Improving the Utilization of Digital Services - Evaluating Contest-Driven Open Data Development and the Adoption of Cloud Services : Evaluating Contest-Driven Open Data Development and the Adoption of Cloud Services

Abstract: There is a growing interest in the utilization of digital services, such as software apps and cloud-based software services. The utilization of digital services enabled by ICT is increasing more rapidly than any other segment of the world trade. The availability of open data unlocks the possibility of generating huge market possibilities in the public and private sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, and trade. Digital service utilization can be improved by the adoption of cloud-based software services and through open data innovation for service development. However, open data has no value unless utilized and little is known about the development of digital services using open data. The use of contests to create awareness and call for crowd participation is vital to attract participation for digital service development. Also, digital innovation contests stimulate open data service development and are common means to generate digital services based on open data. Evaluation of digital service development processes stimulated by contests all the way to service deployment is indispensable. In spite of this, existing evaluation models are not specifically designed to measure open data innovation contest. Additionally, existing cloud-based digital service implications, opportunities and challenges, in literature are not prioritized and hence are not usable directly for adoption of cloud-based digital services. Furthermore, empirical research on user implications of cloud-based digital services is missing. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to facilitate the utilization of digital services by the adoption of cloud-based digital services and the development of digital services using open data. The main research question addressed in this thesis is: “How can contest-driven innovation of open data digital services be evaluated and the adoption of digital services be supported to improve the utilization of digital services?” The research approaches used are design science research, descriptive statistics, and case study for confirming the validity of the artifacts developed. The design science approach was used to design new artifacts for evaluating open data service development stimulated by contests. The descriptive statistics was applied on two surveys. The first one is for evaluating the implication of cloud-based digital service adoption. While the second one is a longitudinal survey to measure perceived barriers by external open data digital service developers. In this thesis, an evaluation model for digital innovation contest to stimulate service development, (Digital Innovation Contest Measurement Model) DICM-model, and (Designing and Refining DICM) DRD-method for designing and refining DICM-model to provide more agility are proposed. Additionally, the framework of barriers, constraining external developers of open data service, is also presented to better manage service deployment to enable viable service development. Organizers of open data innovation contests and project managers of digital service development are the beneficiaries of these arti-facts. The DICM-model and the DRD-method are used for the evaluation of contest and post contest deployment processes. Finally, the framework of adoption of cloud-based digital services is presented. This framework enables requirement engineers and cloud-based digital service adoption personnel to be able to prioritize factors responsible for an effective adoption. The automation of ideation, which is a key process of digital service development using open data, developer platforms assessment to suggest ways of including evaluation of innovation, ex-post evaluation of the proposed artifacts, and the expansion of cloud-based digital service adoption from the perspectives of sup-pliers are left for further investigations.