Digital Transformation Strategy
Online Short Course
Lead your organisation through a digital transformation that serves employees and customers alike.
6 weeks, excluding orientation.
7–10 hours of self-paced learning per week, entirely online.
Email: gsbonline@getsmarter.com
Call: +27 87 551 8063
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Technological disruption is reshaping the business landscape, offering both opportunities and challenges. Digital transformation provides vast possibilities for businesses seeking a competitive edge in this environment. By fundamentally changing the way organisations operate, it allows businesses to respond effectively to new technologies and protect their organisation from future disruption.
This Digital Transformation Strategy online short course from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB) provides an opportunity to analyse the potential effects of disruption on your business. On it, you’ll explore a human-centric approach to digital transformation, one that aims at solving problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by integrating the needs of people with technology and business success, and you’ll begin developing a realistic road map to guide your organisation to present and future opportunity.
“Longevity in this business is about being able to reinvent yourself or invent the future.”
Satya Nadella
CEO of Microsoft Corporation
WHAT THIS COURSE COVERS
On this six-week course you’ll learn how disruption and emerging technologies are impacting business. You’ll examine the human elements of digital transformation as you learn the role that leadership, agility, and resilience play in driving the process. Guided by experts, you’ll explore approaches that measure and define the internal capabilities of an organisation, and help you refine your search for transformative solutions.
This course highlights the importance of human development – including organisational culture, employees, and leadership – in digital transformation. With this in focus, you’ll learn to preserve a customer-centric approach that aims to enhance the customer journey. By the end of the course, you’ll walk away with a road map designed to help you develop a digital transformation strategy, allowing you to drive the process in your own organisation.
A POWERFUL COLLABORATION
Since 2007, the University of Cape Town (UCT) has partnered with digital learning experts GetSmarter to take its renowned education online. This move is driven by UCT’s goal to broaden access to the research and information developed at Africa’s leading university, and make it available to those previously excluded due to geographical constraints. UCT’s scope extends to all areas of sub-Saharan Africa, providing both the institution and its future students with opportunities for further growth.
ABOUT UCT GSB
For over 50 years, the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB) has promoted excellence in management education in Africa through collaboration, capacity building, and quality improvement. GSB’s reputation for excellence is underpinned by its prestigious triple-crown accreditation, with it being one of only three business schools in Africa to receive recognition from some of the world's top accreditors: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, Association of MBA, and EQUIS.
ABOUT GETSMARTER
GetSmarter, a 2U, Inc. brand, partners with the world's leading universities and institutions to select, design, and deliver premium online short courses with a data-driven focus on learning gain.
Technology meets academic rigor in GetSmarter’s people-mediated model, which enables lifelong learners across the globe to obtain industry-relevant skills that are certified by the world’s most reputable academic institutions.
As a participant, you will also gain unlimited access to 2U’s Career Engagement Network at no extra cost. This platform will provide you with valuable career resources and events to support your professional journey. You can look forward to benefits including rich content, career templates, webinars, workshops, career fairs, networking events, panel discussions, and exclusive recruitment opportunities to connect you with potential employers.*
*Some of these events may be virtual due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
What You’ll Learn
You’ll be welcomed to the course and begin connecting with fellow participants, while exploring the navigation and tools of your Online Campus. Be alerted to key milestones in the learning path, and review how your results will be calculated and distributed.
You’ll be required to complete your participant profile, confirm your email address for the delivery of your digital certificate, and submit a digital copy of your passport/identity document.
Explore the impact of disruption in order to prepare for a digital transformation.
- Recognise common misconceptions about disruption
- Review the theoretical underpinnings of disruption
- Outline the development of disruptive innovation throughout history
- Identify the impact of different sources of disruption on a sector, industry, or an organisation
- Outline the importance of agility and resilience in the face of disruption
- Interpret the role of digital transformation as a response to disruption
- Indicate the readiness of an organisation to embark on a digital transformation
- Summarise your business model by using the Business Model Canvas
Explore the role of business drivers in building a realistic strategy for digital transformation.
- Discuss an outside-in versus an inside-out approach to preparing for digital transformation
- Outline drivers of digital transformation
- Determine the role of leadership as a principal driver of digital transformation
- Analyse an organisation's drivers to assess opportunities for development
- Review the capabilities and limitations of new and emerging technologies
- Determine how technology can be used as part of a realistic digital strategy
Consider how effective leadership and design thinking can foster successful digital transformation.
- Recognise best practices for creating an enabling digital transformation culture
- Describe the role of leaders in creating an enabling culture for digital transformation
- Identify cultural challenges that may arise when developing a digital transformation strategy
- Review real-world strategies to determine success factors for digital transformation
- Apply the design thinking process to plan for digital transformation and encourage innovation
Explore the importance of a data-driven approach to inform digital transformation.
- Identify appropriate methods for gathering data, depending on the context
- Identify the impact of data privacy on research methods
- Articulate the importance of a data-driven approach
- Determine strategies to overcome biases in data
- Deduce how data can be leveraged to inform organisational change
- Investigate the role of leaders in making evidence-based decisions
Explore how digital transformation affects current and future customer experiences.
- Demonstrate the importance of empathising with customers to better understand their expectations
- Determine how digital technologies influence current and future customer behaviour and expectations
- Articulate the importance of creating a personalised, seamless, and omnichannel experience for customers
- Investigate ways to shape and exceed customer expectations
- Analyse digital customer behaviour and customer feedback to optimise customer experience
- Recommend ways to enhance the customer journey in an organisation
Understand the importance of effectively managing people and change to achieve a successful digital transformation.
- Recognise the importance of integrating digital transformation in every layer of the organisation
- Discuss how employee motivation impacts the successful implementation of digital transformation
- Determine best practices for leaders to manage people during a digital transformation
- Analyse the different stages of change management and their effect on a digital transformation strategy
- Assess challenges and opportunities in change management to support the initiation of a digital transformation
- Compile a road map for initiating a digital transformation strategy in an organisation
- Reflect on the key outcomes of this course
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE
This course is ideal for leaders, change agents, and managers who want to drive effective change in their organisation. Executives will benefit from the focus on developing a strategic road map applicable to broad business contexts, while upper and middle managers will gain an understanding of the benefits of a people-centric approach to digital transformation. Professionals will have the opportunity to network with like-minded peers, while benefiting from a strong focus on leadership, agility, and resilience in the digital age.
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF YOU WANT TO:
GROW YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Gain insight into the key drivers of successful digital transformation, including leadership, agility, and resilience.
ENHANCE YOUR BUSINESS
Develop an approach that measures and defines internal organisational capabilities to refine your search for transformative solutions.
DRIVE TRANSFORMATION
Understanding the importance of human development and a customer-centric approach to digital transformation.
LEAD FOR CHANGE
Build a road map for implementing a digital transformation strategy in any organisation.
ABOUT THE CERTIFICATE
Earn a certificate of completion from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, a top-ranked South African business school, as recognition of your newly developed skills.
Assessment is continuous and based on a series of practical assignments completed online. In order to be issued with a digital certificate, you’ll need to meet the requirements outlined in the course handbook. The handbook will be made available to you as soon as you begin the course.
Your digital certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you upon successful completion of the course, as per the stipulated requirements.
WHO YOU’LL LEARN FROM
This subject matter expert from GSB guides the course design and appears in a number of course videos, along with a variety of industry professionals.
YOUR COURSE CONVENOR
MIGNON REYNEKE
Associate Professor of Digital Marketing, UCT GSB
Alongside her duties at GSB, Reyneke is a marketing and business strategy consultant with a background in corporate and academic fields, both locally and internationally. She has corporate experience in a range of industries, from retail to journalism, banking, and advertising. She has worked with major brands such as Harrods, CNN London, Investec South Africa, Morgan Stanley UK, and Eliance Communications South Africa. Reyneke holds a BCom from the University of Pretoria, an MBA from the Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne, and a PhD in luxury branding from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden.
GUEST EXPERTS
Margaret O’Connor
Adventure Capitalist
Sharron McPherson
Adventure Capitalist
HOW YOU’LL LEARN
Every course is broken down into manageable, weekly modules, designed to accelerate your learning process through diverse learning activities:
- Work through your downloadable and online instructional material
- Interact with your peers and learning facilitators through weekly class-wide forums and reviewed small group discussions
- Enjoy a wide range of interactive content, including video lectures, infographics, live polls, and more
- Investigate rich, real-world case studies
- Apply what you learn each week to quizzes and ongoing project submissions, culminating in a strategic road map for implementing digital transformation in your own organisation
YOUR SUCCESS TEAM
GetSmarter, with whom GSB is collaborating to deliver this online course, provides a personalised approach to online education that ensures you’re supported throughout your learning journey.
HEAD TUTOR
A subject expert who’ll guide you through content-related challenges.
Success Advisor
Your one-on-one support available during university hours (8am–5pm SAST) to resolve technical and administrative challenges.
GLOBAL SUCCESS TEAM
Available 24/7 to solve your tech-related and administrative queries and concerns.
“If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”
Jeff Bezos
CEO of amazon.com, Inc
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this course, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet, as well as a PDF Reader. You may need to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word or Excel.
BROWSER REQUIREMENTS
We recommend that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when accessing the Online Campus. Although this is not a requirement, we have found that this browser performs best for ease of access to course material. This browser can be downloaded here.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Certain courses may require additional software and resources. These additional software and resource requirements will be communicated to you upon registration and/or at the beginning of the course. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube may be used in our course delivery, and if these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing course content. Please check with an Enrolment Advisor before registering for this course if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.
