Ok here we go… up the steps. LSBU have contacted me and asked me to write some thoughts on my dissertation so instead of my usual online colum I think that it would be better for me to write up some emails in here:
email one
Thanks for the insight, certainly something to think about. I will give the dissertation some thought over the next few days (especially as it is the MBA residential this week) and write up an email on Monday.
You are right, it is still very vague which is something that I slightly struggle with as I wonder how the border of computing and busines lay and where in the middle the dissertation can fit.
Anyway I am sure that this will all come out through a simple discussion and look forward to putting ground work on my presentation with you. As you allocate supervisors I will also hope that you find an interesting academic for mine!
Thinking cap is on…..
Response:
I tend to the view that it’s the business/bus model that’s enabled by the technology, rather than the technology driving the reqs. I think there’s more mileage in looking at matters from that viewpoint.
BIG RESPONSE:
As promised here I have considered the dissertation and tried to gain a little more focus although I am still looking for that ‘ray of light’ moment so thought I would give you some insights on my thoughts and then perhaps you could shine the torch!
Interests / Motivations
I have been a web designer / developer for around 3 years, and completed a Multimedia and Internet technology degree, so basically I am a web geek. After my time as a web designer / developer I completed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project with LSBU for a small education charity creating (in part at present) a distance learning course which changed my focus from simply providing technical solutions to being in a company and being able to see the impact of technical projects, and then being in a position where we use low budget, mainly open source technology to provide services and increase market awareness.
I would like to take these experiences a step further through my dissertation and formalise some of my learning on how the use of technology impacts the business, or perhaps that would be how the business can use technology to gain market share / remain competitive / diversify offerings (in the case of SME’s where even the use of Open Source technology is costly to provide)
Case Study (Primary Data)
The primary data would be provided through the KTP project where we have used Moodle, PHP, Linux, MySQL, PHPList, PHPMyAdmin, CiviCRM as well as some splashes of proprietary software, the decision was mainly based on cost, which would be too high if the software was fee based, and the technical barriers were not existent due to my technical abilities which lowered barriers.
The use of these web based systems has also over the two years moved course enquiries and product purchases online, away from telephone and postal based. The website has also increase awareness further globally (all of which is analysable through web stats) and the elearning course is still being developed and is incredibly time consuming – but I think there are probably many areas that could be explored within that arena as well. We are also in the initial stages of creating a professional network which will use open source website projects to form the basis of the community user base so there is probably something in there too…. I think perhaps I have too many things that would be suitable so I am not concentrating,,,,
Academic Papers (So far…)
I have been looking into published papers on these areas, and mainly there are coverings on ‘how to use IT to gain a competitive advantage’ in the mid 90’s and there is also a lot about motivation and open Source technology, and the business model surrounding software vendors and open source technology but not very much about mainstream business and open source technology which is what I would like to do my dissertation on. Hmm not sure here…..
Academic Theory
The academic theory that I plan to incorporate into my dissertation is also a curious place, but probably just need to get up to speed on ecommerce as I think that this is still acceptable for the dissertation and need to also realise how to incorporate strategy into it, as this obviously plays an important role into how well it is integrated in turn how well it benefits the company.
Overall thoughts
The Industry sector would be private education providers if the focus were on elearning, or simply SME’s if it was to be on Open Source, more broadly. The geographic location would be UK, or more refined London however I do not think it needs to be that specific? I quite like the thought of looking at How open source technology can increase market awareness, or how open source technology can increase competitive advantage (although I think there is a HBR paper to the contrary but I don’t think that applies to SME’s in my opinion) or the use of open source technology within the education sector, or how web technology still needs traditional support from the business to succeed (as I find that companies often think that they introduce technology and don’t need to do any further work)
Then a little later…
Just to add a little more – after writing this and going to class today I have finally had a moment of clarity – and it would be to do the dissertation on how to gain buy-in for open source projects. (I think) that Open Source projects have lower barriers to entry (being that the initial setup is free) but that successful project still need a high level of commitment from the customer in terms of content and or company integration. When this is achieved the end product becomes a more valuable resource and is distinct from its competition creating what should be a competitive advantage (we all would hope…)
It would work on the basis that our project uses open source technology but has required massive company buy in, working hours, and content and is different from the competition because of this. The numbers for ‘Moodle’ sites created or ‘Wordpress’ blogs downloaded are very high, but what are the numbers for success and how can we make such projects more successful for the business? How do we add value to the business rather than just throwing technology at problems? (and in turn how do we manage the business model to utilise technology successfully)
Anyway just thought I would email that over as it seems clearer than my email below and has some depth to it I think (and I even think its a bit more interesting)
Anyway this brings everything back into an online blog conversation although I have tried to remove names etc so its not too public for the lucky academic conversing with me…
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