Software Usability (HW) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Software Usability (HW) - Research Paper Example Good usability results to a pleasant man-to-machine interaction while bad usability results to frustration. Evaluating the site usability is a subjective process involving corporate views and user perspectives. The end-users should have to have the last opinion about it. Below could be a set of criteria in assessing site usability: Navigability. First of all, there should be a speedy and easy navigation where a user won’t seem to notice he/she is in fact navigating. A good ride around the site keeps the user stuck for more and exploring for concerns becomes common sense. At the very least, the user becomes at ease about the organization of the site without necessarily knowing what it is (Lawrence & Tavakol, 2007). Frames, table of contents, â€Å"You are here!† flags are just some of the commonplace devices to easy navigation (Spool et al., 1999). Content Layout. Visuals are just of the essence. The site is made for the users not for the developers or designers who can read through intricate machine languages. However, this is not heavily about aesthetics, though – in fact, not at all. This is where the readable text style and size and appropriate color come into the picture of an acceptable page visibility allocated for a user (Peterson, 2005). User-preference. This may be the most important factor in e-commerce sites. Though it may not be useful to all websites, some people will still actually look for the â€Å"Search† button first thing upon getting into the site. Web experts seem to have come into unparalleled conclusions regarding website usability. One may always find loopholes in every argument another makes. Actually, usability is a simple thing people only likely notice when they don’t get it. To end debates like these, consumer research is key. Consumer psychology is a way to marketability. More so, nobody makes a good conclusion without a good research. It

Social Enterprise and Future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Social Enterprise and Future - Essay Example The success of a business idea is the ability to own it through the patent. The patenting of business ideas ensures that the idea is by the organization, and any of its use will lead to monetary value. The major challenge with patents is the process involved in obtaining the patents. The patents are to be used to protect intellectual property such as software. Changes in design and technology must be evaluated on the basis of success that they can bring to the society while the originators must be able to obtain a reward from the advancement. The commercialization process involves several steps that must be addressed in order to achieve success. These steps include; invention disclosure and assessment disclosure. Upon receiving the invention, the review offers insight on whether the protection of intellectual property is necessary. The major challenge has been the rights of the initiators who may be employees of the company.In order to succeed, the company must have a reward system t hat recognizes the role of the employees in innovation. It is vital for the employees to own the innovation which will, in turn, encourage creativity within the organization. Individuals should be allowed to apply for patents for their innovations because they own it and it should not be taken away from them. However, the current situation does not encourage individuals to apply for intellectual property ownership leading to the development of several issues including fear and loss of wealth generation opportunities.

Multiculturalism in Social Policy

Multiculturalism in Social Policy Introduction The 1948 British Nationality Act, granted favorable immigration rights to Citizens of Commonwealth countries (Giddens, 4th ed. 2001:264). This, along with offers of job opportunities due to a labour shortage in post-war Britain meant that the country experienced immigration on an unprecedented scale. In the beginning men came leaving their families behind. By the late 1960s and early seventies women and children were coming to join them. The newcomers settled in London, in the Midlands and the North and in the seaport towns of Liverpool and Cardiff. They were Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Buddhists as well as Christians estimates of the numbers in religious groups are problematic. This turned the UK into an ethnically and religiously diverse community. Braham, Rattansi and Skellington (1992) contend that between 1950 and 1955 the numbers of West Indian, Indian and Pakistani immigrants became a matter of considerable debate within the cabinet and various measures to control the influx to the UK were considered. This mixed community is still growing in spite of the fact that government immigration policy makes it increasingly difficult for many people to enter and settle in this country. This resulted in changes to the ‘British way of life’ and the UK became known as a multicultural community. However, more recently the term multiculturalism is becoming a contested concept both in sociological discourse and in recent policy making. Current Government policy initiatives, which are largely driven by past mistakes, is to have some idea of the makeup of different ethnic communities in order to establish whether these might provide some stability for incoming asylum seekers/refugees (Spencer, 2001). It is only in the last 10-15 years that the Government has collected data that relates specifically to diverse ethnic groups e.g. the 1991 and 2001 census datum. Present Government, faced with an influx of asylum seekers, is also confronted with the dilemma of fears for national identity that dates back to the mass immigration of the 1960s (Stalker, 2002). This paper will explain and discuss the concept of multiculturalism and the contested nature of the term as it relates to social policy and discourses. Multiculturalism†¦is a theory (albeit vague) about the foundations of a culture rather than a practice which subsumes cultural ideas (Harrison, 1984:1).[1] The Roots of Multiculturalism The 1914 and 1948 Nationality Acts did not impose any restrictions on immigration to Britain from those migrating from Commonwealth countries or those countries that had been a part of the British Empire. Immigration remained fairly low, however until after 1948. In 1953 the total number of immigrants to Britain was 2000 and by the end of the first half of 1962 the number had risen to 94,500 (Layton-Henry, 1992:13).Fifty years ago, when the UK first felt the effects of mass immigration there was a growing recognition that this would require legal, policy, and political changes. At the same time Government was largely concerned with incoming groups being assimilated or integrated into the host community. Thus, Massey (1991) has argued that in many ways the immediate post-war approach to immigration was very much one of laissez-faire. †¦.the assumption was that everyone was equal before the law, and therefore no special policies were necessary (Massey, 1991:9). It has since come to be recognised by both diverse ethnic groups, and by the Government that this operated as a form of cultural imperialism that was bound to fail because of its tendency to view any culture, other than that of the white middle classes, as an inferior cultural form which evoked racism and alienation among and between groups (Parker-Jenkins et al 2005). By the mid-50s it was recognised that the idea that immigrants would just be absorbed into, and subsumed by, the host culture was a mistake. Cashmore (1989) has argued that there was an increased racial tension and by the closing years of the 1950s immigrants were subjected to unprovoked racist attacks. This resulted in the notion that immigration and race relations were politically controversial issues and there was a growing campaign to introduce immigration controls. Skellington and Morris (1992) have argued that the term immigrant is often used to refer to people of a different colour, when in truth the vast majori ty of migration is found in white groups hailing from Europe, Canada and Ireland etc. In 1962 the Government introduced the Commonwealth Immigrants Act whereby members of the Commonwealth were denied entry to the UK unless they were able to fulfil certain criteria (Cashmore, 1989). If they fulfilled these criteria they were issued with vouchers that said they could enter if they had work to go to, if they were qualified in an area e.g. medicine that had a shortage in the UK and some vouchers were issued on the basis of the fact that the person had served in the armed forces during the war. Government tried to justify the Act and its requisite on the grounds that the increasing number of immigrants was contributing to the economic problems that Britain was facing at that time (Cashmore, 1989). The incoming Labour Government added further restrictions to the Act and in 1968 The Commonwealth Immigrants Act restricted entry to those who held British passports and they were subject to immigration controls unless they had a parent or grandparent who was a UK citizen or who had been born in the UK. Pilkington (1984) maintains that the act was discriminatory because it served to exclude coloured Kenyans unless they were given a voucher but allowed the entry of white Kenyans to Britain. Since that time there has been an increased tightening of immigration laws and procedures and an increasing sense of racial discrimination. Home Office figures for 1992 show that one out of every 63 Jamaicans and one out of every 82 Bangladeshis were refused entry compared one in 3000 Americans and one 4300 Swedes (Skellington, et al1996). The term multiculturalism is generally thought to have arisen in Britain in a speech by the then Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins in 1966. Multiculturalism is the notion that each culture has its own specific identifiable features and how the uniqueness of them relate to each other and to the host community (Parker-Jenkins et al, 2005).. There is however, a feeling that this form of multiculturalism is actually a threat to national identity while at the same time leading to a rich cultural exchange in terms of thought and lifestyle. While this term is current in the UK there are often instances where local politics can serve to exclude minority cultures while promoting the values of the dominant white culture.[2] Multiculturalism is also a term (and certainly as expressed by Roy Jenkins) which describes aspects of social policy. Multiculturalism in this sense is to be distinguished from the American view of the melting pot where differences are not subject to specific policy targeting but (in a laissez-faire manner) immigrant groups are more or less left to get on with things. Multiculturalism is used in a number of ways which can serve either to celebrate difference or to act as a cover for what, in any real terms, is another form of enforced assimilation. It also needs to be recognised that diverse ethnic groups now consist of large numbers of people who have been born in Britain (Modood et al, 1997). Multiculturalism and Policy Making Multiculturalism has sparked much debate during recent years. While it was largely ignored under Margaret Thatcher’s Government the success of New Labour has meant that the term has become a common currency in political debate and in policy making.[3] Policy making is important because it can determine the amount of representation (or lack of it) that diverse ethnicities receive in the press and on television, it also determines the content of education, forms of dress (particularly in schools but also with regards to policy on safety regulations e.g. the refusal of Sikhs to remove their turbans in order to wear a motor cycle helmet) and support for minority festivals and religious holidays. In the last two or three years however, the UK Government has focussed less on multicultural policy making and more on issues of inclusion and cohesion. In 1997 the ODPM was given responsibility for a social exclusion unit which aims to undertake research into a number of different areas. Social inclusion and cohesion are not just used in relation to diverse ethnic groups but are the basis for policy making in a number of other areas such as mental health, early years education and homelessness. Thus Government has a wealth of policy initiatives and this has led to a growth in the number of NGOs commissioning research on inclusion in a number of different areas. Issues of inclusion cover a host of areas and can range from the numbers of ethnic minorities using childcare facilities, to those undertaking further education of some kind to increase their employment prospects. Policy making aimed at reducing inequalities in both the labour and the housing market, and ongoing policy initiatives to combat racism are hampered by a dwindling job market and successive cuts in housing budgets. Braham et al (1992) argue that in order to be successful anti-racist strategies need to be multi-faceted and aimed at subjective, institutional, and structural racism. Past policies have been badly focussed and piecemeal because there is no clear consensus in Britain what equal opportunity and multiculturalism mean either in ideological or practical terms (Solomos and Back, 1996). Reports produced by the social exclusion unit may be aimed at reducing marginalization but often result in the labeling of minority groups, and specifically diverse minority ethnic groups, as a drain on the resources of society. Policies that target specific areas such as getting the population back into full employment tend to leave minority ethnic groups as particularly vulnerable to this type of labeling. According to a Policy Studies Institute (1982)[4] report found that in the majority of diverse ethnic communities rates of unemployment were twice as high among these groups as they were in the dominant host group. However, research undertaken by Modood et al (1997) reflects the fact that while there is a continuing disparity in terms of wages, exclusionary modes of hiring and higher unemployment rates, certain ethnic groups experience greater success in the labour market than do others. Iganski and Payne (1999) on the other hand maintain that while the occupational structure in Britain is experiencing rapid change the gains made by some ethnic groups should not be understood in terms of the end of disadvantage in the labour market. They also contend that these changes have occurred because the forces of industrial restructuring are greater than the forces of ethnic/racial discrimination and disadvantage. Housing policies also tend to discriminate against asylum seekers/refugees and other diverse ethnic groups. Struggles over access to such resources can result in what Weber (1976) has termed ‘group closure’. Access to housing resources varies between diverse ethnic groups, where some, particularly those of Indian origin, have rising levels of home ownership while other groups remain in sub-standard and hard to let accommodation (Ratcliffe, 1999). Clearly there are problems in the classification of diverse ethnic groups and in present policy making, which, instead of greater inclusion sometimes tends to further exclude such groups. Ballard’s (1990) research demonstrates that there needs to be a clear understanding and examination of cultural differences and structural forces before applying encompassing terms to diverse ethnic groupings. Conclusion There tends to be a general agreement among social theorists that existing classifications of the diverse groupings that go to make up the modern UK context are problematic and that this has implications for policy making. Not all sociologists find the term multiculturalism as a desirable one. For Solomos et al (1982) multiculturalism is part of a new racism that is based on the view that diverse ethnic groups are not compatible, thus Enoch Powell’s pronouncement that rivers of blood would flow because of the difficulty of mixing different cultural groups. Rattansi (1994) has argued that with the globalization process clear cut distinctions between groups may be undermined by the formation of new forms of ethnic identities. Solomos et al (1982) argue that minority groups need to struggle in order to gain power in society and to pursue a policy of anti-racism whereby the racism that exists in society and its institutions is exposed as there are some problems that cannot be reso lved through the pursuit of cultural tolerance. 2000 words Bibliography Spencer, S. 2001. UK Migration Policy 2001 London, Institute for Policy Research Stalker, P. (2002) â€Å"Migration Trends and Migration Policy in Europe† International Migration Vol 40 (5) pp 151-179 Banting, K. 2005 â€Å"The multicultural welfare state: international experience and North American narratives† Social Policy and Administration, vol.39, 2005, p.98-115 Braham, P. Rattansi, A. and Skellington, R. eds. 1982 Racism and Antiracism. London, Sage. Goldberg, D.T. 1993 Racist Culture. Oxford, Blackwell. Solomos, J and Back, L. 1996. Racism and Society. London, Macmillan Press. Giddens, A. 2001. (4th ed). Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press. Layton-Henry, Z. 1992. The Politics of Immigration. Oxford, Blackwell Massey, I. 1991 More than Skin Deep London, Hodder and Stoughton Parker-Jenkins, M, Hartas, D. and Barrie, A. 2005. In Good Faith: Schools, Religion and Public Funding Hampshire, Ashgate Press. Cashmore, E. 1989 United Kingdom? London, Unwin-Hyman Skellington R. and Morris, P. 1992 Race in Britain Today London, Sage Pilkington, A. 1984 Race Relations in Britain Slough, OUP. Modood, T. and Berthood R. 1997 Ethnic Minorities in Britain Diversities and Disadvantage London, PSI ODPM. 2004 Tackling Social Exclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future http://www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=13 page 17 Braham, P. Rattansi, A. and Skellington, R. eds. 1992 Racism and Antiracism.  London, Sage Ballard, R. 1990 â€Å"Marriage and Kinship† in Clarke, C. Peach, C. and Vertovec, S. eds. South Asians Overseas Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Iganski, P. and Payne G. 1999 â€Å"Socio-economic restructuring and employment: the case of minority ethnic groups† British Journal of Sociology, 50 Weber, M. 1976 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism London, Allen and Unwin (first published 1904-5). Ratcliffe, P. 1999 â€Å"Housing inequality and race: some critical reflections on the concept of ‘social exclusion† Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22 Solomos, J. Findlay, B. Jones, S and Gilroy, P. 1982 â€Å"The organic crisis of British capitalism and race: the experience of the 70s† in Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies 1982 1 [1] http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Multiculturalism#Descriptive_Multiculturalism [2] http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Multiculturalism#Descriptive_Multiculturalism [3] http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Multiculturalism#Descriptive_Multiculturalism [4] Cited in Giddens, 2001:267

The Cold War Essay example -- History, Global Power

The second World War brought untold suffering to million across the globe, but it also launched the United States into the position of a superpower for the next 50 years. With the utter destruction of nations across Europe, Africa, and Asia, both winners and losers, America easily assumed a dominant position in the coming international system and captured the ability to reconstruct the world using its high democratic ideals. The United States was the most powerful nation in the world. It is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and with postwar America it was no different. Given the unilateral power to spread its ideals of self-determination, liberty, equality, and individualism; America instead effectively subverted these principles not only around the world, but domestically as well. The unlimited global power and Cold War paranoia of the postwar years to the assassination of John F. Kennedy proved a fatal mixture to American ideals. As World War II came to a close, the Uni ted States gained the world as the most powerful country on earth; But to maintain this power it sadly reverted to the imperalism abraod and the Red Scare at home; its reversion made her loose her soul. These hypocritical actions and policies shaped a new world not set by democratic and liberal ideals of FDR’s â€Å"Four Points,† but by the power motivated creeds of repression, greed, and violence. In the race to fill the power vacuum created by World War II, the United States abandoned its civic nationalist tradition to compete with the Soviet Union and ensure its economic and political dominance around the globe. If the 18 years after the war saw unprecedented levels of U.S. power and growth around the world, it also witnessed the deterioration of the cou... ...or the rights of humankind as it claimed, but to dominant the globe in all aspects and destroy all competition. The story of the United States after World War II is one of triumph and tragedy. After almost two centuries of proclaiming liberty and freedom, the country finally had the power to pursue those ideals across the globe. Unfortunately, as the U.S. gained more power it also lost its soul, relying on policies of self interest to expand and maintain its new dominance instead of harnessing its authority to improve the world. These policies accomplished the opposite of the traditional American ideals of self-determination and liberty, instead creating an atmosphere of fear at home and a system of imperialism abroad. It is only by accepting this failure can one stop the United States’ continued policy of self interest and try to regain its great soul of freedom.

Hall of Fame (Essay/Response)

Earlier in the year I presented a speech that was about believing in yourself and pursuing your dreams. Shortly after I did that, a song called ‘The Hall Of Fame’ by a band called The Script, featuring a rapper from the pop group The Black Eyed Peas, Will. I. Am, was released on the 19th of August 2012, and has been in the Top 100 Billboard charts since then. The lyrics in this song really motivates me in so many ways, and just inspires me to reach higher, and strive harder everyday. The three phrases that were used repeatedly in these song lyrics were ‘You can’, ‘You Could’, and ‘Do it’.These constant sayings in the song are the words that motivate me the most. ‘You can’, because you can do anything. â€Å"You can be the greatest, You can be the best, You can be the king kong banging on your chest. †, are the first 3 lyrics that are sung, telling you that if you want to be somewhere great in your life, you can a chieve it. That ‘can’ is letting you know that it is possible, anything is possible, and that it is achievable. ‘You could’, because with your belief, you could achieve the greatest record, with your belief. You could go the distance, You could run the mile, You could walk straight through hell with a smile. † These are another 3 lyrics that are sung in the second verse of the song. This ‘could’ Is telling you the possibilities that are open for you to take a chance in, letting you know that the world records that you think can never be broken, could be broken, with your effort & faith. ‘Do it’, because you only live once, and may never get the chance again. â€Å"Do it for your people, Do it for your pride†¦ Do it for your country, Do it for your name. The ‘Do it’ is telling you to make your people proud, to prove your haters wrong, and to do it for yourself, your diginity. â€Å"Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself standing in the hall of fame. † In my personal opinion, it’s one thing if you have a dream and want to pursue it, but you have to dedicate yourself. Working hard at not what you want, but what you need. This lyric lets me know that if I believe in something, put my best efforts into it, and keep a smile on my face, with great possibility I can be standing in the hall of fame.When they say ‘Standing In the Hall Of Fame’, I don’t necessarily think it means being a celebrity or being famous, but being the best you can be, in a ‘hall’ as they like to call it, which to my imagination, is a hallway filled with records broken, and names to remember. The reason why I like this song so much is that I can easily relate it to my normal life. And I’m sure not only mine, but to plenty others too. It makes me feel better about myself in such a way that I know that anything is possible.Everyone has a goal, or a dream whether i t’s losing a few pounds for summer or breaking and Olympic record, everyone has one. Having a goal is the greatest way to get somewhere you want, because a goal paints a picture in your mind of what you want and need, and I can honestly say that when I picture myself being onstage, and daydream about working with my favourite producers, it gives me an motivational boost that tells me, ‘it’s possible. ’ But imagining things isn’t the only way I can keep motivated, listening to music keeps me motivated.And with this particular song being released, it is a mash of the two, which is why it’s so inspirational to me, and it’s also why I am writing a response to it at this moment. â€Å"Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions Be true seekers† This repetition is what caught my ears the most in this song. That persuasive ‘Be’ makes you just want to get up and do something. The vocals they use in the song while singing these enhance even more, it’s as if they are chanting for you to do it, it makes you feel like you’re in a stadium having people cheer you on to pursue your dream.It’s giving you that motivation and support which you might not be able to find at home or at school. One last thing I would like to elaborate on, is when the lyric reads, ‘Don’t wait for luck. ’ It’s pretty much a way of saying, don’t be lazy. Which is an excellent example of why teenagers today aren’t achieving much. It’s because they get lazy. I’ve met so many people around my age who have huge dreams and goals, but they never get anywhere because they are just waiting for something to happen. In order to get what you want, you need to fight.

Edocs, Inc. †Case questions

3. The most important terms for edocs founder Kevin Laracey to further discuss in future negotiations will be the following: †¢ The valuation proposed by the Venture Capital investors, a number that could easily be inflated by shopping the deal around as the venture capital market is booming. †¢ The Board of Directors provision, as Mr. Laracey wants to make sure that in the first years of the Company he will remain CEO, and that the co-founders of edocs will be part of it as well. †¢ The share vesting schedule, which Mr. Laracey feels represents a lack of faith by the Venture Capital Investors in them. †¢ The Anti-dilution and Right of First Refusal which in essence binds edocs to future and larger equity participations from CRV. †¢ The warrants issue subject to the availability of other VC investors. This clause is troublemsome for the CEO of edocs because it will cause further dilution of his his colleagues stakes in the Company. 4. As for Charles River Ven tures, Mr. Guerster has essentially two main things in mind regarding the term sheet: †¢ The board composition, because he feels that Mr. Canekeratne is not suitable to be a board member as he will bring no added value to the company, and a large board of directors is not feasible. †¢ The warrants issue that Mr. Guerster feels is an appropriate penalty for edocs if they cannot find other investors to do the deal with. 5. edocs is searching for venture capital financing in 1998, a vibrant year for the market. Furthermore, the term sheet that was presented to them was quite investor friendly, with some strict provisions that unnecessarily burden the entrepreneurs. In short, edocs can and should negotiate some of the terms presented to them by CRV. First of all edocs is aware that if it shopped the deal around it could get a higher valuation and the provision to include the employee share option pool in the valuation seems too onerous. An acceptable compromise between committing to CRV and to dilute their stake so much in the beginning would be to exclude the option pool from the valuation. This would change the VC’s stake from 38% to 33%. May not seem like a respectable sum at first, but it may be relevant to encourage future financiers. The lower the A round investor’s stake, the better. Another provision that should be altered is the board composition. As it was mentioned before, this is bound to be one of the most contentious issues between the entrepreneur and the VC. The founders argue that all 3 of them should be on the steering wheel after the investment, while CRV insists on having a small board of directors with as many board representatives as the founders (2 and 2). It is likely that the founders will have to cave in on this issue because it’s not likely that they would get better terms elsewhere. Even if it is unreasonable to put the 3 founders of the company on the board, as the VC will not want it to have a founder majority, at least Mr. Laracey should be granted a place as a CEO for a fixed amount of time. In a very early stage it is important for the Company to have the guidance of someone who founded and knows the business by heart. Perhaps more importantly we have the warrants provision. There is a rational economic reasoning behind this provision. If CRV cannot find another party to invest in the Company thi s will mean two things: investors are not willing to bet on the success of edocs which sends a negative signal to CRV, and it will result in an undiversification of its portfolio and consquently more risk. CRV will consequently want a compensation for this extra risk and the warrants are apparently the answer. We have to take edocs’ position into account though. As we will see later they have negogiating leverage and as such are in a position to change the provision. On the other hand, the clause at the least creates some perverse incentives for CRV. If CRV is or turns out to be confident about the future success of edocs it will not try to look for additional investors and will just cash in the cheap warrants. As such, and to make the term sheet a little more Company favorable we believe that the side letter should not be included in it. In conclusion in a time where a large inflow of capital to VC funds is pushing valuations up, edocs has an opportunity to use that leverage to, while not explicitly shopping around the deal, eliminate the provisions that dilute their shareholdings excessively and to have some control of the Company during its first years. From the preceding discussion we can conclude that the term sheet is more investor friendly –i. e. CRV friendly- than company friendly –i. e. favorable for edocs. Therefore, in the negotiation process the venture capitalists have more to lose when the terms of the deals after negotiation, giving edocs more power in turn. Also, from Exhibit 18-8 we can tell that the commitments of venture capitalists have been increasing exponentially over the past years. From this we can conclude that there are many potential VCs out there who might very well be willing to finance edocs at more favorable terms, giving the latter again more bargaining power in the negotiation process. Laracey, Moran, and Canekeratne have done an extensive study on the competitive landscape in the electronic payment and bill presentment services market. They identified several (potential) competitors such as IBM, MSFDC, Checkfree, International Billing Services, and document services. Compared to edocs these firms are more established and are active in the market for a longer period of time, nonetheless they are all largely competing for the same clientele. In order to outperform these parties edocs builds on many different key elements. First of all it offers advantages to the billing entity in the sense that it allows them to differentiate from their competitors’ â€Å"print only† offerings. From a cost perspective, edocs allows for significant savings in terms of document delivery, processing, remittance, and printing costs. Also, the service will be beneficial for the customer who receives the bills. They can push the documents to the preferred e-mail package, and bill payment will be easier and not as time-consuming. Especially, the technological and strategic partnership with CyberCash will allow for â€Å"one-click† bill payment. The main point at which edocs differs from its competitors is that edocs is offered as a software product, whereas the competitors mainly offer Internet document production and delivery as a service. The founders figured that competitors had a hard time gaining acceptance for these service-only offerings, since customers are concerned about third parties standing in between the biller and the customer. Also, the fact that Laracey, Moran, and Canekeratne had access to cheap software development personnel in Sri Lanka allowed them to differentiate themselves from their competitors, because edocs software was now developed both more quickly and cheaper than competitors could develop the software. Edocs can also be compared to similar firms from a financial point of view. Exhibit 18-6 gives an overview of financial data of comparable firms. However, it must be noted that it is questionable to what extent these firms are all really comparable to edocs. More specifically, IBM and Xerox are much more established, mature firms. Documentum and Document Sciences are, like edocs, both young firms, because they only reveal sales data as of 1995. Checkfree is the only start-up in this context that is not making profit so when wanting to do a relative valuation, using multiples that include net income does not make much sense. Hence, in order to come up with an implied valuation for edocs, we propose to do a multiple valuation, including the average market value-to-sales multiple of comparable start-up firms as a relevant measure to compute the value of edocs. Appendix A gives an overview as to how we came up with this number. As said before, we disregarded the data from IBM and Xerox because these firms are in a much more mature phase than edocs. Subsequently, we computed the average MV-to-sales multiple for Documentum, Document Sciences and Checkfree over the period of 1994 to 1997. Next, this number was multiplied with each of the sales forecasts under the â€Å"target performance scenario†(retrieved from Exhibit 18-4). Averaging the value of the period between 1998 and 2002 leaves us then with an implied value of $268. 3 million.