Transforming Software Business Models into Business Processes

Changed business models, such as induced by Software-as-a-Service, require an effective implementation in a firm’s organization. This study clarifies the relation between business models as an implementation of a company’s strategy, and business processes, as an abstraction of a company’s operations. The presented transformation framework provides specific meaning to the industrial setting of a software vendor morphing to a SaaS model. Both underlying concepts, the business model and the value chain, as a coarse-grained view on business processes, stem from software industry research. The explorative findings cover a detailed description of the transformation framework as well as an exemplary expert survey that can serve as a refer- ence for software firm decision makers. Thus, the study provides profound insights into the potential opera- tional impacts of business model changes.