GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT.

TECHNOLOGY: ASSISTUP

Valeria Álvarez
Sara Castro
Paola Jiménez
Sofia Peñaranda
Juliana Roca
Natalia Santisteban

E-Commerce

Teacher:
J Sebastian Betancourt Ch.
Introduction

In Colombia, university education is that stage of permanent training, for professional

training from the undergraduate stage to the doctorate stage. It is that education after high school,

a different system, and processes, where students go through stages in their maturity and in their

study processes, in this way the educational system implements monitors to give support not

only to those in the first year but to all students throughout the university and by careers.

However, to find suitable teaching assistants to teach and give appropriate guidance in the

academic training of such students it is important that teachers have some knowledge about these

teaching assistants that will guide their subject outside the classroom. In this way, at the

Colombian level, an application or platform has not been developed that allows a connection to

be made between the teacher's assistant and himself. This was necessary since there is a

significant lack in this teacher-teacher assistive interaction, since in some cases teachers do not

have time or a platform that facilitates the selection of these students.

Therefore, AssistUp was developed, a platform that allows teachers to connect with

qualified students with motivation to guide their academic subject, in this way it is implemented

to make it easier for teachers to select the selection process and for students, assistant’s teacher

to be, since they can apply in a more easy and practical way, where their grades and averages per

subject are appreciated and also, not only apply but the same system when seeing the academic

averages of these students offer them to the teacher of the subject of interest.

Business description

Mission
 The mission statement of AssistUp is to build bridges and support each other, through the

connections made and communicating what is worth sharing. This business idea came up after

identifying the lack of alternatives for this beneficial professional relationship, between the

professor of one or more designated classes and their potential teaching assistants. The purpose

is to have a win-win situation, to enhance the searching for an assistant from part of the

professor, which can be exhausting giving that not all the students qualify with the requirements,

nor they are teacher assistants for other classes and cannot help. From the point of view of the

student, it can provide a new source of income, while helping the professor and the students

improving their skills and adding an attractive activity for their resumé. It is a professional

network, where the students can be recommended and evaluated by previous professors they

have worked for before, granting credibility.

The platform works as a business site to allow a Consumer-to-Consumer model, where

there is an interaction between consumers and both profit from one another. Therefore, the prime

client of the platform are the educational organizations, such as universities, to implement the

mobile application in their operations, to provide more value to their employees and students

(customers). The way we operate is as an intermediary online, working as a functional portal that

performs as a directory for the parties involved. It is a directory for the professor to look for a

tutor and/or post a vacancy for their class with the skills needed and is a directory for students

interested to look for offers of being a teaching assistant for a class they already took. Our core

business purpose is that we want to be a partner for the organization, to enhance their operations

and create value applying the concept of reintermediation, being an alternative that makes the

process more efficient, having two services in one platform.

 According to Bart et al. (2005), personal recommendations are the 64% of the most trust

drivers at the time of entering an e-commerce. We know that this is a professional network, but

we want to project it as having the confidence that there are individuals that are going to benefit

from it, being reliable that the recommendations are going to be made by other individuals that

may help your decision. As Schafer (1999) states, E-commerce sites will towards to maximize

the value of the customer to their site, providing exactly the service they judge will create the

most valuable relationship with the customer by solving an inconvenience they present, or they

did not even notice they had.

Vision

The vision statement established by the application is: to be the leading app at the

educational environment by being pioneer on the region to implement this alternative where the

tutoring for classes gets easier for professors and students. Our scenario-based analysis would be

that after a few years operating in the industry, we have created a whole network for each

university in Colombia and some countries in Latin America with projection to start penetrating

the North American market, where the teaching assistant culture is stronger. As Teo et al. (1999)

suggests, users of new upcoming E-Commerce alternatives to the market, increase the likelihood

of its adoption and usage when they identify that is easier to use and lees complex. In the

education industry, specifically that our main users are lecturers, that can go from 30 years to 60

years approximately, and university students that if we take into consideration graduate ones, the

age gap would be around 18 years and 45 years; the different generations that we manage may

affect the adoption of the technological offer made by us. Therefore, we had that issue in our

radar and that is why we opted to provide at the different institutions some training courses to be
able to effectively implement the app and most importantly, that our users feel comfortable using

it.

“It is expected that consumers would adopt E-Commerce if they perceived that E-

Commerce would help them to attain desired performance” (Lee et al., 2001) being the mobile

application an option to leverage their skills and allowing to save time in processes that can be

automated. As rising college students, we used ourselves to develop the idea as we found that

opportunity in an environment that we are used to. Based on Jesse (2015), students have

incremented the usage of their phones in the matters of teaching and learning tools by being able

to benefit from the technology they have at their reach. In additional, there is important to

mention that most college students use their apps for academic purposes according to Jesse

(2015), justifying the success of our application in the long-term. On the other hand, the

challenge perceived was based on the professor’s usage of mobile applications, communicating

them the benefits and efficiency they provide. “They should acknowledge that mobile phones

along with educational and communicational Apps can be an efficient learning tool if integrated

properly within the currently used settings at universities, as this could enhance teaching and

feedback, thus simplifying the learning process for students, by providing learning via their

preferred method” (Khaddage et al., 2011).

Industry Analysis

SLEPT analysis

S Social: Mobile phones have changed the

lives of users and every time
includes more features.
This category must consider factors such
as social values, demographic trends,
 professional mobility, educational level and
technology adoption, opinion of
influential people, acceptance of
foreigners. products,
the effect of language on the distribution of
products, etc. When
an application is created that pretends to
be globally accessible,
it must consider the culture of other
countries and adapt it to make it socially
acceptable. Also keep in mind that not
everyone has
Internet access and that different countries
and age groups have different preferences
when using social networks or certain
applications.
App developers need to have a good
understanding of their target audience and
how to get to them.

L Legal: It is necessary to know the laws that

may affect the company, for example in the
sections applicable to businesses, as well as
the special regulations of the program sector
You also need to know how to legally
protect your app:
patents and copyrights.
In addition, there are various laws that may
also affect
to companies: copyright infringement, use
of trademarks
 Analysis of the implementation of mobile
technology in popular companies, payment
of opinion formers,
sale of customer data, etc. Colombia has a
series of laws that speak of technology, for
example Law 131, of July 30, 2009, is one
of the main efforts of the Colombian
government to provide the country with a
regulatory framework for the development
of information technologies. information
and communication. sector This law
promotes access and use of information and
communication technologies in their
dissemination, ensures free competition,
infrastructure and frequencies and, in
particular, strengthens the protection of the
rights of users

E Economy: Taxes, unemployment rate,

indicators
of economic growth or currency exchange
are elements that
fall into this category.
The Internet has provided many options for
pricing: auctions,
dynamic pricing based on inventory,
monthly payments for
software sales... In applications, business
models advance
quickly and what used to be paid for is
now free. ads or
 in-app purchases.
In addition, Colombia's information and
communication technology (ICT) GDP
grew by 10% in the second quarter of 2021
compared to the same period in 2020. In
addition, approximately 152 thousand jobs
in the technology industry during 2021.
And while the recession has affected
several economies, including our country,
the benefits offered by technology
companies encourage investment in these
sectors and help boost the economy during a
crisis.

P Political: A company dedicated to mobile

technology needs to know if the political
stability of the countries they operate will be
maintained or if the government will change
the commercial or tax laws
On the other hand, it should be noted that
governments may be prohibited from
blocking certain activities. For example,
Facebook is blocked in Iran, Vietnam, and
North Korea, and Twitter is banned in many
other countries. When companies use these
social networks, they must remember that
they do not reach any part of the world, they
must consider local opportunities.
What does science, technology and
innovation policy look for in Colombia?
From 2021 to 2030, there is a progressive
 and strategic nature to make Colombia one
of the three leading countries in Latin
America in the production, use and
dissemination of scientific and technological
knowledge, which makes companies want to
introduce themselves to the technology
sector
According to the Fedesarrollo research
center, there is also a lot of support for each
Colombian peso and government support,
because it was a new development trend that
generated economic diversification in the
country. in the telecommunications sector,
the economy generates an additional 2.8
USD. That is why the government called
industry the new "engine" of the national
economy.

T Technological: Cell phones are taking over.

Technological innovations related to the
software industry and the duration of the life
cycle of the technology should be
considered. Hold
updated with new screen sizes is important
for the application
always look good.
That is why several innovations are taking
place in the country that will change some
of the main technological trends in the
country's society, by 2022
 1. Blockchain and Metaverse: one of the
technologies that has great potential for
growth this year and has been a great
explosion are decentralized economies or
blockchains, which in the vocabulary we
understand best are called cryptocurrencies.
Connections: It is important to remember
that 2022 is an important year to continue
closing the digital divide. That is why it is
important that the development of urban
connectivity, such as 5G technologies, be
designed to be able to connect the entire
country, including the most neglected areas,
such as the rural population.
Automation: By 2022, we will see many
more advances in the automation of daily
operations in companies (not only in large
industries, but also in other industries such
as manufacturing, retail, banking, etc.). ).
Tasks that can be easily replaced by robots
or artificial intelligence such as bots.
Hybrid work model: The implementation of
the hybrid work model is one of the most
important goals for 2022. A work model
that combines face-to-face and virtual is
essential for the gradual adaptation to the
new reality.

Industry analysis
 In recent years, technology and innovation have become key constituents in the business
environment to ensure growth and face current and future changing situations, since generating
technological progress and applying it gives greater added value to the organization and its
customers (Zartha. & Franco. & Eraso, 2012). In Colombia, much of the growth seen in the
consumer technology sector in 2022 is due to lifestyle changes that took shape during the
pandemic and have since taken hold (Euromonitor International, 2021).

E-commerce in Colombia was growing before the pandemic, but isolation trends
accelerated its growth considerably and the channel continues to gain importance and this
development is expected to continue. Consumer activity is closely related to the country's
economic activity. It is important to have a strong focus on innovation as this can strongly
support the country's socioeconomic growth. Similarly, according to a report in the Euromonitor
International tool on the types of consumers found in Colombia, 72% use technology to improve
their daily lives (Euromonitor International, 2021). Modern technology increases productivity
and efficiency of human activities, so it is very important to apply it in this case.

The general performance of this sector is mainly explained by the increase in the demand
for internet services during the pandemic, this made these services, both fixed and mobile,
become the pillar for the growth of local ICTs and which is expected to increase. keep having.
According to a report by EMIS, the compound annual growth rate of fixed broadband
subscribers increased by 7.5% from 2014 to 2020 and according to DANE, the technology sector
in Colombia was responsible for 2.9% of the country's GDP.

Likewise, mobile broadband revenues increased by 10.3%, becoming the main source of
revenue for this sector, accompanied by fixed broadband with an increase in revenue of 10.2%,
in accordance with the gross revenue report of the MinTIC. Through this, the Colombian
national government put the technology sector at the forefront of its priorities to end the huge
gap in access to telecommunications due to geographic, social and economic factors, making
telecommunications become the value added in ICT at the national level.
 It is important to consider where Colombia is in the international context in different
indicators related to technology to determine what the country should focus on to be competitive.
Colombia has a significant lag in Internet penetration, as well as in computer penetration
compared to other countries in the region (Bermúdez, 2013). This lag is even greater when
compared to developed countries. The need to buy a technological device is increasing, because
young people are aware that entertainment offers, mass media production and forms of
socialization are concentrating on the Internet. Similarly, most young people say that having
technological devices causes satisfaction, joy, happiness, and comfort, i.e., technological devices
help young people to socialize better and feel more confident.

In addition to the large investments that are currently required to compete in this sector, it
is evident that new entries in the technology sector are scarce since there is a high concentration
in the segments comprising this sector, but despite this, it is expected that ICTs will maintain a
stable growth between 2021-2025 thanks to the economic rebound after the pandemic and the
increased coverage of internet services, ICT is expected to maintain a stable growth between the
years 2021-2025 generated thanks to the economic rebound after the pandemic and the increased
coverage of internet services and with it the boom of digital development generated in the
country, which leads us to expect a revenue growth of 9.2% and a compound annual growth rate
of 7.3% projected to the previously mentioned years.

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