Professional Skills in the Digital Age: Report Analysis

This report delves into integrated professional skills in the digital age, a crucial topic given the dynamic market. It begins by comparing and contrasting the positive and negative aspects of online and offline services and products, providing insights into the changing landscape of commerce. The report then examines tools for secure password management, including LastPass, Firefox Sync, and RoboForm, evaluating their features and benefits. Finally, it discusses track and trace apps across different mobile platforms, analyzing their functionality, applications, and societal value, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report emphasizes the importance of adaptability and specific skills for individuals and businesses to thrive in today's environment.

Integrated Professional
Skills in the Digital Age

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Comparison and contrast between positive and negative aspects of services and products
being sold online and offline.......................................................................................................1
Tools available to keep passwords and manage challenges with online accounts......................3
Discuss track and trace apps for different mobile platforms and how they function, then
compare and contrast their features, applications, suitability that added value to the society....5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Integrated professional skills in the digital age is a necessity as the market is dynamic and
keeps on changing so an individuals needs specific skills so that it can be beneficial in the long
run for the person as well as the company (Blaschke, 2018). In this report there is an explanation
of positive and negative factors of the products and services that are being sold through the
platform of online and offline. The tools that are used to keep and manage the passwords
efficiently are also included. Further the apps that are planned and developed for different mobile
platforms to track and trace are explained briefly in this report.
MAIN BODY
Comparison and contrast between positive and negative aspects of services and products being
sold online and offline.
Online businesses produce most of their sales through online sources. For example
involves online discount brokerages, retailers providing consumer goods or music downloading
services. The high-speed communication and safe data transfer technologies has allowed online
ventures to produce profitability. Offline businesses are the businesses which work on the
traditional methods which involves serving customers at physical locations like retail stores and
restaurants. When people provide services or goods they have to examine offline vs. online data
in the field the deal in and looks for potential of local customers based on the need of making
best location of customers choice.
New trends and technologies has revolutionized the way of shopping. With this numerous
positive and negative impacts are seen amongst the people these days who prefer buying things
online. The positive impacts are as follows:
 Convenience- People are more satisfied with the shopping when they can shop according
to their preferences and times. Some people might like to buy products early in the
morning well some would like to shop at midnight (Darmawan, 2020). Purchasing things
from online shops gives them opportunity to shop any time that is within 24/7. At online
platforms a person can buy e-books, home appliances and what not.
 Better prices- It is biggest positive point of online shopping platforms that the prices and
deals are available because products are directly sold from manufacturer to buyer without
involvement of middlemen. In addition to this people can save tax as well, this happens
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because online shops are required to collect sales tax only if they have any physical
location.
After discussing positive points there are some negative impacts of online shopping:
 Environmental impact of packaging and gas- To provide best services online
companies try to use several layers of plastic and cardboard packagings as they want to
sustain in competitive market (Encalada and Sequera, 2019). But this things impact the
environment as plastic is not disposable component and the recyclable cardboards also
create unnecessary waste in environment.
 Time consumption- Online platforms do provide all products at one stop with many
varieties and options which can be chosen by people. But, to chose one or two things an
individual has to scroll hundreds of products which takes time and many times it may
happen that after putting such efforts customer ends up buying nothing. In addition to this
one has to look at computer screen all time which might get burnt out. In other words,
internet is a good place to visit of shopping but individual can not live there.
To comparison of online and offline shopping patterns, the advantages and disadvantages
of online shopping has been discussed clearly now the same for offline ventures are discussed
below. The advantages of offline shopping are as follows:
 Goods can be checked instantly- The biggest profit of offline shopping is that goods
can be checked at the time of purchase and there is less scope of getting disappointed
with anything about the product. An individual can have a look at the products which
are liked and then see the quality and physical structure of products.
 Personal touch- Offline shopping gives chance to individuals to interact with the
person selling the products and get the information of the same. Were as the person who
is providing the products can give personal touch to people who will go to but the
products. It builds good relation and trust between people and makes the purchasing
process easy and quick. In other words lack of personal touch and understanding about
the wants of consumers and their preferences can lead to discomfort for people.
 Instant purchase- While offline shopping a person do not have to wait for days to use
and get the product. Once the product is chosen and it is final that it will be purchased
then the person can make payment and take it to home (Huda, 2019). In addition to this
if the person has any problem, the product can be changed or get the refund instantly.
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Apart from this benefits offline shopping has some disadvantages which are as follows:
 Exhaustion- People need to spend all day for shopping in markets and different stores
and the also it is not guaranteed that they can find the products they are look for.
Shopping may be fun but as long as an individual do not finds something to worth it is
exhausting and waste of energy.
 Expensive or Lack of Discounts- The research and comparison of prices and products is
not so easy in offline shopping. In offline markets the discounts and sales are seasonal
and sellers in market do not have bargaining scheme so the buyers do not have any option
and buy expensive products.
 Less Choices- The biggest downside to offline shopping is lack of choice, as the stores
have limits on having variety of choices for products to offer their customers. An
individual can not find every brand and their items at one stop. Besides this offline
platforms do not gives options to choice the retailers from other parts of state or country
as there is limit of own geography for offline shopping.
Tools available to keep passwords and manage challenges with online accounts.
Now a days it has been very common for all individuals to use and businesses to provide
various online services for which user needs to have separate credentials. In such case it is
difficult to manage such online accounts with different user names and passwords. For every
person it is not so easy to remember the passwords all the time. Apart from this it is duty of
every business to keep records of its users with full safety. For this the following are some tools
which can be used to manage passwords and different accounts with full security:
 Last Pass- It is password managing software which stores encrypted passwords online.
The content can be synchronized with any device the user is using, the software or
application needs to installed in it. The encryption and decryption of data takes place at
the level of device. This software has form filler which automates passwords which are
entered and form filling, and supports the password generated, site sharing and two-factor
authentication. It supports these things with various techniques which may be like
LastPass Authentication app which can be used for mobile phones (Khampirat, Pop and
Bandaranaike, 2019). This software is available as extension on many web browsers like
Google Chrome, Apple safari, Microsoft Edge and Opera. LastPass offers user set
password hints which allows to access when the mater password is missing. It has
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discovered anomaly in the incoming network traffics which is similar yo anomaly of
outgoing traffic. The administrators have found that none of hallmarks which have classic
security breaches. This password manager creates new passwords for users, shows how to
set strong passwords, store informations like PIN codes and filling out addresses and
credit card forms. It helps users in their day to day work while improving the all over
security of the online life.
 FireFox Sync- It lets the users sync data and their preferences all across their devices.
This is free of cost software which lets the users use the account for life time and ensures
that data is encrypted before it leaves the device. The passwords are also secured which
unlocks the encryption which never transmit to the server. All this is done with the
application of some cryptographers which hash the Firefox Account password and
strengthens it when the user enters it and derives the authentication with encryption keys.
The key is transmitted to server to prove users which own their accounts. When TLS
fails, it might cause authentication key leaked and when someone intercepts this key it
could be used in authentication of user account. However, it can not be used to access the
Firefox Sync data as the encryption key is used for encrypting. This extension uses
account password for building an additional layer of security and encrypt on top of
provided by TLS. Therefore, user cant not access the Firefox Sync data. It is important to
note the stronger the password, more protected this extension can offer to users.
 RoboForm- At present time period every human being is engaged with using
technological equipment. With revolution of digital marketing and internet , all the
relevant work is done through online medium. It help in saving time but, the case of
cyber crime is increase at very high rate. Thus to protect and secure personal information
and bank account detail, this software is developed. Roboform is one of the most reliable
security software for protection of security of users. Roboform help in creating strong
password . It provide facility to their users to save their multiple password in effective
way (Pan and Seow, 2016). It useful in saving time of customer by fulfilling form in
automatic way. Besides from other software systems, Roboform, can be used in multiple
software. Window, Mac Ios, and Android users also install thus software for their
security purpose. The best facility which Roboform is provide to their user that , it create
unique password for every site , used by customer for their work. For protective personal
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information of users, Roboform software apply, AES -256 bit , encryption authentication
codes. Roboform is also helpful in sharing information related login but in securely way.
This software is applicable in every organizations and every field of work for securing
and creating password. From the discussed tools, the users are suggested to use Firefox
Sync. It allows encryption to protect the data which is entirely unreadable without the key
which is used it to encryption. The hardest part is the key of encryption. There are lots of
cloud providers which claim that they can encrypt the data of users and they do as they
say. But they also have the key which is used for encrypting data, it is a small measure
and do not protect the data against the threats. For users encryption key is essential
element. Apart from all this things this extension is free of cost and can be used in all
devices which are operated by users. With all such benefits this extension would be best
for managing and protecting the passwords and accounts of users.
Discuss track and trace apps for different mobile platforms and how they function, then compare
and contrast their features, applications, suitability that added value to the society
As per the pandemic situation that is arise due to COVID-19 created more complex
condition in which it is not easy for an individual to get survive with an ease. It is a virus that is
transmitted in the form of droplets which is generated from the infected person and it is in the
form of sneezes, exhales and coughs (Amran and Ananda, 2018). In this government take
different initiative to resist the impact of pandemic by which sustained amount of stability is
developed. In this government also launches different track and trace applications that is
designed for support of various mobile platform. It provide an ease to trace a location and get a
alert about COVID patience that is surrounded in near by positions. There is different application
of mobile platform that is designed by government is as explained below as:
COVID symptoms study: It is an application that is formerly known as COVID symptom
tracker and it is an epidemiological mobile application that is designed by making appropriate
research in UK. It is an application that is run in IOS and Android systems. It is developed with
the effectual collaboration of King's College London and St Thomas Hospitals along with ZOE
global limited. It is designed with the purpose to track the salient data of people those are enable
to result in epidemiological and also used to track symptoms of corona virus. This application is
processed with the support of users location as users have answer different information such as
age, location, gender and adequate report if they have underlying with chronic condition. It also
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includes some other questions as well that is related to common symptoms of COVID-19 as they
have induce different basic information about illness (Cho, Ippolito and Yu, 2020). It also
provide statistical analysis and prediction that make easy to differentiate in between symptoms of
COVID-19 and seasonal flues. This doesn't consist of a functioning of contact tracing and the
tracker also suggest that 2 million of people in UK who has aged in between 20-69 might that
COVID. The application is entered in UK app store and play store at 24 March, and at US apps
on 29 march and with 1 day it is downloaded by 2 million of users.
NHS Covid-19 app: It is a contact that is used as a tracing applications that would
monitor the spread and pandemic of COVID-19 within Wales and England. It is also being
available at 24 September 2020 at IOS smartphones and Android and it could be used any
individual who is aged over 16. The application is created with the set of two versions that is
firstly commissioned by NHSX and another one is developed by Pivotal division which is an
American software organisation named as VMWARE. In this pilot test is conducted in may 2020
and in 18 June the application is abandoned with the favour of new design and it is used by
Google exposure notification system/ Apple (Pinto, Fernandez-Pascual and Sales, 2018). It is an
application that is also being launched separately in Scotland and Northern Ireland as in form of
contact tracing applications. The application also allows the users to measure the risk level local
authority and it is displayed in the form of low, medium and high basis and in this used is
required to enter initial half of postcode. In this the check-in positions are displayed at NHS QR
code poster, the local health protection is notified as it is used to determine different attendee of
virus or who has tested positive of COVID-19. It also notify the close contact within 2 meters or
at a distance of 15 minutes and for a long it could measure of 4 meters as well.
BASIS COVID symptoms study NHS Covid-19 app
Features It is a large scale scientific project that
is used to make better understanding
and mapping of COVID-19 and also
provide an adequate estimation of local
and national COVID-19 cases that is
completely dependent on algorithmic
predictions.
It is an application that is a part of NHS
track and test services that also covered
protection services as well. It make an
alert about coronavirus symptoms that
consists of cough, fever, loss of smell
and taste under which eligibility of test
is identified. The test allowed the
people to book a test at NHS as on the
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basis of major and classic symptoms.
Applications COVID symptoms study assist the
users to log their health details so that
perfect update is induced over
continuous period of time. It also used
to record a wider range of COVID
symptoms along with this also trigger
an individual to make a test if an
individual is having similar kind of
symptoms.
The NHS COVID-19 apps also make
use of Bluetooth to make an alert about
an individual with whom certain
contact is developed as who is tested
positive for COVID (Sousa and Wilks,
2018). It also notifies the user if they
came under the contact of an individual
who is tested positive for coronavirus.
In support of this alert a scientific
calculation in form of algorithm is
developed that assist scientist to work
out as per its close contacts users.
Suitability In this users are not able to make it use
with support of phone's Bluetooth,
location, GPS or other contacts as it
doesn't get traced with these
applications. It doesn't offer a QR code
to make check-in but the user must
have log in of behalf of its friends and
family, children and elders people as
well (Starkey, 2020). It is supported by
UK's government and delivered its
services by ZOE as its research is
processed with King's College London.
It is an application that usually allows
the users to check the venue details as
with support of QR code. It also assist
to track the self-isolation countdown by
which better accessibility and relevant
advice is generated with accuracy. In
this it is essential that user must be over
16 and doesn't make use of this
application on behalf of others that is
usually supported by UK government
and directly delivered to NHS.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it can be concluded that in today's digital age integrated
professional skills are important focus points of every business. The internet has important
applications in which e-commerce and m-commerce has become most of the used online service
providers. Apart form this online and offline services can be compared with their positive and
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negative impacts on the aspects of services and products. Many tools are there which can help
the users like Last Pass, FireFox Sync, RoboForm form which Firefox can be used effectively.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amran, A. and Ananda, A., 2018, December. Development of adaptive contextual teaching
model of integrated science to improve digital age literacy on grade VIII students. In
Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1116, No. 3, p. 032004). IOP Publishing.
Blaschke, L. M., 2018. Self-determined learning (heutagogy) and digital media creating
integrated educational environments for developing lifelong learning skills. In The
digital turn in higher education (pp. 129-140). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Cho, H., Ippolito, D. and Yu, Y.W., 2020. Contact tracing mobile apps for COVID-19: Privacy
considerations and related trade-offs. arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.11511.
Darmawan, D., 2020. Development of ICMLS Version 2 (Integrated Communication and
Mobile Laboratory Simulator) To Improve 4.0 Century Industry Skills in Vocational
Schools. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM). 14(08).
pp.97-113.
Encalada, W. L. and Sequera, J. L. C., 2019. Teaching practical information technology skills
through cloud computing services. International Journal of Technology Enhanced
Learning. 11(4). pp.343-360.
Huda, M., 2019. Empowering application strategy in the technology adoption. Journal of
Science and Technology Policy Management.
Khampirat, B., Pop, C. and Bandaranaike, S., 2019. The Effectiveness of Work-Integrated
Learning in Developing Student Work Skills: A Case Study of Thailand. International
Journal of Work-Integrated Learning. 20(2). pp.126-146.
Pan, G. and Seow, P. S., 2016. Preparing accounting graduates for digital revolution: A critical
review of information technology competencies and skills development. Journal of
Education for business. 91(3). pp.166-175.
Pinto, M., Fernandez-Pascual, R. and Sales, D., 2018. Communication of information in the
digital age among social sciences students. Aslib Journal of Information Management.
Sousa, M.J. and Wilks, D., 2018. Sustainable skills for the world of work in the digital age.
Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 35(4). pp.399-405.
Starkey, L., 2020. A review of research exploring teacher preparation for the digital age.
Cambridge Journal of Education. 50(1). pp.37-56.
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