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Convenience and the ability to perform advanced transactions encourage banks clients to use e-banking systems. As security and usability are two growing concerns for e-banking users, banks have invested heavily in improving their web portals security and user experience and trust in them. Despite considerable efforts to evaluate particular security and usability features in e-banking systems, a dedicated security and usability evaluation model that can be used as a guide in the development of e-banking assets remains much less explored. To build a comprehensive security and usability evaluation framework, we first extract security and usability evaluation metrics from the conducted literature review and then include several other evaluation metrics that were not previously identified in the literature. We then propose a structured inspection model for thoroughly evaluating the usability and security of internal and external e-banking assets. We argue that the proposed e-banking security and usability evaluation frameworks in the literature in addition to the existing standards of security best practices (e.g., NIST and ISO) are by no means comprehensive and lack some essential and key evaluation metrics that are of particular interest to e-banking portals. In order to demonstrate the inadequacy of existing models, we use the proposed framework to evaluate five major banks. The evaluation reveals several shortcomings in identifying both missing or incorrectly implemented security and privacy features. Our goal is to encourage other researchers to build upon our work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of an organization's support services can be key to maintaining and extending its customer base and to its future survival. As such, support services need to be considered in software process improvement initiatives and not left as an afterthought or stand-alone effort. However, to identify areas in need of improvement requires a good understanding of the current process. To meet this need, we have developed a process modeling technique called LAPPI that documents current 'as-is' processes. This study explores whether the LAPPI can identify opportunities for improvement in the customer service process. LAPPI is applied, step by step, in a small-to-medium-sized enterprise. Results are validated through an analysis of customer satisfaction questionnaires administered before and after our LAPPI intervention. Applying the LAPPI highlighted several problems with the customer support service, which was subsequently streamlined. The validation shows an improvement in customer satisfaction in several areas, with significant improvement in customer response times and in customer query resolution. Software development organizations can use LAPPI to highlight where improvements are needed in support services. This study shows that making best use of support resources and ensuring customers receive prompt and clear help throughout the product's lifetime can improve an organization's image and future prosperity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of the IPTeam Polyclinic app to learn about polyclinic services. It discusses a qualitative study to evaluate the reactions of medical students to the mobile app used to learn polyclinic services. Details about the importance of using mobile apps in understanding the points-of-service at the polyclinic are provided.

Abstract: We show how a layered Cloud service model of software (SaaS), platform (PaaS), and infrastructure (IaaS) leverages multiple independent Clouds by creating a federation among the providers. The layered architecture leads naturally to a design in which inter-Cloud federation takes place at each service layer, mediated by a broker specific to the concerns of the parties at that layer. Federation increases consumer value for and facilitates providing IT services as a commodity. This business model for the Cloud is consistent with broker mediated supply and service delivery chains in other commodity sectors such as finance and manufacturing. Concreteness is added to the federated Cloud model by considering how it works in delivering the Weather Research and Forecasting service (WRF) as SaaS using PaaS and IaaS support. WRF is used to illustrate the concepts of delegation and federation, the translation of service requirements between service layers, and inter-Cloud broker functions needed to achieve federation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studying consumer behaviour and usage of environmental determinants in the mobile services domain contributes to the identification of context information which is critical for the effective operation of mobile commerce applications. Exploiting this information towards providing enhanced and innovative mobile services offers a competitive advantage within the highly demanding domain of m-commerce applications. However, in order to effectively exploit such context information, there is a need to design the necessary methods, software tools and information systems that will be employed for collecting, processing and disseminating this information. In this paper we develop a theoretical framework which defines the context information necessary for m-commerce applications, taking into account relevant marketing dimensions as well as privacy protection perspectives. Then, this framework is operationalized through the design of an appropriate software architecture which enables the standardization and management of context information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the importance of book-on-demand computer software in the digital book printing industry in the U.S. The author emphasizes that binding devices can reduce labor cost in digital book printing in customer service representative (CSR). It states that salesperson is responsible for getting orders of conventional book printing.

Technology management centres provide technological and customer support services for private or public organisations. Commonly, these centres offer support by using a helpdesk software that facilitates the work of their operators. In this paper, a CBR module that acts as a solution recommender for customer support environments is presented. The CBR module is flexible and multi-domain, in order to be easily integrable with any existing helpdesk software in the company. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Web Services (WSs) are a new breed of web application that is gaining momentum. One of the research challenges it brings along is the establishment of an interoperable semantic framework suitable to represent not only the functional, but also the non-functional features of WSs, i.e. their Quality-of-Service (QoS), which in most cases are not included in the WS description. Nevertheless, integrating QoS features in WS profiles is to the advantage of both users and providers, as it supports QoS-aware WS selection and composition addressing the user's QoS requirements, while enabling WS providers to increase their profits. The purpose of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to present a QoS ontology framework adequate for WS provision. On the other hand, it studies the problem of providers that receive concurrent requests of numerous customers for WSs demonstrating different bandwidth and price properties. It introduces the "Selective Multiple Choice Knapsack Problem" that aims to identify the services that should be delivered to the customers in order to maximize the provider's profit, subject to maximum bandwidth constraints on the server side. Thus, the QoS-awareness in this version of this problem is limited to the consideration of two QoS parameters: service bandwidth and cost. The problem is solved by a proposed algorithm that has been empirically evaluated via numerous experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an overview of the Electronic Resource Management (ERM) software used in libraries. Technical services departments are compelled to look at their workflows and policies in managing the rapid increase of electronic resources in the contemporary library environment. ERM provides the management of electronic resources ranging from subscriptions to licenses and troubleshooting. It has subscription alerts, the ability to manage Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) and others.

Abstract: Help-desks for hardware and software are a prominent example of Internet-based consulting services. If computer experts’ counseling of laypersons is to be effective, the experts need to be able to adjust their way of communicating to fit the knowledge of the layperson. In asynchronous Internet-based communication, the evaluation of an interlocutor’s knowledge is more difficult than in face-to-face communication because fewer channels of communication are available. Therefore, an assessment tool has been developed which supports computer experts in evaluating the knowledge of a client who initiates a support inquiry. A dialogue experiment was conducted, which showed that the assessment tool increased the efficiency and effectiveness of computer experts’ communication with clients. The assessment tool evidently facilitated the construction of a mental model of the client’s knowledge and thereby supported adaptation to the client’s communicational needs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) development and deployment generally builds on a service view of the world in which a set of services are assembled and reused to quickly adapt to new business needs. This flexibility is seen by many IT organizations as the core value of SOA and has been driving some deep transformations in the way software is being built. Although SOA technology addresses many of the traditional problems of integrating disparate business processes and applications, deploying service-based applications introduces new aspects of the information technology (IT) environment that must be managed. These new aspects include developing and testing applications composed of operational services, deploying and provisioning distributed service-based applications across organizational boundaries in a secure, reliable, and repeatable manner, and tracking the business impact of services on the business processes that those services support. This paper describes the management capabilities needed to ensure that an SOA fulfills its promise of increasing integration and improving business adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer relationship management (CRM) is replacing the traditional ‘four Ps’ of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. Forging long-term relationships with customers is the key to stability in an increasingly dynamic market. Despite the steady growth in the number of worldwide installations, industry studies indicate that approximately 60% of web-based CRM software (e-CRM) installations are failures. System use is recognized as one of the important indicators for successful implementation of information systems (IS) and is often correlated with other constructs, such as user attitude and behavioral intention, in the literature. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is particularly useful for explaining and analyzing IS-usage behavior and subsequently, the behavior is influenced by attitude and behavioral intention. However, TAM is incomplete for either considering only part of the attributes of the innovation factor or only part of the factors affecting IS innovation process. Therefore, this study integrates TAM with an extension of innovation diffusion theory (IDT), IS innovation model, in a complimentary manner and, furthermore, empirically concludes some guidelines for practitioners to effectively assist in the diffusion of e-CRM in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proliferation of the WWW, providing more intelligent Websites has become a major concern in the e-business industry. Recently, this trend has been even more accelerated by the success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in terms of product recommendation, and self after service, etc. As a result, many e-companies are eager to embed Web-enabled, rule-based systems, i.e. that is, expert systems, into their Websites, and several well-known commercial tools to facilitate this are already available in the market. So far, most of those tools are based on CGI, but CGI-based systems inherently suffer from problems related to overburdening, when there are too many service demands at the same time. To overcome the limitations of the existing CGI-based expert systems, we propose a new form of Web-enabled expert system that uses a hyperlink-based inference mechanism. In terms of burden to the Web server, our approach has proven to outperform the CGI-based approach theoretically as well as empirically. For practical purposes, our approach is implemented in a software system, WeBIS, and uses a graphic rule editing methodology, Expert''s Diagram, that is incorporated into the system to facilitate rule generation and maintenance. WeBIS is now successfully operating for financial consultation on the Website of a leading financial consulting company in Korea. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Through irregular customer service and inadequate technical support, Quark Inc. has acquired a well-deserved reputation as a company people love to hate. The company claims it is making improvements in those areas and, even more importantly, is developing a suite of products and systems that provide publishers with a multichannel publishing workflow. It is noted that Quark is building products on the basis of industry standards, utilizing XML, SOAP, WebDav and other Web services to provide a level of transparency and integration with third-party products that other publishing-oriented vendors have only begun to implement. INSETS: How It Works;Quark Announcements at Drupa 2004.

In today's business and economic conditions, enterprise customers are demanding information technology (IT) solutions that are cheaper, less complex, and easier to install. At the same time, independent software vendors (ISVs) are seeing revenue from their core licensed offerings erode because of competition and market saturation. Many believe that the answer to these problems is to offer IT solutions by means of utility computing. Like an electric utility, software applications can be offered as on demand services, and customers pay only for what they use. Creating and implementing such utilities is by no means trivial. It requires some expert help and adherence to established standards and guidelines. In this paper we describe the design of such a process that we call the Application Enablement Program. The process helps ISVs transform their applications into on demand services. This process is structured, repeatable, and globally deployable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the features of the latest supply chain planning software (SCP) for cost reduction and customer service improvements. Benefits derived from an improved SCP; Need for efficient collaborative processes; Data issues in the planning module; Variance in the procurement, manufacturing, and distribution issues across business units; Development of specialized skills for support and implementation.

Focuses on the importance of task description softwares on various businesses. Use of the tasks and support method; Utilization of work; Improvement of customer services. INSET: Use Cases versus Task Description..

Software systems continuously undergo change, mostly in response to customers' needs and expectations, which themselves change from one period to the next. Although the cost of these changes may be many times the original system cost. there is no framework for their analysis and For bringing customers' views into the decision processes. In this paper. we develop a Markov decision process model for warranty. maintenance, and upgrade of software systems, using the index of customer satisfaction as the state variable. We identify optimal and near-optimal policies within the space of control-limit policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important challenges faced by developers of communication service software is the description of specifications for the communication services dealing with multimedia information (multimedia services). In this paper, we define specifications for multidimensional connection service as one of the functions necessary for the implementation of multimedia services. Specifically, we propose a method of description of the communication service specifications enabling the description of multiconnection/multipoint connections based on the State Transition Rules (STR) system that is a description language of declarative-type communication services, with due regard to such network parameters as bandwidth and quality of service (QoS). In addition, the authors expand the previously proposed communication service specification emulator and offer a system architecture that can be operated based on the proposed method of specification description. By using a physically realized system and by implementing operation based on the proposed method of description, we demonstrate the validity of the proposed specification description. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 84(3): 89–100, 2001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major challenge for the computer industry is the need for the development and implementation of an engineering language which provides continuous linkages and measurement between the customer and all engineering functions internal to the company. Such a language would allow information solution developers and information service providers to be able to continuously monitor the quality and reliability performance of integrated hardware and software products during the complete product life cycle. A quantitative engineering language needs to be developed to provide seamless and continuous linkages between the customer-the user of integrated computer systems-and all of the engineering development and manufacturing functions tasked with designing and building solutions which meet customer needs. A methodology is proposed which addresses this challenge by the implementation of two metrics: total defects per unit (TDU) and the annual rate of events (ARE). These two metrics can measure all hardware, software and computer integration events during the total product life cycle. A methodology is presented which provides a rigorous translation of the ARE metric, monitored at the customer site, into the traditional reliability metrics used by engineering and manufacturing. Algorithms are presented which directly translate AREs into mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time between parts replacement (MTBPR) and mean time between system interruptions (MTBSI). The ARE metric meets the customer requirement of being able to clearly focus on the reliability and availability performance of total systems as a result of hardware and software components, the user interface, and environmental factors. The paper discusses the development and application of integrated TDU and ARE metrics and shows how the total product life cycle quality and reliability of a complex integrated computer and communications solution can be efficiently monitored and managed for improvement during design, manufacturing, and installation performance in an integrated customer environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses computer automated software engineering and its effects on the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ). The organization has had to deal with several common problems, such as loss of skilled staff, software maintenance demands, and backlogged development of new software due to the time spent on maintenance. It is imperative that the development of systems keeps up with the increased demand for greater service.

The article presents the author's views on meeting customers' demands in software development. It is inferred that developers often feel discouraged when the system they delivered was totally unacceptable to users when it was exactly what was requested. Developers believe there is more to delivering good software than following customer's orders. He explains that following customers' orders is a strength of listening and responding to what they want the developers must do. He added that requests for change are a sign that customers are engaged, they care, and they are thinking. He asserts that customers can help in the improvement of the system. He believes that software development works best when everyone involved accepts responsibility for the system's value.

The article provides an overview on the concept of service oriented computing (SOC). This concept was based on the earlier component-based software frameworks and was supported by major computer companies. With SOC, enterprises can define and execute transactions across multi-channel business entities. The concept is now used for large-scale distributed business and scientific applications. SOC's dynamic and compositional nature makes end-to-end quality of service management a major challenge for service oriented distributed systems. The primary goal of SOC is to make a collection of software services accessible via standardized protocols.