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capabilities to implement. Therefore, the most critical element will be the profit
model related to the marketing and pricing of such services to schools, business
organizations, and the public. The free PRS service provided by Mentimeter (
http://
mentimeter.com
) provides a live illustration of how easily PRS may be
implemented as a web-based service. The system is free for the current simplified
version without the management capabilities demonstrated in the TIFE and
PRS@Cloud in Figs.
9.4
and
9.9
, respectively. Mentimeter is also working on a
premium version with enhanced functionality, which will not be free, and thus, will
be closer to the business model depicted below.
Promoting such services should be directed not only to PRS adopters but also to
potential users who can benefit from, but previously could not afford, did not need,
or did not know of PRS's existence. A successful marketing campaign will capture
more adopters, thus creating a larger market. The campaign can follow the success
story of the soybean sauce company in Taiwan 20 years ago, which used a catchy
slogan in a TV commercial to promote its barbecue sauce and accidentally created a
new tradition during the Mid-Autumn Festival to barbecue when friends and family
get together. Similarly, the marketing campaigns of department stores in Taiwan
that turn the consumers' perception of December 25th from commemorating the
Constitution Day in Taiwan to celebrating Christmas have created a big market for
Christmas shopping in the past two decades.
Pricing strategies should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate a variety of
users with different needs to attract potential users. Taking the school as an
example, license pricing can be at school, unit, or individual level. Pricing can
also be rated to accommodate different usage patterns, such as flat rate, based on
frequency and time frame of usage (e.g., one semester per year), or on a pay-per-use
basis. Pricing strategies for the business corporations or the public can be just as
flexible.
Who can be the service providers? In Taiwan, there are currently only two local
PRS suppliers who can easily adopt this new business model to transform their
products and expand their service market. However, this business model can also be
easily adopted by any corporation that wish to participate in cloud computing
marketing, including brand-name notebook companies, such as Acer; telecommu-
nication companies, such as Chunghwa Telecom, the largest in Taiwan; web portal
companies, such as Yahoo and Google; and high-tech companies, such as Foxconn
or Quanta.
For profitability concerns, the cloud voting service needs a larger market, not just
for educational purposes. Traditional PRS application has been used in a broad
range of industries and organizations, such as corporate training, game shows,
delegate voting, and market research (Wiki
2012
). Cloud voting services will
expand its applications outside the sphere of the educational market. For example,
the environment in large business organizations is more mature than university
campuses. For small and medium enterprises (SME) without Wi-Fi capability,
3G cell phones remain the most feasible channel. These services may have been
previously inaccessible, but the SMEs can begin using such voting services in public
buildings or stores/shops, such as Starbucks or 7-11. Another potential application
