New DFG-funded transfer project looks at software products
In the virtual world, evaluations are an influential way of creating trust between market operators. Numerous online evaluation systems have been created since the emergence of the internet. Today, these form a inextricable part of online shops, social media and recommendation portals. They play a vital role in consumers’ purchasing decisions. However, evaluation systems are also becoming increasingly important in the business-to-business (B2B) sector, i.e. transactions between two companies. How should these systems be designed to enable companies to receive feedback? When and why do business partners provide evaluations at all? What economic impact can such online evaluations have? And how do such inter-business online evaluation systems differ from those involving end consumers? December saw the launch of a two-year transfer project to examine these and other questions. The project is being spearheaded by Prof. Dr. Dennis Kundisch of the Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Digital Markets at Paderborn University and his research assistant Janina Seutter, in conjunction with Dr. Sarah Güsken and Elisabeth Brozio from Celonis, a global business software company. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing around 200,000 euros of funding to the project.
Online evaluations on B2B platforms in contrast to the B2C market
The transfer project is seeking to characterise online evaluations in B2B markets and differentiate them from online evaluations in business-to-customer (B2C) markets. The underlying motives for writing B2B online evaluations for software markets in particular will also be identified and examined. Unlike in B2C markets, these motives have not yet been the subject of much research in B2B markets. ‘Given the systematic differences between B2C and B2B markets, we can assume that these motives will not coincide’, Kundisch explains.
Transfer projects are used to take findings from fundamental research and review them under practical conditions. The aim is to enable an exchange of knowledge between research and practice, for the benefit of both. This transfer project is aiming to draw on research findings from Paderborn University’s Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 901 ‘On-The-Fly Computing’ and confirm and apply them in practice. The partner company Celonis is a global market leader for execution management software (EMS) and a pioneer in the field of process mining. This enables companies to control all of their business processes intelligently in a data-based way. ‘Online evaluations have become hugely relevant for B2B software companies like Celonis. We are delighted about this collaboration and about the opportunity to use knowledge gained in recent years from CRC 901 and make it more accessible for practical use’, Kundisch notes.
‘On-the-fly computing’: tailored IT services in dynamic markets
CRC 901 ‘On-The-Fly Computing’ has been funded by the DFG since 2011. The aim is to develop technologies and processes for the automatic ‘on-the-fly’ (OTF) configuration and provision of individual IT services, from the basic services available on global markets. It also seeks to develop methods to enable quality assurance, protect the customers and providers involved, promote targeted market development, and support participant interactions in dynamically changing markets. Project area T covers the CRC’s transfer projects that provide scope for joint research and external partners, and enable findings from applied research to be fed back into fundamental research. This recently launched project is already the fourth transfer project resulting from CRC 901 to have been successful in its application, highlighting the huge practical relevance of the topics being studied.
