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Software acquisition by start-up companies

Deliallisi, Blerta LU and Walraven, Pien LU (2015) INFM10 20151
Department of Informatics
Abstract
Software acquisition is very important for any type of company nowadays, including start-up companies. This study examined which software applications are acquired by start-ups, in what ways, with what motivations, and for what purposes they are used. The study was done by first conducting a survey amongst 50 start-up companies in the Netherlands and Sweden and by then doing four follow-up interviews with companies that also participated in the survey. Results showed that start-ups mostly acquire software for communication purposes, and that start-ups mainly use Freeware and Single Licensed software. Most of the time decisions about software acquisition are being made by the CEO, sometimes with help of colleagues, friends or other informal... (More)
Software acquisition is very important for any type of company nowadays, including start-up companies. This study examined which software applications are acquired by start-ups, in what ways, with what motivations, and for what purposes they are used. The study was done by first conducting a survey amongst 50 start-up companies in the Netherlands and Sweden and by then doing four follow-up interviews with companies that also participated in the survey. Results showed that start-ups mostly acquire software for communication purposes, and that start-ups mainly use Freeware and Single Licensed software. Most of the time decisions about software acquisition are being made by the CEO, sometimes with help of colleagues, friends or other informal contacts.
Popular applications include, amongst others, software packages as Google Apps and Microsoft Office. Reasons behind choosing for a specific software application were mainly ease of use, familiarity, requirement fit, reliability, flexibility and gradual scaling. Reasons to use free software options were mainly budget-related, however, reliability and quality were perceived to be really important, especially when it comes to customer-serving applications. Start-up companies therefore said to be willing to pay for these applications if reliability is higher in that case. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Deliallisi, Blerta LU and Walraven, Pien LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Software acquisition by start-up companies: What, how and why?
course
INFM10 20151
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Software Acquisition, Start-up, Software License, Software Acquisition Model, Fit-Viability Model, Acquisition Decision Making
report number
INF15-029
language
English
id
5472376
date added to LUP
2015-07-01 14:21:54
date last changed
2015-07-01 14:21:54
@misc{5472376,
  abstract     = {{Software acquisition is very important for any type of company nowadays, including start-up companies. This study examined which software applications are acquired by start-ups, in what ways, with what motivations, and for what purposes they are used. The study was done by first conducting a survey amongst 50 start-up companies in the Netherlands and Sweden and by then doing four follow-up interviews with companies that also participated in the survey. Results showed that start-ups mostly acquire software for communication purposes, and that start-ups mainly use Freeware and Single Licensed software. Most of the time decisions about software acquisition are being made by the CEO, sometimes with help of colleagues, friends or other informal contacts.
Popular applications include, amongst others, software packages as Google Apps and Microsoft Office. Reasons behind choosing for a specific software application were mainly ease of use, familiarity, requirement fit, reliability, flexibility and gradual scaling. Reasons to use free software options were mainly budget-related, however, reliability and quality were perceived to be really important, especially when it comes to customer-serving applications. Start-up companies therefore said to be willing to pay for these applications if reliability is higher in that case.}},
  author       = {{Deliallisi, Blerta and Walraven, Pien}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Software acquisition by start-up companies}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}