Continental Consulting: Digital Technology & Business Growth Report

This report examines the impact of digital technology on small business growth and innovation, focusing on Continental Consulting Limited. It outlines the aims and objectives, including understanding social media's role and identifying implementation issues. The project management plan covers cost, scope, timeframes, quality, communication, risk, and resources. It includes a Gantt chart and work breakdown structure. The report details qualitative and quantitative research methods, including primary and secondary research, and discusses the research philosophy. The report concludes with data analysis, recommendations, and a reflection on the research's value for meeting objectives and personal learning. The report is a comprehensive analysis of how digital technology can support the growth and innovation of small businesses.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

INTRODUCTION
Digital technology refers to systems, technologies and methods which are the outcomes
of scientific knowledge. which use electronic and media tools and techniques to transfer
information and communicate messages to target customers with the help of internet. It is most
important for modern business, it is a communication tool or network to access, manage,
integrate, evaluate and create information in order to its target audience (Bloch, Blumberg and
Laartz, 2012). This assignment related to Continental Consulting Limited which is a research and
business consultancy headed by Mario Bindas. It is a small medium company and the main
business of the company is business process re-engineering and potential customers. In this
report will be discussed about the aims and objectives of the project or a project management
plan which covers various aspects such as cost, scope and others. A Gantt chart and work
breakdown structure will also defined with time-frames and stages for completion. Methods of
qualitative and quantitative research will also described to carry out small scale research to meet
the aims and objectives of the research. Data analysis, recommendations and reflection on the
value of undertaking the research for meeting stated objectives and own learning and
performance will be defined in report.
TASK 1
P1. Aims and objectives of the chosen topic
Topic- “The impact of digital technology supporting small business growth and innovation”.
Background of the study- This report is designed by consisting technological advancement that
create affect on the growth and development of small businesses. In early days, technology was
not much developed that businessman easily expand their business and achieve their
organisational objectives and profits. Emergencies and uncertainty was creating different issues
while production and delivery of products and services. But now these days, there are various
technologies that can be used the organisation and its management department to identifying
consumers needs and transfer goods and services to them. For example, with the help of social
media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others, the company can use them as a
promotional tool to provide information about the product to their target audience (Brady and
Davies, 2014). The organisation can use digital technologies in Human resource department to
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provide advertisement and notification related to vacant positions when the company organise
recruitment process.
Purpose of the research- According to the present condition of Continental Consulting limited.
It is need that they have to implement digital technologies through taking support from their
employees. The CEO of the company decided to invest more fund in making innovation so that
they can make innovation in its business process and create competition for their business rivals
or those companies who produces substitute products.
Aim- “To analyse the role of digital technology to support small business growth and
innovation”.- A case study on Continental Consulting limited.
Objectives- Continental Consulting limited is a research and business consultancy and the main
business of the company is business process re-engineering (Chang, Walters and Wills, 2013).
This company pertaining its business in IT industry and use IT in identical businesses. To
determine the condition, there are some objective of the company which are mentioned below:
 To understand the concept of social media technology
 To determine role of social media platform in growth and innovative working style of
Continental Consulting limited.
 To identify issues which arise during implementing digital technology.
P2.Project management plan which involves aspects of cost, scope, time and others
Project management plan is a formal and approved document that explain about the
project that how it is executed, monitored and controlled. This plan exploring the risk factors that
can affect developing products and services of the company. The purpose of this plan is a
document that can be used by researcher which involved with the project to help communicate
and gather detail information that describe the process which will undertake. There are various
aspects that covers within a project management plan, They are as following:
Cost- It refers to the amount and money which is used by the company to purchase raw material
and needed equipments to produces and manufacture goods and services. In Continental
Consulting limited, the management of the company do paper work so more of cost is invest in
buying paper. By using digital technologies like MS word, MS excel and other software it can
maintain its information and data and control the cost. By using PowerPoint software, the
management department of the company can prepare attractive presentation to its clients. For all
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these, the management of the company required £3000 whereas researcher need £350 to
complete its research because it need internet connection to gather information.
Total forecasted budget
Particular 2019-20 (£)
Implementing technology cost 18000
Expenses on promotional activities 6000
Magazines 2500
Expense on training and development programmes 4000
Total cost 30500
Scope- It involve those activities which required to be performed in order to achieve aims and
objectives of the research. In context of Continental Consulting limited, the company deal in IT
industry and operating its business in business process re-engineering (Cheung, Chan and
Kajewski, 2012). By implementing social media and other digital technologies, the company can
make development in the business growth of the company. With the help of cloud technology,
the organisation can enables effective filing, storage and sharing information. So, this project has
a large scope by using social media and supporting small business growth and innovation.
Time-frames- It refers to a period of time that include certain events inj whichj certain things are
expected to occur.. In this research project, it can be used to control and monitor different
activities of research (Doherty, Ashurst and Peppard, 2012). For completing this research, the
management department and researcher use different research methods such as qualitative and
quantitative and various source like primary and secondary. For completing all these activities,
the organisation need 3-4 weeks whereas the researcher need 2-3 weeks to complete its research
and collect information.
Quality- It is a method which can be used by the company to monitor the quality of the goods
and services which are produce by it so that they can attract more consumers and increase the
profit and productivity of the firm. It help the organisation, to make a better and good brand
image at marketplace and make reduction in the feedbacks. In Continental Consulting limited, by
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using good quality raw material and new technologies the company can provide better products
and services to its customer and make improvement in the growth of the firm.
Communication- It is a process of transferring and delivering information from one person or
group to another by using of mutually understood symbols, signs and semiotic rules. In
Continental Consulting limited, the manager of the company can use it knowing about the needs
and wants of the customers so that they can make innovation in their products or providing them
according their desires. The company can use external mode of communication to do research
regarding its objectives and use internal communication to solve the problems. This process will
required £500 whereas the researcher need £150 for this research to find out communication
mode which is beneficial for the firm.
Risk- It refers to the uncertainty which can be a probability of threat of damage, loss or any
negative impact that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities. In Continental Consulting
limited, it refers to the unexpected actions and activities that can be occurred with in the
company and affect the internal and external factor of the firm (Dutta and Bose, 2015). For this,
the organisation can use digital technology to analyse these risks and threat which affect the
innovation and production of the firm.
Resources- it refers to those sources which help an organisation to manufacture a product. In
Continental Consulting limited, there are various resources that can be used by the company to
manufacture goods and services such as fund, equipments, employees and others. In this
research, there are various resources that can be used by researcher such as cost, research
methods, internet and others to gather data and information to attain the project objectives.
P3. Gantt Chart and work breakdown Structure
Work breakdown structure- It refers to a key project which organise the work of team into
measurable sections. It can be a chart which is the critical work on elements of a project that are
illustrated to portray their relationships to each other and to the project as a whole (Evans and
Johnson, 2013). This structure defines a transferable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the
work to be executed by the team of project.
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Gantt chart- It is developed by Henry L. Gantt in 1917 to make control on production (Fageha
and Aibinu, 2013). It refers to a bar chart which a series of horizontal lines which shows the
amount of work done or production completed in certain periods of time in relation to the
amount planned for those periods. This chart involve a horizontal axis and representing the total
time span of the project and the vertical axis representing the tasks that make up the project.
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TASK 2
P4. Small scale research by using quantitative and qualitative methods of research
In order to conduct research, the project manger of Continental Consulting limited can use
various research methods, they are as following:
Qualitative research- It is a scientific method of observation which is used by the researcher to
gather non numeric data. It is the primarily exploratory research which is used by the company to
gather an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations (Florén and
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Frishammar, 2012). In Continental Consulting limited, this method can be used by the individual
to collect information on the basis of quality which emphasis by evaluating perceptions of
people. Researcher used this method for collecting deep and intense knowledge regarding the
research topic.
Quantitative research- It refers to statistical, mathematical or numerical analysis of
information. It is the methodology which is used by the researcher in Continental Consulting
limited to collect numerical information that help the individual in taking appropriate decisions
in terms of running business activities.
Primary research- It is defined as a methodology which is used by the researchers to collect
data directly. In this research method, the researcher gather data own-self by using various
research methods such as questionnaire, interviews and others. The information which is
gathered by the person is pure and relevant to use. It is used to collect data related to a specific
issue within business organisation thorough different methods.
Secondary research- It provide information related to a particular topic which is already
research by someone. This research involves the summery, collation and synthesis of existing
research. In it, the data and information is collected by internet, social media, books and journals
and others to complete the research. It include scientific reports which already published on
internet and social media so this it consume less time cost.
Research Philosophy- It refers to a belief about the way by which data and information about a
phenomenon should be collected analysed and used. It is cast topic that is deals with the nature,
source and development of knowledge. Research philosophy include three methods such as
pragmatist, interpretive and positivist (Gido, Clements and Clements, 2014). These are the
major research philosophies which can be used by the researcher to gather information. In this
research, the individual use pragmatic research philosophy to gather information. This
philosophy is considered to be relatively new compared to other research philosophies. become
It can be a contending philosophy that can be used by the individuals and considered it as an
alternative.
Questionnaire is a research instrument which consist of a number of questions for the
purpose of gathering information from respondents. It can be a set of printed or written questions
with a choice of answers that are devised for the purpose of a survey and statistical study
(Hillson and Murray-Webster, 2017). In this research project, the researcher can use this tool and
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instrument to gather numerical and relevant data so that with the help of that the individual can
attain the research objectives. In this research method, sample size is 30 which is taken by the
researcher to gather information to collect & gather appropriate information and data.
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Q1. Do you understand the concept of social media?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2. Does social media impacts the working of business organisation?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3. What will be the advantage of social-media to Continental Consulting limited?
a) Reduce marketing cost
b) Attract number of consumers
Q4. What kind of digital media is most beneficial for communication purpose?
a) Advertisement
b) Paid search
c)Native advertising
Q5. Which social media tool will be beneficial for Continental Consulting limited in
managing business operation?
a) Facebook
b) Twitter
c) Instagram
Q6. What are the potential benefits for a firm to invest in digital technology?
a) Improved efficiency
b) Improved decision making
c) Improved customer satisfaction
Q7. What kind of barriers can be faced by Continental Consulting limited while using
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social media?
a) Planning for training program
b) Lack of employees
Q8. How barriers due to social media can be eliminated by Continental Consulting
limited?
a) Avoid information overload
b) Proper media selection
Q9. Recommendations, do you want to suggest in context of analyse the role of digital
technology to support small business growth and innovation.
TASK 3
P5. Analysis of research and data by using appropriate tools and techniques
Theme 1
Q1. Do you understand the concept of social media? Frequency
a) Yes 18
b) No 12
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Interpretation- From the above graph, it can be concluded that among 30 respondents, 18 are
agreed that they are aware with the concept of social media where as 12 are not have information
about social media and its concept.
Theme 2
Q2. Does social media impacts the working of business
organisation?
Frequency
a) Yes 19
b) No 11
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a) Yes b) No
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Frequency