Investigating the Impact of Digital Tech on Business Activity

This report explores the impact of digital technology on business activities, focusing on project management principles and research methodologies. It details the stages of project management, from initiation to finalization, emphasizing the importance of each phase for achieving desired outcomes. A small-scale research project was conducted, involving field visits to organizations like Sainsbury's to observe technology's role in retail operations, alongside surveys and interviews to gather diverse perspectives. The report covers ethical considerations, data analysis, and communication of findings, ultimately reflecting on the project's value in supporting sustainable organizational performance by highlighting the efficiency gains and reduced errors through technological integration in areas like logistics and data recording. This project provides valuable insights into the practical application of project management and the transformative effects of technology on modern business practices.

Managing a Successful Business Project
“The Impact of Digital Technology on Business Activity”
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 – Establishing the aims, objectives and time frames related to the project based on the
theme that has been chosen for the project......................................................................................3
Project management.....................................................................................................................3
Stages involved in project management.......................................................................................4
Stage 1 – Initiation of a project................................................................................................4
Stage 2 – Defining and planning associated with the project...................................................4
Stage 3 – Project execution phase............................................................................................4
Stage 4 – Performance and control of activities related to the project.....................................5
Stage 5 – Project finalization and closure................................................................................5
Importance and advantages of project management....................................................................5
Initiation of the project and the project planning phase...............................................................5
Aims and objectives.................................................................................................................5
Scopes of the project................................................................................................................6
Time frame and work Gantt chart............................................................................................6
LO2 – Conducting a small scale research in order to gather information and collect data for
generating required knowledge to support the project....................................................................7
Project execution phase................................................................................................................7
Field work related to the project..................................................................................................7
Visit to the organisations..........................................................................................................7
Survey.......................................................................................................................................8
Interview...................................................................................................................................8
Consideration of ethics, validity, and reliability factors of the project........................................9
Analysis of the data and information gathered from various sources........................................10
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LO3 – Presenting the completed project and communicating the necessary and appropriate
recommendations on the basis of some meaningful conclusions taken from the findings and
analysis of the evidences...............................................................................................................10
Communication outcomes of the research project.....................................................................10
Critical analysis and evaluation related to the objective along with convincing arguments about
the project...................................................................................................................................11
LO4 – Reflection on the value gained after conducting the project along with its usefulness for
supporting the organizational performance in is a sustainable manner.........................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
In order to make any project successful, it is very important that all the important parameters
associated with the project are carefully followed and every minute detail is considered so that
the chances of success of that particular project could be maximized. There are multiple steps
and stages involved in any project management technique that are to be carefully analyzed by the
team which is carrying out a project. The following report is about a project that is being
conducted to find out and analyze the impact of technology on the business activities in any
market. The main objectives of this project is to learn the various ways of getting involved into
project management and carrying out the research related to the same to get the desirable
outcomes. A small scale research has been conducted in this project in order to gather the
necessary information and collect all the associated data to generate adequate knowledge which
could be later used to support the project. In addition to this, the post completion phase of the
project has been assisted with necessary communication of the outcomes that have been achieved
in the form of conclusions after analyzing all the evidences. The final stage of this project has
also described the usefulness of this project in order to support the sustainable organizational
performance.
LO1 – Establishing the aims, objectives and time frames related to the project
based on the theme that has been chosen for the project
Project management
The term project management relates to the activities which are conducted by a person or a group
of individuals organized as a team in order to achieve some specific goal. According to
Mirchandani and Lederer, (2014), project management is about carrying out a set of well
organized activities in a particular sequence so that the desired objectives could be achieved in
the most appropriate manner. This technique is used in many companies to achieve the required
aims and is also very common and popular among internship students and college students to
carry out their research activities for that the overall outcome could be gained in the most
effective way.
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Stages involved in project management
The project management techniques include 5 major stages that have been organized according
to the importance of every activity within project management procedures. The stakeholders of a
project have to ensure that every stage of project management is followed properly so that the
outcomes could be maximized with minimum usage of resources. Following are the 5 stages of
project management.
Stage 1 – Initiation of a project
The first stage that is project initiation includes some research about various options available to
the team to conduct a project. As per Mas-Verdú et al. (2015), the different methods and
techniques available with the team to conduct a specific project are analyzed followed by the
choice of the most appropriate technique. In this particular project related to the research about
technology and its use in business operations, different aspects and types of business activities
have been studies primarily followed by a final decision that has been taken to conduct the
research.
Stage 2 – Defining and planning associated with the project
The second stage which includes defining of a project and planning related to the same consist of
setting the objectives and aims of the project required according to the main reason why the
project is being conducted. In addition to this, Vahlne and Johanson, (2017) have stated that the
planning for various activities and Research related operations that would be carried out in the
project are also decided in the second stage. The primary and secondary activities like references
from different sources and carrying out surveys and interviews related to the project are decided
and plant as per the schedule in this stage.
Stage 3 – Project execution phase
The project execution phase of a project management which is the third stage of this activity
consists of the actual execution of those plans that were decided in the second stage. As
described by Zhou, (2016), the teams involved in the overall project carry out the surveys and
interviews of people and also the other associated activities like going through different
information and knowledge sources along with carrying out the field activities like going to the
different locations of work that can provide some information related to the research project.
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Stage 4 – Performance and control of activities related to the project
All the activities that are carried out in the project execution phase are organized in a specific
format and the analysis is carried out to find out the outcomes. Mansur and Abuga, (2017) have
mentioned that these activities are to be executed in a proper format and the performance needs
to be checked throughout the processing of those activities. In case of any deviation from the
planned objectives, the people involved in the project must take adequate measures to control the
deviations and bring the project activities back to the originally planned procedure.
Stage 5 – Project finalization and closure
The final stage includes proofreading and going through all the project aspects that would cover
followed by report finalization and submission of the report to the senior management authority
are the sources in case of college students.
Importance and advantages of project management
The project management techniques and procedures are very important to be followed in case of
handling a crucial project. As per the opinion of Tchamyou, (2017), the projects that include
some complicated tasks to be accomplished while performing the activities must be carried out
according to the plant procedure of project management techniques. In addition to this, there are
many other aspects which are covered under the project management activities that help an
individual to find out the necessary outcomes in a well organized manner. Parveen et al. (2015)
have also described that the most prominent advantage of using project management
fundamentals is that the accuracy and efficiency of the overall project is increased and the
necessary outcomes can be achieved more easily by the stakeholders of the project.
Initiation of the project and the project planning phase
In the initial stage of project planning, the major objectives along with different scopes like time
frame and theme has been chosen in order to clear the overall perspective of the project.
Aims and objectives
There are four primary objectives in this project as following
Objective 1 – To understand the different aspects to be followed in order to conduct project
management related activities
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Objective 2 – To find various techniques for managing the operations involved for the analysis
of technological impact on business operations
Objective 3 – To carry out the survey and interview related to the project and note down
accurate reading provided by the participants
Objective 4 – To formulate the final report of the overall research project and organized every
detail according to the order and a specific pattern
Scopes of the project
The scopes that have been included in the project are the main applications of Technology and its
related advancements that have been witnessed by various organisations. However, the hard core
technical details have been excluded and kept out of scope in this project.
Time frame and work Gantt chart
The overall project has taken four weeks to be completed where each objective has been
allocated one week according to the following Gantt chart.
Activity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
To understand the different aspects to be followed in
the project management
To find various techniques for managing the operations
involved
To carry out the survey and interview related to the
project
To formulate the final report of the overall research
project
Table 1: Gantt chart related to the project
(Source: Created by the learner)
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LO2 – Conducting a small scale research in order to gather information and
collect data for generating required knowledge to support the project
Project execution phase
In order to execute the project, retail sector has been chosen and the technological aspects
associated with this sector have been analyzed to find out the various areas in which there has
been a significant impact of technology. According to Mansur and Abuga, (2017), the overall
business operations that are conducted in retail sector consist of money calculations and data
recording which are done by either manual operations or by computerized execution. Therefore,
it is necessary that every possible way of conducting the work is analyzed. Hence, field work that
has been chosen consists of both primary and secondary research with the following details.
Field work related to the project
The field work related to this project consists of visiting two different organisations and their
workplaces to find out the types of operations which are done why these companies and various
departments associated with it in the form of secondary research. However, the survey and
interview has also been conducted to find out the opinion of different people regarding the use of
technology and its impact on the overall business management operations in retailing sector
companies.
Visit to the organisations
In order to conduct the field work related to primary learning regarding the operations of various
departments in a retail organisation using Technology, a small group from the project
management team decided to visit the data recording and tracking department of Sainsbury retail
organisation. As opined by Visnjic et al. (2016), the live tracking of different transactions along
with the logistics is very important so that majority of the operations could be done effectively
including accurate measurements and data recording for better outcome purposes. It was
observed that Technology has made it very simple for the workers to operate as they could track
the current location of any Logistics movement vehicle and could easily find the estimated time
of arrival. Moreover, Loebbecke and Picot, (2015) have also stated that technological
advancements are the basis of formulation of different advanced software that are used for
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maintaining records. As compared to manual data recording and submission, technological
advancement lead to better results as the data can be recorded without any human error.
Survey
The questions related to survey have been asked to the workers that were involved in retail sector
organisation from a long time.
Question 1 – Do you believe that Technology has a positive impact on the overall working?
Response Respondents Participants
Yes 12 20
Not Sure 6 20
No 2 20
Question 2 – Do you think that time consumption has reduced after introduction of Technology?
Response Respondents Participants
Yes 14 20
Not Sure 5 20
No 1 20
Question 3 – Do you consider technology to be a mode to conduct error free operation?
Response Respondents Participants
Yes 12 20
Not Sure 6 20
No 3 20
Interview
The interview has been conducted with a manager who has an ample amount of experience in
retailing sector operations.
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Question 1 – Do you believe that Technology has affected the operations by increasing their
efficiency?
Answer – I believe that Technology has tremendously affected the normal operations that are
carried out in a retail business as the efficiency of these operations has increased. The time taken
to conduct the necessary operations have come significantly down and the human error can be
completely eliminated from the operations that further provide desirable outcomes to the
company.
Question 2 – Do you think that the cost of operations have come significantly down by using
technological advancements and other similar methods?
Answer – The operational costs involved in the management of retail sector business have also
been reduced significantly because the usage of Advanced technology require less workforce and
health a huge amount of monetary assets could be saved. Moreover, the automation machines
involved in loading and unloading of the commodities and products involved in retail business
can operate at very low cost of energy without compromising in the efficiency.
Question 3 – Do you believe that the workers are happy with the introduction of Technology in
daily operations of your company?
Answer - According to me, the operators and workers that are involved in daily operations of my
company are very happy with the introduction of technological advanced ways to conduct the
activities. There have been some issues with learning in the initial stages but with proper training
and guidance by experts in technological domain, the workers were able to get familiarized with
the effectiveness of using Technology.
Consideration of ethics, validity, and reliability factors of the project
As stated by Boh et al. (2016), whenever a survey or interview is conducted, it is necessary that
all the factors of ethics are considered so that the individual providing answers to the interview
and survey questions feel comfortable with the procedure. Therefore, all the ethical values have
been considered in this project and the information provided by participants of research have not
been made public without their consent. In addition to this, it can be easily said that the
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information achieved through these activities are valid and reliable because of the presence of
people who have experienced in the working.
Analysis of the data and information gathered from various sources
After going through all the data and information gathered from different primary and secondary
sources, it can be said that Technology has put a very positive impact on the daily operations of a
business in the retail sector. Majority of the workers who participated in the survey have stated
that they faced very few difficulties in the initial stage of learning the software module
associated with their daily operations. However, with adequate practice on those modules, they
were able to conduct the operations in the best possible way delivering better outcomes. The
introduction of Technology according to Carayannis et al. (2015) has resulted into saving of a lot
of time and resources because of production in human error and increased efficiency of doing
business related activities. There have been issues with some customers who are not very much
familiar with use of cell phone best Android applications but majority of the customers has stated
that they felt very happy while using the mobile applications of retail business to search for
products and purchase them whenever required.
LO3 – Presenting the completed project and communicating the necessary
and appropriate recommendations on the basis of some meaningful
conclusions taken from the findings and analysis of the evidences
Communication outcomes of the research project
The outcomes of the research project that has been conducted have given some mixed opinions
and results which ultimately favored the fact that Technology has created a very significant
impact on the overall working of the retail sector business organisations. These outcomes have
been communicated among the stakeholders of this project through different communicating
sources like email for the formal and official communication and social media as well as other
applications for casual Communications. In addition to this, other types and formats like
document format and PowerPoint presentation format have been referred to by the team
members to formulate the final project to be submitted to senior authorities. Along with that, an
audio presentation has also been prepared in order to address the audience if required to explain
the overall Research and its constituents.
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Critical analysis and evaluation related to the objective along with convincing
arguments about the project
The overall project has been conducted by following the project management plan and has given
some favorable outcomes because every activity that has been carried out at various stages of
this project has provided appropriate responses and results. Moreover, it can also be said that the
project’s crucial parts like survey and secondary information gathering could be conducted
efficiently only by following the steps involved in project management. The final outcome has
stated that Technology has resulted into a positive impact on the overall business activities in
every sector of business including retail sector. However, some experts have also stated that
there are some negative impacts of technology especially the information technology because the
chances of hacking and data leakage have increased tremendously due to the excessive use of
information technology in various tasks involved in business operation.
LO4 – Reflection on the value gained after conducting the project along with
its usefulness for supporting the organizational performance in is a
sustainable manner
The above project which has been conducted to find out the impact of technology in retail
business sector has resulted into some positive outcomes for the participants of this project
because of the fact that the steps involved in project management are very critical tasks and
require adequate skills to be followed properly. Hence, the different modules of this project have
been followed properly including time management and resource management. Apart from that,
the necessary aspects like project objectives and aims along with the different procedures to be
followed to carry out data research have been studied properly by the stakeholders of this project.
The overall impact of conducting this particular research project has been very favorable for the
people that took part in the project because the skills of conducting every activity in the most
appropriate manner and selecting all the possible alternatives have been learnt by the
stakeholders. The most important knowledge gained by the team members is to carry out any
project in a sustainable manner by investing minimum possible resources without compromising
with the quality of research and getting the maximum possible outcomes.
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Conclusion
It is very evident after completing the research project that the role of Technology has been
increasing at a tremendous rate since major technological advancements have started to emerge
in the field of Technology. The project has explicitly mentioned the various types of
technological advancements that have been observed in the past few years and the different ways
in which technology has affected the growth of an organisation. It can be perceived from this
project that Technology has drastically enhanced the ways to conduct business related operations
in any organisation. The main focus of the above project has been on learning the ways to
manage any successful business and to study the impact of technology and hence every possible
way of conducting the project has been considered and the most appropriate manner to
accomplish this objective has been followed. The various stages included in a project
management process have been studied in this report along with the importance of carrying out
the project management. The major convincing arguments and counter arguments related to the
impact of technological advancements in the field of business marketing have been done.
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