Cloud solution

As mentioned in the tracking section the cloud innovation is a broad term covering many levels of abstractions e.g. from storage as a service to software as a service. We have addressed two different

100 layers which Qwiki could exploit, if they choose to adopt this innovation, and the two items are storage and software as a service.

STaaS: By offering cloud based storage or letting users export their qwikies to cloud solutions of their choice, Qwiki can benefit by reducing operational costs by reducing the load of user-generated content on their servers. User can benefit by getting a feeling of owning their generated content, and not publishing content that everyone can access if they have the direct URL to the content on Qwiki’s servers. Accessibility to generated content would be much higher; all that would be required would be a device capable of Internet browsing. As it is now, a generated qwiki is uploaded to Qwiki’s servers and a completely meaningless URL is auto-generated which users cannot remember. With an export feature to a cloud solution of the users own choice, this issue would be obsolete. The risks and costs associated with offering users to save content to cloud based storage is very low and can be implemented through a feature in the app. Offering a Qwiki cloud solution would raise costs considerably since storage and Internet bandwidth are expensive, but they have experience with personal channels from the QC solution, and this feature could be enabled for the QM. Risks would not be high in this instance either, as Qwiki has prior experience in this field. Adopting this innovation in regards to a STaaS solution would only impact their business model minimally in regards to the value proposition (VP2). Under this the proposition could be: Create, share and store rich and personalized storytelling – all with a single click or customize your own story.

SaaS: Qwiki could also benefit greatly from opening their proprietary technology and platform for third parties e.g. through open source or cloud based software as a service with API’s, as Doug states;

“Qwiki has (and is building!) a very sophisticated engineering team and the technology is quite complex. Exposing this technology as a platform for third parties to build on will help identify and solidify thousands of different use cases. Qwiki will

become a very important piece of the Web as we augment traditional content with our "information experience".

Unfortunately, we don't have the resources required to engage in a public debate about our product and strategy”

(Quora, 2013, B)

In this, Doug captures the essence of going open source; identifying and solidifying thousands of different use cases. The possibilities are endless when everyone can influence and mold the technology

101 with their own creativity. But opening a proprietary technology introduces a lot of risks e.g. companies stealing the technology or people abusing the technology for purposes it was not intended.

Implementing a SaaS solution would render the issue of programming the same app, for different platform, in different coding languages, irrelevant since the only Internet access would be needed.

Obviously users would have to upload content manually if a cloud solution for content storage was not available. Adopting the innovation for SaaS or open source purposes will impact the business model in multiple aspects. Customer segments (CS2) would not be limited to iPhone and iPod users, but to everyone as the only requirement is an Internet capable device and content to generate a qwiki with. The value proposition (VP2) would add value in the aspect of from any device from anywhere in the world.

If an API was available users would also be able to integrate Qwiki feature in other contexts, further enhancing the value proposition. The channels and partners would not have Apple (C4) & (KP5) as an element but a cloud vendor instead. Their key resources in regards to the skillful programming personnel (KR3) of iOS designers and developers would have to either be replaced by programmers capable of creating cloud based application, or it would have to be thought to the current staff. The most likely scenario would be to acquire these resources, and get rid of the irrelevant resources. Another key resource that would be affected is (KR5) their proprietary software residing on their own servers. Unless they offer the SaaS through their own servers by creating and build a complete cloud based infrastructure and platform, they would need to purchase access to these platforms, and thus outsource the day-to-day server operations and maintenance. In terms of scalability it would be a logical solution, but they would forfeit their control and security measurements and relying on a third party. It would also mean that they would have to share their proprietary software with the third party, which imposes different risks. Lastly adopting this SaaS innovation would add a customer relationship of co-creation – (CR4: Co-creation and enhance the product through API’s or open-source initiatives). This would relate to Doug’s curiosity of different use cases of their platform. By opening the proprietary platform and allowing companies to innovate and evolve the platform for uses that fits these companies’ business value context, could be a source of revenue for Qwiki. Qwiki’s core value proposition and vision is turning information and content from various sources into an effortless “story” capturing the qwiki recipient attention and focus through visualization and admiration. Companies have huge databases comprising large amount of data, information and content. Merging a Qwiki solution with the company’s business intelligence could an innovation they are interested in. One could imagine a scenario where corporate intranet search engines could be enhanced with Qwiki turning their stored information into an experience. Corporations would become a new targeted customer segment (CS3 – corporations) in which Qwiki could start securing sources of revenue. This approach would also affect the key resource (KR5) into not being proprietary, but open to some segments.

102 14.2 Tablet industry & app programming languages

Tablet and app programming languages have been merged into one overall innovation since they are very similar in many areas and linked to each other. Tablet applications are based on platforms that require a coding language to be developed in.

As we mentioned in the ranking section the tablet industry and app coding languages are very mature. Both can be very beneficial for Qwiki to pursue in accordance to their persistent business need of reaching as many users as possible across different platforms and devices. They have prior experience with the innovation offering a Qwiki Reference as an app for iPad. It was perceived to be a huge success and Doug predicted that;

“I predict that people will prefer using Qwiki on the iPad to sexual intercourse, and I stick to it”

(Quora, 2013, C)

Qwiki however have not shown any signs of mastering other application programming languages than for the iOS, and we assume that they do not have the skills necessary to reach other platforms and devices for the time being.

The costs and risks associated with the tablet innovations are low due to maturity, previous experience, and similarity to other programming languages; e.g. the iOS SDK for iPad and iPhone is virtually the same. Learning new and different app programming languages is a timely affair, and introduce moderate to high levels of risks and costs due to complexity, time required and low time to value. If Qwiki was to pursue to adopt different programming languages to reach different platforms it would be advisable to purchase these resources and skills instead of learning them from scratch. This would reduce overall costs and risks, but it is expensive to hire new personnel and the risk of performance issues across different platforms and devices are still present.

The advantage that tablets have over the smartphones is the screen size and resolution, computational power, and graphics. Tablet can with their superior performance and size enables more complicated customizations through better overview and eases the use and process of creating qwikies.

The only prerequisite for tablet users creating qwikies is having content on the tablet to generate qwikies with. Watching other people’s qwikies from tablets could also enhance the experience because of the large screen.

103 Adopting these two similar innovations will affect the business model slightly in terms of customer segments (CS2) since smart-device users across a multitude of different platforms would be targeted.

This innovation would require changes to the infrastructure management in terms of key resources for skilled developers (KR3) that can implement a solution for different tablet platforms. These innovations are only relevant if Qwiki does not also pursue to adopt the SaaS innovation, since a SaaS solution works independent of platform and device. All that is needed is an Internet connect and a device capable of browsing.