Digital Business Analysis: Uber's Strategies and Challenges

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Uber's digital business operations. It begins with an introduction to digital business and its relevance to Uber, a leading technology company. The main body of the report explores key digital technology trends utilized by Uber, including AI, AR, VR, chatbots, and big data analytics. It also examines the advantages of digital technology in Uber, such as quick functioning, customer relationship management, cost-efficient marketing, customer flexibility, and unlimited reach. Furthermore, the report delves into the implications of managing a virtual business in the global environment, using PESTLE analysis to assess political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. It then investigates emerging digital business models related to cybersecurity and ethics, including malware scanners, firewalls, antivirus software, and access control. The impact of new relationships and strategic alliances through digital technology, particularly concerning business ethics and corporate social responsibility, is also discussed. Finally, the report explores ways of using e-commerce principles in Uber, such as user-friendliness, target audience understanding, effective product descriptions, and simple navigation, concluding with a summary of findings and recommendations.

Digital business or e-
commerce business

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Key trends of digital technology in Uber...............................................................................2
AI, AR and VR..................................................................................................................2
Chatbots, voice search and mobile shopping.....................................................................2
Big data and multiple payment options.............................................................................2
Advantages of digital technology in Uber..............................................................................3
Quick functioning and customer relationship....................................................................3
Cost efficient and affordable marketing............................................................................3
Customer flexibility and unlimited reach..........................................................................3
Implications for managing virtual business in the global environment in Uber....................4
PESTLE Analysis Implications.........................................................................................4
Emerging digital business models related with cyber security & ethics in Uber...................4
Emerging digital business model.......................................................................................4
Malware scanners and firewall..........................................................................................5
Antivirus software and authentication of data...................................................................5
Access control and password security...............................................................................5
Impact of new relationships & strategic alliances through digital technology in Uber.........6
Business ethics and corporate social responsibility...........................................................6
Communication flow with stakeholders............................................................................6
Brainstorming with innovation and sharing of resources with ideas.................................6
Ways of using e-commerce principles in Uber......................................................................7
User friendliness and emphasize on security.....................................................................7
Knowing target audience and add search column.............................................................7
Effective product descriptions and consistent branding....................................................7
Simple functional navigation and painless checkout process............................................8
High quality visual content and page loading speed.........................................................8
Using email communication and including Blogs.............................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Digital business can be defined as the electronic business which uses the digital
transformation and digitalization to adopt the digital technology in order to transform its
products and services as per the needs and requirements of the business by replacing non-digital
processes with the digital processes or with the updated Technology (Chaffey, Edmundson-Bird
and Hemphill, 2019). Organisation chosen here is the Uber technologies which is one of the
leading international technology company headquartered in United States and established in
2009 which provides the services while having its own website in the form of ride-hailing and
food delivery services along with the package delivery and couriers which is followed by the
freight transportation with the help of partnership with electric bicycle and lime along with the
motorized scooter rental. All these bookings are done online with the help of Uber's official
website. The following discussion is based on the key trends of digital technology in Uber,
advantages of digital technology in Uber, implications for managing virtual business in the
global environment in Uber, emerging digital business models related with cyber security and
ethics in Uber, impact of new relationships and strategic alliances through digital technology in
Uber and ways of using e commerce principles in Uber with proper findings and conclusion.
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MAIN BODY
Key trends of digital technology in Uber
AI, AR and VR
The company has used the three advanced technology which are in trend in the current
situation such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality along with the virtual reality which
means that the company has utilised and adopted this technology along with the implementation
of it in its website so that they can easily recommend that customers of what they can book from
the website and can easily analyse the activities performed by the customers because this helps
the company to modify its website according to the needs and requirements of the customers
they for observing the activities is important and hands artificial intelligence along with the
augmented and virtual reality are important to execute in the digital business (Santos, Mayer and
Marques, 2020).
Chatbots, voice search and mobile shopping
The company has also used some special features to interact with the customers and to
make the customer experience good with the help of chatbots which helps the company as well
as the customers to communicate with each other that supports in giving the feedback or in any
issue so that it can be resolved as soon as possible which can make the company's customer
servicing and appreciative one. The company has also used voice search in which the customer
does not need to write or type something in the search bar to search for whatever they want but
instead they can easily speak on the mic of whatever they want and they will get the list of items.
The company has also used mobile shopping which has supported the customer to use the
application anywhere and anytime which gives the proper flexibility to the customers even at
midnight or while travelling as well.
Big data and multiple payment options
The company has given some comfort to their employees and also the customers in the
form of big data and multiple payment options. Big data has helped the employees in order to
analyse the information for better future consideration and decision making for the enhancement
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of the company's functioning and its operations. Multiple payment options have helped the
customers in giving them comfort that they can pay using any mode such as cash on delivery or
internet banking and many more (Lee, Chan, Balaji and Chong, 2018).
Advantages of digital technology in Uber
Quick functioning and customer relationship
There are different advantages of digital technology which has gained by the Uber in
their operations and management of the organisation such as quick functioning which means that
the process of booking anything at the end of the process till the delivery to the customers are in
a quick manner which has proved the just in time management operation in the organisation.
This has created the customer relationship for long-term and even the loyalty with proper
feedback and improvement areas so that the company can easily rectify any issue and maintain
their long-term relationship with the customers which is a great advantage for the company
(Raina, Rana and Thakur, 2018).
Cost efficient and affordable marketing
There are also the advantages which have supported the company in its expenses and
budgeting such as the cost efficient and affordable marketing methodologies. Adopting the
digitalization has supported the company in its cost reduction so that they can save and invest the
same cost in other departments such as research and development domains because it has given
the affordable sales and marketing to the company along with the services to the customers
which has proved beneficial for the company in an ultimate basis and therefore the company can
now save their expenses without spending any extra cost.
Customer flexibility and unlimited reach
Other benefits which the company has gained after adopting the digital technology in
their business such as customer flexibility and unlimited reach. Which means that customer
flexibility is associated with the use of the website that they can easily navigate at anytime and
anywhere even with their mobile phones without any restrictions and limited areas and therefore
the services are flexible for the customers. Moreover, digitalisation has helped the company to
reach unlimited customers to as wide locations as possible because the internet is the network of
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networks which supports the company in gaining popularity with the help of wider reach
technique (Noor, 2019).
Implications for managing virtual business in the global environment in Uber
PESTLE Analysis Implications
Implications for managing virtual business in the global environment in context of Uber
has the pestle analysis implications in which there are six different factors in terms of which the
company is examined such as first is the political factor which is a threat for the company
because the government curbs in different parts of the world and political regulations for
designation of drivers as contractors. Second is the economical factor which is a threat for the
company because of the dynamic pricing model and Uber has been recording losses for a long
time along with the shared mobility Hit hard by the pandemic (Fuhrmann and Kryut, 2019).
Third is a social factor which is an opportunity for the company because of the surge pricing in
times of crisis is under fire and pandemic takes the Sheen off the autonomous vehicle industry
along with the promotion of employee diversity and multinational corporations with reasonable
fair and trustworthy services. Fourth is the technological factor which is an opportunity for the
company because of the increasing internet penetration and smartphone usage along with the
self-driving cars and autonomous cars in the near future which is followed by the building
customer relationship through social media channels and employing digital transformation in
logistics. Fifth is the legal factor which is a threat for the company because of the lawsuits
tarnishing the brand and legal battle with Waymo. 6th is the environmental factor which is an
opportunity for the company because of the Uber pool services and eco-friendly initiative. All
these implications are associated with the company which has supported the organisation in
managing the virtual business in the global environment (Murad, Al-Kayem, Manasrah and
Qusef, 2019).
Emerging digital business models related with cyber security & ethics in Uber
Emerging digital business model
There are different types of emerging digital business models related with cyber security
and ethics in Uber but there is one famous model which is highly adopted by the company in
most of the situations which includes the framework of infrastructure security and centralised
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security along with the d2d security and distributed security. They all include some or other
types of securities which contain the device driven security and secure device provider along
with the location driven security and micro operator which is followed by the platform driven
security and traditional system provider and also the network infra driven security (Shukla,
2020).
Malware scanners and firewall
Malware is the type of software which spoils the normal functioning of the system and
therefore it is important to implement scanners in the system so that it can easily detect such
software and rectify the issue. Moreover, a firewall is type of software which is essential to
install in the systems for better network security because most of the cyber theft arrives from the
internet and networks and therefore it is important to safeguard the network in which the firewall
is the strongest software which can help the company to protect the systems from cybercrime.
Antivirus software and authentication of data
Antivirus software is a type of software which helps the company to safeguard their
systems from the dangerous viruses that can enter in the systems with the help of internet or
emails and can also result in the fraud along with the cyber theft therefore cybersecurity and
ethics are important to install the antivirus software. Moreover, there must be proper
authentication and authorisation of data so that the highly confidential and Private data can be
very well authenticated and authorised with the person who can I have the permission to
approach the data and with whom the trust is maintained that they will not destroy or misuse the
data in any case (Liu, Zhang, Wang and Wu, 2019).
Access control and password security
Cybersecurity and ethics are important in the organisation so that the big data and the
systems can be protected against the cyber-crimes because it can lead to the huge loss in the
company and even the shutting down the company as well because breaching of data is done in
the form of blackmailing by the hacker so that they can get the money in place of data.
Therefore, access control security must be implemented by the organisation so that only those
persons have the access to control the data who are authorised and authenticated and no other
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persons are permitted without any legal identity. Moreover, password management is also
essential for the company's so that the strong password and digital password can be kept such as
finger lock or face lock for better password security so that any wrong person cannot crack the
password for their own personal misuse.
Impact of new relationships & strategic alliances through digital technology in Uber
Business ethics and corporate social responsibility
There is the positive impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances
through digital technology in Uber because of the business ethics and corporate social
responsibility is maintained by the company in a more potential manner. It is important to
maintain the business ethics and corporate social responsibility because the marketplace image
and reputation of the company is totally dependent upon these aspects and therefore they are
essential to maintain for better customer relationships and new relationships with the
stakeholders along with the effective strategic alliances and efficient working of the company
(Singh and Keating, 2018).
Communication flow with stakeholders
This is an another impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances
through digital technology in Uber that is a communication flow with stakeholders which means
that until and unless the proper interaction and communication flow is not done with all the
stakeholders of the company either internal or external such as customers and shareholders along
with the suppliers and competitors which is followed by the employees and many more then the
company functioning cannot be done in a proper way so in order to maintain the appropriateness
in the functioning of the company a better communication flow is important with all the
stakeholders which is a positive impact of new relationships and strategic alliances.
Brainstorming with innovation and sharing of resources with ideas
This is also an another impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances
through digital technology in Uber that is a brainstorming with innovation and sharing of
resources with ideas which means that if the stakeholders of a company are sitting in a group and
discussing about the current project of the company then they will definitely come out with the
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innovative ideas and sharing of resources in an efficient manner in a cost-effective way and
therefore it is said that there is a positive impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic
alliances on the company with the help of digital technology (Raj, Sundararajan and You, 2020).
Ways of using e-commerce principles in Uber
User friendliness and emphasize on security
There are different ways of using electronic commerce principal in uber and the company
has used it in an effective and efficient manner such as they have developed the website in user-
friendliness which means that the website is simple to operate and no complications are available
in navigation and in any other tab or options which has proved the user friendly website which
the user can easily e visit and operate the website. Moreover, the company has emphasized on
the safety and security of the website and its data such as the personal information of the user
and many other information which must be confidential by the company.
Knowing target audience and add search column
Another way of using the electronic commerce principle is to know the target audience
by the company because until and unless the company is not knowing about their target
customers then they will not be able to market and promote their website among the customers
because specific customers help the company incident that caused time and energy. Moreover,
the company must add the search column in the website so that the customers can easily type
whatever they want in the website and get the search results in an accurate manner
(Cheewathanakornkul and Jiratchot, 2018).
Effective product descriptions and consistent branding
It is important for the company to describe their product and services in an effective and
efficient manner which must be brief and tells about the nature of the product and services in an
attractive content so that the customers can pay attention towards the services the company is
providing. Moreover, this helps the company's inconsistent branding of their website because
content marketing is getting famous day by day and providing positive results to the company so
therefore the description of the product must be in a good content so that the customers should
visit the particular item.
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Simple functional navigation and painless checkout process
This is another way of using the electronic commerce in the website of the company
which means that a company should use the simple functional navigation so that it can be
comfortable for the customers and they can easily navigate from one section to the another or
one tab to the another for further information and for any other purpose. Moreover, there must be
a painless checkout process for the customers because most of the websites ask many formalities
to log out or check out from the website which can create complications and also result in not
visiting the website again by the customers therefore it should be the easy process in checking
out from the website (ZEIN, 2018).
High quality visual content and page loading speed
It is significant for the company that if they are adding any visual content such as image
or audio or a video in the website then they must be in a high quality content because this
demonstrates the impression of the website on the customers as the customers focuses on the
quality of the graphics along with the content they are showcasing to the customers therefore it
must be impressive. Moreover, page loading speed must be good which means that coding of the
website development must be light so that at the time of loading it should not take much time
otherwise customers will switch to another website.
Using email communication and including Blogs
It is a most effective way of using the electronic commerce principles in uber which
means that email communication facility must be available in the website because it looks
professional and valid as it has the capability to prove the genuineness of the website without any
fake nature and that is why email communication is important for example any confirmation of
the order, any payment confirmation, any delivery confirmation any other information must be
communicated with the help of email. Moreover, blogging is also important in the website
because it gives an attractive look to the website as it provides the additional information about
other company or websites that customer should visit and the over can also get the money if
customer visits the particular website after reading the blog because it is a paid content in order
to advertise and promote the other brand products and services which helps the Uber also in
getting the popularity (Wu and Lin, 2018).
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