04-801-S3   Planning for Digital Transformation

Location: Africa

Units: 6

Semester Offered: Spring

Course description

A basic mechanism by which ICT impacts the real world is through the transformation of enterprises and organizations towards conducting their business or offering their services more efficiently by adopting various digital technologies and strategies. This course is structured as a reading seminar where students study and discuss essential components of this “digital transformation” as both a technological activity and in terms of institutional culture, business, and industrial management. Students will be graded on the quality of their weekly assignments and their participation in classroom discussions.

Learning objectives

The main objectives of this course are to:

  • Understand the definition and management of transformation.
  • Develop a focus on business processes and customer needs.
  • Gain familiarity with the methods and techniques used to develop and refine digital and non-digital products.
  • Appreciate underlying concerns such as data governance, regulatory compliance, and ethics.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

  • Evaluate the potential impact of advances in ICT on organizations.
  • Identify critical factors behind technology’s effectiveness on users.
  • Develop rational and objective categorizations of innovation including via exploitation of efficiencies, competition, and disruption.

Content details

  • Defining Digital Transformation (DT)
  • DT and products
  • DT within companies
  • DT in industries
  • DT in government and society
  • DT in a focus area to be selected

Prerequisites

None. Open to all CMU-Africa students with a math and programming background in IT, engineering, or AI.

Faculty

Ahmed Biyabani