A Case Study on ZOCDOC: Digital Technology and Small Business Growth

This report examines the impact of digital technology on small business growth, using ZOCDOC, an online medical care scheduling service, as a case study. The report begins with an introduction to digital technology's role in modern business and provides background on ZOCDOC. Task 1 outlines the aims, objectives, and research questions, focusing on how digital technology supports growth and innovation. Task 2 details a project management plan, considering factors like cost, time, scope, risk, communication, and quality control. Task 3 presents a timeline and action plan, including steps for problem identification, literature review, data collection, and analysis. Task 4 discusses data analysis, interpretation, and recommendations for ZOCDOC to achieve competitive gains. The report concludes with a reflection on the research conducted, highlighting the importance of digital technology in small business success. The report also includes references to support the analysis and findings, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Managing Successful Business
Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Aims and Objectives of project .............................................................................................1
P2 Project management plan.......................................................................................................3
P3 Time line and Action Plan ....................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Conducting small scale research using research methods.....................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Data analysis and Interpretation...........................................................................................10
P6 Recommendations on findings.............................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P7 Reflection on research conducted........................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Digital technology is an emerging concept that is followed by every company now-r-
days. People are using it to grow in the market , it has completely changed the way of doing
business as it has made people smart because of which they are able to do business in an efficient
manner. Earlier only traditional methods were used to do innovation or growth but now digital
technology has taken its place. It is considered as a one time investment for the companies
because these technologies will benefit the company in future. All these digital technologies have
a huge impact on developing a small business (Ahmed Dine Rabeh, Jimenez-Jimenez and
Martínez-Costa, 2013). The company referred here is ZOCDOC. It is an online medical care
scheduling service provider who are also providing free of charge medical care search facility. It
is situated in New York and no. of employees working here is 450. In this research report, aim
and objectives of the research, a project management plan, action plan will be created related to
the impact of digital technology on small business. Along with this, Data analysis and
interpretation will also be a part of the report.
TASK 1
P1 Aims and Objectives of project
There is a trend of start-ups now so many people are opening their own businesses but to
make their place in market they are taking help of digital technology. The economy is growing at
a very fast rate due to which it has become necessary for companies to bring new concepts and
ideas so as to maintain their place in market. For this , they can take help of digital technologies
that are developing in business environment (Chesbrough, 2010). If companies will make use of
technologies then they can achieve success in the market at a very easily as their work will be
completed without any issues an time will be saved as well. ZOCDOC being a online Medicare
company is a small business organisation that started with an idea to serve people and making
treatment easy. So, to implement their idea successfully, they took help of digital technology.
These technologies help in bringing modernisation in companies and because of this they are
attracting more and more no. organisations towards it. There are various kinds of digital
technologies available like Ambient knowledge, Read analytics, Production studio, cloud
technology etc. All these workplace technologies are very effective in reducing the workload of
employees as they are taking care of all the work and helps it in completing it in a very short
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span of time. It also helps in promoting the business in market so that more and more people
comes to know about it and can use it as well. Since ZOCDOC is already available in application
form so now they are coming with a new innovation in which the people who are registered in
their app will get message automatically to come for regular check-up. This is a very good
concept as this will remind people to come for regular health check-up.
Topic:- Impact of Digital Technology in supporting small business growth and innovation
Background of the project:
In the current business environment, technologies are playing a major role in
development of companies. There are so many technologies that are arising all over the world so
it is very important for all the start-up companies to be updated about the technologies because
they can use it in their businesses as well (Crane and Matten, 2016). In ZOCDOC also, the
technical team should make sure that they are aware of all the top software's available in market
so that they can provide their services in more effective manner. It is necessary for all the small
or medium sized organisations to make investment in these kinds of projects as it will make them
achieve their goals and objectives as it will help them in saving a lot of time and resources.
If ZOCDOC wants to introduce this new feature in their application then for this they
will have to do a complete research in which they have to analyse that how often people visit
doctors and the reason behind the same as well. So, these small steps helps in achieving success
and customers also believes in the company. This new feature will help them in understanding
the people more and thus they can provide medical facilities to them more easily.
Aim: “To identify the impact of digital technology in bringing growth and innovation in small
business organisation - A case study on ZOCDOC.”
Objectives:
 To analyse the impact of digital technology in ZOCDOC.
 To identify the needs for using digital technologies in ZOCDOC
 To evaluate the effectiveness of digital technology on business activities transformation.
 Recommend various ways by which ZOCDOC can achieve high competitive gains in
medical market.
Research Question:
 What are the factors that will help in analysing the impact of digital technology in
ZOCDOC?
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 What are the needs due to which ZOCDOC is using digital technologies in the business?
 How to evaluate the effectiveness of digital technology on business activities
transformation?
 Give recommendations in which ZOCDOC can achieve high competitive gains in
medical market?
P2 Project management plan
If any work is done by doing good planning then the chances of getting success in that
increases. Be it any kind of work, if it is done with proper plans then it will definitely give good
results (Den Hertog, Van der Aa and De Jong, 2010). So, when doing a project, it becomes the
responsibility of project manager to provide a good management plan so that all the activities are
completed in a proper manner. This project management plan will include all the activities that
will be taking place during the whole process. It is basically a formal document that is necessary
to be prepared and with the help of this , the project managers guide, monitor and control the
employees. The manager allots all the work between the team members on the basis of their
abilities. So, these steps allows increases the chances of making the project successful.
In this plan, the factors that are mainly considered are cost, scope, time,quality,
communication, risk and resources. So, the manager of ZOCDOC will make use of all these
factors to achieve success in the management project. The factors are explained as under :-
 COST – In this, ZOCDOC will have to invest so many funds so as to add this new feature
in their application. Innovation is not a simple task and lots of investment is required to
be done by the companies so as to bring in something new to the public. Since ZOCDOC
started with just an idea to ease out the medical facilities, it required lots of investment
and good guidance so that their ideas and resources are not wasted.
 TIME – Whenever a project management plan is created, the project manager is given the
responsibility to make sure that all the activities are completed within stipulated time. In
the plan also, each activity is allotted a particular span of time and the worker are
required to complete the process within that time only. This will help the managers to
complete the project on time (Eckerson, 2010).
 SCOPE OF PROJECT – The scope of this project is very hi8ge as it will open new gates
for ZOCDOC in the market. This will help them in gaining more and more customers and
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making a good image in market as well. This will help the companies in achieving
success by rising their profits and productivity.
 RISK – Since ZOCDOC is a small sized organisation so by bringing in new innovation ,
they are taking a huge risk as there are chances that people might not use this feature.
Even though they are successful in market but still risk is there. But it is very necessary
for them to take this risk as then only they will be able to achieve success (Gebauer,
Edvardsson and Bjurko, 2010).
 COMMUNICATION – ZOCDOC should take care that they maintain a good
communication channel so that they can communicate all the important information to
the people who are conducting the activities. This will help in performing the work in
more easy manner.
 QUALITY CONTROL – ZOCDOC is providing their services on an online platform so it
is very necessary for them to provide services in an effective manner because then only
customers will come to them and avail their services otherwise this concept can even fail
in market.
So, by following all these factors properly ZOCDOC can complete their project in a successful
manner and gain more and more profits as well.
P3 Time line and Action Plan
Whenever a new project is started by the companies, it is very essential for them to know
the views of people who will use these technologies in future. This will be very beneficial for
them as it will make the decision-making process easy and will help in achieving success as well.
So, for this the project managers create an action plan in which all the activities that will be
performed are listed in a proper manner. Through this resources will also be used in a proper
manner only.
A work break-down structure is a composition that consists of company's objectives and
goals which is important for then to achieve in a particular time period. In this, the whole work
of companies are divided into small parts so that all the work is performed on time and with
efficiency as well (Incelli, 2013).
A Gantt chart indicates the activities that will be conducted by company for completing
the project. It is generally made in the form of pyramid. So, while making an action plan
following steps are included :-
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 Determination of the problem
 review 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
It is required by ZOCDOC to follow all these steps in an effective manner as they are
thinking to launch a new feature in their application so they need to know the reaction of people
towards it. If customers will adapt this new feature in their daily life will be their main issue
because normally old people doesn't use mobile applications on a regular basis and thus
ZOCDOC should promote themselves in such a manner that more and more people should get
aware about it and understand its importance as well. For solving this issue, they may take help
of expert who are present in the company (Jones and Lubinski, 2012). Through their experience
they can tell that tell that whether this risk should be taken by the company or not. After taking
reviews of all the persons, a sample population will be selected by the company who will be
given a chance to use this new feature and then tell that whether public will accept it or not. The
action plan is prepared as follows:-
S. no Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessor
1 Identify the
problem
5 Days
2 Review the
literature
11 Days 1
3 Clarify the
problem
14 Days 1,2
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4 Clearly define
the terms and
concepts
6 Days 2,3
5 Define the
population
15 Days 4
6 Collecting
data
5 Days 5
7 Analysing data 6 Days 6
8 Conclusion
and
Recommendat
ion
1 Day 7
9 Submission of
report
1 Day 8
The primary source of information that can be used by project managers is questionnaire.
There are various other methods as well like interviews, focus groups etc. The research will be
conducted by taking 20 sample respondents. These respondents are being selected by using
random sampling method. These people will be provided a questionnaire in which the questions
related to this acceptance of this research is included (Kankaanranta and Planken, 2010). They
will have to answer all the questions and this data will be used by company to analyse the
reaction of people who will be using this new feature.
Researcher is required to have a check on all the workers so as to ensure that all the
activities are being conducted effectively or not. This is very much necessary for making the
project successful.
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TASK 2
P4 Conducting small scale research using research methods
Research is done for a particular reason in order to find out something new which is not
yet disclosed or in order to get update with new ideas, technologies. Their are two famous
method of research in order to analyse market demand. While conducting research process
researcher must clear regarding the objective of research (Lai and Ong, 2010). Whether that
company wants original data or data which is already established in order to get fast effective
results. The two methods of collecting data are:-
 Primary data
 Secondary data
There are two data collections methods which is generally used in order to take favourable
decision making. In case of ZOCDOC which is online medical care scheduling service,
providing free of medical charge search facility for end users by integrating information about
medical practices and doctor individual schedule in particular location. For this company data
related to online legal condition for continuous regulation of business is required and to know the
feasibility of carry the business. Method used while conducting research is as follows:-
 Qualitative
 Quantitative
 Analytical
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Firstly, research team of ZOCDOC decide to take qualitative and quantitative method in order to
get the feedback of outside customer to know whether their online business gives return in future
or not (Lin and Chen, 2012). The technique used for research in order to get best advantage of
market opportunity are:-1.Primary data-
Primary data gather the information are original that means they are free from biasness. It is
collected through personal interviews, questionnaire etc. Survey can be used in order to know the
taste. Needs and preferences of customers. For ZOCDOC these data are valuable to know
whether customers like their idea regarding providing medicine in online way. Company uses
personal interview in which they get the data in which they get to know that how many customer
know about their business, doctor consult centre avail by how much customers. 25 respondents
are used to collect the data through questionnaire in order to take sound business decisions.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Q1. Is this new feature favourable for ZOCDOC?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2. Will this addition in their application provide them long term benefit?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3. What kind of reaction will be faced by company after bringing this new development?
a) Positive
b) Negative
Q4. Does ZOCDOC actually need to innovate?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5. Does the customers who are using old ways to get treated would shift to this modern
way of getting medical facilities?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
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Q6. Does the company has sufficient resources for bringing in this digitalisation ?
a) Yes
b) No
Q7. Will the company be able to make more customers by introducing this new feature in
their application?
a) Yes
b) No
Q8. In which types of operating system will this be used ?
a) Android
b) IOS
c) other web application
d) All of the above
Q9. According to modern world, which method should be preferred for doing business?
a) Traditional marketing
b) Online marketing
Q10. Any suggestions for implementing digitalisation in a better way?
Secondary data:
These data are already available and is scrutinized by the researcher for the purpose of taking
business decisions. ZOCDOC use secondary data method to know the market competitors
strategy in this fields.
TASK 3
P5 Data analysis and Interpretation
It is very important for project managers to interpret the data that has been collected from
the respondents. It is very important to get the data analysed because then only they will be able
to arrive at conclusions. In this research, sample questionnaire was distributed to the sample
group of people. The interpretation is done as :-
Q1. Is this new feature favourable for
ZOCDOC?
Frequency
a) Yes 16
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