML linkages to machine-interpretable tagged relationships between resources, the development of shared semantics that enable dissimilar systems to discover a Web service and understand what it does, how it works and how to access it. The economic driving force of this stage is to have a serious shift in the economics of knowledge (as contrasted with information).

These different technology stages put the publishing methods of HTML, PDF, Flash (DigiBrochure) in perspective. PDF is the oldest technology dating from the Desktop stage in the 1980s. HTML appeared in the early stages of the World Wide Web stage in the beginning of the 1990s. The Flash based publications appeared in the late World Wide Web stage (in the late 1990s). Furthermore the different stages point out what developments were needed to get to the stage(s) the publishing technology is currently in.

During the stages, the options for companies to decide how to publish their commercial information altered. First, a paper brochure was made and sent to all interested people or organizations, then the internet appeared and companies made a website were they also published their information in a HTML format.

Suddenly, enabled by the technological advances in bandwidth capacity and advances in publishing technology waves, companies need to carefully choose the right mix of publishing their commercial information (paper and electronically). For the companies that are active in the print business and in the traditional publishing

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world, the electronic publishing opportunities became a disruptive innovation. The theory about disruptive innovations is explained in the next paragraph.

1.2.4 Disruptive innovation

Innovations can be thought of as falling onto a continuum from evolutionary to revolutionary, (Christensen, 1997; Hill and Jones 1998; Tidd et al, 1997; Trott, 1998; Veryzer, 1998) as presented in figure 5. Evolutionary innovation is critical to sustaining and enhancing shares of mainstream markets (Baden-Fuller and Pitt, 1996; Hill and Jones 1998; Johnson and Scholes, 1997), and focuses on improving existing products and services to meet ever more demanding customer

requirements. Because evolutionary innovations maintain the existing and mainstream markets and improve the performance of products and services in directions that customers desire, the market uncertainty is relatively low.

Revolutionary breakthroughs lie at the core of wealth creation (Schumpeter, 1975) and serve as the basis of future technologies, products, services and industries (Christensen, 1997; Christensen and Rosenbloom, 1995; Hamel, 2000; Tushman and Anderson, 1986). The term ‘disruptive innovation’ has been used to describe innovation that is of highly revolutionary or discontinuous nature, in which

customers are provided with products or services which were not available to them before. A disruptive innovation represents a new paradigm of customer offering that can generate new net wealth whilst transforming or displacing some or all of an established market (Christensen, 1997, 2002; Overdorf, 2000), forcing established companies to lose market share and often causing the end of industries as we know them (Christensen, 1997; Foster and Kaplan, 2001).

For traditional publishers, the arise of the internet and the possibilities to electronically publish information without the need of print, can be seen as a disruptive innovation. Traditional publishers are intermediaries between original content producers, users and advertisers in the information value chain. Internet offers them an additional channel to accomplish these intermediary tasks, next to the traditional print channel.

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The emergence of this new communication channel threatens the profitable position of incumbent publishers, because internet reduces market entry barriers for new providers of free information. Further, companies can decide not to print traditional paper catalogues but to fully go for the electronic way of publishing. At the same time, internet offers publishers new opportunities to develop stronger relationships with users.

Figure 5: Innovation Continuum (Thomond and Lettice, 2002)

Gilbert (2003) has identified what have been termed “new market” disruptive innovations, as illustrated in the next figure.

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Figure 6: Model of New-market Disruptive Innovations (adapted from Gilbert, 2003)

This new market occurs when “non-consumers” are offered a simple convenient product or service that allows them to do things that they would not have been able to do otherwise. DigiBrochure tries to take advantage of such a new market. By the advances in technology, as discussed in the publishing technology development stages, DigiBrochure is able to offer companies the possibility to publish their commercial information on their website. Traditional print companies have not picked up this service yet. They use the new technological options for their own company, but do not yet try to market these new opportunities.

The goal of the previous paragraphs was to illustrate the position of a publishing method within the customer buying cycle. A publishing method should be designed in such a way that it generates a positive user experiene and its goal is to help companies that they do not loose potential customers in the traject from step 2 in the customer buying cycle (gathering information) to step 3 (evaluate information).

Furhermore, the technological aspects that lead to the different publishing methods is discussed by analyzing the main driving force of the increasing cable capacity. It is discussed that electronic publishing as focussed upon in this research paper belongs in stage three; the World Wide Web stage.

Area of net growth Established

business

Area of displacement

Origin of disruptive innovation, outside establish market with no consmers Disruptive

Business

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Also the position of the publishing method of DigiBrochure made in Macromedia Flash is pointed out. Finally, electronic publishing was a disruptive innovation for many companies, especially for the publishing companies working with print. In general, disruptive innovations pose a thread for the companies active at that moment. On the other hand, disruptive innovations create a lot of opportunities for both incumbent and other companies. DigiBrochure will try to seize one of these opportunities by making a business by selling electronic brochures to companies.

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Chapter 2

Research setup

This research is focused on the topic if DigiBrochure as a publishing method is suitable for presenting commercial information. To be able to know if DigiBrochure is a good publishing method, it should first be compared to other leading and accepted publishing methods like HTML and Adobe PDF. Second, all publishing methods should be compared on several quality characteristics. These quality characteristics will be based on leading perspectives and will be founded within leading and accepted literature.

The quality characteristics that determine whether a publishing method is potentially a good one have not been collected in one research yet. Therefore, in this research the quality characteristics that are applicable for determining software quality will be translated to quality characteristics that are applicable for electronic publishing methods.

2.1 Problem definition

A good methodology consists of several elements which will be presented and explained in the following paragraphs. At first, the business goal statement will be given in paragraph 2.1.1. In paragraph 2.1.2 the problem statement will be formulated and discussed. The problem statement will be answered by answering various sub questions that will also be mentioned in this paragraph. Paragraph 2.1.3 will explain the authors role within DigiBrochure.nl and all other important aspects surrounding this research. Paragraph 2.2 will provide and explain the conceptual model for this research. Finally, paragraph 2.3 will discuss the research method and give an overview of the structure of this research.

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Research paper MscBA Business & ICT 8-3-2006 2.1.1 Business goal statement

DigiBrochure.nl faces the problem that it does not know for sure if there is a viable market to make a profitable business of selling digital brochures in the form of a DigiBrochure. DigiBrochure itself already made a thorough, underpinned market research, a SWOT analysis and a financial plan. In November 2004, DigiBrochure started selling digital brochures by telephone. The results are conform expectations and the reactions so far are positive. Several companies already ordered a

DigiBrochure and many more are interested or indicate that it is a good product with a lot of opportunities.

The service DigiBrochure offers is tailored for so-called commercial information.

Commercial information is referred to as “ that information that companies publish about their core products and services.” The general terms of a company are not commercial information, for example, because of the fact that for these sorts of publications no attractive and appealing publishing method is needed. This sort of information should be read in a functional and orderly manner. DigiBrochure wants to focus on information that needs to be presented in an attractive and appealing way to convince readers to buy the product or take action.

DigiBrochure.nl intention is defined in a so-called business goal statement. The business goal statement of DigiBrochure.nl is:

“Give clients the possibility of publishing their commercial information on the internet by using the publishing method of DigiBrochure.nl.”

So, DigiBrochure offers a service that enables companies to publish their information with the help of the publishing method of DigiBrochure.nl on the internet. This is a new service for most companies and it is entirely new for Verhuur.nl.

publishing commercial information on the internet