Toward software quality enhancement by Customer Knowledge Management in software companies

Highlights

• CKM enablers are considered for improving software quality.

• A theoretical model is developed by CKM enablers for improving software quality.

• Organizational, Human and Technological factors are considered in the model.

• A survey questionnaire is used for data collection.

• The results revealed that the impact of CKM on software quality is significant.

Abstract

Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) plays an important role in the production of high quality software products. As CKM in Enterprise Software (ES) development is still immature, this raises questions on how CKM enablers can be used to help ES development companies improve their software quality. In this study, Human, Organizational and Technological CKM enablers were identified from the literature. The weights of these factors were determined by experts from the ES development companies. Based on the most important factors, a theoretical model was developed. The proposed model was evaluated by distributing a survey questionnaire to decision-makers in ES development companies. The results showed that “Customer Involvement” together with “Trust” were the most influential factors, followed by “CRM Technology Infrastructure” and “Cross-Functional Cooperation”. In addition, there was no impact from “Organizational Training”, “Customer Knowledge Map”, and “CKM Strategy Development”. The results also revealed that the impact of CKM on software quality is significant. The proposed model in this study can be used as a guideline for the successful application of CKM in ES development companies to improve the software quality.

Introduction

Customer Knowledge (CK) is increasingly important for company competitiveness. Consequently, research on Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) is rapidly increasing (Korhonen-Sande and Sande, 2016, Wang, 2015, Rollins et al., 2012). CKM helps companies leverage their unique CK to improve the new product performance, enhance product⧹service quality, and cut costs (Korhonen-Sande and Sande, 2016, Salojärvi et al., 2013, Rollins et al., 2012). However, companies desiring to develop a well-functioning CKM face challenges (Korhonen-Sande and Sande, 2016, Wang, 2015, Rollins et al., 2012). In particular, there is a lack of research on how firms should deploy Human, Organizational and Technological conditions to manage CK and become more responsive to customer needs (Korhonen-Sande and Sande, 2016, Salojärvi et al., 2013, Garrido-Moreno and Padilla-Meléndez, 2011).

Many previous studies in software quality enhancement have only focused on the technical aspects of software quality such as reliability, maintainability, and functionality. However, because of the nature of Enterprise Software (ES), the transfer and integration of CK for customization, enhancements, maintenance and training is required (Schaarschmidt et al., 2015, Cho et al., 2013).

Customers are one of the most important stakeholders in any project (Association for Project Management, 2006). There is no doubt that appropriate communication and collaboration with customers in different phases of the ES development project can help in increasing the overall satisfaction of customers and the overall success of an entire project (Schaarschmidt et al., 2015). CKM could be used to facilitate the reception of customer feedback and the collection and utilization of customer information (Zhang, 2011). As the integration of CK in ES development is still immature, there is a lack of theoretical framework to fully capture the use of CKM to improve software quality in ES. In addition, there is a fundamental need to further explore how organizational factors such as CKM can enhance the ES quality. There are significant challenges regarding the transfer and integration of CK inside software companies. Attafar et al. (2013) reported that a lack of senior management commitment to CKM, poor communication, a lack of cultural readiness, and a lack of customer management skills are barriers to the CKM (Attafar et al., 2013). The major problems facing the effective application of CKM in any company are organizational, not technical (Smith and McKeen, 2005). According to Al-Shammari and Global (2009), successful CKM requires the transformation of organizations from product–centric operations to customer centric operations. Attafar et al. (2013) noted that an important barrier to CKM is interdepartmental conflict. When internal departments operate autonomously, cooperation between such departments is limited. Thus, several likely benefits of CKM are not exploited (Garrido-Moreno et al., 2014, Khodakarami and Chan, 2014). Moreover, Skotis et al. (2013) reported that one of the most important challenges of CKM is a lack of CK absorptive capacity in organizations. Salojärvi et al. (2010) noted that the most companies lacked systematic processes for CKM. According to Davenport et al. (2001), the utilization of CK is a ‘stumbling block’ for several firms. However, the rate of absorption and application of CKM in ES is low, for example, only 27% of the ES development companies that proposed products in ELECOMP 2014 (Big annual ICT exhibition in Tehran) had a CKM strategy to increase production efficiency and provide better service to customers (Khosravi et al., 2017).

Many studies in the field of Information Systems (IS) have investigated the significant factors that influence CKM. Research on the factors that enhance CKM in the ES development to improve software quality improvement is one of the less explored and examined topics in IS (Kannabiran and Sankaran, 2011). Particularly for developing countries, according to an investigation of 22 software development companies that proposed products in ELECOMP 2014, 63% of the ES development companies used Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, 36% of them had a solution or guidelines for the use of CK to increase the quality of products and services. 61% of them mentioned that the software production process in their companies is product-centric rather than customer centric (Khosravi et al., 2017). An inadequate theoretical framework for antecedent factors of CKM in general, and a lack of comprehensive theoretical framework for the effect of CKM on software quality in ES development, reflect a fundamental need to further explore the solutions for this issue (Aho and Uden, 2013, Kannabiran and Sankaran, 2011). Accordingly, the major question of the current study that reflects the gap in the literature was emerged as: “What are the antecedent factors that influence CKM for ES quality improvement in the ES development companies?”

This paper is divided into the following sections. In Section 2, the theoretical foundation is reviewed. In Section 3, a research design framework was developed. In Section 4, the research hypotheses are formulated. In Section 5, the result of data collection and analysis was reported and compared with previous studies. In Section 6, the implications and suggestions for future studies were described. Section 7 presents the conclusion.