A strategic framework using open innovation and platforms to embrace disruptive "Software as a Service" technology

Abstract

Over the past several decades, technology has become fundamental to the facilitation of communication, collaboration and productivity inside and between enterprises. Enterprises use numerous tools to reach their customers, manage increasingly decentralized and mobile workforces and to create digital assets critical to their daily operations. In the last several years, changes in the availability of internet access and the compatibility of internet browsers has resulted in massively scalable services available on the internet - delivered by models termed "Software as a Service" and "Cloud Computing". This delivery mechanism is vastly different from traditional models of enterprise software delivery where enterprise purchase, install and manage their own enterprise software packages. This thesis will evaluate a strategy for one of the market leaders in messaging, IBM Lotus, in the face of the disruptive forces of new internet enabled delivery mechanisms like Software as a Service and Cloud Computing. In doing so, it will integrate the topics of several researchers in the field of strategy and innovation. After a treatment of background topics and themes, it will present an evaluation of the enterprise software market in the face of the disruptive forces created by the internet. A framework for evaluating market strategies for established players will be developed using concepts of software platforms and open innovation. Finally, a case study of the established player will be viewed through the lens of this framework.