Emerging Technologies and Digital Leadership for Wesfarmers

This report discusses the emerging technologies relevant to Wesfarmers, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and block chain, and recommends cloud computing as the most appropriate technology. It also covers opportunities and challenges, recommended investment, case studies, expected benefits and risks of investment, and leadership approach.

Emerging Technologies and
Digital Leadership

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
PART – 1.........................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Organisation......................................................................................................3
Emerging Technologies relevant to the Organisation.................................................................4
Opportunities or Challenges relevant to the Emerging Technology...........................................5
Recommended Investment along with Case Studies...................................................................7
Expected Benefits or Risks of the Investment.............................................................................8
Likely Barriers for the selected Investment.................................................................................9
PART – 2.........................................................................................................................................9
Challenges faced during implementation of the Emerging Technologies...................................9
Recommended Leadership approach.........................................................................................10
Other Recommended Change Management Plan......................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The term emerging technology refers to the description of any technology that is new and
also whose contribution into the existing technology are traceable. The digital leadership is the
term that is used to referring to the digital assets of the company being used strategically for
attainment of the business goals. The current report is based on the organization chosen that is
Wesfarmers. It is an American organization that operates in multiple industry and is having its
headquarters in Perth which is located in western part of Australia. The current assessment is
divided into two parts part 1 and part 2. In the part 1 of the assessment firstly an overview of the
organization selected will be provided. Further out of all the emerging technologies three
emerging technologies will be selected that are relevant to the selected business organization.
The opportunities and challenges with included. The evaluation of such challenges and
opportunities will be done to figure out the associated benefits and drawbacks related to each. An
emerging technology will be selected for the company and the expected benefits along with the
risks and potential barriers will covered. The part 2 of the assessment will be discussing the
challenges that are experienced during the adoption of emerging technology. Lastly the study
will recommend a suitable leadership approach and also a change management plan.
MAIN BODY
PART – 1
Overview of the Organisation
Founded in 1914, Wesfarmers is a public company listed on ASX: WES and S&P / ASX
200. It belongs to the conglomerate industry i.e., it has its operations in retails, fertilisers, safety
products, chemicals and industrial products. It has its headquarters setup in Perth in Western
Australia and serves multiple demographic areas around the world namely Australia, Ireland,
India and New Zealand. Two most important individual in the management of the company are
Michael Chaney who is the chairman of the company and Rob Scott who is the chief executive
officer of the company. As of 2020, it has more than 107,000 employees working in it (Rhook,
2019). Reportedly, as of 2020, it had recorded revenue of more than $ 30.8 billion. It was
founded as a provider of the services to farmers of Western Australia and was officially listed on
the Australian Securities Exchange in 1984 after which it grew up to be a major conglomerate in
retail.

The story of Wesfarmers began in 1914 when there were increasing demands of the rural
workers for payment of better pay and lesser hours. Responding to these demands, in 1912,
Farmers & Settlers’ Association was formed with the aim of empowering the primary producers
in the economy and fighting for the claims that could potentially ruin lives of many of these
producers. Thus, this association after formation was brought to a meaningful shape and
operation under the supervision of Walter Harper. Finally, on the historic day of 27th June of the
year 1914 a company named The Westralian Farmers Limited got registered in the Western
Australian Companies Act and start it is business and operations in Perth at 13 Howard Street
from two small rooms. Its current name – Wesfarmers comes from its pious intention of serving
the farmers and help them grow and market their produce via co – operative activities i.e., the
farmer’s company or simply Wesfarmers based on its telegraphic address.
Emerging Technologies relevant to the Organisation
Now, large organisations like Wesfarmers operating on international level needs to
incorporate multiple emerging technologies to be effective and quickly respond to the
unpredictable changes in the business and outside environment. Some of which are explained
below:
Cloud Computing – Technology of cloud computing is the need of the hour for the
organisations in retail industry due to the demand and competition which are ever increasing.
This allows the companies to respond to such demands and competition and have that ultimate
competitive advantage in their hand (Ulnicane and et.al., 2021). It helps the companies to
simplify the work flow in the organisation across all the process and operations. It also helps in
reduction of the costs related to the information technology and thus, enhancing the experience
of the customers. Thus, such a technology can assist Wesfarmers in managing their supply chain
and related process effectively and efficiently.
Artificial Intelligence – Another breakthrough in the emerging technologies includes
implementation of artificial intelligence. This involves technologies like facial recognition. It is a
vital source of strengthening the security measures formulated and implemented in the
organisation. Technology like AI and facial recognition allows the organisation to track the
activities of the individuals and personnel working in the organisation and know that they are
now just wasting time while being in the organisation. Thus, such a technology ensures
effectiveness and efficiency of the individuals and personnel working in the organisation in

which they are working by tracking the time of their activity at the work place. Therefore, the
management of Wesfarmers can implement this technology to impart best of the class experience
to the customers.
Block Chain – It is a business practice or rather a process which involves ethical
participation of the participants in the chain of the retail supply for duly complying the
requirements as per the demands of the customers effectively (Parry and Battista, 2019). It
efficiently allows enhancement of confidence and trust in the retailers along with further
enhancement of accountability and transparency also with forming trust among the customers
and the payment gateways. Since the volume of transactions being conducted online has been
increasing rapidly therefore, it can prove to be a very essential driver of in the process and
operations of the business organisations. Thus, Wesfarmers can utilize such a technology in
keeping the chain of supply efficient and effective thus, accruing the due benefits to the entity.
Opportunities or Challenges relevant to the Emerging Technology
Cloud Computing
Opportunities
 Such a technology of cloud computing is used by the optimisers for enhancement of the
value propositions of the customers along with effective improvement in the efficiency of the
organisation.
 Effective implementation and monitoring of the cloud computing technology can duly
improve the value derived by the customers which in turn, results into forming of new
streams of income and revenue and modification of the role of the customers in the
ecosystem of the currently functioning industry by the innovators (Lowry, Avellan and
Gilbertson, 2019).
 A trusted reliance on the disruptors can be placed which will result in creation of value
propositions which are radically different and generation of the new segments and needs of
the customers along with possibility of formation of new value chains in the industry.
But, along with above opportunities, there are certain challenges or barriers too.
 Security - The first challenge faced with respect to the recommended technology that is
cloud computing is security. The foremost concern that is linked with the adoption of the
technology such as cloud computing is the related issues to the security maintenance.

This challenge arises because of the fact that the data that is stored is processed by a party
which is unknown.
 Passwords Protection - The other challenge is linked with the security of the passwords.
The cloud accounts are accessible by a number of users so any one who gains the
knowledge of the password of one user can hack the information stored by such user.
 Cost Management - Further continuing the barriers comes the barrier of cost
management. Though the cloud computing saves a lot of cost of the company as the
costly hardware, software, etc. can be avoided but the cost of the company increases with
respect to the dependency over the third party. In addition to this cost that is incurred in
transferring of data on to a public cloud is also a costly affair. Lack of expertise and
internet connectivity also serves as a barrier.
Artificial Intelligence
Opportunities
 Customer Service – Business adopting to this technology have excellent opportunity to
effectively leverage the benefits of customer service advancements. The main task for
the business entity in order to provide high quality service to its customers is to confirm
that the demands of such consumers are met. AI helps greatly in doing so (Ferri, Grifoni
and Guzzo, 2020).
 Robotic Process Automation – The use of AI in business provides the opportunity to get
relaxed from the tasks that are highly boring & uninteresting for the employees. These
tasks are not only performed but with utmost efficiency, efficacy and accuracy. Logistics and Delivery – The AI technology embedded into the organizational processes
enables the enterprise to unify its data for the analysation and predict the trends forehand.
Challenges
 Trust Deficit – The foremost challenge with adopting of AI by the business is that how
the output that is estimated is predicted. This limits the use of AI effectively.
 Limited Knowledge – The knowledge of AI is limited to the people such as the
researchers, tech enthusiasts, students. Being the awareness of such technology confined
among limited people its potential is not realised yet.

 Data Privacy and Security – The ability of AI performing as per the needs of the
organizations depend on the data & also the resources that are available with such
entities. Lack of these is a major challenge.
Block Chain
Opportunities
 Project Management – Block chain technology provides the opportunity to capture all the
benefits related to the effective management of the projects for an organization. The areas
where support and assistance can be acquired are notaries, digital voting, cloud storage,
etc. Financial Analytics – The further opportunity is related with the financial sector where
the activities of management and tracking of assets, better replacement of traditional
contracting methods, improvements to security are secured by adaptance of block chain
technology.
Challenges
 Scalability – The large scale business entities face challenges in management of vast
users’ data through block chain technology.
 Complexity – The next challenge is related to understanding the complex working and
technicalities that are involved in such technology.
 Costs – This is also one of the major challenge that the industry is facing is related to the
costs (Andoni and et.al., 2019). The development of block chain technology though saved
from incurring of costs at the levels where the intermediaries are involved but the
spending is required as it is in its evolving stage.
Recommended Investment along with Case Studies
Now, from the above mentioned and explained emerging technologies i.e. cloud
computing, artificial intelligence and block chain, most appropriate and apt technology for
Wesfarmers is cloud computing. This is because of its utility to the companies in the retail
industry towards simplification of the flow of work, reduction of the costs of information
technology and improvement in the experience of the customers (Choi, Shin and Chang, 2021).
There are certain examples of the organizations that adopted to various emerging technologies
which will be covered in this section. Covering such case studies is essential in the present case

for analysing which of the emerging technology among cloud computing, artificial intelligence
and block chain will be best suited for the company.
Starting with the first example that is of company making use of artificial intelligence,
namely, Amazon. The company's use of integrating emerging technology into its operations is
seen in the way the customer buying experience enhances with the Alexa based voice shopping
feature. The benefits to the Amazon includes data security, cost efficient, wide framework
support, and broad range of computing choices. The company faces drawbacks or challenges in
its edge computing, personalization, privacy, data bias, etc.
The next case is of IBM who uses block chain technology. The organization benefits
from having enhanced level of security, greater transparency levels, increase in efficiency,
immediate traceability and automation. In addition to these the drawbacks that are faced by the
firm are that the block chain service does not accept the transactions that are very frequently
occurring. Each channel name needs to be distinct from the ones that are already existing. The
user interface of the block chain service shows the fabric that are non – existing (Fowler and
et.al., 2019). From the case studies the recommended technology to the chosen organization is
cloud computing.
Expected Benefits or Risks of the Investment
Following are some of the benefits that are accrued to the organisation implementing cloud
computing:
 Cost savings – It surely leads to saving of costs on purchasing of large setup which is
otherwise available through cloud services.
 Scalable resources – It allows effective planning for the limited and scalable resources.
 Improved collaboration – It allows improved and effective collaboration of the parties and
individuals in the organisation.
 Security – It has the advantage of increase security of the confidential data stored on the
cloud. The organization will be able to keep all of its files, programs and rest of the data
securely.
 Flexibility – The dependency of one organization over the other with respect to the highly
time consuming computer & data storage tasks results in saving of a lot of managerial time
and efforts. This time can be used in attaining of the organizational goals and objectives &
also satisfy the customers.

Risks:
 ROI – The thought making a shift to cloud computing technology seems to be the most
cost effective but the costs are needed to be compared very carefully as it contains the
risk of getting lower returns on investment (Brous, Janssen and Herder, 2020).
 Compatibility – The problem of non - compatibility of cloud computing with the current
IT infrastructure is a risk.
 Confidentiality – The company’s sensitive data handling and its protection is a major
concern.
 Lack of Control – The risk regarding the inability of the service provider is always
present.
Likely Barriers for the selected Investment
This section will cover all the barriers that will come in the path of Wesfarmers towards
the implementation of cloud computing into the organization. The first barrier for the company is
security concerns. These concerns are for the general security of the company as well as security
from data getting leak (Raguseo, 2018). Using cloud computing adds to the company’s concern
regarding breaching of the important data of the company. The next barrier that may affect the
company’s decision on adopting cloud computing is that having insufficient funds. The cloud
computing technology brings ease in adopting newer environments and utilization of more and
more resources but along with these comes the expenses that are associated with it. The next
barrier that the company will face in context of integrating the cloud computing technology into
the routine business activities is legal and regulatory barriers. The organisations all over the
world faces problems in complying with the legal and regulatory aspects of storing the data. The
last barrier is lack of staff, cloud computing requires the staff members that are having the skill
sets which helps them in effective management and security of the data.
PART – 2
Challenges faced during implementation of the Emerging Technologies
There are certain challenges that are faced by the company in the process implementing
the emerging technologies into the organization. Each of such challenge will be discussed one by
one. The first challenge is that the technology that is to be adopted in useful in the context of the
organization. There are a lot of technologies available in the market but not all are suitable for

adoption by the specific company so the first challenge is to identify out of all the new and
emerging technology which one will be actually beneficial for the company.
The next challenge in implementation of technologies into the organization is that to
ensure that company is having right system & set of procedures for the effective implementing of
such technology (Gupta, Kusi-Sarpong and Rezaei, 2020). The challenge is to ensure that the
new technology is implemented serving at its best potential for the company. Mere purchasing of
technology is not sufficient it needs to be ensured that the existing systems and procedures of the
company get adjusted as per the requirements for the installing and effective utilization of the
new purchased technology.
The next challenge that the company faces is related to the support it gains from the staff
members. There always exist some employees in the organization who loves to learn new things
and adapt to them accordingly. But this is not same in case of each and employee working within
the company. Some employees resist from adopting of new technology and feel that the existing
systems are the best and prefer continue using them because they are used to such processes. The
benefits of new technology excite some employees while some are afraid of the potential
consequences.
The next challenge is to train the staff as per the requirements to use the new technology.
Every kind of technology that is new comes into the organization required that the employees are
first trained for using such technology (Efriana, 2021). Hence, the challenge is to train the
employees who are not tech friendly. The last challenge that is faced in implementation of any
such emerging technologies is the challenge of monitoring of data. The technology provides a
numerous data points controlling which produce an accurate picture of utilization and efficacy of
the technology. Monitoring of all the data and the associated progress is a time consuming
process.
Recommended Leadership approach
Leadership refers to that ability of a person that allows such person to lead others. The
recommended style of leadership to be followed by Wesfarmers for ensuring that the
implementation of change in technology into the organization remains effective is the
transformational form of leadership. This particular leadership approach is defined as the
approach that initiates effective change in the individuals along with the social systems
effectively (Siangchokyoo, Klinger and Campion, 2020). The using of such an approach ideally

allows creation of change which is positive and entails value to the organization concerned. The
style provides opportunity to create leaders among the followers. When the leadership approach
is implemented in the best way with maintaining the authenticity it entails various benefits in the
favour of the organization like boosting the motivation levels of the employees, enhancing their
morale and stimulation of high level of performance from them.
Other Recommended Change Management Plan
The recommended change management plan to the Wesfarmers will be inclusive of
various actions that will facilitate the process of introducing the change into the organization
effectively. The first step is to upskilling and reskilling of the individuals working with the
company that are its employees. Every time a change is decided to the brought into the
organization it should accompany with the providence of increasing level of opportunities to the
employees where they can upskill and reskill themselves. The employees should have made to
realise that every time some kind of change is introduced into the organization they get the
immense opportunity with respect to building up of their resumes.
The next step into the effective change management plan is the providing to managers
with the effective and required training & mentorship (Ali, and Anwar, 2021). The introduction
of any latest application into the organization requires HR leader to create the means that makes
the adaption to that change easier for its employees. This is ensured by the effective training
programs, involvement with the specialists, experts and mentors that can support the employees
with their queries.
Another step of the change management plan is the creation of ambassador program. The
key internal members of the company are identified for this purpose first further they are trained
and allotted varied activities into the entire organisation. Such activities are related with the
demonstration of the tasks and change implications by acting as the mentors to the employees.
Further the engagement of employees into the decision – making processes of the organization is
the next step. The engaging of employees into such processes by their employers strengthens the
area of getting effective feedback. Also this engages the employees into the change the change
process. The leaders get help from their team members with respect to the identification of
problems and also the potential solutions to such problems. The managers and the organization
should be transparent regarding the actual reason behind bring such change so that the employees

can get opportunity to understand it. It is through the complete understanding by the employees
that they get associated with the change.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the above covered assessment the concept of emerging technologies and
digital leadership have been understood. The report has selected an American business entity
named Wesfarmers. Three emerging technologies that are cloud computing, artificial intelligence
and block chain have been covered in the report along with their related opportunities and
challenges to the business organization. The assessment has covered the examples of Amazon
and IBM for the better understanding of the benefits and drawbacks associated and recommend
the best suited technology. In the report cloud computing is recommended to Wesfarmers and the
challenges that are encountered in implantation of such technology has been discussed. Lastly in
the report the leadership style has been recommended and change management plan in the form
of steps to be taken has been included.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ali, B. J. and Anwar, G., 2021. The mediation role of change management in employee
development. Ali, BJ, & Anwar, G.(2021). The Mediation Role of Change Management
in Employee Development. International Journal of English Literature and Social
Sciences, 6(2), pp.361-374.
Andoni, M. and et.al., 2019. Blockchain technology in the energy sector: A systematic review of
challenges and opportunities. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 100, pp.143-
174.
Brous, P., Janssen, M. and Herder, P., 2020. The dual effects of the Internet of Things (IoT): A
systematic review of the benefits and risks of IoT adoption by
organizations. International Journal of Information Management, 51, p.101952.
Choi, J., Shin, N. and Chang, Y.S., 2021. Strategic Investment Decisions for Emerging
Technology Fields in the Health Care Sector Based on M&A
Analysis. Sustainability, 13(7), p.3644.
Efriana, L., 2021. Problems of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic in EFL classroom
and the solution. JELITA, pp.38-47.
Ferri, F., Grifoni, P. and Guzzo, T., 2020. Online learning and emergency remote teaching:
Opportunities and challenges in emergency situations. Societies, 10(4), p.86.
Fowler, W. C. and et.al., 2019. Integrating systems thinking into teaching emerging
technologies. Journal of Chemical Education, 96(12), pp.2805-2813.
Gupta, H., Kusi-Sarpong, S. and Rezaei, J., 2020. Barriers and overcoming strategies to supply
chain sustainability innovation. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 161, p.104819.
Lowry, G. V., Avellan, A. and Gilbertson, L. M., 2019. Opportunities and challenges for
nanotechnology in the agri-tech revolution. Nature nanotechnology, 14(6), pp.517-522.
Parry, E. and Battista, V., 2019. The impact of emerging technologies on work: a review of the
evidence and implications for the human resource function. Emerald Open
Research, 1(5), p.5.
Raguseo, E., 2018. Big data technologies: An empirical investigation on their adoption, benefits
and risks for companies. International Journal of Information Management, 38(1),
pp.187-195.
Rhook, N., 2019. ‘Up on our luck?’ Melissa Harpley, Wesfarmers Gallery, Art Gallery of
Western Australia. History Australia, 16(4), pp.750-752.
Siangchokyoo, N., Klinger, R. L. and Campion, E.D., 2020. Follower transformation as the
linchpin of transformational leadership theory: A systematic review and future research
agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), p.101341.
Ulnicane, I. and et.al., 2021. Framing governance for a contested emerging technology: insights
from AI policy. Policy and Society, 40(2), pp.158-177.
1