Adoption Of Digital Innovations In Business Processes: A Case Study Of AO.com

Main Aims and Objectives

This paper mainly includes a discussion about the adoption of digital innovations in the business prospects of a company. The company to be discussed in this paper is AO.com and its associated digital technologies. The company is basically involved in utilizing the ecommerce prospects of businesses. Along with the utilization of the ecommerce activities, various other digital innovations are also be adopted by the company. This paper includes the main aims and objectives that will be utilized for devising the project requirements which will be followed for adopting the digital innovations. In addition, this paper will also include the various aspects included in project management plans so that the adoption of digital technology can be effectively made. Moreover, this paper will also include the collection and analysis of data that will be utilized for the project. Lastly, this paper will conclude by listing various recommendations for the company.

The company AO.com is considered to be an internet based retailing company who specializes in online goods and services. Moreover, the stocks of the company are being listed in the London Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, John Roberts was responsible for establishing the company on the name of “Appliances Online” (Ao.com, 2018). In addition, the company also got a hold of the expert logistics system which enabled them to adopt self-delivery of the products. Moreover, the company invested a large sum of money on a studio production house which will be used to make their own video product reviews for the website. This was mainly used for showcasing their product sales page. Furthermore, the company also bought infrastructure so that it can be used for employing more than 100 people. In the year 2013, the company was rebranded as AO.com which was then followed by the adoption of same day delivery services for their customers. The social accounts of the company also reached to over a million followers which resulted in the company receive the PayPal retail award.

On the initial terms of doing business, the company was mainly involved in adopting the traditional means of online businesses. Due to the adoption of various digital innovative technologies, the aspects of business have been changed. The capturing of user analytics and website evaluative strategies can in turn lead to the formation of an enhanced business.

This section of the paper discusses about the aims and objectives of the project.

Project Parameters

The scope of the project is to adopt the use of digital technologies in the business processes. This project will also analyze the respected cost and budget required for the technological adoptions for evaluating the presence of any risks to the system. The project will also implement various research options for data collection and analysis for recommending various performance parameters that can be applied in the business to make it more efficient in their services.

The SMART objectives of this project are:

Acronyms	Objectives
S- Specific	To carrying out the evaluation of the impact of digital innovations in operations, marketing, accounting and HR operations of the company
M- Measurable	To analyze the respective cost and budget of the parameters so that an effective analysis can be made
A- Achievable	To make a successful evaluation of the risk and mitigate them
R- Realistic	To utilize research options for collecting data regarding the technological adoptions and analyzing them
T- Timely	To achieve the project outcome within the assigned deadline according to the timeline

The requirements of these technologies are that they must meet the demands of the business including all the associated parameters.

Customer satisfaction:

This is the first requirement which is to be followed for every business (Rikkerink et al. 2016). Keeping the customers satisfied is a major aspect of business. AO.com has utilized their very own same day delivery system which helps to keep their customers engaged in the market.

Lack of errors and complaints:

Due to the adoption of a large number of technological innovations, the need to control them is also a necessity (Ao.com, 2018). In case of this, the number of errors is a priority which in turn will lead to a reduction in the number of customer complaints. This will basically lead to increased market acquisition for the company.

This section of the paper includes the various parameters that will be considered for the project. These parameters will then b analyzed so that a successful evaluation is met.

This section of the project plan includes a time management plan which will be utilized for considering the time required and to be followed for proceeding with the requirements. The total investment required for successfully adopting the project is supposed to be $91,560.00. The identification and completion of the entire project requirements will be done successfully by considering this budget estimation.

Utilizing the costs of the project aspects, the scope associated to the project will be successfully implemented. In addition, the project scope will also be followed by considering the budget estimations of the needed digital technological innovations.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Cost
Development of digital technology systems in AO.com	110 days	Mon 5/5/18	Tue 8/27/18	$91,560.00
Project initiation phase	20 days	Mon 5/5/18	Fri 5/25/18	$12,500.00
Developing the business case	4 days	Mon 5/5/18	Fri 5/9/18	$1,600.00
Undertaking feasibility in study	5 days	Fri 5/9/18	Wed 5/14/18	$5,000.00
Establishment of the project charter	6 days	Wed 5/14/18	Tue 5/20/18	$3,500.00
Appointing the project team members	5 days	Tue 5/20/18	Fri 5/25/18	$2,400.00
Planning phase	30 days	Sat 5/26/18	Thu 6/25/18	$26,360.00
Creating the project plan	5 days	Sat 5/26/18	Thu 5/31/18	$3,800.00
Creating the resource plan	5 days	Thu 5/31/18	Tue 6/5/18	$3,320.00
Creating the financial plan	4 days	Tue 6/5/18	Sat 6/9/18	$3,600.00
Creating a risk management plan	4 days	Sat 6/9/18	Wed 6/13/18	$2,240.00
Development of an acceptance plan	2 days	Wed 6/13/18	Fri 6/15/18	$4,560.00
Development of a communication plan	5 days	Fri 6/15/18	Wed 6/20/18	$5,040.00
Creation of a project procurement plan	5 days	Wed 6/20/18	Thu 6/25/18	$3,800.00
Execution phase	50 days	Fri 6/26/18	Sat 8/16/18	$49,380.00
Objectives and scope certification	5 days	Fri 6/26/18	Wed 7/1/18	$3,400.00
Identification of the critical success factors	6 days	Wed 7/1/18	Tue 7/7/18	$3,600.00
Development of measurement metrics for tracking of CSF data	5 days	Tue 7/7/18	Sun 7/12/18	$5,480.00
Implementation of quality management system	4 days	Sun 7/12/18	Thu 7/16/18	$3,520.00
Identifying customer group	5 days	Thu 7/16/18	Tue 7/21/18	$4,320.00
Soliciting feedback of the customer	5 days	Tue 7/21/18	Sun 7/26/18	$3,140.00
Development of the survey tool	4 days	Sun 7/26/18	Thu 7/31/18	$6,000.00
Development of improvement plan	6 days	Thu 7/31/18	Wed 8/6/18	$5,520.00
Monitoring CSF	7 days	Wed 8/6/18	Wed 8/13/18	$9,120.00
Incorporating user engagement data into the marketing plan	3 days	Wed 8/13/18	Sat 8/16/18	$5,280.00
Closure phase	10 days	Sun 8/17/18	Tue 8/27/18	$3,320.00
Sign off stakeholder	2 days	Sun 8/17/18	Tue 8/19/18	$1,520.00
Post-project review	3 days	Tue 8/19/18	Fri 8/22/18	$1,080.00
Documentation	5 days	Fri 8/22/18	Tue 8/27/18	$720.00

Utilizing these project aspects for considering the time management requirements, the quality of the digital technology adoption project will be enhanced. In addition, this will also be able to enhance the business activities of the company including the HR activities, accounting activities, managing activities and operational activities (Fleming and Koppelman 2016). The project will then successfully address the requirements of the technology and will then be able to meet the needs of the company in terms of business activities and customer satisfaction levels.

Time Management Plan

This section of the project plan includes a communication aspect that has to be followed for creating a link between the various personnel responsible for the project.

Description	Type	Target audience	Delivery method	Delivery frequency	Responsible
1.Project Status	Mandatory type	Sponsors, present committee	Personal email	Once	Project manager
2.Project budget	Informational type	Team leader of the project	Conference and personal email	When required	Financial manager
3.Resource requirement	Informational type	Employees	Conference and email	Monthly basis	Resource manager
4.Risk management plans	Informational type	Employees	Conference and email	Weekly basis	Risk manager

This section of the project plan discusses about the presence of various risks to the system. This risk management plan will list all the associated risks to the system and will also list the mitigation plans for them.

Risk 1: The absence of an appropriate monitoring system for CSF (customer satisfaction)

Risk identification is done as collection of information from various sources. This is supposed to be a project related risk. Risk management is done by reducing information mis-management. The mitigation plan involves monitoring of critical success factor for the project. This will properly help in addressing the efficiency in the system.

Risk 2: Lack of security standards in the system

Identification is done by documenting the risk. This is a system based risk. Risk management is done by enhancing the network for solving the security issues. The problems associated to the project and the system of must be mitigated in a proper way. This must be done for the successful development of the project.

Risk 3: Improper estimation and accounting of the budget

Lack of financial accounting in the balance sheet of the company related to the project leads to identification of risks. This is a financial risk. The risk management involves properly analyzing the accounts of the system. The budget plan of the project and the accounting systems must b properly analyzed such that an efficient accounting system is adopted.  

Risk 4: Absence of proper allocation of required resources

The absence of resources can be identified by the lack of goods which will lead to the project coming to a halt. This is a resource based risk. The personnel who are responsible for the project need to make a successful evaluation of the resources required so that any kind of deficiency is not seen in the project life cycle. In addition, the progress parts of the project must meet the set deadline to get an analysis of the resources to utilize in hand.

Risk 5: Lack of great management skills

The use of management tools and methodologies can help in identifying the presence of any absence of skills. This is a management based risk. The need for effective managerial decisions is required for successfully analyzing the project requirements. In addition, the need to consider the resources and other aspects of the project is necessary.  The project must be managed successfully such that the entire project will be completed successfully within the assumed time.

Communication Plan

The main resources that are considered in this project are:

 Financial resource: The budget that is needed for completing the project successfully is around $91,560.00. These resources will be utilized for the finance section of the project.

Human resource: The human resources comprises of the personnel and the staffs of the company who will be responsible for the project. The numbers of human resources which will be utilized in this project are:

Resource Name	Type	Max. Units	Standard Rate	Overtime Rate	Cost/Use	Accrue At	Base Calendar
Project manager	Work	100%	$40.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Project planner	Work	100%	$35.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Resource manager	Work	100%	$55.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Financial manager	Work	100%	$60.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Supervisor	Work	100%	$55.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Quality analyzer	Work	100%	$25.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Quality manager	Work	100%	$15.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard
Risk analyst	Work	100%	$30.00/hr	$0.00/hr	$0.00	Prorated	Standard

Figure 1: Gantt chart

(Source: Created by the author)

Figure 2: Work breakdown structure

(Source: Created by the author)

This section of the paper discusses about the methods that will be used for carrying out the research of the data. The methods applied for achieving success in this case is termed as the research methodology processes. This paper has utilized the positivism approach which is mainly involved with the collection of data utilizing the scientific methods of collection (Clemence, Doise and Lorenzi-Cioldi 2014). Moreover, the author has utilized the deductive research approach methods which will be involved in scientific investigation from previous journals.

This paper will also involve the collection of data from various sources and analyzing them. This paper will utilize mixed data collection methods. This means that both the primary and the secondary data collection methods will be involved. In case of primary data collection methods, the utilization of surveys and interview questions will be followed (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). Similarly, in case of secondary data collection, the utilization of online journals, articles and government databases will be used. Moreover, the data analysis methods for analyzing the data will be utilized which will involve both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis processes.

The author of this paper has conducted a survey with 50 employees of AO.com. There are five different and close-ended questions that are provided in the survey questionnaire. The answers provided by the participants have been taken as data for this study.

1. How many years are you working in the company?

Options	Number of responses	Percentage of response (%)	Total respondents
Less than 1 year	13	26	50
1-2 years	13	26	50
2-5 years	11	22	50
5-10 years	6	12	50
More than 10 years	7	14	50

Figure 3: Experience of employees in the company

(Source: Created by the author)

Analysis: In the diagram depicted above, the analysis is mainly done by considering the experience of the employees who are working in this company. There are five different options for the employees which denote the number of years they have been working in AO.com. These options are less than 1 year, 1-2 years, 2-5 years, 6-10 years and more than 10 years. According to the survey conducted, 26% of employees have been working in AO.com less than 1 year. Similarly, 26% of employees have experience from 1-2 years. Furthermore, 22% of the remaining employees have 2-5 years of experience. Moreover, 12% of the remaining employees have 5-10 years of work experience. Lastly, the remaining employees which contribute to 14% have more than 10 years of experience.

1. What are the benefits of digital technology?

Options	Number of responses	Percentage of response (%)	Total respondents
Better communications	17	33.3	50
Global reach	12	22.9	50
Market analytics	9	16.7	50
Better CRM	5	10.4	50
Enhanced brand image	9	16.7	50

Risk Management Plan

Figure 4: Benefits of digital technology adoptions

(Sources: Created by the author)

Analysis: In the above figure, the main discussion is about the benefits of digital technology. There are five different criteria which make up the chart. According to 33.3% employees, better communication is considered to be a benefit. In addition, 22.9% of employees consider global reach as the main benefit of the applied technology. Moreover, 16.7% of employees consider the main utilization of digital technologies to be market analytics. Furthermore, 10.4% of the employees consider the betterment of customer relationship management as a sole benefit of digital technology. Lastly, 16.7% of the employees consider the increase of brand image due to digital technology adoptions.

1. Do you agree with the implementation of digital technologies in your company?

Options	Number of responses	Percentage of response (%)	Total respondents
Strongly disagree	5	10	50
Disagree	5	10	50
Neutral	13	26	50
Agree	15	30	50
Strongly agree	12	24	50

Figure 5: Level of agreeing to digital adoptions

(Source: Created by the author)

Analysis: The above depicted figure denotes the level of employee agreeability to digital adoptions. This also shows the five different metrics depending on their satisfactions level. 10% of employees strongly agree to the digital technology adoptions. 10% of the remaining employees disagree to it. Another 26% of employees are neutral to digital technologies. Furthermore, 30% of employees agree to the adoption of digital technologies in business. Lastly, 24% employees strongly agree to the adoption of digital innovations.

1. What are the risks involved in adopting digital technologies?

Options	Number of responses	Percentage of response (%)	Total respondents
Data privacy	10	20	50
Cyber attacks	11	22	50
Bigger infrastructure	11	22	50
Extensive competition	9	18	50
Reputation based risks	9	18	50

Figure 6: Risks of digital technology adoptions

(Source: Created by the author)

Analysis: The diagram shown above displays the statistics of the risks related to digital technology based adoptions. According to the statistics, 20% of the employees think that data privacy is a major risk of digital technologies. In addition, 22% of employees are concerned that cyber attacks are another risk of digital technologies. Another 22% of employees think that a requirement for better infrastructure is a risk to the system. Moreover, due to extensive competition in the market, the risk due to this is being identified by 18% employees. Lastly, the remaining 18% of employees are concerned with reputation based risks of the company.

1. What are the risk mitigation policies of your company?

Options	Number of responses	Percentage of response (%)	Total respondents
Secure network system	11	22.4	50
Firewall and VPNs	10	20.4	50
Virtualization and cloud technology	9	18.4	50
Cryptography and encryption	10	20.4	50
Customer retention policies	9	18.4	50

Figure 7: Risk mitigation policies

(Source: Created by the author)

Analysis: The chart depicted above denotes the risk mitigation policies that are being applied by the employees in the company AO.com. There are 5 options which are represented in the chart. 22.4% of the respondents think that using a secure network system can help in mitigating the risks involved. On the other hand, 20.4% of the employees think that using a firewall or VPN can help in mitigating the risks involved. Moreover, 18.4% of the responses correspond to the use of virtualization and cloud computing technologies. Furthermore, 20.4% of employees think that cryptography and encryption standards can mitigate the risks. Lastly, 18.4% of employees think that customer retention policies can mitigate the risks involved.

Resources Required

Question 1: How digital technology has helped your company?

1st Manager	2nd manager	3rd Manager
“According to me, the use of the technology in the company have helped in enhancing the technical framework of the company “	“I think that the digital technology have enhanced the security system of the company by the use of different security protocols”	“As per my view, digital technology has increased the initial cost for the company.”

Analysis: The first manager describes about the enhanced technical framework of the company with the use of the digital technology in the company. According to the second manager, the digital technology have helped in maintaining the security systems of their company, the security of data and information in the company have been maintained with the helped in digital technology. The third manager have argued with the concept and stated that it have increased the initial cost of the company.

Question 2: What risks are involved in the digital technology?

1st Manager	2nd manager	3rd Manager
“According to me, the security of the data has been hampered over the internet“	“I think that the digital technology have created chances for cyber-attacks on the server due to the use of security protocols in company.”	“As per my view, these risks might degrade the reputation of the company in the market.”

Analysis: According to the first manger, security of data has been a risk for the digital technology. The second manger focuses on the cyber-attacks in the server of the company. Harmful viruses and malwares might attack in the server of the company. The data loss might degrade the reputation of company in the market.

Question 3: What are risk mitigation strategies for the digital technologies?

1st Manager	2nd manager	3rd Manager
“According to me, use of virtualization in the cloud platform might mitigate the risks of excessive storage.”	“I think that use of firewalls might mitigate the cyber-attacks on the server.”	“As per my view, cryptography might help in mitigating in data loss.”

Analysis: The first manager states about the use of virtualization in the cloud computing might help in reducing storage problem. The use of the firewalls might help in reducing the cyber-attacks in the system. The use of cryptography might help in minimizing the data loss in the company. These mitigating strategies might help in minimizing the risks involved in the digital technology implemented in the companies.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that the utilization of digital technologies can be adopted by considering all the applied costs of the system. These associated costs are depicted in the project details above in this paper. Moreover, the required timeline has also been depicted in the form of a Gantt chart. In addition, the work breakdown structure to follow the project has also been depicted in this paper. Moreover, this paper includes a research section where data from employees of AO.com are collected and analyzed. From these data, an effective research analysis is considered which involves the utilization of various collection and analysis methods. It can thus be depicted from the analysis that the utilization of the digital technologies provides risks to the system which can be mitigated by the adoption of better technological implementation processes.

AO.com is a very large ecommerce innovation which is mainly involved in the selling of electronic appliances. The business processes involved in AO.com needs to be improved so that better functionalities can be gained. This section lists various recommendations that can be associated with the existing system of the company.

Gantt Chart

Cloud technologies and virtualization

The adoption of these technologies can lead to the reduction in the physical infrastructure of the company which in turn will lead to better profits made by the company. In addition, this will also help the company to address to the needs of the customer in an efficient and fast way.  

Customer retention policies

The utilization of a better customer retention policy can help in addressing to the needs of the customer. This will also help in enhancing the brand image of AO.com in the international markets as well.

References

Ao.com. (2018). ao.com | Washing Machines | TVs | Computers | 7 Day Delivery. [online] Available at: https://ao.com/ 

Ardolino, M., Rapaccini, M., Saccani, N., Gaiardelli, P., Crespi, G. and Ruggeri, C., 2017. The role of digital technologies for the service transformation of industrial companies. International Journal of Production Research, pp.1-17.

Atkinson, R., Crawford, L. and Ward, S., 2016. Fundamental uncertainties in projects and the scope of project management. International journal of project management, 24(8), pp.687-698.

Baccarini, D., 2014. The logical framework method for de?ning project success. Project management journal, 30(4), pp.25-32.

Belassi, W. and Tukel, O.I., 2013. A new framework for determining critical success/failure factors in projects. International journal of project management, 14(3), pp.141-151.

Clark, K.B., 2015. Project scope and project performance: the effect of parts strategy and supplier involvement on product development. Management science, 35(10), pp.1247-1263.

Clemence, A., Doise, W. and Lorenzi-Cioldi, F., 2014. The quantitative analysis of social representations. Routledge: Routledge.

Collins, W., Parrish, K. and Gibson Jr, G.E., 2017. Development of a Project Scope Definition and Assessment Tool for Small Industrial Construction Projects. Journal of Management in Engineering, 33(4), pp.34-38.

Crawford, J.K., 2014. Project management maturity model. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

da Silva, A.M.A., da Silva, J.V.B. and de Almeida, I.D., 2016. The role of digital technologies in the innovation of collaborative networks: the case of the ornamental stones in Portugal. In Proceedings of The 20th Cambridge International Manufacturing Symposium–Architecting the digital supply chain-the implications of digitalisation for global manufacturing, University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge, UK (pp. 29-30).

Dumont, P.R., Gibson Jr, G.E. and Fish, J.R., 2017. Scope management using project definition rating index. Journal of Management in Engineering, 13(5), pp.54-60.

Eisenhardt, K.M., Graebner, M.E. and Sonenshein, S., 2016. Grand challenges and inductive methods: Rigor without rigour mortis. Academy of Management Journal, 59(4), pp.1113-1123.

El-Sabaa, S., 2015. The skills and career path of an effective project manager. International journal of project management, 19(1), pp.1-7.

Work Breakdown Structure

Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, December. Earned value project management. Project Management Institute.

Fleming, Q.W. and Koppelman, J.M., 2016, Earned value project management. Project Management Institute, 2(3), pp.45-46.

Groshen, E.L., Moyer, B.C., Aizcorbe, A.M., Bradley, R. and Friedman, D.M., 2017. How Government Statistics Adjust for Potential Biases from Quality Change and New Goods in an Age of Digital Technologies: A View from the Trenches. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), pp.187-210.

Hämmerle, C.H., Cordaro, L., Assche, N., Benic, G.I., Bornstein, M., Gamper, F., Gotfredsen, K., Harris, D., Hürzeler, M., Jacobs, R. and Kapos, T., 2015. Digital technologies to support planning, treatment, and fabrication processes and outcome assessments in implant dentistry. Summary and consensus statements. The 4th EAO consensus conference 2015. Clinical oral implants research, 26(S11), pp.97-101.

Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley & Sons.

Mapua Lim, R., Novo de Azevedo, L. and Cooper, J., 2016. Embracing the conceptual shift on new ways of experiencing the city and learning urban design: pedagogical methods and digital technologies. Journal of Urban Design, 21(5), pp.638-660.

Matt, C., Hess, T. and Benlian, A., 2015. Digital transformation strategies. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 57(5), pp.339-343.

Percy, K., Ward, S., Quintero, M.S. and Morrison, T., 2015. Integrated Digital Technologies for the Architectural Rehabilitation & Conservation of Beinn Bhreagh Hall & Surrounding Site, Nova Scotia, Canada. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2(5), p.235.

Pink, S., Hjorth, L., Horst, H., Nettheim, J. and Bell, G., 2017. Digital work and play: Mobile technologies and new ways of feeling at home. European Journal of Cultural Studies, p.1367549417705602.

Rikkerink, M., Verbeeten, H., Simons, R.J. and Ritzen, H., 2016. A new model of educational innovation: Exploring the nexus of organizational learning, distributed leadership, and digital technologies. Journal of Educational Change, 17(2), pp.223-249.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

Walker, A., 2015. Project management in construction. John Wiley & Sons.

Wang, L., Wang, G. and Alexander, C.A., 2015. Big data and visualization: methods, challenges and technology progress. Digital Technologies, 1(1), pp.33-38.

Wright, N., 2015. A case for adapting and applying continuance theory to education: Understanding the role of student feedback in motivating teachers to persist with including digital technologies in learning. Teachers and Teaching, 21(4), pp.459-471.