Unit 6 Report: Digital Technology Impact on Business Growth at CCL

This report, focusing on Continental Consulting Limited (CCL), investigates the impact of digital technology on business growth and innovation. It begins with an introduction, outlining the aims, objectives, and background of the research, highlighting the increasing importance of digital technology in business operations, particularly within the Research and Development (R&D) department. The report then details the project management plan, including cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk management, and resource allocation. A work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart are provided to illustrate the project's organization and timeline. The research methodology section describes the research design (descriptive), approach (inductive), and philosophy (interpretivism), along with data collection methods (primary and secondary) and sampling techniques (probabilistic). The report further presents the data analysis, followed by the interpretation of the findings and recommendations for effective digital technology implementation. Finally, a reflection on the research process and a list of references are included.

UNIT 6 - MSB

TABLE OF CONTENTS
P1. Aims and objectives of project........................................................................................1
P2. Project management plan.................................................................................................1
P3. Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart...................................................................3
P4. Research Methodology.....................................................................................................8
P5. Analysis of Data.............................................................................................................10
P6. Conclusion and Recommendations................................................................................17
P7. Reflection of performance on complete research...........................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

P1. Aims and objectives of project
Introduction
Continental Consulting Limited is a well-known research as well as business consultancy
whose CEO is Mario Bindas. They provide services related to Business process Re-engineering
and also, potential customers that includes small as well as medium manufacturing firms which
is located in or around London and also Greater London.
Background
With the commencement of commercialisation in business, every company focuses on
improving its commercial activities. Therefore, advanced technology has come with a necessity
for every organisation to survive. Research and development department has become more
technically advanced with the usage of digital technology. As every task is performed from
electronic devices; effectiveness and efficiency of outcomes increases, this creates a positive
impact on company that results in developing a good reputation of organisation in market
(Alvesson. and Sköldberg, 2017). With this, more customers are attracted for availing services
which result in maximised profitability. R & D is considered to be an important unit of a
company as it works on improving products or services of the firm. With the use of digital
technology, this department will be able to get much improved insight for procuring information.
This data is used for formulating several impactful strategies in business.
Research Aim: To determine the impact of digital technology supporting growth and innovation
in business - A study of Continental Consulting Limited
Research Objectives:
 To analyse the impact of digital technology in Research and Development unit of
Continental Consulting Limited
 To increase performance efficiency of R&D department within 3 months
 To suggest methods for effective implementation of digital technology of Continental
Consulting Limited
P2. Project management plan
Cost- It is defined as the financial amount involved for several activities which has to be
conducted in particular project. This cost is required to successfully complete the whole
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investigation. It is very important to decide budget of the project before commencing as it would
lead to allot financial amount to all task accordingly (Beard and Cook, 2017). There are several
types of cost which can be involved in this research project such as fixed, variable and total cost.
Scope- It is regarded to be detailed set of every deliverable or features of a given project.
All these deliverables are derived from requirement of the project. It is that part of project
planning that might include determining as well as documenting a particular list of goals, tasks,
cost and deadlines involved in project. The scope of respective research project focuses on
assessing all impacts on research and development department of consultancy firm.
Time- This component deals with effective scheduling of every activity which is
involved in this research project. It provides detailed information regarding all schedules as well
as logs which are planned by the investigator. There is a time limit for the whole project and
accordingly every task is allotted its maximum time period. This is proceeded through
formulation of timescale and Gantt charts for the whole research activities. It can be analysed
that project will be completed within 44 days of time period and outcome can be accomplished in
a better way. The delay in project will be reduced and as the scheduled activities, allocated tasks
will be accomplished.
Quality- While conducting any project it is very important to maintain its quality for
getting desired results. There are some quality standards which are already pre-defined and helps
the investigator to follow that guideline to maintain this aspect. Quality of a project is planned
through providing standards which are ASTM, IEE or ANSI. After that, inspection is done
accordingly.
Communication- It is considered to be very important aspect in every project. As it is
very important to maintain contact with different individuals who are involved in a particular
project. With effective communication, every activity can be coordinated with each other. Apart
from that, outputs of each stages are delivered on time without any resistance. The
communication will be made through face-to-face communication, emails and through
conducting meetings at regular intervals so as to attain issues if any. Thus, by resolving the same,
project will be completed within stipulated time without any delays.
Risk- Managing risk is crucial aspect of project management plan. It provides several
approaches as well as plan for managing every kind of risk which is involved in project. There
are certain steps which every investigator follow to overcome them (Choy, 2014). It includes
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identifying key risks, performing analysis and developing a plan for avoiding and tackling. They
can be related to cost, scheduling and even performance. Also, some external risk related to
governance, operational, strategies and legal aspects. Risk register is developed that includes
every types of problems that can create resistance and its solution for eradication. Also, time
span is also decided for correction. Risks faced in completing project were scheduling risk to
finish project on time, performance risk that project would fail to produce desired results.
However, they perfectly mitigated by focusing on aim and objectives of project.
Resources- These are the inventories which are required by an investigator for
conducting effective research project. All required resources must be assessed accordingly. So,
that one can procure appropriate amount on right time. As it would lead to facilitate timely
completion of projects without any delay. There are different types of resources which are
involved in projects can be men, various equipment as well as tools and materials required for
conducting successful research. The resources that were used in project were Literature, books
and journals and articles, project management tool such as MS-Project, technical and human
resources for accomplishing project on time.
P3. Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart
Work breakdown structure in project management is define as document which depicts
breakdown of project in smaller modules for successful completion. A work break down
structure is regarded to be a key deliverable of project which provides effective organisation of
work performed by the team in to many sections which are manageable. It provides essential
framework of detailed amount of cost which is estimated as well as control through providing
appropriate guidance for scheduling, developing and also control. Total cost of the project will
be 10000 GBP. While Gantt chart is known to be a bar chart which illustrate every schedule of a
project (Fletcher, 2017). It is formulated with a horizontal axis that represents total time period
of project which are broken down into increments as well as vertical axis that represents all
activities which facilitates making project. This is regarded to be an easy way for scheduling as
well as tracking progress of the project according to their deadline which is given. Apart from
that it helps to set priorities according to time limit which is given.
Project Management Plan
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecess Resource Risk WBS
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ors Names
Preparation of research
content 2 days
Mon
17-
09-18
Tue
18-09-
18
Low 1
Setting aim and objectives 5 days
Wed
19-
09-18
Tue
25-09-
18
1 Moderate 2
Background of
investigation 3 days
Wed
26-
09-18
Fri
28-09-
18
2,1 Literature High 3
Selection of research
methodologies 5 days
Mon
01-
10-18
Fri
05-10-
18
3 Low 4
Gathering of information 6 days
Mon
01-
10-18
Mon
08-10-
18
3,2
Books,
Journals and
articles
Low 5
Data analysis 8 days
Tue
09-
10-18
Thu
18-10-
18
5,4 Moderate 6
Presentation and
interpretation of
information
3 days
Fri
19-
10-18
Tue
23-10-
18
6 Project
management Moderate 7
Conclusion as well as
recommendations 4 days
Wed
24-
10-18
Mon
29-10-
18
6,7 Low 8
4

Submission of draft report 2 days
Tue
30-
10-18
Wed
31-10-
18
8 Moderate 9
Making amendment
according to
recommendations
4 days
Thu
01-
11-18
Tue
06-11-
18
9,8 Low 10
Final Submission of the
document 2 days
Wed
07-
11-18
Thu
08-11-
18
10
Technical and
human
resources
Low 11
WBS
5

Illustration 1: Gantt chart
Illustration 2: Network Diagram
P4. Research Methodology
Research Design- Research design is considered as the collection of numerous methods
as well as procedures that can be used for collecting and also analysing several measures of
variables that are given in the research problem. There are many types of research design such as
descriptive, experimental, correlation etc. But, scholar will use descriptive design as he will be
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describing the scenario of issue which has been taken for investigation. There are many other
aspects which can be related to impact of digital technology on the firm (McConville, 2017).
Therefore, it is very important to take those variables in consideration and thus, describe whole
scenario.
Research Approach- It is considered to be a plan and also procedures which includes
framework of steps related to detailed methods of data collection, its analysis and also
interpretation. It is generally based on some assumptions (Research Methodology, 2018). There
are two types of researches which are deductive and inductive. But scholar will use inductive
approach in which he will frame some questions related to problem and associated aim as well as
objectives which are needed to be achieved through interpretation of data collected (O'Brien and
Saldanha, 2014). With his observation related to pattern of information obtained, he will obtain a
theory.
Research Philosophy- It is regarded as a belief related to the way through which data
should be collected, analysed as well as used accordingly. It provides a way through which
every activity should be conducted in an investigation. There are various kind of philosophies
which are involved in research related projects such as positivism and interpretivism. Here, the
scholar will use interpretivism approach in which he will interpret the data which will be
collected through several source sand formulate own conclusion which will be beneficial for
building up a theory related to scenario of investigation problem (McNely, Spinuzzi and Teston,
2015). It will be based on completely subjective procedures.
Data Collection- It is regarded to be collecting various kind of information from several
sources. These can be primary and secondary. Here, scholar will use both origins for collecting
data. He will be able to collect authentic information as well as related theories or principles for
his investigation (Quinlan and et.al., 2018). Primary sources will include surveys and secondary
will include all related books, journals and websites depicting useful information related to
impact of digital technology.
Sampling- It is defined as the process of selecting a subset of individuals within a certain
population from estimating characteristics of whole group. There are several advantages of
sampling which can be low cost as well as data can be collected easily within no time. There are
two types of sampling which can be opted by investigator such as probabilistic or non-
probabilistic sampling (Sinkovics, Jean and Kim, 2016). Probabilistic sampling will be
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implemented by scholar in investigation. It will include equal opportunity of every employee of
consultancy firm to get selected for research. For getting data, 20 respondents which are
employees of Continental Consulting Limited are taken for assessing their viewpoints.
Furthermore, questionnaires is issued to them for getting required data for business project.
Data Analysis- It is regarded to be a process of inspecting, transforming, cleansing as
well as modelling given data. The major goal is to procure useful information and related
conclusion that would support decision making for particular research problem. Scholar will use
thematic approach for interpreting information form the data provided. Several themes will be
developed which would lead to depict different issues of complete research.
Questionnaire
1. What positive impact has been observed after the implementation of digital technology in
the department of research and development
 Increased Performance Efficiency
 Getting Desired Outcomes
 Fewer errors
 Cost effective
2. Which digital technology has been implemented in this unit of firm?
 Artificial Intelligence
 Cloud Computing
 Big Data Analytics
 All of the above
3. How R&D department benefited Continental Consulting Limited after implication of Digital
Technology?
 Instant solution for problems
 Enhanced quality of services
 Highly satisfied customers
 All of the above
4. What problems were faced by Research and development team while implementing Digital
Technology?
 Reluctance of team members
 Lack of advance Electronic Devices
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 Less technical Knowledge
5. What are the requirements were faced while implementing Digital Technology in
department?
 Advanced Devices
 More technical Staff
 Expert Guidance
6. What disadvantages were discovered while implementing advanced technology?
 More complicated tasks
 Need for technical staff
 Issues in change management
7. How employees were prepared for using such advanced technology?
 Through Training Sessions
 Expert Guidance
 All of the above
8. Do you think any change is observed after implementation of digital technology in
Continental Consulting Limited?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly Disagree
 Disagree
9. Do you believe that costs incurred is more while implementing digital technology?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly Disagree
 Disagree
10. Do Research and Development helps to explore unidentified parameters in Continental
Consulting Limited?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Strongly Disagree
 Disagree
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P5. Analysis of Data
Theme 1- Efficiency of task performance has been increased as well as desired
outcomes are acquired by Research and Development Department after implementation of
Digital Technology
1. What impacts has been observed after the implementation of digital
technology in the department of research and development
Number of
Respondents
Percentage
Share
Increased Performance Efficiency 7 35.00%
Getting Desired Outcomes 8 40.00%
Less errors 5 25.00%
Total 20 100.00%
Interpretation- It has been analysed that majority of the respondents have agreed that
efficiency in task performance and getting desired results are two major advantage. These two
aspects are very beneficial for Continental Consulting Limited because it leads to optimum
utilisation of resources and effective outcome (Hollway, 2018). Apart from this, many
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Increased Performance Efficiency
Getting Desired Outcomes
Less errors
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Number of Respondents
Percentage Share