Impact of Digital Technologies on Organisational Development: A Case Study of Burberry

This report evaluates the impact of digital technologies on organisational development with a case study of Burberry. It discusses the major innovations and digital technologies used by the organisation, their impact on organisational development, and how they affect data and knowledge management in decision making.

Digital technologies

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
A brief description of the client organisation. Identify and evaluate major innovations and
digital technologies that organisation is using........................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Assess how these innovations and digital technologies affect organisational development.
Examine the pros and cons of these technologies..................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Discuss how the said innovations and digital technologies impact on data and knowledge
management in process of decision making. Justify your statements....................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Digital technologies are the systems, devices storages, electronic tools, resources that
generate data and data processing. Nowadays every organisation uses digital technology so that
they can upgrade their products and services. With the help of digital technologies organisations
grab various opportunities and achieve competitive advantages which help them to become more
successful (Vargo and et.al., 2021). Tools and techniques help businesses in evaluating the
internal and external environment so that they can minimize risk and threats. This report is based
on Burberry which is a luxury fashion industry. It was established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry
to acquire the largest fashion market. The headquarter of Burberry is located in London, UK
which serves products all over the world. This report will include brief description of the
organisation with evaluation and identification of digital technologies and innovations which the
organisation is using. This report will also include how innovation and digital technologies affect
the operations and organisational development. Advantages and disadvantages of technologies
are also discussed in this report. How can digital technologies and innovation can affect the
knowledge management and data in process of decision making in organisation is also
mentioned in this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
A brief description of the client organisation. Identify and evaluate major innovations and digital
technologies that organisation is using.
Burberry is a fashion industry which manufacture luxury and branded products for their
customers. They offer products including footwear, eyewear, cosmetics, leather goods, fashion
accessories and fragrances. They hire designers who themselves design garments which are very
unique and attractive. Trench coat is their most famous clothing item as in earlier times, military
personnel use their trench coat because of its quality and material. The first shop of Burberry
which is located in London was established in 1891. Initially Burberry was fully independent
company till 1955 but later on it was merged with GUS plc in 2005 (Zelizer, 2019). Thomas
Burberry focus on manufacturing of outdoor attires which was water resistant material,
hardwearing but easily breathable fabric. Company spends a lot of capital on digital tools to

shape their business according to the current market trends and registered their trademark in
1909. Burberry become first choice for all the British officers because of the fabric and material
of their trench coat. After attaining higher growth and success, Burberry started manufacturing
complementary products such as trousers, sportswear, suits, accessories and shirts for all men,
women and kids of the society. Burberry uses some of the market strategies and given licences to
various stores so that they can generate higher revenues by capturing large market area. Burberry
become leading brand in fashion industry with the help of innovation and technological
advancements. They use digital technology for their each and every department including
designing, producing, manufacturing and retailing. There are various digital tools which are used
by Burberry which are mentioned below:
 Social media as a tool: Burberry uses various social media platform for their
marketing in all over world. Networking sites like Facebook and Instagram allow
their users to share, like and comment on their post which help in understanding the
taste and preference of customers. Art of trench was launched by Burberry on the
social media website which was followed by large number of people through all over
the world. It helps them in increasing their reach in effective manner with the help of
digital technological platforms. Almost every person has their presence on social
media which is positive aspect for Burberry. They hire particular team for handing
all the digital marketing activities which provide them specific and effective results.
 In store digital experience: Physical stores of Burberry involved various digital
tools which gives feeling like customer is going through online website of company.
Physical stores located in London includes signage screens around the walls and
floors, mirrors and live streaming hubs (Marusin, Marusin and Ablyazov, 2019).
These digital innovations attract large number of people which increases their sales.
Burberry invented the online feature in their website which provides customer
different catalogues which are available in their physical store. This innovation saves
lot of time and efforts of customers and employees. Whenever customer pick up any
product in physical store, a video is played on the screen with the help of RFID chips
which involves the features of item, their prices and process of their designing.
 Digital interaction: Burberry is very popular for interacting their customers with the
help of digital platforms on regular basis. Billboard campaigns, live mapping

directions and monogrammed bottles are part of their digital innovation which help
in future growth and development. Their live mapping feature help customer to find
the retail store which is nearest to them. All these innovations help Burberry in
achieving various competitive advantages in best possible manner. Regular
interaction increases the interest of customers along with loyalty and trust towards
the company.
It is evaluated that Burberry invest huge amount in research and development through digital
technologies. Brand awareness, interaction, investment in search engines, data analytics, fast
delivery options, browser optimization and customer engagement tools can used with the help of
digital technology. Experience of customers are enhanced due to higher quality products in short
time of period. For selection of products according the choices of customers, Burberry uses
RFID chips which are attached to their clothing items (West, Kraut and Ei Chew, 2019). With
the help of innovation Burberry becomes highest retailer and leading fashion industry. Customer
taste and preferences are evaluated according to their cultural and social backgrounds which
contributes major part in the success of Burberry. They can minimize the excessive costs in
production process with the help of up graded tools, techniques and machineries which helps in
generation of higher revenues. Technological development assist Burberry in introducing their
premium product line which attract customers from all over the globe.
TASK 2
Assess how these innovations and digital technologies affect organisational development.
Examine the pros and cons of these technologies.
Innovation and digital technologies help businesses in achieving success and competitive
advantages in appropriate manner. It helps in automating most of the activities including
marketing and sales which are necessities of businesses. Companies nowadays operate their
businesses through online websites which part of digital technology (Aleksandrova and et.al.,
2018). Burberry is one of the companies which highly used digital technologies and innovations
for their operations. Technology changed the system of how they were operating their business
earlier and gives shape which is mandatory according to the current market trends. Almost every
function of Burberry is dependent on the digital technology like their online presence and order
processing. Advanced technology help company in controlling various risks and threats and

provide assistance to overcome those situations. It increases the reach of business across the
international borders with less manual income and less capital. It transitions the scenario of
business completely by providing new opportunities which promotes Burberry on next level. It
helps in speeding up their businesses by using artificial intelligence, automation tools, machine
learning and increasing work flows. Burberry can access the real time analytics, connect and
communicate with large number of people at single time within seconds and manage huge data
effectively with the hep of technology. During pandemic situation, only technology assists
businesses so that they can continue their operations without any disturbances. Some of the
affect of digital technology and innovation in context to Burberry are discussed below:
 Better cost management: First and foremost priority of businesses is to enhance their
profitability to the highest level. Digital technology provides various alternatives of
operations which provides option for cost effective methods. Resources can be easily
accessed with the help of software as a service which is a part of technological
development. Burberry reduces their repeated and non-critical tasks which saves lot of
money, tome and efforts. Business operations including day to day activities are carried
out easily which help management in business development.
 Improved employee productivity: Manual file, data and information sharing is
completely eliminated with the help of digital technology. Online software and
applications are used to share all the relevant data and information which reduces
mistakes (Ivanov, Dolgui and Sokolov, 2019). Burberry provides various trainings and
development programs to their employees which enhance their knowledge and skills.
This helps them in retaining employees for longer period of time. Skilled and
knowledgeable employees are asset for an organisation who grows and develops business
in appropriate manner. Employee engagement tools are used by Burberry so that they
increase the interest of their employees towards operation which helps in profitability.
Pros of digital technology and innovation
Digital technology helped a lot in terms of growth and development of businesses by
providing them innovative ideas. There are various advantages of digital technology in context to
Burberry which is mentioned below:
 Increased productivity and efficiency: Business processes are increasing their speed
with the help of digital technology. Due to streamline processes and higher speed,

businesses enjoy more efficient and effective operations. For example, use of RFID
chips help Burberry in more profitability which is a part of digital innovation. Artificial
intelligence and robotic process automation results in more faster services and
operations. Accuracy in data management with the help of digital software can not
match the manual efforts and operations which results in higher productivity.
 Greater innovation: Business environment needs continuous changers in their
operations so that they can satisfy the needs and wants of customers according to current
market trends (Prior, 2018). Burberry uses technology for their production so that they
can customize products according to the demands of their customers. Innovative signage
screening and live streaming hubs are used by Burberry so that they can attract more
customers. Technology allows them to invest in research and development which helps
in identification of market trends.
Cons of digital technology and innovations
There are various disadvantages of technology which Burberry is facing. Those
disadvantages are discussed below:
 Digital media manipulation: Various digital media platforms like Facebook, twitter
and Instagram includes photographs, videos and audios which can be easily edited by
unauthorized persons. Sometimes Burberry face issues regarding in appropriate content
on social media which is manipulated by unauthorized users but they handle this
situation in effective manner because of their effective digital media team.
 Job insecurity: Nowadays every organisation uses digital technology for their
operations which replaced manual efforts with software. This affects the job status of
people because organisations do not need more of work force. Burberry also uses
technology in replacement of human capital which creates negative impact on their
employees. automated machines and tools are used by organisations which affects the
employment growth.

TASK 3
Discuss how the said innovations and digital technologies impact on data and knowledge
management in process of decision making. Justify your statements
Digital technology become important part of almost each and every organisation in modern
era. It ensures the sustainability, development as well as growth of business. It helps Burberry in
managing their knowledge and data in effective manner so that they formulate best plans and
procedures for their operations. Knowledge management is a process of using, organizing,
creating and sharing of relevant information, knowledge and data among employees within
business (Anderson and et.al., 2018). The process of knowledge management is directly
connected with the decision making of the business. Burberry uses artificial intelligence so they
can store data in protect manner with the help of developed software. Digital data warehouse and
software make ease in protecting knowledge management and data so that managers of Burberry
can use them for decision makings which are necessary for further operations. Sense making
model is used by Burberry so that impact of digital technologies on knowledge management is
justified in context to decision making which is mentioned below:
Sense making KM model
This model focuses on interconnectedness of sense making, knowledge creation and
decision making. It evaluates the vision of organisation towards the knowledge management so
that Burberry can make effective decisions for their operations.
 Sense making: Business environment is very dynamic and complex which needs
constant changes so that they can meet the current trends of industry. Managers of
Burberry gather all the information about their clients, competitors, suppliers and other
factors which directly or indirectly affect the business. It helps in evaluating the scenario
so that managers can formulate plans and policies according to that. Interpretation of
relevant data and information is very needed so that required innovation can takes place.
 Knowledge creation: At this stage, business organise, create, acquire and process
information to identify or generate new knowledge with the help of organisational
learnings (Rasmussen and et.al., 2019). Obtained new knowledge help Burberry in
finding better ways and new opportunities to manufacture their products. New
capabilities and abilities are discovered so that Burberry can innovate their products with

the help of digital technology. They formulate strategic decisions and plans before
redesigning or make changes in same products.
 Decision making: This is the last stage which consist of selecting the best alternative
which is gathered on prior stages. Burberry make strong policies for their operations with
the help of knowledge and digital technology. Decision making process is very important
because it provides direction to carry out operations in effective manner. Informational
elements and knowledge is main component during decision makings which are executed
with the help of digital technologies.
It is evaluated that technology impact the knowledge management and data during the
decision making process as it is easy to implement decisions in business with the help of
innovative tools and techniques (Bucci and et.al., 2019). Knowledge management involves all
the qualitative and quantitative data and information which should be secured in protective
manner with the help of artificial intelligence and software. Decisions of Burberry are based on
the knowledge and data which is gathered b y their employees with the help of technology. This
helps them to grow their business in effective manner.
CONCLUSION
Digital technology adds values to business by creating innovative ideas for future. It
evaluates internal and external factors so that business can perform required changes so that it
can meet the current market needs. It helps businesses in identification of taste and preferences
of customers by interacting with them using online methods. Customer reviews and feedbacks
are used through various social media platforms which plays important role in designing the
products. It increases efficiency and productivity of employees as well as organisation. It stores
large data in safe and secure manner so that third party can not access it for illegal usage. This
report consists of description of company along with the evaluation of digital technologies and
innovations used by them. This report will also contain how these technologies and innovations
create impact on organisational development along with their pros and cons. How these
technologies impact the knowledge management and data in the process of decision making is
also mentioned in this report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aleksandrova and et.al., 2018, September. Digital technology and quality management. In 2018
IEEE International Conference" Quality Management, Transport and Information
Security, Information Technologies"(IT&QM&IS) (pp. 18-21). IEEE.
Anderson and et.al., 2018. Creative and critical approaches to language learning and digital
technology: Findings from a multilingual digital storytelling project. Language and
Education, 32(3), pp.195-211.
Bucci and et.al., 2019. The digital revolution and its impact on mental health care. Psychology
and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 92(2), pp.277-297.
Ivanov, D., Dolgui, A. and Sokolov, B., 2019. The impact of digital technology and Industry 4.0
on the ripple effect and supply chain risk analytics. International Journal of Production
Research, 57(3), pp.829-846.
Marusin, A., Marusin, A. and Ablyazov, T., 2019, September. Transport infrastructure safety
improvement based on digital technology implementation. In International Conference
on Digital Technologies in Logistics and Infrastructure (ICDTLI 2019) (pp. 348-352).
Atlantis Press.
Prior, N., 2018. Popular music, digital technology and society. Sage.
Rasmussen and et.al., 2019. Establishing and maintaining joint attention in classroom dialogues:
Digital technology, microblogging and ground rules. In The Routledge international
handbook of research on dialogic education (pp. 411-424). Routledge.
Vargo and et.al., 2021. Digital technology use during COVID‐19 pandemic: A rapid
review. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(1), pp.13-24.
West, M., Kraut, R. and Ei Chew, H., 2019. I'd blush if I could: closing gender divides in digital
skills through education.
Zelizer, B., 2019. Why journalism is about more than digital technology. Digital
journalism, 7(3), pp.343-350.