Use Cases

Use Cases

This section presents and describes various instances of use case scenarios originating, mainly from two business partners, BWCON and MATHEMA. All scenarios are covered by the Business Model Canvas since it is able to indicate different cloud support for different business episodes which enables the identification of cloud technology in new and existing enterprises by describing their business models. Then, a business episode is laid out for each usage case scenario by emphasizing the key aspects of an enterprise's day-to-day business practices. As such, this will enable a company to annotate possible cases of applicable cloud offerings.

In any case, every usage case scenario follows a Business Model Canvas template which answers a myriad of critical questions capable of pinpointing accurately a company's business requirements in terms of:

  • Key Partners
  • Key Activities/Key Resources
  • Value Proposition
  • Customer Relationships/Channels
  • Customer Segments
  • Cost Structure
  • Revenue Stream

and leveraging the power of the Cloud by identifying key points where traditional business practices are replaced by more modern, flexible and efficient ones using the CloudSocket platform.
Business Incubator
The Business Incubator (BI) scenario aims at bootstrapping start-up SMEs to help them realize their goals by offering them cloud solutions using business processes at each phase's lifecycle of their start-up company. For instance, the ecological agriculture scenario and the green energy scenario are in need of payment services, logistics support and billing management which can be envisioned by BPaaS. Moreover, in the latter use case, incorporating CloudSocket technology in an attempt to handle licensing partners for running rental facilities in different countries and implement the billing infrastructure will allow the start-up to thrive in the market.
Cluster Business Process Broker
The Cluster Business Process Broker (CBPB) scenario involves SMEs which act as a middleman that offer specialized services to customers through the CloudSocket platform. Typically, these services range from supplying Internet procurement services to DRM (Digital Rights Management) compliance in digital content and public print material distribution activities but may well involve other business use case scenarios. The important key aspect here is the distinct separation between the Business Process Requirements and the Functional Requirements in each case.
Technological approach
In order to cope with the aforementioned challenges the CloudSocket platform utilizes a business process repository that allows storing variants of business process models with different levels of cloud support. This can guide the cloud broker in identifying the appropriate cloud support for an enterprise. The structure of the business process repository combines the APQC's process classification framework (PCF) with the Business Model Canvas. The PCF provides a general structure which allows categorizing any kind of business processes. The Business Model Canvas offers a second entry point to the repository from the point of view a concrete enterprise.

Scenario demonstration & analysis

In order to quickly demonstrate the possible benefits of using cloud offerings for different business process, we consider the demonstration of business processes as an appropriate form to communicate with business people. Although the following scenarios are based on estimations in that phase of the project, they depict how key arguments of CloudSocket will be displayed at the business manager level.

Business Incubator paradigms

Business Process Broker paradigms