Project Report: Cloud Technology Implementation and Business Analysis

This report details a business project undertaken to assess and implement cloud technology for Continental Consulting Ltd. The project begins with an introduction outlining the objectives, aims, and research questions, followed by a project management plan covering time, cost, quality, and communication aspects. A work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are provided to illustrate the project's stages and timeline. The research incorporates both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to gather and analyze data, leading to recommendations for cloud technology implementation. The report also includes a reflection on the project's outcomes and concludes with a summary of findings and references.

MANAGING A
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
P1. Objectives and aims of project.........................................................................................1
Research questions.................................................................................................................2
P2. Project management plan which covers aspects of time, cost, quality and communication.2
P3. A Work-break down Structure and a Gantt Chart............................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P4. Small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methodologies..6
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5. Data analysis..................................................................................................................10
P6. Recommendation............................................................................................................17
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................18
P7. Reflection.......................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Today digital technology literally has changed every aspect of conducting a business.
With every advancement of technology like cloud computing, way of doing operational activities
becomes more easy and fast. Cloud computing technology refers to a method for delivering IT
services under which resources are acquired from Internet. This project is based on concept of
understanding the importance of cloud technology in business (Spence, 2016). Continental
Consulting Ltd. is chosen for this purpose, which offers business solutions to other companies
for enhancing their operational activities. This company wants to upgrade its system with cloud
computing techniques to increase productivity of business. In this regard, aims and objectives for
explaining the purpose of research is described in first part with a project management plan.
Secondly, a work breakdown structure and Gantt Chart for providing stages and time-frame also
explained. For gathering information, qualitative and quantitative research methods are used.
Lastly, recommendation and reflection based on project outcomes are discussed.
P1. Objectives and aims of project
Every business organization in today's competitive world, desires that it employees will
perform their assigned duties in scheduled time period. To achieve this goal, innovative solutions
are required which makes it easier for workers to communicate, collaborate and share
information without any restrictions for completing a task. Cloud Computing techniques is one
of the innovative solutions like MS-Office 365 to create a streamlined working environment.
Under such environment, workers are allowed to share data with other team members in quick
manner. This will turn to complete a task in short-interval of time (Trevino and Nelson, 2016).
In context with Continental Consulting Ltd., this firm give business related solutions to
other companies of UK. Therefore, it has to store large amount of data in system but due to usage
of old techniques, operational activities are much affected. So, this company seeks to upgrade its
system so that capabilities of business can be maximized.
Topic: “The role of digital technology in enhancing growth and innovation of small
business”
Background of research:
Continental Consulting Limited is a Business and Research Consultancy and headed by
Mario Bindas with a team of 22 expert consultants. This company has established 8 years before
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and provide business solutions to other small and medium organizations. With rapid innovation
in IT industry, techniques and equipment used by this firm are now become obsolete. Due to this,
it has failed to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, this firm seeks to upgrade its system so
that maximum capabilities of business can be brought. The present research is going to
understand the concept of cloud computing technology by which this firm can increase
efficiency of business. This technique helps in keeping and sharing large amount of data on
remote serves as well as access the files via internet (Passerini, Tarabishy and Patten, 2012).
Research aim
The main aim of administrating investigation in present project is “To determine
effectiveness of cloud technology in upgrading system of business”. A case study on Continental
Consulting Limited.
Research objectives
 To examine the concept of Cloud Technology
 To determine the importance of implementing cloud technology in Continental
Consulting Limited. To analyse the major challenges which are faced by organization due to upgradation of
cloud technology in business.
Research questions
Q 1. What are the base to examine the concept of Cloud Technology?
Q 2. What is the importance of cloud technology in Continental Consulting Limited?
Q 3. What are the main barriers that can be faced by organization due to upgradation of cloud
technology in business?
P2. Project management plan which covers aspects of time, cost, quality and communication
Project Management Plan refers to a document which describes every stages of a
particular project. It includes various components like planning, executing, monitoring, initiating
and controlling. This plan is made to determine how activities of a project will be going on and
what kind of result it obtains. Moreover, it also referred as blue print which defines roles and
responsibilities of each project makers and how activities are executed accordingly (Glover and
Kusterer, 2016). As per present scenario, Continental Consulting Ltd. wants to upgrade its
system and implement cloud computing technologies for enhancement of business operations.
Therefore, a PMP for this implementation process is given as below:-
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Scope: As Continental Consulting Ltd. fails to keep large data of customers properly and
access on time due to usage of old techniques. So, this would create a large impact on
operational activities and performance of business. Therefore, introducing cloud computing help
this firm to save data to a remote database. It will allow employees of this firm to access data on
multiple devices and store them using various services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Thus, all
these process, help this firm in operating its activities in large manner. It will give advantage to
stay competitive in future at marketplace as well (Catlin, Jones and Jones, 2012).
Cost: It refers to an important step under which cost for executing a new project is
estimated. Thus, for implementing cloud technology in Continental Consulting Ltd., it is
necessary for managers to set a proper budget. To implement this technology, three aspects are
needed to be concerned first. It includes changes in infrastructure, maintenance of network and
hardware storage. Thus, for these processes, near about £20K is required.
Particular Amount
Initial Investment 100000
Expenses:
Operational Activities
R&D Activities
Cost to IT Experts
Licensing Fee
Maintenance
22000
28000
16000
6000
8000
Closing Value 20000
Time: This part also entails the time-frame of all activities including formation of aims
and objectives, conducting literature review, analysing data, drawing valid conclusion etc.
Therefore, to carry out complete project and implement new technology in business, near about
one to years are required.
Quality: For installing cloud technology in business, managers of Continental Ltd. needs
to concern on entire process. It includes quality of new hardware and software components
which are installed in system. Since, cloud technology is not an individual technology therefore,
it compromises with three main services. It includes IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS
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(Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service). Since, SaaS is expected for
experiencing the faster growth than IaaS and makes cloud computing technology more usable
tool. While IaaS includes servers, hardware and software etc. which is vital for security. In
addition to this, PaaS helps in taking feedback of clients and their reviews so that major
decisions can be taken.
Risk: Creating modification in system and any aspect, may include various type of risks
as well. It includes lost in control on budget, failure of project, insufficient funds etc. which
impact on budget of company as well as condition of liquidity or debts can be raise. Therefore, to
introduce cloud technology, it is necessary to concern on every activity and make proper risk
management plan so that in case of failure, necessary can be taken to overcome from the
situation.
Communication: For achievement of this project successfully, it is essential to build a
strong team first. Therefore, for this assistance, project managers are required to provide open
communication to all team members so that they can share ideas and develop good relationship
with each other. In this, cloud technology implementation in system of Continental Consulting
Limited helps business person to anticipate issues and conflicts of workers, thereby retain them
for longer time.
P3. A Work-break down Structure and a Gantt Chart
In order to execute a task in given span of time, researchers can use two major techniques
that are- Work Breakdown Structure and Gantt Chart. Using these two techniques, managers of
Continental Consulting Ltd. can compete major activities on time in following manner :-
A work breakdown structure is a deliverable oriented breakdown of a project into
smaller components. It is a key project deliverable that organizes the team's work into
manageable sections. The main purpose of a WBS is to reduce complicated activities to a
collection of tasks (Huntington, 2018).
Following are a few reasons for creating a WBS in a project :-
 Accurate and readable project organization.
 Accurate assignment of responsibilities to the project team.
 Indicates the project milestones and control points.
 Helps to estimate the cost, time and risk.
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 Illustrate the project scope, so the stakeholders can have a better understanding of the
same.
A Gantt chart, is another technique used in project management for assigning activities
segmented by WBS in a proper time framework. It is also used for tracking, monitoring the
progress of each activity as per schedule. For example: How the tasks relate to each other, How
far each task has progressed and what resources are being used for each task and so on
(Mwobobia, 2012).
Usually, project managers of Continental Consulting Ltd. use both methods for
simplifying the project execution. In WBS, much larger tasks are broken down to manageable
chunks of work. These chunks can be easily supervised and estimated. WBS is not restricted to a
specific field when it comes to application. This is important for the project managers because
they can oversee the tasks more effectively than the complex activities. Tasks must be
measurable and independent, with clearly defined limits.
As per this Gantt Chart, to select appropriate topic, project makers of Continental
Consulting Limited require near about three days. Further, to formulate effective aims and
objectives, they need maximum two days. After than literature review will be conducted where
perceptions of different respondents, professionals and other experts has extracted. For this
process, they require more than four to five days. Away with this, for research methodologies,
data collection and further interpretation, team members require 8 days, 7days and 3 days
respectively. Finally for give recommendation and submission of report four days are required.
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TASK 2
P4. Small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
Research is a process to discover new knowledge and information. It is a systematic
investigation (gathering and analysis of information) designed to develop an accurate knowledge
and information. Research is also different than other forms of discovering knowledge because it
uses a systematic process called scientific method. It involves inductive and deductive method
approach. Inductive approach is used to analyze the observed situation or phenomenon. While
deductive approach is for verifying the observed phenomenon or situation (Muller, 2012).
Research methodology is a process used to collect information and data for the purpose of
making business decisions. The methodology includes published research study, surveys (using
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paper, online and other modes), observation, interview and other research technique on the basis
of present and historical information or data.
Types of research methodology -
Qualitative research- It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons,
opinions, views and motivation. It provides insights into the problem or help to develop idea or
hypothesis for quantitative research. Some common methods include group discussion,
individual interview and observation (Yeoman and et. al., 2012).
Quantitative research – Quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of
generating numerical data that can be transformed into usable statistics. Quantitative data
collection methods are much more structured than qualitative data collection methods. Some
quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys – Online surveys(using
google forms, Survey Monkey), paper surveys, mobile surveys, face-to-face interaction,
telephonic interview, online polls and systematic observation.
Types of data sources
Primary data – Primary data refers to the first hand data gathered by the researcher
himself. It is a real time data. Sources of primary data include surveys, observation, experiments,
questionnaire, personal interview etc. It involves cost and time (Sommer, 2012).
Secondary data - Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier. It is
based on past data. Some secondary data include government publication, websites, books,
journal, magazines, online portal etc.
Population: It refers to another main aspect of a research where investigators are needed
to specify total population. On opinion of this targeted population, outcomes of whole
investigation are bases. In this regard, under present assignment, project team of Continental
Consulting Ltd. has targeted business clients, employees and all stakeholders.
Sampling framework: This part of research cab ne defined as technique of sampling a
data. In this process, there are three methods are available for choosing respondents from total
population. It includes simple random, systematic random and stratified random sampling. In
context with present project of Continental Consulting, simple random sampling is chosen where
respondents from targeted audience are selected on random basis.
Sample: It is considered as group of participants which are selected either randomly or
non-randomly from total targeted population.
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For both processes, project makers are required to take proper sample size from total
population. Here sample size defines the number of respondents, whose perceptions help in
making further analysis. While population size states the entire people who have gained equal
opportunity to include in sample. In context with project makers of Continental Consulting Ltd.,
they use quantitative research method and primary data in order to collect data. Under this
process, a questionnaire has prepared and filled by 40 respondents to analyze their opinion on
concept of cloud technology. As targeted customers of this company are business clients of small
and medium manufacturing organizations, therefore, questionnaire has been prepared
accordingly (MacDonald and Coffield, 2015):-
Questionnaire
Name:
Class:
Age:
Q1. Are you familiar with the concept of cloud technology in businesses?
A. Yes
B. No
Q2. Do you think cloud computing helps in increasing efficiencies of operations in
Continental Consulting Ltd.?
A. Yes
B. No
Q3. What are the main advantages of cloud computing technology?
A. Data recovery and storage of information
B. Cost effective and time saving
C. Enhanced productivity
D. Update system automatically
Q4. What are the major challenges faced by Continental Consulting Ltd. in
implementation of cloud technology in business?
A. Risk of uncertainty
B. Lack of cloud computing knowledge
C. Insufficient funds
Q5. Can cloud technology enables Continental Consulting Limited to stay competitive at
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market-place?
A. Yes
B. No
Q6. What are the ways to overcome that challenges faced by Continental Consulting Ltd.
in implementation of cloud technology in business?
A. Recruit an IT Consultant
B. Training and Development
C. Arrange proper funds
Q7. Does upgrading technologies beneficial for Continental Consulting Limited?
A. Yes
B. No
Q8. Can cloud computing is useful for collaboration and communication for workers?
A. Yes
B. No
Q9. Do you have any suggestion regarding to determining the importance of Cloud Clouding
within an enterprise?
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TASK 3
P5. Data analysis
Theme 1: Most people are familiar with the concept of cloud technology
Q1. Are you familiar with the concept of cloud technology in businesses? Frequency
A. Yes 27
B. No 13
Interpretation: As concept of cloud technology is not new in today's modern era, therefore, as
per analysis of 40 respondents, it has concluded that out of them 27 users are familiar with this.
While other 13 users do not know much about this technology.
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A. Yes B. No
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Column K