Software Companies Research Articles

Enhancing US Software Companies' Competitive Edge with Agile Project Management

The primary purpose of this study was to examine how the adoption of Agile Project Management practices can help US-based software companies gain a competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving global marketplace. With ever-increasing customer demands and changing technology landscapes, it was crucial to assess whether agile methodologies could effectively address these challenges. The software industry in the USA faced challenges related to project delays, cost overruns, and difficulties in responding to changing customer requirements. Traditional project management approaches often proved inadequate in such dynamic environments. The study aimed to determine whether Agile Project Management could mitigate these issues and improve competitiveness. The research employed a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected through surveys distributed to software companies implementing agile practices. Qualitative insights were gathered through in-depth interviews with industry experts. Data analysis involved statistical techniques for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The findings revealed that Agile Project Management significantly improved software development processes. Agile adoption also fostered better collaboration among cross-functional teams. Moreover, Agile practices positively impacted software quality and customer satisfaction, ultimately contributing to a competitive edge. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that Agile Project Management has a substantial positive impact on the competitiveness of US-based software companies. To enhance competitiveness, it is recommended that US software companies consider the adoption of Agile Project Management practices. Additionally, organizations should invest in training and cultural changes to facilitate a smooth transition to agile methodologies. Continuous improvement and alignment with agile principles are essential for sustained competitiveness. Keywords. Agile Project Management, Software Development, Competitiveness, Customer-Centric, US Software Companies

Growing administrative complexity in the 340B program and the rise of third-party administrators.

The 1992 340B drug discount program lowers drug costs and provides a source of revenue for safety-net providers by entitling them to discounts on drugs for all patients, including those with insurance. As 340B has grown so has the administrative complexity of the program, creating a market for third-party administrators (TPAs) to manage both formal and informal requirements in exchange for fees. Although TPAs are playing an important role in the 340B ecosystem, the TPA market is poorly understood, along several dimensions including its size, specialization, competitiveness, and scope of services offered. In this brief report, we report the results of original market research on TPA firms to address unanswered questions and identify gaps in knowledge. We identify 48 TPA firms, including 8 owned by private equity firms, 2 owned by software companies, and 6 owned by a variety of vertically integrated health care stakeholders such as pharmacies, pharmaceutical benefit managers, and pharmaceutical wholesalers. We identified 7 services offered by TPAs including patient discount cards (13), enrollment (31), auditing (45), revenue capture (42), referral management (9), inventory management (19), and 340B ESP assistance (9). Our results suggest that TPAs are involved in many diverse functions related to 340B.

Nigeria’s creative industries: issues, challenges, and way forward for the software subsector

The creative industries sector is experiencing enormous growth and making significant contributions to several economies around the world. Recognizing the potential of this sector, many countries and institutions prioritize policies and initiatives that maximize the rewards from this space. However, given Nigeria’s huge population, abundant talent, and vast market, the country derives less-than-optimal benefits from the creative industries. This underperformance of the Nigerian creative industries is attributable to challenges that impede the sector. Thus, the present study sought to investigate these challenges in the Nigerian creative industries, focusing specifically on the software subsector. It further examined the possible solutions to these challenges to proffer a way forward for the software industry in Nigeria. In-depth interview sessions were held with chief executive officers of Nigerian software companies, software engineers, academics, and recent computer science graduates. The results reveal that inadequate skills, low market acceptability, and funding are some of the major challenges that currently hamper the software industry in Nigeria, thus preventing it from making the desired progress. The study also recommends solutions to these challenges and a way forward for the industry to realize its potential.

A Novel Developed Supervised Machine Learning System For Classification And Prediction of Software Faults Using NASA Dataset

The software systems of modern computers are extremely complex and versatile. Therefore, it is essential to regularly detect and correct software design faults. In order to devote resources effectively towards the creation of trustworthy software, software companies are increasingly engaging in the practise of predicting fault-prone modules in advance of testing. These software fault prediction methods rely on the thoroughness with which prior software versions' fault as well as related code has been retrievedTime, energy, and money are all saved as a result. Increases the company's initial success and bottom line greatly by satisfying its clientele. Numerous academics have poured into this area throughout the years in an effort to raise the bar for all software. Nowadays, The most often used approaches in this field are those based on machine learning (ML). The field of ML seeks to perfect software capable of evolving as well as adapting in response to fresh data. This paper introduces a fresh approach for doing ML by bringing together a number of different expert systems. In order to reach agreement on which aspects of a software system need to be tested, the proposed multi-classifier model pools the strengths of the most effective classifiers. Several top-performing classifiers for defect prediction are put through their paces in an experiential evaluation. We test our method on 16 publicly available datasets from the NASA Metric Data Programme (MDP) repository at the promise repository. Parameters of confusion, recall, precision, recognition accuracy, etc., are evaluated and contrasted with existing schemes in a software analysis performed with the help of the python simulation tool with findings. The experimental outcomes demonstrate that by combining LGBM, XGBoost, and Voting classifiers, using a multi classifier approach, we are capable to significantly improve software fault prediction performance. The results of the investigation show that the suggested method will lead to better practical outcomes in the prediction of device failures.

Determining cybersecurity culture maturity and deriving verifiable improvement measures

PurposeThe human factor is the most important defense asset against cyberattacks. To ensure that the human factor stays strong, a cybersecurity culture must be established and cultivated in a company to guide the attitudes and behaviors of employees. Many cybersecurity culture frameworks exist; however, their practical application is difficult. This paper aims to demonstrate how an established framework can be applied to determine and improve the cybersecurity culture of a company.Design/methodology/approachTwo surveys were conducted within eight months in the internal IT department of a global software company to analyze the cybersecurity culture and the applied improvement measures. Both surveys comprised the same 23 questions to measure cybersecurity culture according to six dimensions: cybersecurity accountability, cybersecurity commitment, cybersecurity necessity and importance, cybersecurity policy effectiveness, information usage perception and management buy-in.FindingsResults demonstrate that cybersecurity culture maturity can be determined and improved if accurate measures are derived from the results of the survey. The first survey showed potential for improving the dimensions of cybersecurity accountability, cybersecurity commitment and cybersecurity policy effectiveness, while the second survey proved that these dimensions have been improved.Originality/valueThis paper proves that practical application of cybersecurity culture frameworks is possible if they are appropriately tailored to a given organization. In this regard, scientific research and practical application combine to offer real value to researchers and cybersecurity executives.

Informal learning from dealing with software-related problems in the digital workplace

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and contextual and personal factors on learning from dealing with software-related problems in everyday office work.Design/methodology/approachTo measure the use of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and the contextual factors of problem characteristics and learning in situ, a research diary was used. To measure team psychological safety (contextual factor) and personal factors, including the Big Five personality traits, occupational self-efficacy and technology self-efficacy, the authors administered a self-report questionnaire. In sum, 48 students from a software company in Germany recorded 240 diary entries during five working days. The data was analysed using multilevel analysis.FindingsResults revealed that asking others and using information from the internet are positive predictors of self-perceived learning from a software-related problem, while experimenting, which was the most common activity, had a negative effect on learning. Guilt about the problem was positively related to learning while working in the office (as opposed to remote work), and feeling irritated/annoyed/angry showed a negative effect. Surprisingly, psychological safety had a negative effect on perceived learning.Research limitations/implicationsMajor limitations of the study concern the convenience sample and the disregard for the sequence of the activities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the limited empirical evidence on employees’ problem-solving activities and informal workplace learning in the software context. To overcome the shortcomings of previous studies using retrospective assessments and in-lab observations, this study uses the diary method to investigate in situ.

The role of knowledge sharing and creative self-efficacy on the self-leadership and innovative work behavior relationship

The current study employs social cognitive theory to analyze the moderated mediation model of self-leadership and innovative work behavior. Further, this research assesses the mediating impact of knowledge sharing, and the moderating effect of creative self-efficacy in the above-mentioned direct relationship. To test this model, data were gathered, at two different times, from 283 subordinates and 129 supervisors, working in various software companies in major cities in Punjab, Pakistan. The findings showed a significant impact of self-leadership and innovative work behavior. Additionally, the results supported the mediating role of creative self-efficacy in the association between these two qualities. Moreover, a higher level of knowledge sharing strengthens the link between self-leadership and innovative work behavior. The study revealed that self-leadership is vital in fostering innovative work behavior. This research recommends how businesses might use self-leadership strategies to promote innovative work behavior.

How Does AI Pose Challenges for Leaders in Organizations? -A Conceptual Study

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its application are becoming ubiquitous. This drastic change creates a plethora of challenges for leaders and leads to a need for more holistic leadership skills. This article aims to give an overview of the challenges of AI for leaders and how leaders or managers can address these challenges in more effective ways. A literature review was conducted. To know the challenges of leaders, an AI technologies practitioner was interviewed working in one of the top software companies. In this article, I discussed various ways in which these challenges can be addressed for leaders while working with AI. To conclude recommendations and strategies are suggested so that AI leaders can enable innovation and collaboration between humans and AI, and change the workforce with a new set of skills that are unique to humans. Also, a few guiding principles may help business leaders sail across the changes in the era of AI, and future implications are discussed.

HRMS

“The main purpose of this HRMS Management System is to develop a web based interface to manage the Human Resource of software companies. The system helps the administrator to manage the HR of the company. The HR team can stay updated with the progress of the tasks assigned to a team. The company can create vacancies and also schedule them. The employees can update their progress in an assigned task for the administrator to view and the employees can also view their payrolls. The job seekers can learn about the vacancies and also apply for the posts. The Human Resource Management System can be used to manage the Human Resource of a company. The system helps management to create vacancies and accept applications from the applicants, online. It also keeps the administrator updated with the progress of a team in the task assigned. It can also generate payroll automatically. The website may utilize various technologies and frameworks, such as React, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and server-side languages, to create a seamless and engaging user experience

Stakeholders’ design preferences for instructional gamification

ABSTRACT There is increasing interest in incorporating game design elements in workplace learning, known as instructional gamification. Despite initial positive indications, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of how organisational stakeholders play a role in implementing instructional gamification. This study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to identify and understand stakeholders’ instructional gamification design preferences and how these preferences might impact their endorsement of instructional gamification. A survey of 231 individuals at a software company was conducted to gather data on stakeholders’ preferences for instructional gamification. This was followed by in-depth interviews with eight employees to further enhance the understanding of stakeholders’ instructional gamification design preferences. The quantitative findings revealed four interrelated factors concerning the instructional gamification design preferences of the three stakeholder groups. However, the qualitative findings revealed that the stakeholder groups interpreted the items differently. By integrating the quantitative and qualitative findings, the study provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors that enable or hinder stakeholders’ endorsement of instructional gamification in workplace learning. The study also presents four design propositions that facilitate stakeholder endorsement of gamified learning artifacts. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications for designing and implementing instructional gamification in workplace learning environments.

Key Aspects of Product Innovations: Theoretical Knowledge and Research Study

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to investigate and establish an understanding of the key aspects of product innovations, which present an important side of the product innovation theory. The paper also aims to validate the literature knowledge by conducting and presenting the results of a primary study.
 
 Theoretical framework: The theoretical knowledge provides the necessary secondary data that helps researchers to build specific empirical indicators, which the paper puts to test by conducting a primary research study.
 
 Design/methodology/approach: As a first step, the paper uses exploratory research, which is a methodology approach that investigates and gives a deep understanding of the research topic. The method used is “literature review”, which helps researchers to analyse existing data from a variety of literature sources relevant to the aspect of product innovations. Next, the paper uses descriptive research, which involves the collection of quantitative data through a survey method. The research study is conducted in February 2023, among 18 software companies in Bulgaria with product innovation activities in the 3-year-period under review (2020 – 2022).
 
 Findings: The paper identifies the key aspects of product innovations, outlines specific empirical indicators and confirms the essential role of the defined key aspects for the development of product innovations in the software industry.
 
 Research, Practical & Social implications: The paper brings useful knowledge base for developing future research studies focused on product innovations.
 
 Originality/value: The paper provides an original and a new direction of researching the term of product innovations.

Calculating Couples: Computing Intimacy and 1980s Romance Software

Abstract In the 1980s, as the market for computing in the home was still emerging, a category of software arose that promised computer-mediated experiences of romance and sex. These programs, which this essay is calling “romance software,” drew on popular psychological and therapeutic discourses to offer couples advice for more satisfying relationships while also managing their interactions with the computer as an intimate or romantic activity. This essay argues that romance software employed the then novel home computer as a tool that could help mediate relational and communication ideals and bolster the heterosexual couple in the context of changing expectations for relationships in the 1980s. Romance software attempted to instantiate computing intimacy — referring not only to the application of computational methods to the management of relationships but also to the romantic or erotic experience of a couple using computers together. Although they amounted to a minor subset of the software introduced during the decade, these programs envisioned computing in the home as a technology to mediate companionate relationships. Romance software demonstrates that some software companies in the 1980s conceived of personal computer users not only as abstracted masculine individuals but rather addressed users within their roles in companionate relationships, in this case as part of a couple. These programs proposed methods through which computing could be used to assist in creating better relationships for couples that had adopted computers into their homes.

What Do Transgender Software Professionals Say About a Career in the Software Industry?

The new remote work structures resulting from the post-pandemic are producing several positive outcomes in the software industry, including improving diversity in software teams. Diversity is an essential aspect of software development because technology influences almost every aspect of modern society; therefore, if the software industry lacks diversity, software products might unintentionally constrain groups of individuals instead of promoting an equalitarian experience to all. In this study, we investigate one aspect of diversity in the software industry: the perspectives of transgender software professionals about a career in software engineering. Our findings demonstrate that trans people choose careers in software engineering because software development environments are safer and more flexible. However, these professionals face several limitations related to teamwork, such as difficulty in engaging with co-workers and a reduced sense of belonging. Remote and hybrid work in software companies is helping these professionals to cope with these limitations.

A Blended Approach to Organizational Learning in Indian Software Industry

Organizational learning (OL) has been one of the pioneering fields in debating the survival, sustainability and competitive edge of an organization in a dynamic environment. Primarily, it integrates generative learning, the sharing of knowledge, reliance on standard processes on the one hand and experimentation on the other, thereby enabling a culture that fosters co-creation and team learning. Although OL does not restrict itself to knowledge-based firms, software companies have been purposefully chosen in the present study on account of their rich access to a variety of knowledge specific to the different industries they serve, the dynamic environment under which they operate and the periodic upgrading of their technological capabilities. Given these features, it is safe to assume that IT companies are in the best position to explore OL in comparison to firms belonging to other industries. The study attempts to describe OL in software firms in India. The current study adopts a mixed-method approach, where OL is discussed through both quantitative and qualitative lenses, and the findings are triangulated for discussing OL in software firms in India. The research paves a way to focus on building a learning infrastructure and making the learning link tangible as the key requirements to discuss OL in software firms.

A Proposed Technical Debt Management Approach Applied on Software Projects in Egypt

Technical Debt (TD) is a metaphor that can be described as the technical issues that are hidden from end users and customers, but in fact hinder the development efforts during system evolution and future enhancements. Due to tight budgets and timelines, TD is frequently incurred, which may lead to technical, financial, and quality issues that make future maintenance more costly or impossible. While business professionals concentrate on external issues related to customer satisfaction, in fact they rarely pay attention to internal software quality defects and maintenance, which would rather cause future interest payments. In this research study, we propose a TD management (TDM) approach with best practices developed using Design Science Research (DSR) and conducted with multiple case studies for the software development team in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The study demonstrates that the proposed approach for measuring the impact of internal / external software quality leads to increased awareness of TD’s occurrence and thereby provides processes for preventing, identifying, prioritizing, monitoring, and repaying TD to satisfy both customer value and technical requirements, along with halting project failures and cost overruns. In actuality, applying our proposed TDM approach leads to a deeper comprehension of TD contraction in selected software companies, improved team morale and motivation, as well as an enhancement in its maintainability.

Activities and Practices of Requirements Engineering in Agile Software Environments

Requirements are one of the important factors for software success. However, Requirements Engineering (RE) activities, in the Waterfall process model, are done sequentially in the analysis phase, which makes it difficult when RE practitioners think and reason about them in Agile Software Development (ASD) process model. RE practitioners need to find the established RE activities conventions in the ASD process model, especially with an increase of software companies, which transform to the ASD process model, in order to foster their transition to the new model. The objective of this study is to provide RE activities in ASD to allow RE practitioners to utilize the appropriate activity for specific ASD methodology. RE activities in ASD are handled repetitively and on a small scale, which makes them embedded in the development life cycle. This paper focuses on highlighting them in different ASD methodologies and discusses the practices that resolve the traditional Waterfall model issues. Although the ASD model has resolved some traditional RE issues, it introduced other issues, such as a consequence of trying to achieve an adequate balance between agility and stability. In addition, there is a lack of practices that target non-functional requirements.

Optimal releasing strategy of enterprise software firms facing the competition from cloud providers

In the contemporary enterprise software market, there has been a notable surge in the utilization of SaaS products. This trend has prompted certain upstream suppliers of cloud resources, commonly referred to as cloud providers, to introduce their own SaaS offerings, thereby augmenting the competition within the industry. The matter of optimal releasing strategy encountered by software firms in this industry has been scarcely addressed in prior literature. Therefore, the present study employs the Hotelling model to depict the market segmentation in the context of a software firm’s selection among three distinct strategies, namely on-premise, SaaS, and dual version strategies, to effectively manage competition. Through an examination of the optimal pricing and profit for each strategy, and a subsequent analysis of the resulting profits, we have managed to arrive at conclusive recommendations for optimal strategy selection. Based on the analytical findings, it can be inferred that the selection of the optimal strategy can be classified into two distinct scenarios, which are contingent upon the magnitude of the unit cloud rental fee. In a high-cost rental environment, the optimal release strategy shifts from the SaaS strategy and dual version strategy to the on-premise strategy, as the disparity in value between on-premise and SaaS versions increases. In a context of low rental fee and a widening value gap, the optimal strategy choice sequence is as follows: SaaS, on-premise, dual version, on-premise, dual version, and ultimately on-premise. Furthermore, we analyze and reveal the impact of various factors on the maximum profit that software companies can achieve. The findings we have derived have significant implications for software companies’ decision-making in the face of the challenge posed by highly centralized public cloud supply.

Quality Analysis of Software Applications using Software Reliability Growth Models and Deep Learning Models

Finding the faults in the software is a very tedious task. Many software companies are trying to develop high-quality software which is having no faults. It is very important to analyze the errors, faults, and bugs in software development. Software reliability growth models (SRGM's) are used to help the software industries to create quality software products. Quality is the software metric that is used to analyze the performance of the software product. The software product which is having no errors or faults is considered the best software product. SRGM is also utilized to analyze the software quality based on the programming language. Deep Learning (DL) is a sub-domain in machine learning to solve several complex issues in software development. Finding accurate patterns from software faults is a very tedious task. DL algorithm performs better in integrating the SRGM with the DL approaches giving better results based on software fault detection. Many software faults real-time datasets are available to analyze the DL approaches. The performances of the various integrated models are analyzed by showing the quality metrics.

Right Information, Right Patient, Right Time: Utilizing the MyCareCompass Platform to Deliver Patient Education in the Oncology Setting

Patient education is an important part of cancer care as it increases patient activation and informed decision-making, reduces anxiety, and improves outcomes. However, challenges to providing appropriate education to patients exist on both the health provider and patient side of the equation, e.g., time constraints and health literacy issues. Digital health education is a fast-growing field of interest that has been shown to improve health outcomes, increase effectiveness of medical treatments and education, lower medical costs, and enhance both clinical diagnosis and research opportunities by streamlining data collection, sharing, and analysis. In 2019, Fox Chase Cancer Center was selected by ARCHES, an established patient education software company, to pilot its award-winning digital patient engagement system MyCareCompass. During the pilot, patients scheduled for port insertions were sent electronic messages inviting them to review various online educational materials related to their procedure and subsequent concerns. The invitations and resources were seamlessly integrated into the scheduling system and timed to arrive when patients would most need them. There was high usage of the port-related materials and patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the delivery system and the information. This automated process of delivering high-quality and relevant patient education was able to be implemented smoothly with IT involvement, had a positive impact on patients without adding any extra burden to the care team, and highlighted opportunities to integrate these types of interventions into routine care.

Features of Tax Regulation of the IT Industry in the Russian Federation and EAEU states

The article discusses the features of the application by the Russian Federation and the member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, mechanisms of tax incentives for the development of the domestic IT industry. Tax incentives, a simplified taxation system and the taxation regime in the territory of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ), High-Tech Park (HTP) are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the consideration of the procedure for access and accreditation of companies for the opportunity to work in the territory of the SEZ or HTP with the use of a preferential tax regime. The article concludes that states as a whole apply all tax incentive mechanisms in a complex: tax incentives, a simplified taxation system, SEZ, HTP, however, there are differences in their use, which ultimately affects the level of stimulation of domestic IT industries. Russia uses a selective and differentiated approach, that is why most companies in the field are cut off from the preferential tax regime. The EAEU countries have developed more positive experience in this matter due to the simplification of the registration procedure required to enter the preferential zones, both for domestic and foreign IT companies and the admission to the HTP and SEZ of individuals specialists. The access of foreign companies from friendly countries as residents in the territory of the Russian SEZ will facilitate the introduction of new information technologies and the exchange of experience with domestic companies. The thesis is also substantiated that for a holistic and systematic stimulation of the development of the domestic IT industry, it seems inappropriate to differentiate companies into Software Company (companies specializing in high technologies) and companies not specializing in such technologies. Special attention is drawn to the need to expand the list of types of IT-activities that provide access to domestic companies to the mechanism of preferential taxation. The article notes that the experience of tax incentives for the IT industry in the EAEU countries shows that the approach used makes it possible to unite the majority of domestic companies and specialists — individuals in the territory of a separate free economic zone or HTP, that is beneficial both for the companies themselves and individuals from — for preferential taxation, and to the state, which keeps them records and records of their IT products and discoveries. In the Russian Federation IT companies, unless they are included in the SEZ, are fragmented and more difficult to control in this sense. In general, it is concluded that in Russia it is necessary to ensure the uniform application of tax incentives for the domestic IT industry throughout the territory, which will contribute to its development and growth of competitiveness in the international market.