Creating value beyond a product-based thesis

In the information technology (IT) industry, it has long been understood that when a technology has reached its purpose, a new wave reshapes the entire landscape. A Business IT Bachelor student realised exactly this in practice during the thesis journey. What began as a practical WordPress thesis project, became a lesson about how fast IT solutions develop, how sustainability is a real responsibility, and how students can create value beyond the classroom.

Student innovation in practice

The thesis project, Design and Development of a Sustainable WordPress Prototype for Moppa Using AWS (2025), started from a concrete business need. Moppa, a micro cleaning company, needed a modern website that could represent the business professionally and support growth. Like many small companies, Moppa did not need an overly complex system, but it did need something reliable, affordable, and easy to maintain. This scenario offered a perfect assignment for a product-based thesis.

The WordPress content management system (CMS) was a natural starting point for creating the website as the choice was supported by previous studies and a limited timeframe. Besides, according to W3Techs (22.2.2026), WordPress powers 42.8 percent of all websites globally, making it one of the most practical tools for small and medium size business. This widespread use means that achieving a well-implemented WordPress website—by avoiding unnecessary plugins, reducing bloat, and optimising media—can have a massive cumulative impact on digital sustainability.

By deploying the prototype on cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), the focus was on sustainability, scalability, and cost efficiency. The key being that AWS focuses the environmental sustainability pillar, which encourages right-sizing—using only the resources truly needed (6.12.2024). These technical decisions supported the project’s sustainability goal of reducing digital waste while keeping performance stable for a small business.

Justifiably, the thesis was awarded a grade 5 and a scholarship recognition because of the scale of the project and the genuine learning process, which revealed how many improvement areas can exist. Performance, security, and accessibility did not become just endpoints but continuous development roadmaps. This realisation shifted the student’s thinking. The prototype did not become an end of the journey, but a foundation for further ambitions.

Building industry-ready skills

As the project progressed, curiosity grew alongside rapid advances in artificial intelligence. This sparked a thesis side quest of experimenting with coding parts of the prototype from scratch. With tools that assist development becoming more capable, it raised a question: If standard CMS solutions can be complemented by modern software engineering practices, could a fully coded system be even more efficient and sustainable?

A leading industry consultant McKinsey&Company highlights just the same realization. An AI-enabled development can improve productivity and accelerate the software development life cycle, making these kinds of experiments more realistic even for smaller teams (Gnanasambandam ey al. 10.2.2025).

This shaped a follow-up phase for the thesis project. With Moppa’s consent, the initial prototype was evolved into a collaborative learning environment. Rather than leaving Moppa to continue independently with the website, the thesis student leads the follow-up phase in which the website serves as a platform for Business IT bachelor students to learn how real software systems are developed in a professional context. The focus being on evaluation from a software engineering perspective and planning how the system could be redesigned and rebuilt as a fully coded solution following industry best practices.

In this collaborative follow-up phase, that is still shaping itself, students get to practise essential professional skills such as understanding business requirements, planning features, working with version control systems, improving code quality through peer review, testing and debugging, and deploying solutions in cloud environments. They also gain experience with architecture planning, performance optimisation, security thinking, and continuous delivery methods that are commonly used in enterprise-level development teams.

The follow-up phase has ensured continuity for the thesis project while transforming the outcome from a simple website upgrade for one company into a realistic simulation of how digital services are created and evolved in organisations.

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