Digital Technology and Business Operations

This report delves into the importance of digital technology in the business environment, using Amazon as a case study. It examines how Amazon's internal investment and focus on online channels have enabled it to achieve a competitive advantage. The assignment also discusses recent applications at Amazon, such as the Echo assistant and Amazon Go convenience store, which utilize machine vision to eliminate checkout lines. It concludes that digital technology is crucial for businesses to remain relevant and recommends that leadership teams prioritize innovation and engage with future workforce digitally.

MANAGING
DIGITAL
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Justification and rationale of the topic........................................................................................3
Comprehensive review of the evolution and current state of these contemporary digital issues.
.....................................................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation on the challenges and opportunities of these contemporary digital issues.. .5
Critical analysis these contemporary digital issues affecting business organisations................7
Identify digital tactics and strategies undertaken by business organisation to address the
issues...........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion and recommendations for business organisations....................................................7
Future direction of these contemporary digital issues.................................................................7
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Digital operation is a new type of operations within a company. These operations brings
together machine learning, automation and develops centric workflows to mobilise teams. In
present business scenario, digital technology is revolution is transforming the industry
dramatically. It is changing the ways companies serve customers, manufacture products, interact
with stakeholders, manages operations, assist and support manpower. Organisation undertaken in
this report is Amazon which was founded in 1994 which deals in cloud computing, e-commerce,
artificial intelligence industry (PEREZ, 2015). This report will explain the justification and
current states of contemporary digital issues. It will also evaluate the challenges and challenges
and opportunities. Then critical analyses of these contemporary issues will be affecting business
organisations. It will also identify digital tactics and strategies and furthermore the
recommendations will be made.
Justification and rationale of the topic.
The theoretical learning of digital business management is a well recognised field in all
business organisations. This is explained by the fact that digital information systems are a critical
aspect of modern business organisations. This will need to use digital information systems at the
workplace. The growing internet and information and communication technologies are serving
as a driving force for organisation to adopt innovation in order to achieve growth through
producing higher level of productivity. It has changed the function of information in business,
management and interpersonal systems. Digital era have influenced commercial as well as
personal space to a great extent. (Demirkan and Spohrer, 2014). As in modern world companies
are using different information systems in order to support their business process so that they can
gain competitive edge. Along with it development in internet technology is also affecting the
social network of people.

In this quickly dynamic, and continuously growing environment of digital information
system. it is critical that future managers and leaders are equipped with the essential required
information and skills to use and negotiate with opportunities and initiatives arising in the digital
business world (Evans and Brooks, TigerText, 2016).
Comprehensive review of the evolution and current state of these contemporary digital issues.
Present digital technology offers an unprecedented opportunities to the organisations. In
amazon, digital technology has reshaped every aspect of the business. In order to establish a
successful digital transformation company is required to undertake collaborations and planning
which should include each and every department. (Gruber and et. al., 2015). The digital economy
is concerned with the use of digitalised information and knowledge as the important component.
The internet, cloud computing, big data, fin tech, etc. are some of the latest digital technologies
which are used to collect and analyse information digitally and transforms interpersonal
interactions. This creates benefits and skills as the digital technology drives creativity and also
provides opportunities for economic growth.
The digital evolution started from mechanical and analogue electronic technology in
1950's to digital electronics. Which involved regenerated technology which has been analogue
into a digital format. By this, it became easy to identify identical shuffle copies in comparison to
original one. (Holmes, 2015). For example in digital communication repeating hardware was
able to magnify the digital signal and further pass it without any information loss in the signal.
Cognition to easily relocate the digital information between media and ability to distribute it
remotely and revaluation were of equal importance.
Current state of digital operations
Digital operations are described as new type of company operations. It is learned from
consumer technology products which are used in every days life. It is a platform which is used to
create value through new offerings and relationship in order to gain competitive advantage.
Digital transformation is not just limited to big data and digital platforms but also how these
innovative technologies can used by companies in order to create innovation, new business
processes and also in creation of new and smart products and services (Holmström and et. al.,
2016). Further, the digital economy is helping regional business to step way from local to global
market global market, It also facilitates businesses to keep with long term trends focussed
towards liberalization and reducing trade barriers.

These technologies are the important part in current business world and is crucial not
only for businesses by for smooth life also. It helps in million of ways to the people for making
any task easier, quick and cost effective which provides relevant solutions. For instance, IOT
which stands for internet of things is the biggest trend which has emerged in recent years. It
provides an idea that all technologies can be connected to the internet and with one another in an
attempt to develop a perfect link between physical and digital worlds. It provides an ample of
information which explains that how customers involves in products by tracking their
interactions with digital devices like smartphones (Huang and et. al., 2017). For instance,
Amazon, tracks the kind of products its customers features or purchases and try to provide them
with similar kind of products whenever the user opens the applications.
Critical evaluation on the challenges and opportunities of these contemporary digital issues.
Digital transformation is the method in which organisations transforms and creates new
business models and culture with digital technologies (Love and et. al., 2015). It is a interruption
that every organisation large or tiny is gearing for and follow at a more expedited rate than ever
before. Instead of this reality that every company needs latest trends of technology in its
operations so that it can become successful and competitive in the business world, many
businesses are still unprepared for adopting the technologies to embrace this transformation. This
is because of the following challenges or reasons :
 Deficiency in depicting a clear digital customer journey : Companies which are
successful in developing a digital client value statement, develops a clear vision so that
they ca identify and analyse the needs of digital customers and set objectives and visions
accordingly. But still there are many companies that lack or fails to identify the same.
 Organisational culture : Culture is the central point of digitalisation in the organisation
and it will have a holistic impact on it (Oda and et. al., 2014). It will affect the leadership
style, quality of workers life and style of engagement with the customers. Therefore, the
culture has limited the people to be open to change and this results in big challenge.
Therefore, it has become crucial for the companies to deliberate if their culture is
resisting to accept the change.
 Culture is expensive : As discussed above, change is not easy for to accept but it is also
not economic in nature. If an organisation wants to change itself according to the latest
trends and technologies then it requires huge amount of investment of money. Many

organisations lack the availability of funds and revenues which becomes a great
challenge. Thus, it makes adoption of technology as a problem for the company. Even if
the company adopts the technology, then it will have to invest money in hiring and
training people so that they can learn to work on those technologies which will again
increase the expenses for the company. Thus, it is very expensive in nature.
 Lack of strategy for a digital customer drive : Many times the company may be
successful in launching its digital transformation journey but lacks the ability of
developing clear strategy or vision (Lo and et. al., 2014). Therefore, having a vision or
strategy is essential. It is in fact a pre-requisite since it assures the company about the
essential steps to accomplish the closing desired destination. So therefore, it is a big
challenge for the company and requires good transformation strategy as a solution.
 Lack of resources : Finding good resources relating to the development and
transformation of technology is very difficult. An ideal organisation must have
individuals who are open to change , sharing information and knowledge consistently.
This will embrace and implement technology effectively and efficiently at each level.
 Leader : They are the person in the organisation who influences and motivates people to
comply and work effectively and efficiently towards the attainment of organisational
goals and objectives. Many organisation does not have leader and directly have senior
people for managing and taking decisions in the company. This creates a problem of
making people understand about the importance of digital operations and adoption of
changes are brought by the disruption.
Opportunities for the digital issues
Digital transformation is in full swing and companies are doing at their best to stay
forward in the competition. Amazon will have various opportunities and they are discussed
below :
 Digital disruption from within : Disruption is concerned with the kind of action that the
company takes with established players which are regularly being displaced by the new
industries and companies (Nambisan and et. al., 2017). According to this, if an
organisation cannot compete with the existing companies then it will join those
companies and existing companies needs to disrupt themselves.

 Showrooming : This is a challenge for small retailers but an opportunity for the company
because customers are shopping through digital networks. But recently a new trend is
introduced which is web rooming, which involves people checking out items online
platform before buying actually buying them at physical store . And when people actually
comes to purchase, it provides retailers an opportunity to hold them and maximise sales.
This is provided by an opportunity of internet of things and beacons provides and
opportunities here.
 Improves customer experience : By using digital integration from online purchases,
customisation and instant communication, has significantly improved the customer
experiences. This is one of the main purpose of organisation to move towards the digital
technology to develop highly exceptional and relevant customer experience.
Critical analysis these contemporary digital issues affecting business organisations.
These digital contemporary which are discussed have significant impact on the business
organisations (Qazi, Amerasekera and Chandrakasan, 2014). If they are implemented
successfully then it will create a success for the company while developing positive impact of
technology and digital on the business. But if these are not implemented as per the plans and
proper strategies than this will adversely affect the company.
Technology has revolutionised the way companies conduct businesses to smaller level
the playing field with larger organisations. This enables the owner of the business to create
operations using the most effective technology available. The transforming impact of digital
technology on modern workplace is discussed below :
 The co- workers or colleagues can easily coordinate and communicate with each other by
reducing the barrier of time and distance. As this also reduces the expenses and saves a
lot of money which can be invested in innovations and researches.
 Different platforms such as search engines and online shopping services allows an
individual to search in lesser time period within in a few clicks. This is not helpful for
customers but is a very imperative way expand and maximise the sales which will
ultimately generates the revenues for the company.
 When the company is thinking to expand the business globally than digital technologies
like maps, real-time translation services and GPRS help the company to navigate
unknown places and communicate with locals to identify their needs and demands.

 Organisation will use different application to cut down organization expenses.
organizational software allows a business to automatise different back end functions
which involves record keeping, accounting system and payroll application (Rezende and
et. al., 2014). Mobile technology enables domestic business office and field
representatives to interact in actual time.
 Businesses will also use technology to develop safe and secure surroundings for keeping
delicate information related to both business and customers. Numerous kind of software
applications and technology are user-friendly and permit businesses with only
insignificant past information in IT to make the most out of their features.
 Organisational technology helps the company in improving their communication
processes. For this purpose, the uses email, text messages, websites, etc. to facilitate
improved communication with customers which will ensure customer satisfaction.
Applying different type of information technology communication methods it allow
organisations to modify their message in relation with economic market.(Singh, and
Hess, 2017). Organisation can recover more feedbacks through the use of these electronic
communication methods.
The above discussed were the positive impact of these digital issues on the organisation.
But there are also several negative impact on the company and they are discussed below :
 If the company fails to complete digital transformation initiative than businesses suffers
the negative impact by loss of revenue.
 Technology is having a negative impact on society. As it can allow an individual in an
organisation to engross in relationships across distances and time zones, this sometimes
comes at the expense of good social interaction of face to face which is very important at
the workplace. With devices always demanding the attention, family, friends and
colleagues are often ignored which alters the complete social structure. This can lead to
conflict creation in the organisation.
 Overload and burden of information detracts the individual mentally and emotionally.
When employee will be disturbed then they will not be able to work conformably which
will affect the results produced by them. When they will fail to accomplish the goals and
objectives due to pressure of work then this will affect the financial stability of the
company.

 Lack of confidentiality or privacy of data has affected the business. Its is very difficult
that whom to trust and whom not to trust. Many times information leaked hampers the
operations and functioning. This is done by hacking, etc. in the digital world.
Identify digital tactics and strategies undertaken by business organisation to address the issues.
There are various strategies which are undertaken by the Amazon which helps the
company in gaining market share consistently. Those strategies are discussed below :
 Amazon prime strategies have helped the businesses in expanding the business by
delivering the products within a single day from ordered. This is a digital technology
which is initiated by the amazon and serves their customer with just a one day delivery.
 Amazon drone strategy helps in delivering the order within 1 hour from delivery. This
digital facility has been limited to some areas only and some places have banned this
strategy.
 They have invested in developing websites. So even a simple website which lacks the
sales page will be consulted as a business card before a deal is made.
 Traditional advertisings are less effective compared to the digital advertising. It allows
the businesses to target the customers in a highly particular demographics. It takes a lot of
different forms like pay per click which is a text based advertisement which is popular on
search engine and blogs (Tao and et. al., 2018).
 Display advertisements are also digital form of ads which shows an image or animation
to affiliate sites. Social media ads are the most important and growing form of digital ads
which targets large amount of population with the help of Facebook, Instagram, etc.
 Adopting new and innovative technologies which is used to give Amazon a competitive
edge. A cracking and modern example of this is supplying the infrastructure to deliver the
kindle Whisper sync update to e-book readers. Kindle apps are now accessible on apple
iOS, android devices and on PCs. It aims that the user will buy one time and will be able
to read it anytime whenever they wishes to read.
 Some of the more recent applications at Amazon are extremely visible for example, the
amazon echo assistant and technology in the amazon go convenience store that uses
machine vision to eliminate checkout lines.
Conclusion and recommendations for business organisations.
Conclusion

From the above report it has been concluded that digital technology is very crucial in
business environment. Amazon technology structure must promptly assist this culture of enquiry
and it can be hard to accomplish with standardized contented management. Amazon has
achieved its competitive advantage through developing its technology internally and with a
significant investment in this which may not be available to other organisations without the right
focus on the online channels. Therefore the company always effectively managed the flourishing
execution of its innovational digital movements, intelligent customer learning and involvement
strategies and perfect customer services.
Recommendations
The Amazon illustration outlines a functional mode in forward direction. Even when
leadership teams don’t know where digital tendency will impact the company, they can
determine those which poses major risks or represent big opportunities and begin reacting step
by step. For competitive retailers, it was clear that Amazon was decreasing its transportation
times and that at some point, its service might even transform customers expectations. For this
purpose, they should align strategies towards innovation. It should also involves and engage the
future workforce digitally. They should also invest in alternative benefits like corporate social
responsibility and not only in employment generations.
Future direction of these contemporary digital issues.
Technology and digital opportunities drives radical performance improvement in future
operations. So in future it will offer and accelerate all kinds of future operations in processes like
research and development, procurement, production, logistics and customer relationship
management. This digital technology will assist not only in businesses but in health care sections
of the society as well. The smart health tech has been launched by merging amazon and few
other companies for the purpose of providing, employee, their families, a reasonable and high
quality health care in future. The more and more manufacturing industries will use loT digital
technology in future because this helps in minimising the cost and improves industrial efficiency.
Also the containers and the micro services are influencing interest from organisations which are
required to rapidly develop the applications for future. The clouding technology is very helpful
for future because the user can retrieve the information which has been deleted or lost due to
errors.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals

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