The! BM! element! Value! Chain! &! Linkages! is! by! far! the! most! affected! one,! with! the! most! current!and!future!BM!changes.!Additionally,!VCL!is!affected!in!a!rather!short!term!by!SAP! HANA,!as!it!usually!exhibits!the!first!BMIs!of!all!BM!elements.!This!is!being!related!to!the!fact! that!most!of!these!BM!changes!can!be!more!easily!and!quickly!implemented!compared!to! BM! changes! concerning! the! other! BM! elements.! As! initial! step! for! the! interviewed! case! companies! it! was! found! in! the! course! of! the! conducted! interviews! that! the! management! needs! to! be! convinced! by! internal! Big! Data! ‘promoters’,! to! invest! into! an! in*memory! database.! Once! this! step! was! made,! the! manager! who! invested! in! this! new! technology,! wants!to!see!first!results!as!quickly!as!possible.!The!least!complicated!way!to!achieve!fast! results,! is! simply! making! use! of! the! speed! of! the! database! and! taking! already! available! internal!data!(no!privacy!issues).!Thus,!the!majority!of!these!projects!were!implemented!in!a! relatively! short! time! period! and! deal! with! streamlining! information! flow! and! making! BPs! more!efficient!and!effective.!Additionally,!it!becomes!apparent!that!no!future!projects!for! this!BM!element!can!be!identified!in!the!secondary!literature.!A!possible!explanation!for!this! can!be!that!this!information!has!not!been!considered!interesting!enough!or!too!sensitive!to! make!it!public.!
Although!the!BM!element!VCL!is!generally!the!first!one!that!is!being!affected,!the!resulting! BM! changes! will! definitely! not! end! there.! Subsequently! to! these! quick! changes,! in! some! cases! even! bigger! and! more! complex! core! BPs! experienced! a! complete! redesign,! like! the! NPD! and! disposal! process! of! company! 3,! or! the! ticketing! process! of! company! 2.! Furthermore,!after!all!immediately!available!data!has!been!analyzed,!the!firms!anticipate!to! take!the!next!step.!They!plan!to!add!additional!data!sources!and!improve!on!the!analytical! methods,!to!further!increase!internal!efficiency,!productivity,!reporting!and!planning.!With! this!regard,!the!emergence!of!industry!4.0!will!have!an!extensive!impact!on!various!business! functions.!However,!this!transition!will!not!be!very!sudden!but!rather!involves!a!long!lasting! development! with! several! smaller! steps! to! be! taken! (new! stored! procedures,! sensor! technology,! mobile! devices! etc.).! This! shows! that,! over! time,! the! complexity! of! the! BMIs! grows,! which! increases! the! relevance! of! SAP! HANA! as! well.! Other! bigger! BM! element! changes! such! as! new! key! partners! (e.g.! company! 4’s! new! direct! communication! to! truck! drivers),!are!still!very!scarce!across!all!case!companies.!!
The!BM!element!Customer!Engagement!is!affected!the!second!most!by!the!implementation! of!SAP!HANA.!Often,!in!an!attempt!to!create!new!and!diverse!use!cases!for!the!technology,! HANA!is!firstly!being!used!to!correct!certain!flaws!within!this!BM!element!(e.g.!company!1’s!
customer! report,! Joskin’s! customer! service! or! company! 2’s! concurrent! emails),! and! subsequently! improving! upon! them.! The! ability! to! quickly! process! large! amounts! of! data,! helps!to!address!the!customer!in!a!more!personalized!way.!Firms!usually!already!have!access! to!a!lot!of!customer!data!that!is!not!yet!being!analyzed.!Thus,!firms!utilize!this!available!data! before! gathering! new! data.! Future! BMIs! of! this! BM! element! (and! in! some! cases! already! implemented)!deal!predominantly!with!providing!mobile!experiences!and!new!personalized! services!(e.g.!iBeacons!or!predictive!maintenance).!
These!new!personalized!services!often!accompany!the!subsequent!segmentation!efforts!of! the!BM!element!Customer!Sensing.!As!with!the!BM!element!VCL,!firms!firstly!concentrate!on! gathering! and! combining! various! kinds! of! data,! before! improving! on! the! methods! and! techniques! of! the! data! analysis.! Many! of! the! future! projects! rely! on! the! new! Customer! Engagement!efforts,!like!new!products!or!services!(e.g.!connected!car!or!iBeacon!services)! that! provide! additional! customer! data.! This! shows! that! the! firms! already! think! in! a! data* driven!way.!On!their!way!to!a!data*driven!business,!everything!has!to!link!and!fit!together.! When!thinking!about!a!new!service,!firms!simultaneously!need!to!think!about!the!data!they! can! retrieve! and! how! they! can! apply! the! data! for! new! services! or! internal! improvements! (e.g.! value! chain! or! segmentation)! (Porter! &! Heppelmann,! 2014).! Both,! Customer! Sensing! and! Customer! Engagement,! are! thus! mainly! being! affected! in! the! medium! term,! meaning! after! the! implementation! of! the! first! VCL! and! before! Monetization! related! BMIs.! Furthermore,!do!the!BMIs!of!these!BM!elements!exhibit!increasing!sophistication!over!time,! similar!to!VCL.! As!no!BMI!related!to!the!BM!element!Monetization!could!be!observed!during!the!interviews! and!only!a!few!future!projects!appear!to!be!vaguely!planned,!this!kind!of!BMI!is!obviously! only!relevant!in!the!long!term!for!incumbent!firms.!However,!these!projects!are!therefore! much!more!diverse!and!holistic!than,!for!example,!the!reporting!or!segmentation!efforts!of! the!BM!elements!VCL!or!CS!respectively.!As!is!the!case!with!the!BM!element!VCL,!secondary! case!studies!provide!no!information!about!Monetization!related!BMI!(future!or!current).!As! mentioned!above,!this!information!might!be!too!sensitive,!or!the!organizations!have!not!yet! planned! so! far! ahead.! Even! though! no! concrete! case! evidence! exists,! the! increasing! complexity!and!sophistication!of!the!BM!element!Monetization!can!be!assumed,!based!on! the!fact!that!this!is!also!true!for!all!other!BM!elements.!Moreover,!the!interviews!with!the! experts!reveal!that!future!BMs!and!revenue!models!will!most!likely!rely!heavily!on!Big!Data! related! technologies! like! SAP! HANA! (Geißler,! personal! interview,! June! 23,! 2015;! Arnold,! personal!interview,!August!26,!2015).!
!
Fig.&4<1:&Framework&of&the&interplay&of&technological&innovation&and&BMI&in&the&context&of&Big&Data& and&SAP&HANA&
Based! on! the! interviews! and! the! single*! and! cross*case! analyses,! a! technology*driven! BMI! framework!regarding!the!Big!Data!technology!SAP!HANA!has!been!developed!(see!fig.!4*1).! The! y*axis! shows! the! increasing! relevance! of! SAP! HANA.! The! x*axis! represents! a! timeline,! depicting! the! maturities! of! respective! BM! changes! (i.e.! short,! medium! and! long! term).! As! elaborated! above,! BMI! related! to! the! BM! element! VCL! is! usually! the! first! to! happen,! and! implemented!in!a!rather!short!term.!After!that,!on!a!medium!term,!projects!connected!to! the!BM!elements!Customer!Engagement!and!Customer!Sensing!are!implemented,!which!are! highly! interlinked.! Only! in! the! long! term,! the! BM! element! Monetization! is! expected! to! be! affected! by! implementing! SAP! HANA.! The! exact! definition! of! the! time! periods! *! short,! medium!and!long!term!*!largely!depends!on!the!respective!firms.!No!correlation!between! the! year! of! implementation! and! the! amount! of! BMI! can! be! determined.! Company! 3,! for! example,!already!stated!plans!for!future!BM!changes!concerning!the!BM!element!Customer! Sensing!after!two!years.!Company!4!however,!does!not!anticipate!similar!BM!changes!within! a! time! horizon! of! four! years.! Company! 3! is! a! service! company! within! the! sports! and! entertainment! industry,! and! company! 4! is! a! manufacturing! company! belonging! to! the! automotive!industry.!This!makes!it!reasonable!to!assume!that!contingency!factors!like!type! of! business! or! industry! are! reasons! for! the! discrepancy.! Next! to! these! two,! also! another! possible! contingency! factor! could! be! the! involvement! of! the! management! (Arnold,! 2012).! However,!the!definite!determination!of!the!influencing!factors!is!not!the!focus!of!this!study! and! will! therefore! not! be! discussed! in! more! detail.! Nevertheless,! as! explained! above,!
regardless!of!the!different!time!horizons,!it!can!be!concluded!that!all!case!companies!follow! a!similar!pattern!of!BMI!affected!by!the!implementation!of!SAP!HANA.!!
The! y*axis! represents! the! growing! importance! of! SAP! HANA! within! the! respective! BM! elements,!accompanied!by!an!increase!in!data*driven!BMI.!As!fig.!4*1!shows,!the!progress! and! change! within! the! single! BM! elements! does! not! terminate! after! one! successful! (or! unsuccessful)!project.!Every!organization!is!already!planning!subsequent!BMI!projects!that! often!build!upon!the!previous!ones.!The!technological!innovation!*!SAP!HANA!*!will!become! increasingly! relevant! as! the! complexity! of! the! projects! increases.! The! interviewees! stated! that!several!current!BMI!projects!supported!by!SAP!HANA!could!have!been!also!realized!with! other! technologies.! Moreover,! some! of! the! BM! changes! within! the! BM! element! VCL,! for! example,! are! rather! considered! positive! side! effects! of! implementing! the! technology! (e.g.! faster!reportings).!However,!the!case!companies!unanimously!confirmed!that!these!current! BM! changes! are! not! the! final! goal! and! expectation! that! the! companies! have! towards! SAP! HANA.!SAP!HANA!is!regarded!as!the!basis!for!more!complex!BMI!projects!related!to!Big!Data,! which!are!anticipated!in!the!future.!This!becomes!also!apparent!by!the!finding!that,!often,! BMI!within!one!BM!element,!is!expected!to!subsequently!trigger!or!reinforce!BMI!in!another! BM! element.! One! example! of! that! would! be! the! segmentation! efforts! in! the! BM! element! Customer!Sensing,!which!are!reinforced!by!new!services!or!products!(i.e.!CE)!that!provide! new! customer! data.! Another! example! is! the! connected! car! (i.e.! CE)! that! provides! new! information! about! the! product! and! usage,! which! can! be! utilized! to! optimize! production! processes! (i.e.! VCL).! In! the! framework! in! fig.! 4*1,! this! is! being! depicted! by! the! recurring! increase!of!the!slope!at!the!transition!to!the!next!BM!element.!The!fact!that!the!four!BM! elements! affect! each! other,! makes! it! reasonable! to! assume! that! technology*driven! BMI! within!a!company!happens!in!an!ongoing!series!of!interlinked!and!iterative!BMI.!However,!an! assumption!like!this!can!not!be!empirically!confirmed!at!this!point!in!time!and!can!only!be! determined!by!subsequent!research.!!