Xerophone: Business Model Innovation and Analysis Report

This report analyzes Xerophone, a start-up application designed to manage smartphone usage for increased productivity in the UK and Irish markets. The report includes a PESTLE analysis to assess political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors influencing the application's success. A SWOT analysis identifies Xerophone's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report examines current innovation strategies, focusing on data privacy and synchronizing usage control between home and school environments, and the business model, which is primarily B2B. It highlights the application's goal to minimize distractions caused by smartphones and improve overall performance. Furthermore, the report delves into business model innovation, digital strategies, and recommendations for market penetration, including open innovation, sustainability, and digital marketing. The report concludes with a summary of recommendations and proposed alterations to the Business Model Canvas.

XerophoneXerophone
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background & Context................................................................................................................4
Analysis........................................................................................................................................5
Pestle Analysis.............................................................................................................................5
Swot analysis...............................................................................................................................6
Summary......................................................................................................................................6
Current innovation strategies.......................................................................................................7
Current business model................................................................................................................8
Business model innovation........................................................................................................10
Research analysis & recommendation.......................................................................................12
Scotland First.............................................................................................................................13
Open innovation & culture.........................................................................................................14
Sustainability..............................................................................................................................14
Digital strategies........................................................................................................................14
Recommendations Summary.....................................................................................................15
Alterations to BMC post-recommendations..............................................................................16
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................17
Pestle Analysis...........................................................................................................................17
Appendix 2.....................................................................................................................................18
SWOT Analyis...........................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19
Minutes of meeting....................................................................................................................21
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Introduction
The application and equipments that are being developed through the usage of scientific
knowledge is referred to as technology. This aspect of market is evolving continuously and
people are addicted to usage of smart devices. It enables to remain active with respect to world
around them (Doulgeroglou, 2015). Digitalisation has provided a new perspective into the things
which yields both affirmative and pessimistic impact on the one who is making its use and
people surrounding them. Smartphone applications are software which are designed for running
on either phone or watch. They are developed to provide the basic features to users such as
calendar, database, email and many others with an aim to furnish a simple way to carry out their
activities. This report is based on Xerofone, which is a start-up firm who have developed an
application which can be used within iOS as well as Android devices. This report comprises of
background of the concept, analysis in context of SWOT and Pestle along with this innovation
strategies and business model has been illustrated in this. Furthermore, business model
innovation is provided along with distinct digital strategies which are being used by firm for
bringing in their product within the market.
Background & Context
People are addicted to smartphones which hampers their performance in schools or their
working area. If they are being used for gaining knowledge then it is obvious that they can render
their responsibilities in an affirmative manner but in case if this is not so then there will be
pessimistic impact. It can be understood by taking an example like the research was carried out
in 2016 by different individuals and it was found that there was around 6.4% enhancement
within test scores. This implies 5 extra days in school. The other instance can be taken with
respect to usage of phones, survey was carried out by Office of National Statistics United
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Kingdom and it was observed that on an average employee makes use of smartphone for 1 hour
within working hours which means 5 hrs per week. On the basis of average industrial wage it
will cost near about £2,802.00 per each employee per year which is a huge amount and leads to
huge financial loss. For addressing such kind of issues Xerofone has built in their own
application in which company, school or parents can block different aspects within smartphones
of individuals by making use of 3G or 4G connections.
Analysis
From background it is clear that, the application developed by Xerophone will lead to
productivity of individuals either it is in context of students or employees. But the major aspect
is privacy of devices or content present on them. There exist distinct factors which creates an
impact on the ways in which application works (Green, 2019). With respect to this, analysis has
been provided below:
Pestle Analysis
As Xerophone is opting to bring in their application within market of UK and Irish, they
need to take into account different factors which can impact their software. These elements are
illustrated below:
Political factors: In context of software, it comprises of importance as well as political
stability within economy of country, intellectual property rights and favoured trading partners
which are opted by Xerofone. Brexit might create a impact on this along with this industrial
safety regulations have to be followed.
Economical factors: This involves intervention of government within the ways in which
software is delivered in market by Xerofone, infrastructure quality within applications,
comparative edge within host and technological sector within Irish and UK. Along with this,
skills possessed by individuals within software industry have to be considered by organisation
(YANG and ZHU, 2012).
Social factors: Here, skill levels of population have to be acknowledged so that they
understand the reason behind launch of application. Basically, it implies the ways in which
society will react with respect to application brought in by Xerofone. Here, skills as well as
demographics will also be taken into account by organisation.
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Technological factors: This is one of the fastest disrupting area and transforming quickly.
For this, it is important for firm to be innovative with respect to technologies prevailing within
the market. Xerofone is bringing their software for iOS and Android devices but windows
smartphones are also available within the market. Apart from this¸ firms who make use bring
your own device also needs the application which can block access on the systems also (Perera,
2017). This will act as an important aspect for Xerofone to take into consideration. Furthermore,
rate of diffusion must also be taken into account and cost associated with entire process.
Legal factors: With respect to this aspect, Xerofone needs to ensure anti-trust laws,
copyright and patents or intellectual property law, data protection act and consumer protection.
They need to ensure that applications are blocked by software then security of their users must
not be breached and individuals must not have access to data present within them (Doulgeroglou,
2015).
Environmental factors: Xerofone can opt for green infrastructure as well as energy
efficient information technology infrastructure that are liable for empowering sustainability
roadmap and widespread deployment for smart metering within their operations in Irish and UK
market.
Swot analysis
It denotes internal factors which might create impact on the ways in which organisation is
delivering their services. These elements have been illustrated beneath with respect to Xerofone:
Strengths: They will disable smarphone technologies such as social media, gambling and
social site. This will lead individuals to emphasise on activities that are being carried out by
individuals (Rehman and Khan, 2012). It creates an affirmative influence on performance of
individuals either they are employees or students.
Weaknesses: Maintenance cost will be high as well as high risks from third persons to
get access into devices by making use of different attacks such as man in middle or cross site
scripting. In case if intruder is able to do so then Xerofone will have pessimistic impact on their
services.
Opportunities: It will render individuals with extra features which are not provided by
other application developers. Business to business approach is being utilised to furnish enhanced
benefits to their users (Shojaie, Hamidian and Basiji, 2014). Subscription package is offered at a
charge of $2.99 along with entry within the market after Brexit.
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Threat: There are many competitors who are financially strong. Along with this similar
kind of products are being offered within market of Ireland and UK.
Summary
Xerofone is bringing an application within the market by which certain social media
platforms will be disabled for a certain period of time. This is doen to attain a enhanced result as
people are addicted towards their smart devices which declines their overall performance. But for
having impelling results it is necessary to abide to certain laws which are formulated by
government to ensure that they remain away from any kind of issues which might hamper their
overall performance (Green, 2019). It is necessary to identify their strengths and weaknesses so
that they can be turned into positive by making use of opportunities they have by elimination of
threats.
Current innovation strategies
The process of creation of new values for people who are willing to make their use and
pay for them is referred to as innovation. Strategies is a term which is denotes a plan that is being
used for harnessing for an instance operations, R&D, finance and marketing for supporting
attainment of competitive goals. From here, innovation strategy can be defined as explicit
roadmap for reaching desirable future (Zurawka, Schaeuffele and Carey, 2016). They are being
utilised by organisation for inspiring enhancements within services and technologies by making
investments in research and development. This will aid Xerofone for attaining competitive edge
within the market. They have analysed the market and identified what will yield affirmative
results to various aspects of society. There strategy is to be a world's leading management
software which will enable society for controlling usage of smartphones before they control
them. Their strategies are illustrated beneath:
 The apps developed by their competitors gather data from users but Xerofone did not do
this. It comprised of browsing habits, activities carried out within app downloaded,
content present on messages along with their location. This was considered as breach of
information by Xerofone and they aims at protecting information so that it is not used by
anyone.
 The apps which are provided within the market are marketed as well as directed to
parental control but strategy of Xerofone was to furnish synchronisation among education
as well as home (Ghaisas, 2016). This can be understood by taking an instance like when
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child goes to school then parents can control smartphones of their child and school can
also do the same but of multiple students within the school hours.
 Xerofone provided firms with an option to save money, mostly organisations do not
allow smart devices within the working environment. But Xerophone provided
employees to bring their handset within working environment so that they have their
phone in case any kind of emergency takes place and also limit activities carried out.
The criteria behind bringing in innovation is that technology is not a problem but
challenge exist within ability to control use of technology rather than it control them. For this,
Xerofone brought in long term pragmatic strategies through which they can ensure that goal is
attained (Pedersen, 2016). Research have been carried out for identification of need for
controlling use of smartphone within business, home as well as business. This hinders quality as
well as performance which leads to decline within overall results. For this, Xerofone aims at win
cross-sectoral acceptance which will disable smartphone technologies. Their strategy also
included to target different sectors of market, they are illustrated beneath:
 Companies in which of Xerofone application will assist them within improvisation of
productivity of employee so that overall cost can be saved.
 Within the education sector, application or software will minimise distractions that leads
to high levels of engagement of children as well as teenagers in classroom to accomplish
their potential.
 Home where, children can stay away from enhanced use of digital world which will
enable them to have physical experience (Devadiga, 2017).
 Emphasis was laid on business to business (B2B) market as in this section transactions
have to be made in between companies. When working in such kind if environment and
for having appropriate results Xerofone application can be used as it will furnish
appropriate result.
Current business model
Xerofone for bringing in their innovation within the market have carried out research
with respect to what will lead them to have enhanced research and accordingly carried out
development of their software or application. The aim was to disable certain notifications from
different platforms either social media or emails. Rationale for this was to eliminate distraction
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which is caused by notification while delivering their services as sometimes it lead to major
accidents (Anderson and et. al., 2016). Along with this, it will renders enhanced results and
overall productivity can be improvised, this can be understood by taking an example. Like, it was
clear from the facts that individuals check their smartphones around 150 times each day or it can
be taken as at every six minutes. It was also identified that individuals who are addicted to these
devices are prone to accidents such as collisions or bumps, slipping, falling from height or any
other kind of accident.
For this, Xerofone have opted to make use of business to business model (B2B) which
comprises of trading of services and goods among two different corporate entities.
The B2B model is liable for carrying out communication as well as trade among distinct
organisation in form of business house trade goods as well as services with other firms (Ouali,
2017). The reason for this is that while carrying out business meetings if someone gets a
notification and phone is on ringing then it will lead to creation of disturbance. Along with this,
making use of different applications while interacting with others also create a negative impact
on individuals. Thus, the app provided by Xerofone will yield them with affective results by
limiting some activities within conference or meeting hall. The model comprises of different
aspects like electronic procurement, e-Human resource management and e-Customer relationship
management. The electronic application will be provided by Xerofone which will enable to
restrict certain aspects present within the smart devices. There exist different kind of B2B e-
commerce models, they are depicted below:
 Supplier centric model: In this context, supplier builds up electronic market with respect
to products which are being supplied by them. Here, suppliers are liable for rendering
customised pricing as well as solutions as per requirements of buyers (Schmidt, 2016).
With respect to this, Xerophone is supplier who will provide an application to different
organisations.
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(Source: E-Commerce Models – B2B, B2C, C2C & Its Types, 2019) Buyer centric model:This B2B framework or model is utilised by Big business houses
who are responsible for carrying out higher volume of purchases and also possess huge
purchasing capacity. Xerfone has set up electronic platform which will enable them to
stay focussed on their operations like requesting for quotations.
(Source: E-Commerce Models – B2B, B2C, C2C & Its Types, 2019)
 Intermediary centric model:It is an electronic market maker who is liable for rendering
electronic platform for connecting different sellers as well as buyers for facilitating
transactions among them (Idri, Abnane and Abran, 2016). They acts as an intermediary
for peculiar segment where each individual involved within can connect. Xerofone can be
used here to restrict the distractions which might create an impact on ways in which
services are being delivered.
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Illustration 1: Supplier Centric Model
Illustration 2: Buyer Centric Model

(Source: E-Commerce Models – B2B, B2C, C2C & Its Types, 2019)
Business model innovation
The development of unique and new concepts for supporting financial viability within
organisation which comprises of their missions as well as processes for bringing in concepts to
success is referred to as business model innovation (Strode, 2016). It aims at realising new
revenue sources through improvisation of product value and the ways in which they are being
delivered within the market. Xerofone is about to launch their application in 2020 in which will
enable parents, school as well as organisations to time lock different aspects associated with
smartphones of individual and can be accessed remotely through usage of 3G and 4G
connections (Barabanov, Markov and Tsirlov, 2016).
In this context, Xerophone can opt for making use of business canvass model which
assist within understanding business model in structured as well as straightforward manner.
Basically, it denotes graphical representation of distinct number of variables which will illustrate
value of firm (Mohammed and et. al., 2017). This can be utilised as an strategy tool for
launching an application within market of UK as well as Ireland. They includes nine different
elements which will aid Xerofone to acknowledge different aspects related with their application.
It is illustrated below:
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Illustration 3: Intermediary Centric Model

Key partners
 Joint ventures who
have started with a
identical start-up
 Collaboration with
bigger brands like
Apple Risk assessors
Key activities
 Development of
platforms.
 Ensure security as well as
accessibility of content of
individuals who attempts
to block certain aspects.
 Marketing of application
to attract enhanced
number to individuals
towards it.
Value proposition
 Control all the
applications which are
installed with
smartphone except
calls and messages.
Along with this
content present within
them will not be
accessed by anyone.
 Minimisation of
distraction for their
employees or students.
 Data of customers will
not be saved and their
location will not be
accessed.
 Well-being of students
as well as employees.
 Easy for usage.
Customer relationship
 Furnish personal
assistance for usage
of application.
 Carry out trial runs
to show individuals
how it works. Cost for this is not
identified yet.
Key resources
 Technological
infrastructure
 Revenue stream via funds
provided by shareholder's
and subscription.
 Customer relationship by
providing promotional
offers to individuals.
 Sales of application by
Revenue stream
 It provides
subscription.
 Funds are generated by
shareholders.
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making use of play store
and app store
 Research and
development centre.
Distribution channel
 Social media will be
used for dispersion.
 Usage of business
networks.
 Long term contracts
along with monthly
subscription.
 Provide discounts
for attracting their
customer’s. Development of
transparent policies.
Cost structure
 It includes wages for
development team as well
as other staff of
Xerofone.
 Cost involved within
rendering advertisements.
 Research and
development prices.
Customer segment
 They are corporates
which involves
employees as well as
employers.
Research analysis & recommendation
Xerofone is about to bring in their application within market for UK as well as Ireland. It
is an innovative idea with an aim for enhancing productivity of organisation and individuals by
restricting certain aspects of mobile applications (Akgün and et. al., 2017). This can be
understood by taking an example like Apple is providing an application which is not exactly
identical to Xerofone but provides control to parents for restricting certain content like parents
can control devices of their children but also provides details related with what is assessed by
them and browsing details. But in case of Xerofone privacy is retained by only providing them
with control to restrict certain applications. Basically, it aims at furnishing individuals with
power to control behaviour of individuals which will enable them to carry out their operations as
per desired standards.
It is recommended that business to consumer (B2C) model can be utilised which will
render them with an opportunity for browsing, selecting, customisation as well as buying of
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