Business Innovation
Cutting Edge 2009
“Cutting Edge” is an annual exhibition which showcases innovative state-of-the-art IT and business solutions researched and developed at Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT). Cutting Edge 2009 was held on 25th and 26th June 2009 at IIT. Informatics Institutes of Technology offers the BSc (Hons) Information Systems with Business Management degree programme in collaboration with University of Westminster, UK. It is a requirement that all students in the final year undertake a research project. Selected final-year projects were displayed at Cutting Edge 2009. These spanned a range of topics under the categories of Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Sales and Marketing, Finance, Management Information Systems, E-commerce, Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) and Health Care. Experts from the field of business were invited to judge the best projects that were presented at the exhibition. Deshabadhu Surath Wickramasinghe presented the trophies for the Business Innovation award. The following are some of the Business projects that were presented at Cutting Edge 2009.
Winner Business Innovation Award
A Conceptual Framework for Online Advertising supported by an Online Ad Adviser for the Sri Lankan music industry
by Pathmanathan Prassanna
 Advertising on the internet is growing at a fast pace, but advertisers (musicians and record labels) of the Sri Lankan Music Industry is still trapped in traditional advertising, mainly with print and broadcast media. To address this problem, the author suggests a conceptual framework for online advertising, supported by a website named “Online Ad Adviser” (OAA). Both the framework and OAA create awareness of online advertising methods and their benefits and also guides the advertisers on how to capture their target audience through online advertising.
1st Runner-up
Integration of Data Mining and Analytical Report Tools to Improve a Company
by Cindy Perera
 Data mining is almost non-existent in local industry, due to reasons ranging from financial to infrastructure constraints. Analytical reporting, however, is not being used to its full potential. This project was an attempt to bring out the immense value of these two important high-end business intelligence tools for businesses, governments, society and the individual user. The price range for the tools are from approximately US $5000 to 10,000 for a single client license to US$ 30,000 for the server license, making it virtually impossible for organisations based in third-world countries such as Sri Lanka to acquire. The proposed system uses open source software, enabling users to obtain outputs similar to those obtained by commercial products. To help the users to create the target database, a GUI was created using Java, which can be modified and adapted to suit any organisation. The system also allows users to import data sources from multiple databases, text, .xls and .csv files. The GUI also ensures a step-by-step procedure in the data mining process, bringing the tools into a common frame.
2nd Runner-Up
Keyword Advertising Advisor
by Kushani Gamage
 The project concept is based on a web-based keyword advertising support tool which provides timely and precise information for effective keyword-based advertising. It presents information to advertisers with a view to enhancing search advertising strategy and expanding the presence on the online market. The main objective of this system is to help advertisers to improve their keyword advertising performance by providing valuable information based on competitor advertising analysis. The project was selected for the International Research Conference on Management and Finance 2009, conducted by the University of Colombo.
Automated Replenishment System with Sales and Future Trend Forecasting “REPSFORSYS”
by Chinthaka Palliyaguru
 This project provides an effective and efficient solution for the need to generate accurate purchase orders using past sales data and trends. It incorporates Supply Chain Management and Customer Relationship Management methodologies along with Information Technology solutions to accomplish sales forecasting, while considering consumer behaviour, supply chain issues and seasonal variations to maximize profits and market share. Implementation of an integrated IT solution comprising of sales and stock data would enable accurate sales forecasting. This could be done through a centralized replenishment system, thus eliminating manual intervention. It would also help maintain and improve customer service levels under dynamic operating conditions such as consumer behaviour and seasonal variations. The project was selected for the International Research Conference on Management and Finance 2009, conducted by the University of Colombo.
A Conceptual Framework to Increase the Employee Productivity
by Kalharie Pitigala
 Employee productivity is of utmost importance for the success of an organization as it is directly linked to the overall output of any business. Productivity has been considered mandatory for gaining a competitive advantage as well as for meeting the demands put forth by the stakeholders. The existence of various drawbacks among the employees and employers has reduced the level of productivity while heading for organizational ineffectiveness. Therefore, this is a worthwhile problem to be addressed and the aim of this project is to provide a conceptual framework in order to increase employee productivity. The recommendations include technical and non-technical solutions which are fairly universal and can be applied to any organization provided that the proposed framework is followed accordingly. Furthermore, the framework could be enhanced with a little more customizing, so that it fits any organization.
“Reality of Virtual Trade” – A Research in the Realization of Best Practices to Conduct Marketing in Virtual Worlds
by Chathurani Ranwalage
 Virtual worlds such as Second Life were recognized as a lucrative marketing platform. But, at present, it is a highly debated topic as more and more real world brands (e.g. – BMW, Cisco, etc.) fail in their attempt at virtual marketing where erroneous marketing practices are identified as the main reason. Focusing on the need for strategic change, research was carried out into the realization of a set of best practices to guide the strategy formulation process for virtual world-based marketing. Further, a model was designed to categorize this generic set of best practices allowing a user to derive a customized set of best practices to suit a given scenario (e.g. – Marketing of a laptop) with the aim of presenting the set of best practices in the most practical manner.
The welcome address was delivered by the Dean, Assoc. Prof Alfred Perera. Mr. Neil Seneviratne, the Human Resources Director, distributed the certificates of Honours.
Academia and industry were present at the Cutting Edge exhibition. Many who participated were impressed with the novelty of the business solutions. The awards ceremony featured the IIT choir, which added colour and entertainment to the evening.
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