Unit 14 : BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business (RQF)

Programme BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in
Business (RQF)
Unit and Title Number (Unit 14)
Unit RQF level/Code Level 4: R/618/5054
Credit Value 15
Module Tutor
Name/email
Dr Ayodele Aluko ([e-mail])
Assignment set date 09/01/2023
Distribution Date 18/01/2023
Assignment Brief Code (J-A 2023) RQFBM- DBP 14- 8V3
Cohort name April + June 22B
Student name and ID Salek Ahmed and 26402
Submission Date 01/03/2023
Word Count 5878
Is this a first sub mission Is this a Referral
Submission
Learner’s Statement of Authenticity
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own. Where the work of
others has been used to support my work then credit has been acknowledged. I have
identified and acknowledged all sources used in this assignment and have referenced
according to the Harvard referencing system. I have read and understood the
Plagiarism and Collusion section provided with the assignment brief and understood
the consequences of plagiarising.
Student’s
Signature
Salek Ahmed Date 01/03/2023
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Table of Contents
Task-A..............................................................................................................................3
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
Defining Digital business.............................................................................................. 4
Use of digital technologies............................................................................................5
Emerging Trends..........................................................................................................7
The foremost functions of digital technologies..............................................................8
B2C digital interaction...................................................................................................9
B2B digital interaction.................................................................................................10
Risks and issues of the digital technologies to support business aims.......................11
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 12
Task-B............................................................................................................................13
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 14
Managing Digital Transformation................................................................................15
Digital implementation and strategy............................................................................18
Developing a Competitive age....................................................................................22
Mobile application.......................................................................................................24
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 30
References.....................................................................................................................32
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Task-A
Introduction
Today, the success of a company depends more on its ability to undergo digital
transformation. New and improved methods made possible by technological
advancements in the corporate world have led to a rise in productivity. Companies in all
parts of the world are increasingly turning to digital tools in an effort to boost output and
better serve their customers. But it has also allowed companies all around the world to
update their theoretically outdated business practices and speed up their operation.
Organisations have ensured that information continues to flow from one department to
another through digital business transformation and digital culture in businesses, but
now that information is easily accessible to everyone, it no longer poses a problem for
workers and businesses in meeting their targets on time. Since adopting digital
technologies like cloud computing, 90% of companies have seen a rise in their profits.
The goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive explanation of the various
methods and trends associated with digital business, as well as their respective
definitions. In addition, the paper details how the incorporation of digital technology into
company operations can facilitate the realisation of organisational objectives. Along with
addressing the situation at hand, the research provides a comprehensive digital strategy
to assist with the introduction of digital tools throughout the company.
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Defining Digital Business
The term "digital business" refers to the practice of using digital technology to improve a
company's operations and to revamp both its products and its interaction with
customers. Successfully innovating products and satisfying customer wants and needs
is facilitated by the advent of digital commerce (Bican and Brem, 2020). In addition, it
helps businesses learn from their customers' perspectives and experiences and
strengthens relationships between employees and customers. Several models,
including multichannel ones, suppliers, modular producers, and ecosystem drivers, form
the foundation of the digital economy. The term "digitalization" refers to the procedure
by which physical or analogue data is transformed into a digital format. There has been
a widespread shift towards conducting business online in recent years as a means of
making management and regular operations more straightforward. As a result of this
technological upheaval, businesses of all sizes may now be more proactive and
effective in their operations. As more companies realise the potential gains from
digitalization, we should expect this trend to continue.
A company needs to develop and implement a digital business strategy in order to take
advantage of the potential outlined above. A digital business model is one that uses
technology to generate consumer value in response to specific market conditions and
company objectives. To provide clients with value they are ready to pay for, a digital
business strategy is essential. Each company's clientele is made up of a distinct group
with specific expectations and concerns (Czúcz et al., 2021). To wit: the electronic
prototype should be carried out with the end goal of satisfying the needs of the
organization's intended clientele or end users. Some of the most successful digital
business models are discussed below.
Amazon has several modern techniques to propel its overall growth. Some key
approaches may include,
Amazon Prime: It is one of the most successful initiatives taken by Amazon. It provides
consumers with facilities like speedy and cost-free transportation, online streaming
platform, exclusive offers and more.
Fulfillment by Amazon(FBA): This approach allows third-party traders to keep their
items in Amazon's fulfillment facilities. This feature has drawn the attention of a large
number of traders, and enhancing item selection etc.
Amazon Web Services: It is the cloud computing sector of Amazon that provides a scale
of ascendable and cost-efficient services to firms. It delivers consumers with
infrastructure, storing capacity, and several other facilities.
Customisation: Amazon utilises user data to customise the purchasing activity. By
utilising algorithms and machine learning, it analyses browsing and buying history and
provides customised item suggestions.
Coca-cola has also embraced various digital methods to propel its business
development. Some major points may include,
Digital Promotion and Social Platform: Coca-cola has made huge investments in digital
promotion and social media promotions to be involved with customers. The business
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utilises social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to access and collect
responses from consumers.
Digital Vending Machines and integration of IoT: Coca-cola has adopted Internet of
Things(IoT) technology to convert its vending machines into linked gadgets. These
vending machines can provide customised suggestions, keep track of the inventories,
and deliver authentic sales information to the consumers.
Feasibility and Modern transmission: Coca-cola utilises modern platforms to transmit its
feasibility exertions and enterprises. The business discloses information regarding its
contribution in keeping the environment safe through social media platforms.
The digital business frameworks utilised by the mentioned businesses,
Item-based framework: Coca-cola basically functions on an item-based business
framework, producing and allocating its goods through different ways. It also has a
significant impact on consumer involvement and supply chain management of the
company.
Subscription and membership framework: Coca-cola and Amazon both utilise this
framework for providing exclusive services and rewards to their members. It delivers
incentives for customers to be involved and presents personalised awards and other
benefits to the subscribers.
E-commerce framework: E-commerce or electronic commerce can be defined by the
practice of purchasing and trading tangible items online. E-commerce sites and
applications are developed for selling items by different firms. Amazon has developed
its business on the basis of e-commerce and they have gained huge success by
utilising e-commerce.
It is possible for the company to put its digital business strategy into action by catering
to customers' needs in the way they want. In this way, the internet can bring together
previously separate client groups and speed up the process by which they can obtain
the service being offered by the business (Ebel, Bretschneider and Leimeister, 2016).
We now live in a world where people from all over may communicate with one another
instantly and easily thanks to the internet.
Therefore, it is crucial to leverage web-based technologies in a company's business
model implementation, both to increase the business model's accessibility and to reach
a larger number of the target customers the company seeks.
Integrating business models can be defined as the system of collaborating a couple of
business frameworks to construct a new, more efficient framework that gains the
privilege of the strong factors of the former ones. The objective is to generate a new
framework which is more efficient, productive, and updated than the previous ones.
Necessary actions to take while integrating business frameworks:
 Recognise the major strengths and setbacks of the models to be integrated.
 Discover how the strong forces of one framework can be utilised in referencing
the lacking of another one.
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 Find chances of collaborating components of separate frameworks to construct a
new one.
 Design a strategy for the new framework.
 Scrutinise the new framework and take essential steps to solve the problems.
 Keep the new framework in regular supervision.
The business environment denotes the external forces that influence an industry. Some
external forces that may affect the digitisation of businesses are,
 Economic forces: These involve the rate of interest, rate of inflation, foreign
exchange rate etc.
 Social forces: These involve cultures, beliefs, and demographics of the society.
 Legal forces: These involve national and local policies, agreement conditions etc.
 Political forces: These involve government regulations and the political condition
of the nation by which the operability of the business may be harnessed.
 Technological forces: Forces like new technological innovations and
developments, and availability of the technological facilities may leave impacts
the smooth functioning of the business.
Use of digital technologies
The capability of storing huge info on the cloud and facilitating the distribution of that
information, are all favourable consequences of digital technologies. Many companies
like Coca-cola utilises instruments like email, Sype and Slack for messaging, video
conferencing as well as making effective communication. It has helped the firm to stay
in touch with its consumers and employees. Moreover, the firm's workforce and
administrative body can utilise digital technologies to ensure that they are providing
responses and helping workers in acquiring their objectives.
Artificial Intelligence may be utilised by firms to rapidly and precisely deliver staff with
outputs and recommendations. It can come handy in evaluating employee performance.
There are also AI powered chatbots that may assist consumers in purchasing and keep
track of the performance of the workers.
The ability to store massive amounts of data on the cloud, as well as facilitate the
sharing and accessibility of that data, are all benefits of digital technology for
businesses. With the help of cloud computing, Coca-cola's supply chain can continue to
run smoothly, with information about products and raw materials being readily available
to anyone who needs it (Gobble, 2020). The requirement for companies like Tesla to
spend money on galaxy installations of end-user software and high-powered computers
is another reason why cloud storage is seen as flexible and cost-saving. In addition, all
divisions could access data on vehicles and production standards. It has aided in
increased teamwork, which has led to higher-quality vehicle production.
The Coca-Cola Company is just one of many that use video conferencing tools like
Skype, emails, and Slack for instant messaging and other forms of real-time
communication. It's helped the company's leadership keep in touch with teachers and
kids even when they can't be there in person. Furthermore, the company's management
and staff can use these digital business tools to make sure they are offering feedback
and assisting employees in achieving their goals and objectives.
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Artificial intelligence can be used by company administration to quickly and accurately
provide Employees with results and comments. It can be useful for assessing
Employees' responses using NLP once they've been trained on relevant data. In
addition, AI chatbots can assist educators to keep track of Employees' cumulative
grades based on formative assessments and assignments, allowing them to better
understand where their pupils are succeeding and where they still need guidance (Chen
et al., 2023).
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube are all social media channels that the
corporation may use to better manage its relationships with its customers. It facilitates
and encourages communication between Employees and the institute's teachers. As an
added bonus, it facilitates the organization's ability to supply Employees with all relevant
details on enrollment and course offerings. Zappos, an online retailer of garments
products and shoes is very popular for its splendid consumer relationship management.
It utilises Facebook and Twitter to maintain a sound relationship with its consumers.
There are numerous other corporations that utilise the facilities provided by social media
platforms such as Starbucks, Delta Airlines, Amazon etc.
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that is fully integrated into the
educational institution's business model will enable centralised management of all
operational aspects of the institution (S.V.Doddaiah, 2014). It'll aid in keeping
information moving efficiently throughout the business. It will aid in the development of
an educated decision-making system, which will in turn aid in the enhancement of
business efficiency. Nestle, a multinational food industry utilises Enterprise Resource
Planning technology to organise its business functions over the world. There are many
more businesses that use this integrated management system software to maintain their
operations and customer services such as P&G, Walmart, IBM etc.
Data analytics can be a useful solution for designing profiles of the target audience,
which assists businesses to realise their target customers' natures, attitudes, and
choices. Netflix is a great example of using data analytics to create audience profiles in
order to provide services according to the preferences of consumers. Facebook, Spotify
and some other corporations also use data analytics to provide the preferred content of
consumers.
There are different data collecting devices and analyses which are important for the
organisation to realise their consumers, develop innovative promotion plans, and
generate more revenue. The utilisation of some famous data-collecting technologies is
mentioned below,
 Facebook Insights: A company that offers customised cellphone covers may
utilise this technology to measure its growth and performance. It also evaluates
the performance of its promotional activities.
 Google Analytics: An online retailer of shoes may use Google Analytics to
measure the performance of their webpage. They can assess the effectiveness
of their marketing campaigns and customer relationship by using the technology.
 Twitter Analytics: A food business may utilise Twitter analytics to measure its
performance. They can evaluate how well their business strategies are working
out by using the technology.
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Emerging Trends
Retail giants like Walmart have implemented ERP systems to better coordinate and
automate their back-end processes. Management can use this to streamline and
improve the company's operations (R, 2018). It makes company processes more
transparent and open. However, blockchain is gaining traction in the educational sector
as it gives employees the freedom to take charge of their academic identities and
records. Employees can help recent grads in their job search by verifying the
credentials listed on their résumé. Companies like Coca-cola and Walmart utilise
customer relationship management systems to track and analyse client information and
preferences. In conclusion, several trends and predictions, such as the development of
artificial intelligence and machine learning, the rise of omnichannel customer
engagement, the significance of data-driven insights and analytics, the emphasis on the
customer experience, the development of mobile CRM, and the rise of social CRM, are
likely to shape the future of customer relationship management. Businesses that want to
remain competitive must embrace these shifts and implement cutting-edge technologies
and tactics to provide customers with an exceptional experience. Distributed ledger
technology is yet another developing field that is helping businesses revamp their
financial and advertising operations. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is an
agreement of replicated, collective digital data that is geographically dispersed across
different sites and countries, facilitating a transformation in the sectors that necessitates
a shift in the role of players in the financial sector (Li and Kassem, 2021). The
blockchain, a key component of the distributor login Technology that enables the
transmission of value across the internet, was also affected. For example, blockchain
technology can be used to recover a person's identification, health records, and
personal data.
The contemporary methods utilised by Coca-cola and Amazon are
provided below with their related key performance indicators(KPI):
Feasibility and ecological enterprises: Coca-cola has positioned a vigorous prominence
on renewablity and ecological duty. They make investments in enterprises to decrease
wastage of water, carbon ejections, amd waste production. Coca-cola focuses on
utilising renewable packaging ingredients and enhance the rate of recycling.
KPIs:
Reducing carbon ejection: It determines the deduction in greenhouse gas ejections
around the activities of Cca-cola.
The rate of packaging recycling: It calculates the rate of Coca-cola's wrapping
ingredients which are recovered, denoting the improvements in renewable packaging.
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