Complexity of Configurators Relative to Integrations and Field of Application

Configurators are applied widely to automate the specification processes at companies. The literature describes industrial application of configurators supporting both sales and engineering processes, where configurators supporting the engineering processes are described more challenging. Moreover, configurators are commonly integrated to various IT systems within companies. Complexity of configurators is an important factor when it comes to performance, development and maintenance of the systems. Yet, a direct comparison of the complexity based on the different application and IT integrations is not addressed to great extent in the literature. Thus, this paper analyses the relationship of complexity of the configurators, which is based on parameters (rules and attributes), in terms of first different applications of configurators (sales and engineering), and second integrations to other IT systems. The research method adopted in the paper is based on a survey followed with interviews where the unit of analysis is based on operating configurators within a company

Users’ Social-interaction Needs While Shopping via Online Sales Configurators

The growing adoption of social web technologies such as social software (SSW) in online configuration environments has enabled the possibility of supporting configurator users in interacting digitally with real people while they are shopping for customizedproducts. Previous research has identified that online sales configurators (OSCs) are currently connected to SSW with different modalities to provide configurator users with a variety of options to digitally interact with real people. Enriching the configuration environment with social-interaction tools has engendered the phenomenon of social-product customization. Recent studies considered the social product-customization by investigating the impact that community feedback and social comparisons has on configurator user. However,theOSCs users’ need to interact with different referentsduring theirconfiguration process, and whether the SSW-OSCs connections respond to this needare still unsearched. To address this gap, the present study explores (a) whether users experience the need to interact with different referents while shopping via OSCs and (b) which interaction modalities users are looking for. By considering 943 configuration experiences from 189 users of 378 OSCs for various consumer goods, the present study finds that the need for social interaction by OSC users is highly relevant. Moreover, OSC users perceive the need to interact with different referents during different stages of the configuration process, and, depending on the referent with whom they wish to interact, they are interested in different interaction modalities in terms of how and where those interactions take place. These findings imply that mass customizers may leverage their customers’ need to interact with real people while shopping online via OSCs in order to better engage their actual and potential customers

Exploring Configurator Users’ Motivational Drivers for Digital Social Interaction

At a global level, the demand for online transactions is increasing. This is propelled by both the digital transformation paradigm and the COVID 19 pandemic. The research on Web infrastructure design recognizes the impact that social, behavioral, and human aspects have on online transactions in e-commerce, e-health, e-education, and e-work. As a result, social computing features are leading the Web with information and communication technologies that facilitate interactions among web users through socially enhanced online environments. It is crucial to research the social, behavioral, and human dimensions of web-mediated activities, especially when social activities are restricted only to an online environment. The present study focuses on the social dimension of the e-commerce of customizable products. This domain was selected because of the specificity of its product self-design process in terms of customers’ decision-making and their involvement in product value creation. This study aims to seek the extent that a set of customers’ motivational drivers rely on their need to interact with real persons during the technology-assisted process of products’ self-design. By adopting a user-centered perspective, the study considers 937 self-design experiences by 187 young adult users on a sample of 378 business-to-customers product configurators. The results should provide companies and software designers with insights about customers’ need for social presence during their product self-design experience so that they can fulfill this need by using social technology that provides positive experiences