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An exploratory study of marketing activities employed by Irish Epos Software Development companies
No full textThe focus o f this research is on the marketing activities employed by Irish Epos\ud
software development companies. Epos stands fo r Electronic point o f sale which is\ud
another name fo r a computerised till system. It assists in the management o f a retail\ud
or hospitality business and can perform many functions such as stock control, sales\ud
analysis etc. Such a study is important to understand what message Epos Solution\ud
providers wish to communicate and how they are going to communicate it. This area\ud
o f research has been chosen as the researcher has worked in the Irish Epos sector fo r\ud
nearly seven years and there have been no previous studies conducted on this area\ud
before. Innovative technology such as SAAS will mean that traditional epos software\ud
companies must implement drastic change to their marketing approach in order to\ud
survive. There are many different marketing tools available, however, it is essential\ud
that the tool chosen is appropriate and delivers results. An organisation can have\ud
various marketing objectives which are dependent on the stage o f the product\ud
lifecycle. Objectives range from educating the market, brand building and generating\ud
sales. The research approach taken was mixed methods which include qualitative and\ud
quantitative data collected from Epos Solution Providers and Epos Solution Buyers in\ud
the form o f a self-completed online questionnaire with a fo llow up intennew by phone.\ud
This is further enhanced with commentary based on secondary research o f SAAS\ud
Solution providers to gain a holistic view o f the entire marketplace. A comprehensive\ud
literature review was also conducted in order to gain an academic appreciation o f the\ud
various issues surrounding this subject area. The main findings from the research\ud
provide evidence that\ud
1. Solution buyers turn to their fellow colleagues the most fo r advice on Epos\ud
solutions;\ud
2. While traditional solution providers are using appropriate marketing\ud
communications, they are ignoring the digital aspect;\ud
3. Implementing a selection o f Marketing Metrics will enable solution providers to\ud
properly evaluate their Marcoms and adjust their strategies accordingly.\ud
Future direction for research projects are put forward
Investigating the power of social media in enhancing the brand reputation of SME's
Get PDFThe motivation behind this research was to become aware of the impact that social media has on enhancing the brand reputation of SME’s Within Donegal. This research makes a worthwhile contribution to the development of brand reputation strategy through social media for SME’s.\ud
The research approach taken represents both a descriptive and an exploratory research design. A Mixed method approach was adapted for the research. The research process involved 10 semi-structured interviews with owner managers of SME’s. Depth interviews were used to explore the key issues related to social media and brand reputation.\ud
Ten customer surveys from each of the SME’s participating were conducted. Alongside this 150 online interviews were conducted with general consumers. Surveys were used to examine the views of consumers in relation to the brand reputation of SME’s through social media.\ud
From this all opinions, perceptions and experiences were analysed and findings were produced.\ud
The key findings of the research uncovered, namely that using social media to enhance the brand reputation of an SME is a viable option. The perceived advantages and disadvantages with using social media to enhance brand reputation were explored. Following this the researched discovered the extent to which SME’s within Donegal used social media to enhance brand reputation. From this the most effective tools for the different industries were established along with a set of guidelines for SME’s wishing to use social media to enhance brand reputation.\ud
The implications of these findings is that the research allows for a better understanding of the current situation of using social media to enhance brand reputation within SME’s in Donegal and efforts can therefore be made to increase social media and branding activity within these companies in order to enhance their brand reputation. The mixed method research carried out enables for further research on a national basis to be carried out in the futur
Control of open-loop unstable processes with time delay using PI/PID controllers specified using tuning rules: An outline survey
Get PDFThe ability of PI and PID controllers to compensate many practical processes has led to their wide acceptance in industrial applications. The requirement to choose two or three controller parameters is conveniently done using tuning rules. Starting with a general discussion of industrial practice, the paper provides a survey of tuning rules for continuous time PI and PID control of open-loop unstable time-delayed single-input, single-output (SISO) processes
A simplified approach to perceptual quality adaptation of multi-dimensional scalable video
Get PDFContent Aware Networking (CAN) can enhance the distribution of media through awareness in the network of the content it is carrying. In this way functions such as content adaptation, content routing and resource allocation can be improved. Our current research investigates `in-network' content adaptation of scalable video coded streams (SVC) via a media-aware network element or MANE. We propose a fuzzy logic adaptation approach based on the user perceived quality of the video stream as well as a policy management based MANE architecture. The paper describes work in progress to define the concept and approach-with particular focus on the approach to codifying QoE/QoS relationships
Ghostbusters: A parts-based NMF algorithm
Get PDFAn exact nonnegative matrix decomposition algorithm is proposed. This is achieved by 1) Taking a nonlinear approximation of a sparse real-valued dataset at a given tolerance-to-error constraint, c; Choosing an arbitrary lectic ordering on the rows or column entries; And, then systematically applying a closure operator, so that all closures are selected. Assuming a nonnegative hierarchical closure structure (a Galois lattice) ensures the data has a unique ordered overcomplete dictionary representation. Parts-based constraints on these closures can then be used to specify and supervise the form of the solution. We illustrate that this approach outperforms NMF on two standard NMF datasets: it exhibits the properties described above; It is correct and exact
Motion-onset visual evoked potentials for gaming: A pilot study
Get PDFThis paper details a pilot study for a motion onset Visual Evoked Potential (mVEP) based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) controlled game. mVEP is a type of VEP that uses visual responses from the dorsal pathway of the visual system allowing elegant visual stimuli to elicit different brain patterns depending on the motion and position of the stimuli. The study here was conducted to determine the most appropriate methods, parameters and EEG setup to use in order to extract reliable information when classifying responses on up to five different stimuli. Initial offline results show that 80% accuracy can achieved by averaging stimuli over 5 seconds when discriminating target versus non target. This was achieved by the use of simple averaging techniques and support vector machines. The initial results are encouraging, showing that mVEP may be used as a control system within a computer game. Details of the proposed games are also included
Error-free authentication watermarking based on prediction-error-expansion reversible technique
Get PDFWatermarking technology is an efficient method to protect multimedia content. In this paper, an error-free authentication watermarking is proposed based on prediction-error-expansion reversible technique. A binary image is used as an authentication watermark, and embedded in the prediction errors block-wise. A location map is designed and encoded to promise accurate extraction and recovery. A retesting strategy utilizing the parity detection activates the capacity of the ambiguous pixels. In the authentication and recovery period, a watermarked image can be identified as authentic or tampered. If an image is authentic, it can be recovered without errors. The embedded information can be extracted correctly. If an image is a tampered one, the tampered positions can be labeled. The experimental results show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method
Holidaymaker’s use of travel guides (paper and digital) while holidaying in Ireland
Get PDFHolidaymaker’s use of Smartphone technology, is growing rapidly, to the point where online use from mobile devices is expected to surpass traditional computer internet use by 2014. This has become increasingly apparent in Irelands tourism destinations. As a result many of the Irish tourism business are developing travel apps. This research forms an important baseline study to on visitor’s use of travel guides, particularly with regard to mobile devices such as “Smartphones”, as well as downloadable “apps”. The results give the Irish tourism industry an understanding on (paper and digital) travel guide use. As noted by (Hanrahan and Krahanbuhn 2011) there has been a significant rise in Irish tourism providers creating travel apps. With over a half million apps today, most people avail themselves of 30 or so, and of that 30, only about ten are used regularly. Many apps seem to reflect an approach that resembles early websites, copying hard copy versions, without taking advantage of the unique opportunities mobile applications offer. This paper was commissioned by Fáilte Ireland in order to identify and assess how domestic and international visitors use traditional travel guides with a focus on the use of mobile devices such as “Smartphones”, as well as downloadable “apps” when traveling in general and within Ireland. This paper specially focuses on the identification of visitor travel guide use, particularly as it relates to the use of traditional traveller information sourcing vs. future growth and options for technology based application solutions (e.g. apps for mobile devices such as Smartphones). The paper argues the role of the tratitinal guide book and the applicability of smart technologies for various tourism sectors and regions, including recommendations to develop relevant programs
Building information modelling (BIM) based energy analysis and response to low carbon construction innovations
Get PDFBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) is the process o f generating and managing\ud
building data during its life cycle, it uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building\ud
modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction. The\ud
information is stored within a data-rich virtual 3D model, which can continue to be used\ud
throughout a building’s life cycle.\ud
With the rising cost o f energy and growing environmental concerns, the demand for\ud
sustainable building facilities with minimal environmental impact is ever increasing.\ud
The most important decisions regarding a building's sustainable features are made\ud
during the conceptual design and preconstruction stages.\ud
In this exploratory research proposes a comparative case study analysis o f a National\ud
Primary School “Sonna National School” based on Building Information Modeling\ud
(BIM) and with the integration o f Autodesk Green Building Studio to investigate the\ud
influence on energy consumption, lifecycle energy cost and carbon emission, to\ud
demonstrate the use o f BIM for sustainable design at conceptual stage and compare the\ud
findings to a preliminary non domestic building energy rating (NBER) using the iSBEM\ud
(non domestic energy assessment procedure-NEAP), under the Energy Performance o f\ud
Buildings Directive (EPBD) to establish the benefits o f incorporating BIM into the use\ud
o f energy analysis
The phenomenology of time: reflections from the Lebenswelt
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to reflect on how time was perceived by different actors during a longitudinal study of innovation in the lebenswelt –in this case a multi-national subsidiary (Costello, 2010). It aims to address the call by Markus (2000) that information systems (IS) research must incorporate the concepts of both history and time in their management and organization studies