Master of Business Management in Marketing Program

For Group and Individual Assignements

Subject Details
Subject Research Methodology
Subject Code MBMM 52073
Students Details
Group Name
No
Student Name Student Number Signature

1 K H D D Wijerathna FGS/MBM/2019/038 K H D D Wijerathna

Nature of the Assessment Report

Assignment topic Research Proposal

Learning Outcomes
Word count 4500 words
Time for the presentation (Eg: 10 Min & 5 min Q &A) -
Due date / Time 13 March 2020
Individual / Group Declaration
I certify that the content of the above assignment is one of my original work and not copied from any of
the published or internet-based documents. Without references I have not used any of the other person’s
original work or ideas. So, the report or the work we have done is free of plagiarism.
Signature (Individual
K H D D Wijerathna Date 15 March 2020
Assignment)

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Table of Contents

1. Background of the study..................................................................................................................... 3

2. Industry Overview .............................................................................................................................. 6
2.1 Industry.............................................................................................................................................. 6
2.2 Industry SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................. 8
3. Research Problem and Justification .................................................................................................. 9
3.1 Problem Statement: .......................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 Literature Highlights ........................................................................................................................ 9
6. Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 10
7. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................................ 16
7.1 Objectives: ....................................................................................................................................... 16
7.2 Research Question: ......................................................................................................................... 16
7.3 Hypothesis: ...................................................................................................................................... 17
8. Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................................... 18
References .............................................................................................................................................. 19

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 1. Background of the study

The education industry has a pervasive problem in terms of adapting to new technology with the
workforce as well as in the process. There is no amount of digital investment has attained in the
process of education or e-learning culture where it helps financially and productivity when the
workforce is stuck in the alignment of practical implementation towards digital transformation.
Digital Transformation is the concept drives to transform all the areas of a business with digital
technology. This concept including digital platforms, digital devices, digital data, digital media,
and digital technology enabling the effect of Digital Transformation in a business. This changes
the way business operate (business model), how people connect and exchange information and
how they interact other stakeholders. When 1980’s invents the WWW (Internet) where the public
got the accessibility to the information through and over national territories. Digital
Transformation is completely collective effort of departments of a business reimagine and redesign
the way company operates and connect people with newest effective process structures in the
purpose of reducing the costs and light the consumer expectations. In 2016, the industries like
financial, telecom, retail disrupted in converting the process with Digital Transformation. First
movement of the production-based companies moved to implement ERP & SAP systems in terms
of transformation where one of the components of Digital Transformation. It collaborates every
stakeholder and made quite impressive information sharing platform to the people. Even it gives
very slow uplift to the people and still giving bogus information when man involvement in data
entering and processing. In 2017, the trend become more challenging. Because, digital budgets
went over implementing software solutions. Most of the social media platforms came to major role
in business revenue generation and promotions. In 2018, the researchers and technological
background emphasis on digital devices like scanners, detectors, cameras, mobile and IOT devices
(Internet of Things) combined with network gives more flexibility in business operation and also
real time data processing, accuracy came to the most of researcher’s topic. Now, still digital
transformation dominates the business strategy in the presence of apps, AI, AI bots, Big Data, IOT,
and embed technology in everyday transactions. The pressure comes to business from the
transformation to cut expenses, minimize risk, and keep up demand from consumers can be
handled through a holistic approach with Digital Transformation.

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Upskilling workforce is a beneficial both end of a business where it allows employees new skills
and opportunities and at the same time company benefit from redundant costs for new employee
hiring, training, absenteeism and employee turnover. Business to emerge stronger in a pandemic
like Covid-19, has to start upskilling existing workforce. It is proven that upskilling is smaller
investment than hiring and training a new worker. The digital transformation is one of the most
effective strategy where businesses invest on upskilling and restructuring business to leverage
profit where boost the bottom line when upskilling strategy also play a major role. Upskilling
creates employee motivation where no one would like to work when the company doesn’t invest
to its employee’s career development. On the other hand, motivated employees drive satisfied
customers. In an education service company, it is a crucial ability to lead happy customers.
Customers are willing to pay more for better service, proactive team, and up to date knowledgeable
workforce and thus the customers become stronger brand advocates for the company. To avoid the
employee become obsolete, business has to focus on upskilling and prepared for the change. And
specially, adapting to the post pandemic ways of working will be crucial in building the workforce.
The pressure will be drastic large in terms of lockdowns and uncertainty of the pandemic when it
is possible to change the way of business operates almost overnight. Remote working currency
towards Sri Lanka was almost a gain before the pandemic. Managers have to focus on at least 5%
of n-site employees to work remotely. In this situation it automatically forces the employees to
upskilling. Then for an online tutoring service even easy to implement remote work but has
adjusting the way of business management evolve in managing in any skill gap and how it can be
sorted where actually faced to trial and errors. It is mainly the leader’s ability to build a workforce
with upskill rechanging the business model and get productivity and effectiveness.

Analysis Process Automation as the moderator for above two major points, where digital
transformation impacts the remote workforce upskilling performance. The automation of data
analysis is some platform where enable remote workers to get automated analysis of their
performance without interleaving someone else to assess. As a remote teacher, he/she would be
trained on special training of techniques and methods to communicate perfectly the session through
online platform. It will be a one-to-one session where accessible interactive board on screen and
video shared to make the session more interactive to the student. Now, for this operation selecting
working hours, delivering number of sessions and quality of the delivery and finally the pay and
benefits of doing. These functions hold pain data point in business view. Because the revenue

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based on retention of the students to many sessions and to attain more new students to tutor. Thus,
it is a tutor centric operational structure to operate but student centric service delivering. Thus, in
terms of Analysis Process Automation which is self-service data analytics which is easily available
and accessible to everyone in the company. It automates the data analysis in terms of upskilling
employee and make fast and informed decisions in the use of machine learning, artificial
intelligence and various improved analysis models. This is an effort on analysis, it is already
available data, you will pick what data you need, and perform analysis then export into multiple
reporting formats and finally share it with the relevant stakeholders. For online tutoring platform,
it needs everyday real time data which is absolutely critical. For an instance, tutors do several
sessions in a day to different students. For the business success depend on constantly managing
and ensuring quality sessions are delivered with using the optimum resources. And also, managers
need to see how many tutors are idle, delivered on-time, session quality etc. When the session
delivered online all the data points related to that can be gathered but has to mapped according to
the different users of the system. The question is when data is everywhere and the volume of the
data to refine and make them use like all the key level of employees has to be better exposed to
data concepts unless the features like data visualization, correlations, clusters, and flexible
discoveries are useless. Thus, Data Analytics Automation foster Digital Transformation to create
robust upskilled workforce to continues change in business environment.

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 2. Industry Overview
2.1 Industry

Global E-learning categorize under Primar and Secondary Education, Higher Education, Online
Certification and Professional Course, and test preparation and exposed to 14.6% annual growth
14.6% USD in 2019 -2026 period. This classification of online learning done according to
technology, the massive online platforms like Skill Share, Udemy, Coursera and Learning
Management Systems also play a major part. On the other hand, there are service providers like
having own platform to create content, offer hosting, technical support, analyze, deliver actual
courses, sessions to requested customers. In this research, it will be discussing under the second
classification where act as a service provider with all the features catering quality e-learning
service.

The teaching and learning market are bit challenging in terms of market dynamics. Consequently,
the success of online-teaching depend on series of actions like well-formed diagnostic analysis,
and how much gamification in the learning application, how extent teacher engages students,
learning material and the final assessments of learning objectives.

Figure 2.1 E-learning Market (Source: https://www.imarcgroup.com/e-learning-market)

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E-learning financial models like free market, social market and anti-market share the economy
with different sustainable programs.

Model Description Aim

Free Market The government controls and Equal opportunities to all
reduce the education spending
by owning available
mechanisms.
Social Market Government and private Outreach towards middle
institutes partnership in class learners
developing, and investments
from private sector to reduce
government funding. This
model motivates e-learning
development.
Anti-Market E-learning financed from the Education quality
government. improvement via feedback
analysis.

Table 2. 1: Source (https://www.imarcgroup.com/e-learning-market)

Due to spread of corona virus, governments of number of different countries announced complete
lockdowns as a preventive action towards schooling students. Thus, a result of that, most out of
schools switched to online virtual classes instead physical to cover their curriculum. And it shows
complete raise of mobile and digital device sales over this pandemic time where digital devices
play major inter1mediary main object to communicate and engage e-learning activities. This has
made cost-effective way of delivering the class as well a cover for pandemic situation. But there
is a limitation to apply the technology and e-learning in subject eras like agriculture and healthcare.

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2.2 Industry SWOT Analysis

Major strength of E-learning service company is when own hosted platform get username and
password to access anywhere easily. It enables the mode of flexibility, agility, and geographical
liberation (Brown & Charlier, 2012). Going forward the following pain points can be listed under
SWOT.

Strengths:
• Own hosted platform is a competitive
advantage
• Easy access in any place anywhere
• Not crowded as massive platforms in a
hosted platform
• One- to-one sessions personalized
online-tutoring
• Easy establishing to new customers
through technology
• Integration of analytical reporting
technology
Weakness:
• Tutor swaps and unavailability
• Has to compete with latest technology
everyday
• Administration support in hiring and
training tutors
• Student feedback misperception in
language semantics and ambiguity
• Incompatible for practical learning
courses

Opportunities: Threats:
• Advances of Information Technology • Industry Rivals
(communication practices, digital • Security and authorization issues
learning tools, personalized learning). • Threat towards uniqueness and
• Include up-to-date user experience for consistency
best user experience • Compliance and global education
standards

Table 2.2 SWOT

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 3. Research Problem and Justification

3.1 Problem Statement:

The impact of Digital Transformation on upskilling workforce with moderating impact of analytic
process automation towards an e-learning service company in Sri Lanka.

3.2 Literature Highlights

It is said that the Digital Business Transformation is the application of technology to build new
business models, processes, software and systems that results in more profitable revenue, greater
competitive advantage, and higher efficiency (K. Schwerter, 2017).

"Companies need a digital business platform that is outcome driven and enabled by technology"
(Bradley J., L. James, J. Macaulay, А. Noronha, M. Wade, 2015).

"minimize employee resistance and cost to the organization while simultaneously maximizing of
the change effort." How much enables efficient reuse of functionality, eliminating duplicative
efforts and allowing you to focus on the new and innovative (K. Schwerter, 2017).

The challenge of managing and analyzing the volume of business data. "Need of cloud models and
BI tools to face the challenge" (K. Schwertner ,2017).

Many services represent datasets or queries over datasets. An integration platform of then requires
the ability to “service enable “raw datasets connecting to databases, defining queries and mapping
the results in to a well-defined service interface, reshaping data, and bridging service authorization
and data authorization domains (By Jonathan Marsh Vice President -Strategy, WSO2).

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6. Literature Review

Digital Transformation in a business is a disrupting the operations in daily basis breaking down
the barriers between people and business objective in terms of optimizing and reduce overheads.
And it creates new products, re-shape services and make more efficient (Bradley J., & etl.,2015).
The ability to transform business activities with digital technology empower workforce efficiency
and innovation to build personalize customer experience. Bradley suggested that to do this,
company needs a digital business platform.

The application of IT is critical in digital business platform implementation. In modern business

practice digital business platform holds significant percentage of driving mechanism in market
economy. The sense of business is to get the advantage by using reengineering process in the
context of business objectives. It changes the traditional thinking and assumptions in the business
conduct. This is why technology has radically involved in each and every field. They influence
significantly business activity to whole business and individual to social unit in real world. First
technology is a tool to change the business processes in order to get efficiency and effectiveness
and to produce high quality products. The implementation of Information Technology in the
business environment affects the people who are working according to the business objective.
Then it causes to change the realization and futuristic assumptions. Thus, the managers have to
handle organizational changes and advanced technology as well. Then integrate these two in order
to get the competitive power (Ivaylo Stoyanov, 2008).

The ideology of radical change is the change of business operations in the modern industry. It
cannot be achieved without tangible practical applications and appropriate tools and instruments.
In this sense, main indicators of implementing effective digital business platform are very much
related to advanced technology adaption. In technological aspect digital business platform
implementation process is an expression of flexible market and competitive adaptive to
continuously changing business environment. In this concept there are two different directions of
influence on the business process. In one hand digital business platform implementation processes
and other hand their automation with technology. These two approaches make different levels of
change in implementation and maintenance. Full automation does not mean the effectiveness and
efficiency deploy. But it supports the processes when necessary, in different conditions. The

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managers who do not consider the above-mentioned point get failed in implementing digital
business platform in organizations. Information Technology is sole condition for well performed
digital business platform process to support with. And digital business platform implementation
effort requires modern Information technology and people motivation in order to achieve the
optimal result from digital business platform. Thus, it is important to identify the importance of
change and the mode of technology to adapt.

The digital data and Information Technology can review as two interrelated element that influence
business digital transformation in a way that forms the correspondent consumer value as the result.
In digital transformation formation that lies on several activities and it depend on different kind of
data. In this sense the managers should get relevance data from various functions like operational
and managerial. With this respect, it is possible to use different information systems in order to
optimize operations and communication as well. There are different modes of data analysis of
according to the information availability found in literatures by various researchers and
practitioners.

Role of ERP as Digital Transformation enabled concept

Due to significant changes in technology, more and more companies have implemented ERP
system in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency of information supply. Analytic and
strategic tasks of management accounting have changed increasingly and contemporary
management accounting is deemed to be almost impossible without IT systems. Enterprise
Resource Planning system is an integrated system which is used by company (especially
manufacturing) with all business functions including Planning, Sales, Marketing, finance,
inventory, human resource and purchasing.

Since customers, investors and creditors are able to see an overview picture of the organization’s
plans and activities. The techniques like budgetary control, cost control, profit analysis, sales
analysis and variance analysis use the ERP systems. Since using ERP systems management
accountants has transformed to less involvement of data entry activities, more involvement in
design the business processes. ERP systems have contributed to the work of management
accountants: more effective, more efficient, better decisions, more responsive to accounting
problems, more accuracy of forecasts, and better understanding of cost behavior Since ERP
provides combined activities using central database that maintained by database management

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system, it is easy handle business processes effectively. ERP systems that enable to track reliable
information including cash, raw materials, production capacity, purchase orders, and payroll. ERP
applications that make the system exchange data via the various departments (Production,
purchasing, sales service, finance, etc.) that entered the data. Since ERP facilitates information
flow between all business functions, the decisions can be able to make reliably. ERP system an
important organizational tool because it integrates varied organizational systems and facilitates
error-free transactions and production.

Organizations had to be expanding their IT skills in order to exploit the benefits of ERP.

a) Effects of management Accountants through the use of an ERP system

b) Routing Activities are taken over by the ERP system itself (E.g.: data collection, transfer
of data and information)

c) Time exposure spent on certain task can be reduces

d) More time can be spent on analytical and strategic tasks

e) Redefying the tasks

In the invention of internet in 1990, was revolution in every field. Then the Internet of everything
comes to the action in industry. While improving the technology in the internet, Internet of things
came by empowering all kind of industries in the world. Internet of Things (IoT) describes
digitization and internet enabled integration with physical objects in a networked environment
(Rosemann, M. ,2014).

IoT has discussed comprehensively in the terms of engineering and in different perspectives like
Business to Business (B2B), Business to Customer (B2C), And particularly the practitioner’s
notion of Business to Thing (B2T) (Atzori, L., A. Iera and G. Morabito ,2010). Many organizations
adapt advanced technology in order to survive in the field. In this way IoT aimed assisting people
by optimizing the processes through sensors, microprocessors, and smart chips in a networked
environment (Li, Y., M. Hou, & et al, 2012).

The practitioners and researchers define this concept as a connectivity of physical objects through
internet via data communication technology by enabling the users to interact with the objects
(Boos, D., H. Guenter ,2013). Once the IoT enabled in an object called smart object. This excludes

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personal computers, smartphones, and tablets as well. IoT based services and products which
included process innovations are business centric context. Mainly in the supply management in an
organization can get greater visibility, efficiency, cost effectiveness, and process agility (Porter,
M. E. and J. E. Heppelmann ,2014). And it enables more accurate forecasting of information on
stock situations (Boos, D., H. Guenter ,2013) The conceptualization of B2T interaction pattern,
how IoT reshape the interaction between business, customers and smart objects.

Either Customized digital platform or ERP and integrated IOT can be used in managing the
information shares across various functions of a business. Thus, there more effective modes to be
added to improve the efficiency in making decisions when it’s come to Data as a pain point of this
study.

Figure 6.1 Digital Transformation (Source: Digital_transformation_conceptual_framework)

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Role of Data in Digital transformation
There should also be a road map of data integration and a model to connect the data.

Figure 6.2: Data integration focused output (Source: Author)

Data from various sources interact with each other in processing insightful visuals from ERP which
are reports, dashboards & files. Clear & preparation of data from mobile will be transformed into
understandable format and interact with other functions, transactions in ERP to process relevant
deliverables. For instance, sales performance reports will be derived by ERP breaking down into
direct sales, through mobile apps and social media.

ERP as an enabler does a major role in terms of data which is used in decision making. The start
point of any fact based decisions like financials, budgeting and for the current business
environment throughout every point of business. Then these data will be processed under
uniformed versions of analysis models in terms of deriving charts, menus, dashboards and reports.
The preceding process for analytics automations to streamline data processing and make fast
decisions, intelligence automation for Business intelligence and robust data consistency
throughout the business. This kind of implementation has succeeded 86% around the world from
ROI within a minimum period of time.

Managing data comes after a period of time when the volume of data increases, and then it becomes
a problem to manage and analyze. Then it has to move to cloud space where it gives flexibility
from costs and scalability (K. Schwertner,2017).

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Every moment of the business transaction through different devices generates massive amounts of
data. Companies are struggling on how these data is being handled and used to get competitive
advantage. Big data & business analytics challenge the workforce with unlimited technology
adaptation in analyzing and giving insights from the generated data (Chen et al. 2012; Loeb-becke
and Picot 2015). The value driven answers from big data and analytics derive how and what is
meant by different data from different sources and elaborate integrity and dependencies to increase
company performance (Mayhew et al. 2016). Agarwal stated that big data is the most significant
technological disruption in business (Agarwal and Dhar 2014).
Collaborative skills are rapidly increasing among the students with the growing wicked challenges
around the world. Importance of the digitalization and IT skills of education institutes also
increasing with international policies and standards. Higher wages are given to higher levels of
ICT skills such as automation while it will reduce the other job opportunities in different fields.
When education institutes are adopting their own digitalization strategies their students also used
to adopt new innovative ways of learning with using new technology which will boost twenty first
century skills. (Bond, et al., 2018)

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7. Conceptual Framework

Figure 7.1 Conceptual Framework

7.1 Objectives:
To research on digital transformation in business (e-learning service)

To analyze the impact of digital transformation to upskilling workforce

To investigate the effectiveness data analytics automation in digital transformation (Mediating)

To emphasis effectiveness automation towards upskilling and cost structure to a company

7.2 Research Question:

RQ1 – How does digital transformation in e- learning business model?

RQ2 – What are the factors or basis of transformation effective in organizational upskilling?

RQ3 -How effective data analytics automation makes fast results under digital transformation?

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7.3 Hypothesis:

H1 - How digital transformation impact on upskilling

H2 – How digital platform impact upskilling

H3 – How Digital data impact on upskilling

H4 – Digital Media impact on upskilling

H5 – How scale of automation impact on upskilling

H6 – How data analytics automation mediates in Digital transformation

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8. Significance of the Study

The significance of the study comes when the data analytics automation makes faster ROI than
individual transformation in a company. Data points are every where in a business and people
more likely to drop most of the data to proceed in sheets, software tools but there are ways of
machine learning, artificial intelligence work in building one-time upgradable solutions to give
freedom to data. Only a blank page will appear in a portal where each employee in the company
plays around the data and get the insights optimized. These is futuristic concept that can be used
in every second upgrading the way the process of analysis to be done. In this study the main
endeavor is to justify how well and how extent data analytics automation make faster decisions
and drive fast ROI for a company in upskilling and at the same time reduce the costs incurred in
employee management process.

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