Report on the Impact of Digital Technology on Small Business Growth

This report examines the impact of digital technology on small businesses, focusing on a case study of Quint Group Ltd. The report outlines the aim and objectives of the project, which is to identify how digital technology can drive growth and innovation. It includes a detailed project management plan, covering costs, time, scope, risk, communication, and quality control. A work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are also provided to illustrate the project's timeline and activities. The research methodology involves both qualitative and quantitative research methods, with data analysis and interpretation to support recommendations. The report concludes with a reflection on the work conducted and provides recommendations for implementing digitalization within Quint Group Ltd. The report uses a questionnaire to gather data and uses this data to provide recommendations on how the company can improve its business.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Aim and objectives of project..........................................................................................1
P2 Basic project management plan.........................................................................................3
P3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart......................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P4 Qualitative and quantitative research methods..................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Data analysis.....................................................................................................................9
P6 Appropriate Recommendations and Conclusions...........................................................17
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................18
P7 Reflection of work conducted.........................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19
Log book ..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
In today's world, technology is considered as the most important factor since it is being
used in each and every work that is being conducted by company in economy. It also helps the
firm in expanding their business by increasing the profits and productivity as well. Digital
technology has changed the way of working in companies because it has brought various
changes that affect the performance of the employees in company (Ahmed Dine Rabeh,
Jimenez-Jimenez and Martínez-Costa, 2013). Through digital technology, the company adds a
modern touch in the organisation as technologies bring advances in the company. The company
that will be referred here if The Quint Group. It is a leading international, highly innovate fin
tech group which is operating in consumer finance market. In this research report, aim and
objectives of the research, a project management plan, action plan is created related to the impact
of digital technology on small business. Along with this, Data analysis and interpretation will
also be conducted in the report.
TASK 1
P1. Aim and objectives of project
Since economy is growing at a fast pace so, there is a need for companies to grow along
with them because if they will not bring development, they would not be able to cope up with the
changes that has been introduced in economy. In this, digital technology is an important factor
that is growing in the economy very fast. This is an essential development that all companies
need to bring in their business so as to bring improvements in the business. If technology will be
included in the working of company then work will be completed easily and it will save time as
well. There are various types of technologies that are invented by the researchers and are by the
companies in their various departments. In helps in bringing modernisation in companies.
Because of this reason, now more companies are avoiding the use of traditional methods of
handling an organisation. They are leaving a positive impact in companies and this is the reason
more companies are attracted towards it. The technology that is used widely in companies are
cloud technology in which companies can store their data and also share it very easily. Digital
technology is also helping company in expanding and promoting the business activities
(Chesbrough, 2010). There is another source that has been provided by the digital technology
which is social media. Quint group is using many digital technologies in their working since they
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are a financial group that are working in a consumer financial market. Now, they are planning to
introduce a new mobile application through which company will be able to conduct all their
activities from their mobile itself (Crane and Matten, 2016).
Topic: To identify the impact of digital technology in growth and innovation of small business
organisations.
Background of the project:
In the current business environment, there are many changes occurring because of which
the daily business activities of companies are getting affected. In order to bring this new
technology, it is very necessary for Quint group to know that whether the customers for whom
this project is being developed will like and adopt it or not. For this, they will have to conduct a
research through which they will get to know the views of people on this subject. It is necessary
for company to invest in this project because a lot of time and money will be invested by
company in this project and if it failed then company may face huge losses.
Through this research, company will get to know the needs and demands of the
customers and this will help them in introducing new features in their technology so that the
customers will get fully satisfied. In quint group, since they are planning to launch a new mobile
application so for this they will be need information about the main issues that the customers are
facing currently in the financial market. Once company gets to know the issue, they will be able
to solve these problems by adding some new features in their application. This will help them in
attracting more customers and their productivity will also be increased (Den Hertog, Van der Aa
and De Jong, 2010).
Aim: “To identify the impact of digital technology in bringing growth and innovation in small
business organisation - A case study on Quint Group Ltd.”
Objectives:
 To identify the impact of digital technology
 To understand the need of growth and development in Quint Group
 To evaluate how digital technology brings growth and development
 Recommend various ways through which Quint Group Ltd. can implement digitalisation
Research Questions:
 How digital technology can be implemented in Quint Group Ltd.?
 Is there a need for company to bring growth and development?
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 How digital technology helps in bringing growth and development?
 What are the various ways through which company can bring digitalisation in
organisation?
P2 Basic project management plan
Planning is very essential in an organisation. Be it any activity , if it is done with proper
planning then it will definitely give effective results (Eckerson, 2010). While doing a project it is
the responsibility of the project manager to make an effective project management plan in which
all the activities related to the research will be included. It is a formal document through which
the whole project is Monitored, executed and controlled. This plan is used by the team members
to conduct all their activities effectively. Through this, the chances of making the project
successful increases and it can be carried in for a longer term.
In this plan, the important factors that are to be included are cost, scope, time,
quality, communication, risk and resources. The project manager of quint should use all these
factors to make their project management plan as it will help them in making their project
successful. These factors are described as follows:-
 Cost – The company will have to invest a huge amount of funds in the project because
launching a mobile application is not a simple task. Lots of technologies will be used by
the company to include various features in their app. Since company is well established
in market so it will face any problem in arranging the funds for the project. Otherwise
they must be having enough funds that the company can invest themselves in the
business. For the completion of this project, the management required 500 pound. But the
researcher required to 100pounds to gather information or collecting data for the
completion of the research.
 Time:- The plan which is prepared by the project managers should have a time limit also
through the activities shall be conducted. It is very necessary to keep a time limit because
it binds the worker to finish a particular activity within the particular time. Workers are
given strict orders to follow this time management plan so that no activity is delayed in
the company (Gebauer, Edvardsson and Bjurko, 2010). The management department
need 14-15 weeks for the prepare strategies and policies fro this project. But the
researcher need 2-3 weeks for gathering information and data.
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 Scope of the project:- The scope of this project is very high because it will open new
doors for the company in the market and they can attract more and more customers
through this. This will help the companies in achieving success by improving their profits
and productivity.
 Risk – Risk is attached to this project but it s not very high since the company is doing its
business successfully since many years and now they are just introducing a new
technology for giving ease to their customers and bringing growth in the company. So,
Quint group will not be affected by the risk that is attached with this project (Incelli,
2013).
 Communication:- It is very important for the managers to maintain a good
communication channel in the company so that all the important information is being
transferred to the workers and they are able to perform their work in a very easy manner.
They can use various modes and channels such as email, SMS, phone-calls and others to
make interaction to their customers. While the researcher can use also email, SMS, social
media and others to make communication and gather information for their research.
 Quality control : Since Quint group is working for consumer financial market . So , it is
very important for the them maintain good quality services so that more customers can
come and avail their services.
So by following all these factors the company can make an effective project management
plan which can be used by them in the project. Through this the company will be able to knlow
that how much funds they require in this research project and in how much time the project will
be completed.
P3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart
While doing a research project, it is very important for the company to know the views of
people for whom this new technology will be launched. It is very useful for the company as it
helps them in taking necessary decisions and achieving success as well. So for this, an action
plan must be created by the company so as to manage the project successfully. With the help of
this plan , the activities are executed in a proper manner and resources are also used effectively
by them (Jones and Lubinski, 2012). Before doing this , a proper study is required to be done by
the researcher. The steps that are required to be conducted by the researcher are :-
 Identification of the problem
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 Reviewing the literature
 Clarifying the problem
 Clearly define the terms and concepts
 Defining the population
 Collection of data
 Analysing data
 Concluding the report and giving recommendations also
 Submitting the report
All the steps will be followed by the company to complete this research project. Sine the cited
company is thinking gt launch a mobile application so they need to know that whether the
customers will like this idea of them or not (Kankaanranta and Planken, 2010). Customers
acceptability towards using this new technology will be the issue or a problem for the company.
In this issue, various opinions will be taken by the experts present in the company and it will be
known that whether this idea can bring positive development in the company or not. Once all the
reviews are taken then a sample population will be selected by the company who will be given a
chance to use this application and then tell that whether ten public will like it or not.
In this research , 20 respondents are selected by the company by using random sampling
method. They will be provided a questionnaire in which all the questions that are required to be
answered by them are included and this data will be further analysed and interpreted by the
company so that they can arrive at correct results.
(Source: Work breakdown structure, 2018)
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Ill
ustration 1: Work Breakdown Structure, 2018

Work breakdown structure is a key component for an organisation as it organises team
work in systematic and manageable manner. This is based on hierarchical structure which
contains various factors like product, services, data and their combination.
By following all these activities a time and action plan is formed by the members of the
company. This will hep the company in getting appropriate outcomes which are beneficial for
long term purpose. The primary source of information that is used by the management of the
company is its Questionnaire. In this 10 questions will be framed by the project manager which
will contain questions related to the issue (Lai and Ong, 2010). This questionnaire will be given
to the sample population and then their answers will be used to come at the results.
Researcher will have to review the dates again and again so that it will be known that all
the activities are being conducted properly or not. It is very important to be done properly then
only the project will be successful. The Action plan prepared for this project are -
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This plan is to be followed by Quint group so that all their activities are being dine in an
appropriate manner. It will help them in expanding their business and will ensure that the
company will have a long term growth (Lin and Chen, 2012). The mobile application that will
developed will be very effective and customers will be very much benefited by it but company
need to convey all these benefits to the customers and then only take their reviews.
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TASK 2
P4 Qualitative and quantitative research methods
While conducting an investigation, it is very important for the researcher to use a method
to conduct a research so that when the outcome will come then it will more effective and
valuable for them . By using this method, the investigation is converted into analytical form and
through this the decision making process in made easy (Shang, 2012). In order to conduct
research, the researcher can use methods that are given below:
Qualitative research- This research is primarily exploratory which is used by researcher
to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It is a scientific
methods of observation to gather non numerical data. In Quint Group, the researcher can used
this method to gather appropriate information regarding their research. For example, in it, they
can use interview and survey methods for collecting fresh and pure information.
Quantitative research- This method emphasize objective measurements and the
statistical, mathematical or numerical analysis of data collection. The main purpose of this
research is to gather data to quantify the problem and understand how prevalent it is by looking
for projectable results to a larger population. In Quint group, the researcher can use this method
to gather numerical data through pools, questionnaires, mathematical and by number of
manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques.
These methods are very much useful in companies as they help a lot in finding
appropriate data that can be used by the researcher in the project. Quint is using both these
methods to conduct the research. Investigator will use both qualitative and quantitative method
for conducting their research as both will help them in arriving at the results effectively. The
detailed analysis of primary and secondary data is :-
Primary data :- It is a type of data that is being collected for first time by the investigator
himself. This data is very much reliable and corrective in nature. Here the data is collected
through personal interviews, questionnaire survey , online surveys etc. The data which is
collected can be further stored by the company for future reference (Smith, 2011). Quint group
is designing a questionnaire which will be distributed to 20 respondents. This lead to provide
accurate information and views of various bodies which are part of business.
QUESTIONNAIRE
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Name:
Age:
Gender:
Q1. Is the company ready to implement digitalisation?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2. Will this new application bring growth in the company?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3. Till how much time can company have its benefits?
a) Long Term
b) Short Term
Q4. Will the customers who are currently taking offline services of the company will shift
to this mobile app?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5. Will the company be able to make more customers by introducing this new technology
in the company?
a) Yes
b) No
Q6. How will this impact the company?
a) Positive Impact
b) Negative Impact
Q7. Do you think it is an effective step taken by the company?
a) Yes
b) No
Q8. Will this new development be accepted by the customers?
a) Yes
b) No
Q9. According to modern world, which method of marketing is most suitable?
a) Traditional marketing
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b) Modern marketing
Q10. Any further suggestion for implementing digitalisation properly?
Secondary Data :- This is a type of data which has already been used several times by
other investigators also. This type of data is not selected for the first time and therefore it can not
be considered as reliable (Smith, Binns and Tushman, 2010. The sources from which secondary
data can be collected are newspapers, journals, articles , books etc. This data have been already
collected and gathered by others and available form other sources. It helps to make primary data
collection more specific since with the help of secondary data and help in improving the
understanding of the problem. This data is cheaper and consume less time to collect information
so it is easy and use by the researcher in their research.
Research philosophy- It is a detail information about the way by which data about a
appropriate topic or phenomenon should be gathered, analysed and used. Research philosophy
deals with the source, nature and development of the knowledge. There are three major research
philosophies have been identified such as positivist, pragmatist and interpretivist. Pragmatism is
the mixed and multiple method of designs, qualitative and quantitative research. Positivism is
highly structured, large samples, measurement, quantitative but can be use qualitative research.
Interpretivism is small samples, in depth, investigation or quantitative research. In this report, the
research used pragmatic research philosophy to collect information for doing the research of the
topic to identify the impact of digitalization in the growth and innovation in small organisation.
Case study:- Quint group is having a safe and secure place in the market. The services
that are being provided by them are of good quality. But since they are launching a new mobile
application so they need to be extra careful now. They will be required to solve the queries that
the customers will face and customers will expect an urgent solution.
Literature Review
To identify the impact of digital technology
According to Miranda Brookins, digitalization is the process of converting information
into a digital format in which the information is organised into bits. It can be a process of
converting analog information of any form into a digital format which can be understood by
computer system or any electric device. Digitalization create positive impact on the operation of
Quint Group by providing various new technology that can help it to operate its business. With
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