The final initiative towards the development of the framework for the alignment between software users and suppliers included the analysis of the existing relationships among the companies identified as software users and the ones characterized as software suppliers.
At this stage of the study research methodology included the realization of a case study at a telecom company, specialized in the development of communication systems to be used for the transmission of data originated at remote machines using the mobile network, reducing the cost required to collect this data manually. This company was selected because it was experiencing high growth rates, starting to face strong competition from multinational companies and needed to align its business strategy with its technological capabilities.
The company developed its software in-house, and during its first years, the communication solution had to fit all potential customers, preferably with minimal degree of customizations. The embedded software used in this solution needed to provide innovative functionalities in order to attract new customers and had to meet quality standards, in order to minimize the cost of fixing bugs during the time early adopters were testing this solution. 22
The company was successful in developing a robust solution and an electric company ordered a specific system to automate the transmission of data from its electrical metering. This order was big enough to justify the customization of the embedded software and the company began to develop specific data transmission systems for this electric company. In this moment, the software had to have the functionalities specified by this customer, and since the system would be extensively tested by the customer before operation, software quality standards were not so important during initial development.
Therefore, from the analysis of the two experiences of this company, it is possible to connect the two models previously presented in this paper. In the first period, when the company positioned itself as a “Developer”, investing in research and development to create new telecommunication solutions, the embedded software needed to provide some of these innovative functionalities and had to have good quality, minimizing the need for customization. This description is consistent with the description of “product oriented companies”, which have to develop innovative software, with high quality standards.
However, when the analyzed company started to develop specific systems for the electric company, it started to act as an “Integrator”, satisfying the unique needs of this company. As a consequence, software development had to comprehend all the requirements proposed by the customer, and therefore, it started to act as a “customer oriented company”.