Analyzing Digital Technology's Impact on Small Business Growth

This report examines the impact of digital technology on the growth and innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), using Continental Consulting Limited as a case study. It explores the application of digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance business processes, products, and services. The report outlines project aims and objectives, develops a project management plan covering costs, scope, time, quality, communication, risk, and resources. It includes a work breakdown structure and Gantt chart for project organization and timeline. The research incorporates both primary and secondary research methods, employing quantitative techniques to analyze data and provide recommendations for leveraging digital strategies. The report concludes with reflections on the findings and implications for Continental Consulting Limited, emphasizing the importance of digital transformation for sustained growth and competitiveness in the IT sector.

Managing Successful
Business Projects

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P 1 Project aims and objectives.............................................................................................1
P 2 Project Management plan.................................................................................................3
P 3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart.....................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P 4 Small scale research.........................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P 5 Analysation of research using suitable tools & techniques..............................................8
P 6 Recommendation............................................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
P 7 Reflection.......................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
LOGBOOK....................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Digital technologies refers to the electronic systems, techniques, tools, resources &
devices which help in generating, storing as well as processing data. These includes cloud
computing, artificial intelligence, social media, mobile devices, multimedia, 'The Internet of
Things' , Big data analytics, etc. (Stoshikj, Kryvinska and Strauss, 2014). Company can use such
kind of modern tools in achieving their predetermined aims and objectives. In past years,
companies were using traditional business models and this is the main reason of the rate of
growth become slower. But now most of the ventures are taking use of these digital technology
in accomplishing commercial activities. This not only assist them in completing the same, but
also provides a golden opportunities of earning desired wealth. The present report is designed for
showing the influence of digital technology on growth of small and medium sized enterprises. In
this context, Continental Consulting Limited has been selected which is dealing in the sector of
Information and Technology. Aim and objectives along with project management plan is being
formulated by researcher so as to carry on the project. In addition to this, project management
plan is also designed for highlighting various aspects like cost, time, risk, etc.
TASK 1
P 1 Project aims and objectives
Topic : “To determine the impact of digital technology supporting small business growth
and innovation : A case study on Continental Consulting Limited”.
Background of project :
Digital technology has completely revolutionised the arena of corporate world. After the
introduction of modernised applications, Entrepreneurs are having so many opportunities of
developing itself. They are now become able to raise their existing productivity as well as
standards of deliverables by applying digital techniques.
Continental Consulting Limited is a famous research and business consultancy which is
governed by its CEO named as 'Mario Bindas'. They are mainly known for Business Process Re-
engineering. Products that is being offered by them are computer, recent equipments and IT
facilitates or services. But after passage of specific time period, rapid innovation has been
occurred in the industry of Information & Technology. Due to this fact, their goods or services
become outdated. As a bad result, key rivals are giving them strong competition since they are
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implementing digital tools and methods for developing merchandises. Large number of
customers are getting attracted towards creative and innovative products produced by their
competitors. Thus, Continental limited was facing serious issue since offerings designed by them
are usually not liked by civilians.
In order to resolve this problem and attain strong position at market place, company
should use digital platforms for creating unique trade goods and giving effective IT services.
They can take help of Artificial Intelligence as this would drive innovation at their workplace. AI
is a domain of computer science that used to emphasise the formation of intelligent machineries.
The matter of surprise is its working nature i.e. these machines generally work and react as well
like human beings (Smith, Gonin and Besharov, 2013). Thus, this technique is effective in nature
as it has the capability of creating a surprising business or corporate environment. So, it can be
said that if Continental Consulting Limited wants to bring innovation and creativeness at their
working premises, then they can choose can use Artificial Intelligence for same purpose.
Regarding this, higher authority such as Deputy Head of Business Research and Section head
performing under mentioned corporation has made certain aims and objectives which is
presented below :
Aim : “To ascertain the influences of Artificial Intelligence on the production and sales
department of company: A case study on Continental Consulting Limited ”.
Objectives :
 To determine the necessity of using digital technology at Continental Consulting Limited.
 To access the significance of Artificial Intelligence in Information and Technology
industry.
 To evaluate the effects of Artificial Intelligence upon the production & sales sector of
corporation.
 To ascertain the consequences of utilising modern tools on the growth and innovation of
Continental Consulting Limited.
Research Question :
 What is the requirement of applying digital strategies at Continental Consulting Limited ?
 What is the importance of Artificial Intelligence in the field of IT ?
 What are the implications of using Artificial Intelligence on the sales and manufacturing
department of organisation ?
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 What are the outcomes of introducing Artificial Intelligence in development and
innovation of referred corporation ?
P 2 Project Management plan
Businesses always make plan or scheme before adopting new techniques so that it can
provide maximum benefit to the undertaking. It is a formal document which is prepared to
properly manage the project. It tells business how the project is executed ,monitored and
controlled (Bakker and et. al., 2013). By the help of this plan organisation able to get rough idea
about the cost involving in the project, what type of resources needed to achieve business goal,
and time required to fulfil a task. It was done in the enterprise so that they can make arrangement
of all these things before implementing it. These are the important part of organisation without
determining it the head of the different department not able to achieve long term success. Project
management and its related factors are given below :
Cost : In today 's scenario the first thing after idea is the money to bring into existence.
Cost is the value of money which business use to produce something or deliver a service. To
carry different kind of activities undertaking require lot of fund. There are various factors in the
organisation which can increase or decrease cost like raw material, labour wages and contractor
margin. Cost should be known before implementing it so that it can't harm business activities.
When the Continental Consulting Limited company make efforts to implement a new product or
technology like artificial intelligence than they should have clear and proper estimation of the
total expenditure. Research and development estimates the cost of project varies between
£25,000 and £50000. The cost of project can also increase or decrease on the basis of prevailing
market situation. A business can get cost of new technology by reducing useful or extra
expenditure of the undertaking. Earlier some businesses do lot of expenditure on the paper in
their work premises to carry out regular working, which is very unwanted in the enterprise
(Basu, 2014). If Business use paper than they should cut down in them to save the money of the
organisation. This type of saving can be used in the implementation of the new ideas and
techniques.
Scope : The scope of this project is excellent because it provide new product and
techniques in the IT sector which nobody providing at current time. These new ideas help
business to provide unique or different product at low cost.
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Time : Time is very essential part of organisation, business should decide the schedule in
which project should be completed. In respective organisation artificial intelligence is adopted
within 3 years.
Quality : In today 's time customer preference is quality, so company should take care
that they deliver quality to their client. Business person should concentrate that their all products
achieved the standard quality otherwise customers move to the another organisation. It is the
foremost thing towards which customer get attracted to the organisation. Business should
maintain its quality through their working span otherwise they lose them with their rival firms.
Continental consulting private limited should provide good quality product and services in
reference to new product to attract large number of people. If the business not able to provide
quality than they are not able to achieve its desired result.
Communication : It is the medium through which organisation able to communicate the
information to all players of the enterprise who are participating in the activity. For successful
business it is necessary that there is proper communication between employees and management
of the organisation. Authority should properly communicate all matters to the subordinates so
that business can achieve desired outcome. It is essential in the software organisation because no
one has the knowledge of the digitalisation. Through communication each and every employee
able to know his duties.
Risk : Risk is a essential part of human and business life without it no one can achieve
success. Project manager should have the knowledge of evaluating and to overcome the risk so
that it can't damage company's reputation (Hall, 2011). When Continental consulting private
limited implement artificial intelligence in their business than have to face huge amount of risk.
It involves high risk because it was applied first time in the organisation and nobody surely know
it create profit or loss. There are various firms who are providing same services and product so it
is very essential for the organisation to adopt new things for their development and growth. By
the use of digitalisation technique business able to grow new innovative product. Business
should maintain a risk management team so that they can detect risk on time and adopt effective
measures.
Resource : Resource is the element through which business able to produce a benefit.
It is an economic factor or productive factor which is required to accomplish various activities or
proceedings of the enterprise for achieving desired result. The basic resources of the organisation
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is land ,labour and capital. Apart from basic, other resources are energy, finance , technology,
entrepreneurship , management and time. A business and its authority should do resource
planning , management and utilization so that it can help them in the achieving the goals of the
organisation. Management should be careful while implementing resources to various
department of the organisation for their optimum utilization.
P 3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart
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TASK 2
P 4 Small scale research
Research is deep and careful study of the problem concern or the issue by the scientific method.
It is divided into two parts applied research and basic research. Applied research are those which
are applied to business for solving problems and issues of the business. Basic research is the
study which is taken by an individual or organisation to enhance the knowledge. Research is
done for collecting data and gathering information. Business can collect its essential matter and
figures with the help of primary or secondary source or both. Primary research is the new
research undertaken to solve particular issues. This type of research is conducted by the help of
questionnaire and surveys (Harish and Kumar, 2014). While Secondary research is the second
hand data and information which individual taken from other medium. This type of data is find
previously for some other purpose and made publicly available. Business can undertake both
primary research and secondary research to achieve their goals. It provide solution to the all
problems which business is facing in their day to day operations. Research are important because
they help in the contribution of knowledge. There are two techniques which business and
individual uses for the purpose of research -
Quantitative techniques : In this computation ,statistical and mathematical tools is used
to drive a result. It is a research through which organisation able to get numeric figures and
facts. The aim of gathering this type of information is comparing the past records with present so
that it can applied in making better future. Data is present in the tabular form which is gather
from large individuals. It uses a proper structure for collection figures which are questionnaire,
survey and telephonic interview etc. business sometimes undertake this type of research after
qualitative research to find more views (Kowalkowski, Kindström and Brehmer, 2011). This
type of analysis is taken on the large number of people for knowing the interest of population. By
the help of this method enterprise able to know the opinions and views of chosen sample. It is
very necessary that business and its authority carefully understand these numbers so that it help
in predicting of the future of the product or services.
Qualitative techniques : This research develop a hypothesis for upcoming quantitative
research. Business take place this kind of research to understand opinions ,views of the society
so that undertaking can survive for a longer duration. Under this data is collected by using
unstructured techniques such as individual depth interview or group discussion. In this method
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data is collected in the form of non statistical. In this small number of individual is taken to know
the responses of the whole society (Hwang and Ng, 2013). It provide a content which
organisation use in order to achieve its objectives. It takes views of the small people or the
particular group so it can't be used for the generalisation of the population interest. It develops a
initial understanding base which can be used in future decision making. It help new and existing
businesses to grow their market share and position as this method provide deep information
about market and the target customers. Business can use combination of both the research for
getting information and collecting data on the need of research. In this sample size is taken 40
so that researcher can easily collect different matters and data for analysing and interpret the
same for getting desired result.
Questionnaire
Name : -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age : --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gender : ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q 1. Are you satisfied by the existing products and services of Continental Consulting Limited ?
 Yes
 No
Q 2. Is there is need of introducing digital tools and methodologies at working site of
enterprise ?
 Yes
 No
Q 3. According to you, which modern application can be more effective while implementing at
Continental Consulting Limited ?
 Big data analytics
 Artificial Intelligence
 Cloud technology
 Social media
Q 4. Did you notice any changes in terms of benefits and growth of business after utilisation of
Artificial Intelligence ?
 Yes
 No
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Q 5. What are the major benefits of introducing Artificial Intelligence at work - place of
Continental Consulting Limited ?
 Improvement in quality of goods and services
 Creation of innovative products and facilities
 Increment in production level
 Growth of entire enterprise
Q 6. Is there any limitation or disadvantage of using Artificial Intelligence for manufacturing
creative and unique deliverables ?
 Yes
 No
Q 7. Suggest further schemes and strategies to develop and rise up the present condition
associated with commerce of Continental Consulting Limited.
TASK 3
P 5 Analysation of research using suitable tools & techniques
Theme 1 : Satisfaction acquired from using current merchandises
Q 1. Are you satisfied by the existing products
and services of Continental Consulting Limited
?
Frequency
Yes 30
No 10
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30
10
Yes
No
Interpretation : Most of the people around 30 are stating that they are contented by the services
and facilities provided by the referred corporation. While other that is approx 10 are saying that
they are not quenched.
Theme 2 : Requirement of executing modern tools and methods at work – premises
Q 2. Is there is need of introducing digital tools
and methodologies at working site of
enterprise ?
Frequency
Yes 35
No 5
35
5
Yes
No
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