Impact of Digital Technology on Business Operations: A Case Study of Primark, UK

This research project examines the impact of digital technology on the business operations of Primark, UK. It explores the use of cloud technology, social media, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things. The study utilizes both primary and secondary data collection methods, including surveys, interviews, and literature reviews. The findings highlight the benefits and challenges of digital transformation, emphasizing the importance of employee training, data security, and a balanced approach to technology adoption.

Impact of Digital Technology
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Table of Contents
Research proposal............................................................................................................................3
1.2 Objectives- The objective of the study is to address the followings-........................................4
2. Literature Review........................................................................................................................4
2.1 introductions..............................................................................................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................9
Primary Data Collection and Secondary Method (P3)....................................................................9
LO3................................................................................................................................................28
P5 Communicate the outcomes of a research project to identified stakeholders. Now that you
have completed your research project, communicate the research outcomes in an appropriate
manner for the intended medium...................................................................................................28
P6 Reflect on the effectiveness of research methods applied for meeting objectives of the
business research project...............................................................................................................29
P7 Consider alternative research methodologies and lessons learnt in view of the outcomes......30
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LO1. [P1, P2]
Research proposal
1. Introduction
Digital technology has revolutionized business and business processes. Starting from data
management, to formulate strategies, to marketing plans, employee management and customer
care; the impact is seen in every sphere of business. It has helped smaller business organizations
to compete with larger business organizations Digital technology has helped to reduce business
cost It has helped to improve the communication process; both within the organization and with
the customers. Different business software helped to improve the productivity by improved
monitoringemployee performance, address need gaps and manage employee appraisal.
Technology allows business organization to outsource different functions nationally and
international reducing labor cost. It allows small businesses to reach new markets. Basic
enterprise software enables a firm to automate back office functions, such as record keeping,
accounting and others. The technological improvements and development has provided both
tangible and elusive opportunities for the businesses thereby helping organizations makeprofits.
Ontheother way it can be stated that profitability is directly related to technology.
The importance of managing a successful business with the help of digital technology this
assignment will discuss the different research tasks and data analysis have been done to interpret
the “Impact of Digital Technology” on the business operations so that the organisations manages
their business successfully. The given research project is done in accordance with Primark, UK.
1.1 Aim
The Aim of this project is the research analysis on “Impact of Digital Technology”on the
different types of business operations of Primark, UK.
Primark, UK is an Irish company selling clothing and accessories.From children's clothing,
women's wear, men's wear, home ware, accessories, footwear, beauty products and confectionery
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to child care products; Primark has a vast range of products. It has more than 68,000 employees
working in over 325 stores worldwide. The company has generated £5,949million revenue.
1.2 Objectives- The objective of the study is to address the followings-
 To understand the Concept of Digital Marketing
 To study the Impact of Cloud technology on business administration of Primark
 To Discuss the impact of Social Media and Mobile technology on the business
 Use of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics to improve productivity
 The use of “Internet of Things” to improve the storage and distribution process.
 To understand the limitations of digital technology
 Find out areas for further research.
2. Literature Review
2.1 introductions
Organizations have either adopted the existing technologies or mademodifications, or they have
acquired new technologies to enhance business. The business shifted from labour based to
technology based. This reduced the operating cost administrative cost, increased productivity. It
also improved connectivity with internal and external customers. Reduction in operating cost
leads the organizations to focus on customer and employee benefit.
2.2 Review
Concept of Digital Marketing
Digital technology uses information in the form of numeric codes. Electronic equipment and
applications which uses this method of information are all considered part of Digital
Technology.A binary code system is used as its operation method.All personal computers,
calculators, automobiles, traffic light controllers, compact disc players, cellular telephones,
communications satellites, and high-definition television , mobile forms part of digital
technology.
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Impact of Cloud technology on business administration of Primark
Cloud computing is the term used to state the delivery of information hosted services through the
internet. Cloud computing helps companies to access remote virtual machine storage or an
application and get information or share information. As computing needs increase, companies
can upgrade and scale down when requirement is not needed. Thus company can avoid any
massive investments required in local infrastructure, and reduce its dependency on local
infrastructure.This also eliminates the traditional method of working through IT administrators.
End users can access remote resources for almost any type of workload whenever required. Since
such resources are measured at a “granular level”, it requires paying only for the resources and
workloads they use (Khanagha,et al, 2015). Hybrid cloud builds a unified, automated,
measurable environment that combines all data from the public cloud infrastructure, yet keeps
the control on the relevant data.
Discuss the impact of Social Media and Mobile technology on the business
Social media, and social networking, have altered the way of doing business.It has profound
impact on those companies that have adopted them and for those who have not. People spend
12% of time on sites like Face book, twitter and others. On an average people spend more than
4.5 hours on internet. Social networking accounts for 15.6 percent of online time spent by
individuals aged 15 years and older. Face book, alone has 600,000 regular users across the world
and its members include companies, organizations, besides people .and brands to utilize its
platform to connect with their audience.( Li, et al, 2015) Social media is that platform which
allowsusers to share links, images, and personal experiences in both written and video form.
Use of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics to improve productivity and security
AI (artificial intelligence) is the amalgamation of human intelligence processes and computer
systems.It sensory expert system has a capability to deduce multiple aspects and the visual
systems analyze the visual inputs such as face recognition, gesture recognition, and object
recognition. It has the ability to use the human aspects of reasoning. It enables learning,
reasoningand self-correction all through machine. Some AI includes expert systems for voice
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and speech recognition .Robotics is one such AI which enables mobilization of goods beyond
human capacity(Castelluccio, M., 2017) However, it needs intelligence to manage tasks like
“object manipulation” and “navigation”, along with problems of localization, motion planning
and mapping and others.AI has the capability of processing andanalyzing large amounts of data
quickly andoffer faster resolution to problems.An effective communication system integrates the
data between the nodes. Gong, Chorus, and Jog are some of the tools that assist inrecording
andtranscribing the calls or discussions that a sales representative had with customer. It helps
company to compare the strategies employed by the sales executive to every other salesperson
within the company.
Digital technology helps to analyze a variety of components like choice of word, theamount of
time spent in actual message giving versus listening. There are certain tools, which help to
analyze performance and coach sales executives, just like a human supervisor would do. It
provides an organization with a list of best customers, filtering the vast information that has been
collected(Tkáč, et al, 2016).This information includes customer email, phone number, and
address, date of birth, purchase pattern and other related data.Based on data, system generates
proper advertisement. AI solutions, like Tangowork and Rocketbot, gives employees access to
HR information anytime of the day and throughout the year. Tools like Keatext and
Monkeylearn, provides entrepreneurs with direct customer feedback, and helps to get clear and
categorized customer feelings and thoughts in return.Entrepreneurs can pinpoint customers who
are most attracted to their value proposition (Loebbecke, et al, 2015). Thus, a business
organization can identify their targeted customer and design more customer-centric
advertisement. AI also gives entrepreneurs deep market insights and help to develop new
products or make necessary modifications in services and products.
AI enables to do multiple works simultaneously and differently.AI has memorization,
transactions, prediction as well as collaborative power, which generates pinpointed data as per
the requirement of a particular function (Cha, et al, 2018). Big Data Analytics is one such
technology thathelps to process the high-volume and complex data that cannot be otherwise
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handled by normal or regular data processing software. Big Data has the cost saving benefit, time
reduction benefits and helps to have a control over the online reputation of the organization.
The use of “Internet of Things” to improve the storage and distribution process
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of devices, vehicles, home appliances and other
items, which has electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity . It enables to connect and
exchange data providing more opportunities for direct integration of the physical world into
computer-based systems. This improves efficiency and offers immense economic benefits with
reduced human labor. One such,platform is Smart Home, which is more popular to household
areas than Industrial areas .prominentorganizations who are already using this platform are Nest
or AlertMe as well as a number of multinational corporations like Philips, Haier, or
Belkin."Enterprise IoT”, used in business and corporate world (Wortmann, et al, 2016).
Industrial internet as the Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept with the highest potential; its use
has not yet reached the masses like “Smart home” and “wearable”. This helps in tracking goods
while they are on transit, or help during supply or exchange of inventory related information.
The “connected car” is another IoT which most large automakers are planning to launch.
The limitations of digital technology
There are many advantages of Digital technology however many occasions business has been
lost also.
Security issues –Data saved in platforms like Cloud are fed by much security information and
core data which when hacked can prove detrimental to the organization. Financial data, security
related files and legal matters all are atstake. Therefore organization needs to keep back up
storage system also.
Human resource issues- Technical knowledge to employees is important to feed in data and
operate such technical platform. The human touch of compassion is missing in case of customer
service where consumers prefer to speak to a human and not a machine. Regular training to
employees is necessary to keep them updated regarding technological changes. This might
hamper productivity and increase complexity of operation.
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Over dependency of technology – Overdependence on Technology is harmful for the business.
Functionsoperating through digital platform might come to standstill in case of technical
glitches, leading to reduced productivity, loss of data and rework. Server problems have been
seen to hold productions in many occasions.
2.3 Summary
The above literature shows that evolution of digital technology really influences multiple aspect
of business. Starting from the use of Cloud to assimilate and share data across the globe to AI to
control security; digital technology has remarkable effects. In old days, all data used to be
collected physically which was time-consuming. However, with the help of digital technology,
raw data from customer can be feed into the system, which enables the organization the market
need and help to formulate strategies incurring les expenses. In industrial sector the employment
of robots in the department has led to faster movement of good in much larger quantiy.AI also
helps assist quality analysis and performance analysis from the vast data that are feed in and
require fast processing. However, digital technology is not capable of doing work alone and
requires human to control them. Sometimes complicated system design makes simple functions
more complex. Hackers pose a new threat to business organizations, as all data are stored in
software .Too much dependence of digital technology also hampers productivity without
enhancing it at the time of technical glitches. Therefore this research will aim at functionality of
the digital technology , its impacts in day to day life of employees of Primarkto access the
effectiveness of the current system and if there are any areas of improvement. This project
started with sample collection from employees of Primark, UK,
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Methodology
Research methodologyis procedures used to identify, select, process, and analyze
information about a topic. It allows to critically evaluatethe validity and reliability of
the study .Two important component of research methodology is Data collection and Data
analysis. After the data is collected it needs to be analyzed systematically.
Primary data analysis is of two types
 Qualitative analysis -non-numeric analysis
 Quantitative analysis.- numerical analysis
LO2
Primary Data Collection and Secondary Method (P3)
Primary data was collected by means of “survey” method.100 employees, working in different
departments of Primark, UK, have been selected for the survey. The questionnaire that was
designed included 10 easy questions to answer
How satisfied are you with the overall quality of the service?( Tick the most appropriate)
Very Satisfied-
Somewhat Satisfied-
Unsatisfied-
Is you issue usually resolved after the first time you contact the tech-support? ?( Tick the most
appropriate)
Yes
No
Did you use the online support portal for the issue? ?( Tick the most appropriate)
Yes
No
Do you prefer technology based learning or classroom training?
Do you get all data related to your performance in HR portal?
Yes
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No
Are you allowed to share your feedbacks through company portal?
Yes
No
Do you connect to your customers through social media?
Yes
No
How long does it take the IT team to resolve your issue?
1 day
2 days
More than the above
How do you initiate any HR issues?
Mail
Phone
HR portal
Does your system help you to evaluate your own productivity?
Yes
No
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The survey data and the feedback as collected from employees of Primark, UK is as follows-
1) How satisfied are you with the overall quality of the service?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Very Satisfied 60 60 100
Somewhat Satisfied 6 6 100
Unsatisfied 34 34 100
Very Satisfied
Somewhat Satisfied
Unsatisfied
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
60
6
34
Percentage of respondents
The above data shows that 60% of the employees are verysatisfied with the overall quality of
service provided by the technological tools used within at Primarks, U.K. however 34% of
employees are unsatisfied therefore in-depth research and feedback is needed.
2) Is you issue usually resolved after the first time you contact the tech-support?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
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Yes 60 60 100
Neutral 6 6 100
No 34 34 100
As per the data above, it can be said that most of the employees get first resolution; however
there are some 34% who feel that their problems are not solved at first go so they have to make
multiple follow-ups.
Yes
Neutral
No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
60
6
34
Percentage of respondents
3) How frequently do you use the online support portal for the issue? (Tick the most appropriate)
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Very Frequently 30 30 100
Frequently 50 50 100
Rarely 10 10 100
Very rarely 10 10 100
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Very Frequently Frequently Rarely Very rarely
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
30
50
10 10
Percentage of respondents
The data shows that most of the respondents that is 50 percent of them has agreed that they
frequently use online support portals for resolving issues. Form this data it can be concluded that
the employees of Primark are highly efficient in using technologies for dealing with dilemmas
such as complications in decision making process.
4) Do you prefer technology based learning or classroom training?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Yes 70 70 100
Neutral 10 10 100
No 20 20 100
Most employees who undertook the survey at Primarks are between 35 years of age to 45 years
The data clearly shows that 70% or more employees prefers the technology based learning,
through app which they can take without hampering productivity and at their convenient times.
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Yes Neutral No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
70
10
20
Percentage of respondents
Percentage of respondents
5) Do you get all data related to your performance in HR portal?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Yes 75% 75 100
Neutral 6% 6 100
No 19% 19 100
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75%
6%
19%
Percentage of respondents
Yes
Neutral
No
The HR portal service must be extremely good as 75% of employees get all performance related
data which helps them in their appraisal .Primarks,U.K has an efficient HRIS system in place,
6) Are you allowed to share your feedbacks through company portal?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Yes 18% 18 100
Neutral 2% 2 100
No 80% 80 100
From the above data it can be concluded that feedback system either exits through older version
of e-mails, or employees are 80% of employee do not use any system-guided feedback.
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Yes Neutral No
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Percentage of respondents
Percentage of respondents
7) Do you connect to your customers through social media?
Options Percentageof
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Yes 50% 50 100
Neutral 20% 20 100
No 30% 30 100
The above data shows that only half of the employees connect to customers through social
network but a vast majority does not. This is one area, whichPrimarks UK can consider
developing.
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Yes Neutral No
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
50%
20%
30%
Percentageof respondents
Percentageof respondents
8) How long does it take the IT team to resolve your issue?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
1 day 65% 65 100
2 days 4% 4 100
More than the above 31% 31 100
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1 day
2 days
More than
the above
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70% 0.65
0.04
0.31
Percentage of respondents
The above data reveals that though the IT is providing faster solution but some problems are
critical enough for the delay. While 65%employees must be getting solution early but a major
portion have to wait more days to get their issue solved. Thus at Primark, U.K some attention is
required for the up gradation of the IT system for faster result.
9) How do you initiate any HR issues?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Mail 8% 8 100
Phone 15% 15 100
HR portal 78% 78 100
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Mail
Phone
HR portal
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
0.08 0.15
0.78
Percentage of respondents
Most employees at Primark, U.K, prefer the portal to raise any HR related issues. Some
employees still prefer mail when issues are more complicated or they are unsatisfied with the
system-generated response. Still few 15% employees look forward to get resolution from person
and not machine
10) Does your system help you to evaluate your own productivity?
Options Percentage of
respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Total number of
Respondents
Yes 10% 10 100
Neutral 0 0 100
No 90% 90 100
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10%
90%
Yes Neutral No
The data shows that Primark UK does not have a system, which can give feedback to individual
employees on their performance. Majority of about 90% the employees still have the need of
personal feedback based on performance. Individual feedbacks are effective mode of motivation
rather than getting team feedback as a whole .Primark, UK must consider attaching their
appraisal rating system with individual system. This data also will help Primark to further design
some employee friendly strategy also.
Cost
To conduct this above research very moderate amount of money is being spent. The costs
incurred were much higher than the previous anticipation. Most of the expenses took place
during the travel process while interviewing the employees and the manager. A good amount of
monitory support was also provided to the company for taking their employees for the research
purposes. The cost could have been much less if the interview process and their survey process
was done in the given period of time. However the money was saved because of the techniques,
and inelegance which has been used while conducting the survey and the interview. The
questions were very specific and the answers from the employees and the managers were very
much satisfactory. For this reason there was no need to conduct the research all over again.
Access and ethical issues
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To conduct this following research the ethical issues were maintained. No employee or manager
was forced to conduct this research. However the top level manager was a little bit unsatisfied
because we took some time from their employees. Their thinking was that it may hamper the
production and selling line of the company. However, no such things have been observed, the
employees were skilled enough to make up for the lose time in the working line. A considerable
amount of money was provided to the employees and the manager to keep their review as natural
as possible. They were in no such pressure to provide their point of view. In some cases both the
manager’s view to the questions are completely opposite in nature. The managers were not at all
One sided when it comes to giving their opinions they considered all the different aspects and
point of view.
Qualitative data collection
1. What kind of challenges do you take while introducing new technology into the
business?
Manager 1
According to this manager, the introduction of new technology can be a very bad setback for the
company. Because with introduction of new technology comes new learning processes every
employee need to learn about the process of using the new kinds of equipments and software.
Some software can be very challenging to operate and it takes an ample amount of time and
energy to finish such work. Communication system also gets hampered due to the introduction of
new technology. A lot of employees have to go through the training process. The technological
advancement does bring efficiency but sometimes a frequent improvement can hamper the
process. The employee has to go through the training process all over again due to frequent
advancement of software and hardware changes. The adopting process can be time taking and
challenging. By the time when an employee gets adopted with the system if a new technological
changes hits the employees it becomes a very bad setback for the organization. This company
always takes recommendation from the employees and makes changes accordingly. There was a
time when the company made changes without the recommendation of the company’s employee
than company paid very dearly for this modification.
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Manager 2
This manager gave a different prospective about the technological changes in the company and
agreed to the entire thing which has been said by the first manager. He stated that technological
changes should be minimal if the company’s production process and the distribution process is
working efficiently. Every company have a different definition of efficiency, which they need to
provide to all the level of employees. However, the efficiency level should be achievable by the
employs that means it has to be practical. This manager was totally against the deployment of
new technology. He stated that if the old technology works properly than there is a no need of
introducing a new technology.
2. What will be the long-term impact of this new technology into the business?
Manager 1
The impact of this new technology will definitely bring efficiency into the business. However, it
will take a lot of time for the employees to gets adopted with the system and the new adopted
software. However, he believed the introduction of new technology should be slow and should
not come with a lot of changes at once. The introduction of new technology is to bring efficiency
to the business and it should reduce the workload of the employees. Every employee with the
help of new technology can definitely help bringing efficiency to the business. However with
adoption of new technology the manager is afraid that the employees job may get lost in the new
future.
Manager 2
This manager gave another point of view to the long-term adoptability of new technology. He
said that it would help more with the cost cutting with the production process. As the technology,
advancement takes place. He also stated that while new technology can help save in a long-term
basis but in the short term the company may have to bare a lot of expenses. The market
expansion is also one of the plus point to the long term adoption of new technology. He also
stated with long term adoption the company may tend to lose because by next month or next year
a new technology may come up which can make than new technology obsolete.
Secondary data collection
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The data which is already available and with the help of those data analysis the project is done.
Therefore, the data is collected from the help of journals, magazines, and online portals.
Theme1: Use of digital platform for marketing purpose
In this age of modernization and globalization, the use of digital platform has brought a radical
change in the marketing functions of an organization. The online marketing platforms have
enhanced the marketing pattern and research methods of the business. Any organization can
make use of some of the online marketing platforms for the progressive growth of their business.
The use of varied tools in the digital platform is necessary in today’s generation. Some of the
tools used by the marketing professionals can be Marketo, online marketing software that helps
to save time and also supports multichannel campaigns. Marin Software is another glaring
example of an online marketing platform that helps in the management of the e-advertisements.
The online advertisements and campaigns have a far reaching effect in the consumers. Digital
Marketing not only helps the company for creating brand awareness but also assist the customers
by providing online support to them via 24/7 services (Ryan, 2016). The marketing team in the
current years uses info graphics to explain to the customers through visual aids.
There are numerous marketing automation applications that help the marketing team to automate
the follow ups and assist in lead nurturing. The use of the e-commerce principles are the key to
success for all the marketers involved in any form of business. Marketing can be done by setting
up e-commerce websites that can create awareness for the brand and its image.
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Figure: Use of Digital Service Worldwide
(Source Harvard Business Review, 2018)
Theme 2: The way Internet of things have benefited business operations
In recent years, the organizations are focusing on this concept of the internet of things (IOT)
that accelerate the business productivity and profitability in a rapid manner. The Internet of
things has been immensely beneficial in the recent times. This approach will help in tracking
the behavior of the real-time Marketing and even enhance the situational awareness
(Drucker, 2015). The business of any organization can also prosper with process optimization
through the Internet of things. The approach helps in optimizing the consumption of the
resources and maintains an immediate control as well response in the complex system of
automation. The internet of things will help in tracking the assets like the machinery; tools
and eve enhance the safety and security with the help of services integrated with video cameras
and sensors. The internet of things aids in offering the Just in Time training in the
organizations to improvise labor efficiency and lessen the mismatch of the skills.IOT help in
offering new business copes and thereby help the organization benefit from enormous revenue
stream created by the advanced business approaches and models(Osseiran et al., 2017). The
innovations driven by the Internet of Things lessen the marketing time and improve the
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investment returns.IOT carries the potential to upgrade the way, businesses and the consumers
approach in this world by extending its scope beyond the connectivity.
Figure: Projected Internet of Things services spending worldwide from 2014 to 2017
(Source Statistica.com, 2018)
The statistics gives the representation of the projected expenditure worldwide (2014-2017) on
Internet of Things
Theme 3: The challenges faced by organisations while using digital platforms
The challenge that is faced by the organisation while using digital platforms are as follows:-
Most employees do not have the proper knowledge regarding the digital media thus it can cause
the hindrance in work. This can cause in inefficiency of the employees. Many organisations
update their technology for development of the company. For analytics, project management,
prototyping, and other digital tools are used by the organisation. Each department uses a different
system therefore, this can cause in complexities because of using multiple systems (Oliveira,
2015).
Security is the major challenge that is faced by the organisation. The organisation is required a
strong digital security for the successful digital platform. Sometimes digital platform is not safe
as there are many hackers available so they can hack the password at any time and this will affect
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the organisation badly. Therefore, the security is one of the important factors in the digital
platform. The company can face the security threats in the business.
Adopting a new digital change can be a challenge for the employees because it varies from the
old one. It can vary by the functions, features and the usage therefore employee face can
problems in operating the digital tools.
Digital transformation can affect in work culture as the employees spend more time with
computers. For example: if the employee is spending the time with the customer but after the
introduction of digital platform the employee will focus on the system. This can affect in the
public relationship of the business.
Theme 4: Digital media platforms for the purpose of maintaining relationship with
stakeholders
It is very important to build a strong relationship with the stake holders, it will help the business
to grow and develop. Therefore, the action of stakeholder affects the success of the company.
Each stakeholder has their own expectations, interest, priorities and others. By the help of
effective communication the company can get the relevant data according to their needs and
wants (Valentini, 2015). There is no doubt that having presence in the social media can benefit
the company in many ways. It helps in brand awareness, website traffic and reputation
establishment. However it is very important to have two communications in social media in
order to build the relationship with customers and stakeholders via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
and others. To keep the customer engaged, the company can publish the articles regarding the
product; keep them aware of upcoming events, promotion, and blog writing. In social platform it
is very important to do two way communications with the customers. If the customer is posting a
question or any queries the company must reply back or answer. This will help to make the
customer happy and also make the impact to other people that the company is attentive. It will
build the company image and reputation. Communicating with stakeholders in frequently basis
helps to create a bond and a positive understanding which will be benefit for long term
relationship. Effective communications with the customer have an impact in buying decision.
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Theme 5: Digital technology, a magic wand for marketing
Digital technology has helped the company in the area of marketing. A lot of company has
adopted the digital method of marketing because it helps spreading information in a very short
period of time. Digital marketing has provided a platform for every company from all around the
world to advertise their product and services despite the size of the company. Social media like
Facebook, Youtube, Twiter, Orcut and many more has helped the fashion, tourism, food and
many other industry to make their product sell in the market. The consumers are getting
familiarised with the product in a lightning speed. It is helping the consumers to understand their
product in a better way because of the consumer review of the product. The consumers are not
only getting the privileges to buy customized product for themselves but also getting an overall
idea about how the product will be in the near future (Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2016).
The marketing process through internet is not limited with the social media. It goes all the way
through to the SCO (searchable content optimization) and pay per click.
SCO- this process is believed as one of the great framework for a company to conduct its
marketing. It helps evaluating websites for keyword function ability it also help in bringing the
search results in the top of the list of Google. The proper use of SCO can lead a company to
achieve more consumers in a very short period of time. Back in 2015 Google used their SCO
team for that product which can directly or indirectly can give benefit to the organization.
However Google’s this move has cost them dearly in the European consumer court.
Pay for click- this method is a very good way for marketing it uses search engine advertising to
generate clicks originally. It is basically those sponsored advertisements that a consumer go
through in daily basis by watching a video or searching for any other web contents and many
more (King, et al 2015).
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LO3
P5 Communicate the outcomes of a research project to identified stakeholders. Now that
you have completed your research project, communicate the research outcomes in an
appropriate manner for the intended medium
Key messages Audience Communication vehicle
Progress of the project
Plans in a given period
of time.
Team members Direct verbal
communication
Voice calling
Approach to the
manager for the purpose
of taking interview and
taking time.
Interview through a
voice calling or direct
calling methods.
Managers of Primark Email, voice calling,
direct verbal
communication
Questions are sent in a
short link into the dash
board of company’s
employees.
Employees Online survey platforms
Our team members were given strict instructions to communicate with the employees of the
Primark so that a research can be conducted in a short period of time and in an efficient manner.
Our team has conducted their work in a very skill full manner. The managers of the Primark
were told about the upcoming interview and a schedule was taken out to conduct the interview.
The managers were very much helpful and they provided a very good and unique point of view
regarding the advanced technological application into the business. The employees of the
company were also very much resourceful and efficient. They managed to find out time for the
above survey and helped with providing data for the reason. A lot of miscommunication was
avoided due to the proper channel and methods of conducting the research operations.
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LO4
P6 Reflect on the effectiveness of research methods applied for meeting objectives of the
business research project.
Literature review was conducted for gathering the secondary data required for the research and
getting a detailed knowledge about the topic. The review on literature was collected with the help
of various books, research works, articles and other relevant sources, which relate to the issue
and vicinity of research. The data collected for literature review provided an explanation, critical
assessment and synopsis of the research work in relation to the issue being studied. The
quantitative data for the research work was collected by examining 100 employees across the
entire department, whereas the qualitative data was collected by examining three managers of an
organisation. The data collection has helped the researcher in gathering the data easily by
carrying out the process of interviews and surveys.
The random sampling technique was used by the researcher to conduct the research work in an
efficient manner and to that ensure bias views were not obtained. In addition, the interviews
carried out had helped the researcher to gather the views and knowledge of the managers, their
perception towards digital technology. However, the process of interview could not be conducted
at the predetermined time but the information was collected afterwards, when the managers were
not busy, proved to be very useful for the research work. Selecting primary and secondary data
collection method has facilitated the researcher to assemble data in an effectual manner. The
managers had provided qualitative information for conducting effective research. On the other
hand, the collection of data from secondary sources had assisted the researcher in collecting
information from books, online resources and journals. The surveyor has used qualitative and
quantitative method of data collection to gather trustworthy information for carrying out the
research in an appropriate way.
The methods of primary data collection have enabled the researcher to conduct research in an
efficient way and achieve its objectives. The benefits of primary data collection are as follows-
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 By the collection of data from primary sources, the scope and limitation of technology
digitally are assessed efficiently
 By critically analyzing the information collected directly from primary sources has
enabled the research work to become a master piece
 By using the information collected from various age group people, the impact of social
media and mobiles on the society, especially youths proved to be reliable for the research
work.
The method of secondary data collection has benefitted the research work in the following ways-
 Through the use of journals and books, various information has been collected for
understanding the concept of marketing digitally
 By the use of different materials and resources found over internet, theoretical concepts
have been made clear of the researcher along with the practical implications of digital
technology
 By the use of journals, the pros and cons of using digital technology are also assessed
while conducting research work
 By the information available over internet, various uses of big data analytics and artificial
intelligence have been assembled, which have been impossible to gather from
respondents
P7 Consider alternative research methodologies and lessons learnt in view of the outcomes.
The data collection method is very vital in a research project. Therefore, various methods have
been applied in the research (Fallon, 2016). The alternative methods, which can also be used in a
research process, are as follows-
 Observations- The method of observation is also used while conducting a research. It
helps in observing the activity of a group of people, which proves to be beneficial for the
research work (Taylor and et al., 2015). The researcher can critically analyze and observe
30

all the activities of an individual and can keep a track on the changing habits of them. The
data collected through research can be used in the work.
 Focus groups- The focus group is a research technique used to collect data. Diverse
groups are structured and the process of discussion is carried out. The data’s and
information which is collected from different experienced people proves to be beneficial
for the work of research. A small number of candidates around 6 to 15 are chosen for the
group.
 Group discussions- This is also an alternative technique to collect data. Various groups
are formed and the discussion process is carried out. The information obtained from the
discussion between experienced groups of people proves to be beneficial for the research
work.
 Documents and Records- Various documents and records of previous research work can
also be used for the purpose of effective collection of data. They prove to be an effective
source for conducting the research.
 Case studies- Several case studies can also be referred for the purpose of collection of
data of research work. Several data of the previous studies can be used in the research
work for effective results.
 Polls- The responses can be obtained directly from the common people who are affected
through the results of the research work either directly or indirectly (Ebert and et al.,
2018). Polls prove to be an efficient source from collecting quantitative data.
Various alternatives discussed above can also be used for conducting effective research (Stage
and Manning 2015). The group discussion method can be used in the research process to take
information from a group of experienced people. Their experiences and knowledge proves to be
very beneficial for the research work. Various documents and records of previous work can be
used to include different facts previously accumulated from different sources for making the
research beneficial for its users. For collecting quantitative data, the poll process can also be used
because it helps in collecting huge information from a large number of people in limited time.
The results or outcomes of the research work for the Primarc Organisation proved to be positive.
The positive impact is the use of digital technology benefitted the organisation as a whole. The
documents, records and other important files can be kept separately by using the technology,
31

which helps in accessing the information from any part of the world. With the positive impact,
some negative impact also affects the organisation. The negative impact is its excessive use,
which may prove to be unhealthy for its users as well as some security threats like unauthorized
access may take place in an organisation.
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