Digitalization Impact on Small Businesses

This assignment examines the profound influence of digitalization on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It delves into how SMEs leverage digital marketing channels, adopt cloud computing solutions, and navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 technologies like virtualization and decentralized manufacturing. The analysis draws upon various academic sources and online resources to shed light on the transformative role of digitalization in shaping the future of SME operations.

MANAGING
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1. Project aim and objectives................................................................................................1
P 2 Project management plan.................................................................................................3
P 3 Work break down structure..............................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P 4 Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.......................................................7
P 5 Analysing of research and data using proper tools and techniques..................................9
P 6 Recommendation for the project...................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
P 7 Self reflection.................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Digital technology refers to that process which uses electronics and new media methods
for communicating message to target audience through using internet. This is the most important
part of current business world because it assists in adopting new and the latest technology of
digitalisation whose main aim is to do fast and rapid communication (Varadarajan, 2017). An
organisation gives available data and information which assists in attaining the desired goals and
targets. The research is related with on 3com which deal in computer systems and other services.
It is a SME company which was established in the year 1979. They are famous as manufacturer
of computer network products. They are offering products like IP voice systems, network
interface controller, wireless access points, routers and controllers. Main purpose of this report is
to understand different aim, objectives and required goals of the research project for analysing
growth and development of 3Com by the help of digital technology. This report will assist in
gathering data and identifying new sources for gaining success and growth to company as well.
TASK 1
P1. Project aim and objectives
This world has turned into a battle ground where each and every business man desires to
be at the leading position in market with maintaining a strong position (How Cloud Storage
Works. 2017). Today, the level of competition is increasing day by day which required to provide
competitive products in the market. Therefore, cited firm needs to implement digital technology
in order to gain sales and profitability in the long run.
By this way, it can be said that 3Com has to change their present ways of operating
business activities. They now have to introduce modern digital technology in all of their
operations. They should focus on creating innovative goods and services which helps people in
doing their day to day work. By adopting this idea, it can attract a large number of customers and
also increase their popularity as a famous brand (Sultan and van de Bunt-Kokhuis, 2012). For
doing this, workers of venture should use advanced technologies like Big Data Analytics and
Artificial Intelligence. Thus, it can be stated that digitalisation is affecting positively on the small
corporations by aiding them in growing their business. Before making any business plan and
schemes, it is very important to design aims and objectives of the enterprise so that employees
get clear about their jobs or in which direction they have to work in order to achieve their aims
and objectives.
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Topic: “The impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and innovation”
Back ground of the study:
The present report is designed by considering technological advancement and its effect
on the growth of small or medium sized companies. In the past years, science and technology
were not so much developed and due to this, firms were facing many problems in attaining their
goals and objectives. Personnel working in offices were engaged in doing manual work by taking
use of papers (Awa and et. al., 2015). This was very time consuming and errors or faults were
occurring commonly due to physical work. Emergence of risks was creating different problems
while production and delivery of goods and services. But now, this scenario has been completely
changed. Enormous development in the technology has been occurred here. Due to this reason,
the procedures of doing businesses are now altered to a great extent.
Technological factors become a macro element which is impacting on the working of all
venture. Hence, it can have said that each and every enterprise should take use of modern
technologies to be in the competition for longer span of time. For example, they should introduce
social media such as Facebook, what’s app, Twitter, YouTube, etc. in their firms in order to
improve their promotional activities as these applications are very cheap and easy to use
(Hossain and Kauranen, 2016). Companies can do advertisement of their products or services
and can seek attention of large number of citizens towards it. In addition to this, they can also use
digital techniques in the department of human resource and can easily recruit workers by taking
their online interviews in less time period.
Aim: “The impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and innovation”
Objectives: 3Com is one of the leading firm that is dealing with manufacturing of those goods
and services which are based on computer networks. The organisation wants to make their goods
at very fast rate so that they can improve their level of production and in turn earns large sum of
money in minimum time interval. By analysing the conditions, some objectives for this project is
designed which is mentioned below:
 Evaluating the impact of digitalisation at working location of 3Com
 To earn huge amount of profits by implementing digital techniques in organisation
Therefore, this corporation requires to concentrate on aims and objectives which are
discussed in this report so that they can understand the importance of advanced technologies and
use this in their firm.
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P 2 Project management plan
Project management plan is nothing but the list of activities that is going to be
implemented in the firm (Parry, S., and et. al., 2012). This assists in exploring the risks factors
that may appear while developing products and services. The various areas which is going to be
implemented in this plan are described below:
 Project Scope: This part entails those activities which need to be performed in order to
achieve aims and objectives of a project. In context with 3Com company which deals in
manufacturing section, implementing digital technology in business aid in producing high
innovative products. In this project, each and every area that is required to be modernised
are discussed. So the scope of this project is good as it helps in improving production as
well as turnover of company.
 Cost control: This is nothing but the scheme of controlling extra cost so that money can
saved and use in various other activities. As 3Com is engaged in doing paper work due to
this large amount of money get wasted only in purchasing papers. Apart from this, lot of
errors are occurred only because of doing manual work. Thus, the cited company requires
to introduce digital technology so that they can effectively minimise the utilisation of
papers. For doing this, employees should use latest software in their computers like Ms –
excel, Spreadsheet, Power – point, etc. By this way different business operations such as
accounting, sales, etc. can be improved (Ross and Blumenstein, 2015). In addition to this,
they can also make attractive presentations for their clients. Now workers only need to
feed numerical figures or data along with some formulas in such software and in turn all
of the calculations are performed automatically in few seconds. In this manner, managers
of 3Com used to take personnel and online interviews of candidates so that high skilled
workforce can be introduced in business.
 Initial Investment : 120000
 Expenses:
 Operational Activities: 16000
 R&D Activities: 27000
 Cost to IT Experts: 15000
 Licensing Fee: 12000
Challenges of implementing cost
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For executing cost in the project, there are some challenges which are faced by manager
such as disorganised bidding process slow estimation, inability to estimate the benchmark and
many others.
 Quality control: This is the method of maintaining qualities in the goods and services
made by corporation so that more and more people prefer to purchase their products in
huge quantities. This also make reduction in the feedbacks or complaints coming from
the side of clients. For making this possible, they can take support of modernised
machineries that can produce best quality of products in very less quantity of raw
materials and in minimum period of time. Those advanced machineries make the work of
manufacturing so easier because some of the work are performed by machines itself.
Workers need to maintain safety while using such equipment’s so that this do not effect
on their security and health (Taiminen and Karjaluoto, 2015). On the other hand, various
decisions are made by the workers after consulting with their associates. In order to do
this, they can use social media applications as this is considered as best techniques of
doing effectual communication. They can also connect with their customer’s every time
by using this and reply to their questions and feedbacks. 3Com should invest around 500$
for accomplishing this job of maintaining quality.
 Risk management: It is also an important portion of this project wherein all the risky
factors needs to be eliminated which are emerging while performing various business
operations. Company can take use of digital techniques in determining the risks and take
appropriate decisions for removing them (Stankovska, Josimovski and Edwards, 2016).
The cited organisation should accomplish this project as soon as possible as more time
will consume additional revenue. This is to be noted that all the risks should be find out
as well as destroyed by making limited investment.
 Communication: For conducting market researches, 3Com have to communicate
properly with regional citizens in order to determining their needs and demands. And
manufacturing should be carried on in accordance with that. Company can take use of
external mode of communication for doing research and can use internal methods of
communication for resolving their business problems by taking with workers. This
process will charge around 400$ while the researcher need 100$ for their research to
identify that which communication mode is beneficial for the company.
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 Time: This method is all about the maintenance and controlling of time while performing
different activities of research. Some of the operations are like deciding about aims and
objectives, doing primary and secondary researches, making management planning, etc.
these activities should be completed in effect-able manner and in minimum amount of
time. It has been recognised that two processes would consume more time which are
conduction of research and after that making data analysis as researcher have to think
properly before performing these tasks. In order to make this work easier, investigator
should make Gantt chart as well as critical path so that they can segment time for all
these activities. This helps in taking proper decisions about how much time should be
taken in doing a single task. The management department of the company can take 4-5
weeks to do all these activities and process such as designing aims and objectives or
management plan but the researcher need 2-3 weeks to gather information regarding this
research.
 Resources: This is the method of determining several resources that is needed by cited
company for doing market research. 3Com requires human resource, funds, technological
resources, etc. for accomplishing their aims and objectives (El-Gohary and Eid, 2012).
All these assets should be present in large number so that there would not emerge
conflicts among work forces. On the other-hand, the researcher need funds, technological
resources etc. to do its research so that they can collect valuable data.
P 3 Work break down structure
It is very important to keep all activities in proper queue so that no confusion would
occur in future. For this purpose, Gantt chart is formulated the steps are evaluated below as:
 Aims and Objectives: This is the foremost step which is linked with formulating
business aims and objectives according to the topic of the project so that research can be
carried out in ethical and planned way. The aims and objective are designed in time
duration of 15 days. The major aim of the project is linked with determining the
techniques which result in growth and development of 3Com.
 This project aims to identify those activities within organisation that needs to be more
digitalised. Assistance of modern technologies in business growth by doing modification in existed
polices and strategies.
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 Project management plan: The second step is to make a management plan where all
activities should be considering like quality management, communication, controlling
costing, doing time management, etc. This plan can be made in around 10 days. Primary and secondary research: This is the third stage where researcher have to gather
information or facts and figures about the theme of the project. This can be done by
conducting primary and secondary researches (Kossaï and Piget, 2014). The first one can
be done by taking interviews of civilians and workers. On the other hand, second one can
be accomplished by using books, internet, journals, etc. This investigation may consume
around 20 days. Data interpretation and analysation: After that, next step is the analysation of collected
data and interpretation is done on the basis of this. This might approx. 5 take days.
 Self-reflection: This is the final stage in which researcher need to discuss about their
own experiences and feeling. Here several issues faced by them is described. In addition
to this, importance of digital technologies is also highlighted in this part. This may
consume around 3 days.
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Action plan: Person engaged in this project: Various workers have taken part in this report for its
successful accomplishment. For example, employees, customers, data analysers and
researcher, team heads, etc. of 3Com. Location of collecting information: Some of the data is being gathered by conducting
interviews of citizens and workers and after that a questionnaire is designed on the basis
of that (Brettel and et. al., 2014). On the other hand, some of the information is collected
from different web pages and opinions of authors and scholars, etc.
 Data inputting procedure: Data is filled in the questionnaire sheets by the workers and
customers who have taken part in this activity.
Work breakdown structure
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TASK 2
P 4 Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies
In order to conduct a research, project managers of 3Com Plc can take various methods
as given below:-
Qualitative research: In this method, information is collected on the basis of quality
that emphasises by evaluating perceptions of people. An interview procedure is conducted on a
sample of respondents under this technique. Most of the researchers are taking use of this method
for attaining deep and intense knowledge regarding the topic of the research. Thus, it can be said
that this procedure assists in getting familiar about the psychology and behaviour of citizens
about the theme of project.
Quantitative research: It is the methodology of gathering numerical information that
helps researcher in taking appropriate decisions in terms of running business activities
(Thompson, Williams and Thomas, 2013). This is completely different from qualitative research
methodology as in this process data is collected from a large sample size.
Significance of qualitative method
 This method aids in provide detailed information. It is based on the observations and human experience.
Primary research: In this technique, relevant information is accumulated by utilising
primary sources. It is used to collect information related a particular issue within business
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organisation by various methodologies. It includes survey on a group of people by conducting
questionnaires which can be done either by mail or face-to-face. This process give accurate and
more reliable information but required much time and cost.
Significance of primary method
 It helps in resolve the particular research problems.
 There is high level to control.
Secondary research: It provides information related to a topic which is previously
researched by others for different purposes. It also includes scientific reports which are published
in internet, books, newspapers, magazines and more. So, this method requires less time for
collecting a relevant information. In terms of reliability, it fails to obtain accurate result but
cheaper as well than setting up primary research.
Research philosophy-It is brief about the way in which data about a phenomenon should
be gathered, analysed and used. It can be a vast topic which is deals with the source, nature and
development of knowledge. There are three methods of research philosophy pragmatist,
interpretivist and positivist. These are the major philosophies which are used in conduct of
research by the researcher and the management department of the company. In this, report, the
research used pragmatist research philosophy to gather information because this research
philosophy is considered to be relatively new compared to others.
Qualitative research methodology has been used in this project for acquiring relevant
facts and figures. Questionnaire is formed below in order to collect data from workers and local
people. Here sample size is taken 20. The format of questionnaire is designed below:
Questionnaire
Name: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gender: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Is technical advancement helps in manufacturing products and services at minimum time
period?
 Yes
 No
2. Did you noticed the impact of modern technology in small and medium sized corporations?
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 Yes
 No
3. Which sector needs to be modified by taking help of digital technologies within 3Com?
 Human resource department
 Production department
 Accounting
4. Which type of technology is utilised for the purpose of storing sensitive information of the
enterprise?
 Hard disks
 Cloud technology
 The Internet of Things
5. Which kind of digital techniques are needed for the purpose of doing communication in
3Com?
 Social media
 Mobile technology
6. Which modernised technology will help organisation in producing innovative products and
services?
 Artificial intelligence
 Big data analytics
Secondary research
As per the view point of Broekx and et. al. (2011), modern technologies should be used
by almost all of the companies because this helps in increasing the production as well as
profitability of the venture. This also aids in producing innovative products and services which
can seek attention of large number of users. For example, 3Com can take use of Artificial
Intelligence and Big Analytics as new technologies for manufacture innovation based goods. As
a result, enterprise can earn large sum of profit and also maintain good positioning in
marketplace by making their brand popular in front of all people living in UK.
On the other hand, firm can utilise social media applications like Twitter, Face book,
What’s App, You Tube, etc. for doing advertisement of their newly created products so that
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everyone gets familiar about those items. The cited company should also introduce cloud
technology in order to store data for long period of time. These data can be shared and used from
anywhere and by every time in the presence of internet connectivity.
Literature Review
Impact of digitalisation at working location of 3Com
According to Tim Hall, digitalisation is the process of converting material or information
into a digital form. Now these various business transitioning online in a bid to streamline the
management and day to day running of operations. Digitalization has created positive impact on
the operation of 3Com by providing various new technologies such as Cloud computing, ERP
systems and various others. Cloud computing is a technology that can help the organisation to
gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. By using this technology, the management
department of 3Com can protected its data storage and it is reliable with automated data backup
and disaster recovery. Digital pens, tablet and OCR intelligent document and image scanning are
some useful or most popular technologies that impacted the small business in effective manners.
Digitalization make the information gathering and sharing process easy with all these innovation
of digital technologies. By innovating ERP system it reducing operating costs and with the help
of this software the employees of the firm can do their work from anywhere and anytime. ERP
system help the company in increasing efficiency across many business processes and reducing
financial reporting timescales. With the help of this, the management department of the company
can capture more and faster business insights or enable more informed and faster decision
making.
Earning huge amount of profits by implementing digital techniques in organisation
The management department of 3Com can earn more profits by implementing digital
techniques such as accounting software, planning software, time tracking software and various
others. Any small business has to track where the money came from and where it went as so by
using these kind of software, the firm can mange its funds and budget. It is paperless work so
there are no need to invest fund on these kind of material. This also help in the growth or
increasing profits. Planning software is a mind mapping software which identifies pinch points
and other implementation problems and reduce the organisation;s wastage on manpower or
money on a flawed plan. Time tracking software is helpful in earning huge profits because
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identifies time wasting activities and can help the management department to focus on those
aspects that requires attentions. Mobile access software and hardware is a most needed
technologies now these days because with the help of it, the sales team can capture payment at
the time of delivering of the services. It is beneficial to gain more profit because it help in
improving cash flow so there are no chance to get issues related to it. By using all of these digital
technologies, 3Com can earn more profit because, it will not need more human resources to
manage the work so it can save its extra investment and earn more profit in its business.
TASK 3
P 5 Analysing of research and data using proper tools and techniques
Theme 1: Contribution of technological advancement in formulating products in less time
interval
1. Is technical advancement helps in
manufacturing products and services at
minimum time period ?
Frequency
Yes 15
No 5
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16 15
5 Column G
Interpretation: Most of the people said that advanced technologies are contributing in making
goods in very less time.
Theme 2: Effect of modernised technologies in growth of business operations
2. Did you noticed the impact of modern
technology in small and medium sized
Frequency
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corporations ?
Yes 16
No 4
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18 16
4
Column G
Interpretation: Large number has noticed positive impact of modern technologies on the small
companies.
Theme 3: Requirement of modernisation in different sectors of venture
3. Which sector needs to be modified by taking
help of digital technologies within 3Com ?
Frequency
Human resource department 5
Production department 10
Accounting 5
13

Human resource department
Production department
Accounting
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
5
10
5 Column G
Interpretation: Most of the people has said that production department needs to be more
digitalised.
Theme 4: Need of modern techniques for storing significant information
4. Which type of technology is utilised for the
purpose of storing sensitive information of the
enterprise ?
Frequency
Hard disks 4
Cloud technology 10
The Internet of Things 6
Hard disks
Cloud technology
The Internet of Things
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
4
10
6
Column G
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Interpretation: Large number of people has voted for cloud technology as a means of storing
data.
Theme 5: Use of digital mode of communication
5. Which kind of digital techniques are needed
for the purpose of doing communication in
3Com ?
Frequency
Social media 15
Mobile technology 5
Social media Mobile technology
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16 15
5 Column I
Interpretation: Almost all customers stated that social media should be used for doing
communication in most effect-able way. So, company should do changes as per this.
Theme 6: Assistance of advanced technology in producing innovative goods or services
6. Which modernised technology will help
organisation in producing innovative products
and services ?
Frequency
Artificial intelligence 16
Big data analytics 4
15

Artificial intelligence Big data analytics
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18 16
4
Column B
Interpretation: Large number of civilians are in favour of artificial intelligence as it aids in
manufacturing quality based innovative products or services.
Literature review
P 6 Recommendation for the project
By examining the overall project, some of the recommendations are provide by the
researcher which is stated below:
 3Com should use new technologies like Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for
creating innovative products or services so that they can attract large number of
customers towards their venture.
 They can also use social media applications such as Facebook, You Tube, etc. for doing
promotion of their newly developed goods. At the same time, they can also introduce
other apps like Face book, Twitter, Gmail, yahoo, etc. as the tools of doing effectual
communication and can also connect with their clients any time.
 Cloud technology should be utilised as technique of storing and sharing data over
network.
 The organisation can use CRM(customer relationship management) software to make
communication and interaction with its customers.
 Time tracking software are useful tool for mapping out where time is spent by whom and
it is beneficial for the small business to analyse the accountability, process improvement
and productivity.
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 It can be recommended to the company in context to increase profit, the management
department can use various kind of software such as mobile access software, accounting
software, planning software and others.
TASK 4
P 7 Self reflection
After completing this project, I found that modern technologies have altered the whole
scenario of business in all over of the world. 3Com need to introduce some new techniques for
doing their work in more effect-able manner. I have faced various difficulties while doing this
project as time was very less time and funds was available. Even though, I completed this project
on time. When I was working on this project I gained knowledge about the various new
technologies and Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. With this I also learn about
various concept that are necessary to conduct a research such as research methodology and
various others. These all things are beneficial to me for my personal and professional growth.
CONCLUSION
From the above based report, it can be summarised that digital techniques plays an
eminent role in growing the business in every organisation. By taking assistance of advanced
technologies such as social media, cloud-computing, artificial intelligence, etc. 3Com is
operating their business more effectively. Several research methodologies such as qualitative and
quantitative has been used in this assignment for gathering relevant data. Various modes of
communication can be used by ventures like Face book, what's app, Gmail, twitter, etc. in order
to make connection with their workers as well as consumer’s every time.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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Stankovska, I., Josimovski, S. and Edwards, C., 2016. Digital channels diminish SME barriers:
the case of the UK. Economic research-Ekonomska istraživanja. 29(1). pp.217-232.
Taiminen, H.M. and Karjaluoto, H., 2015. The usage of digital marketing channels in SMEs.
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Ross, P. K. and Blumenstein, M., 2015. Cloud computing as a facilitator of SME
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Parry, S., and et. al., 2012. Marketing for survival: a comparative case study of SME software
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Hossain, M. and Kauranen, I., 2016. Open innovation in SMEs: a systematic literature review.
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Awa, H.O., and et. al., 2015. Integrating TAM, TPB and TOE frameworks and expanding their
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The rise of Digitalization in Buiness. 2018. [Online]. Avialable Through:
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The Rise of Digitalisation
in
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