Leading Digital Transformation: Free Introductory Course

A superb and comprehensive course designed for business leaders, managers, consultants, communications and technology experts. 

This course is delivered by Prof. Niall McKeown, the founder and CEO of Ionology, a digital transformation executive education provider. He is an expert in digital strategy, innovation, and leadership, and has helped hundreds of organisations across the world to transform their businesses and achieve success.

Delivered through 12 short videos Niall takes you through  some of the key pillars of digital transformation and exposes some of the top myths about it and how to avoid the pitfalls! He’ll show you how you can use the 7 Principles of Digital Business Strategy and illustrates it with a real life case study about how a customer who was losing it’s main competitor managed to diagnose their situation, transform their strategy and use collaborative innovation to fight back and win again in the market place.

Video 1: Introduction

This video is an introduction to digital transformation and innovation, two concepts that are essential for any organisation that wants to thrive in the digital economy. In this video, you can expect to learn:

• What is digital transformation and why it is important for creating competitive advantage and delivering value to customers and stakeholders
• What is innovation and how it is not just about new technology or creativity, but about solving problems and satisfying needs in a changing environment
• What is a digital transformation framework and how it can help you analyse your business, evaluate opportunities, develop an evidence-based roadmap for growth, and create an effective plan of action
• What are the seven principles of Ionology’s digital transformation framework, a tool that guides you through the diagnosis, strategic planning, and implementation of digital transformation

Video 2: Leadership, not technology delivers competitive advantage. 

The video explains why leadership, not technology, is the key factor for achieving competitive advantage in the digital economy. The video uses the example of Uber and Yellow Cab to illustrate how different leadership styles and mindsets can lead to different outcomes in terms of innovation, customer satisfaction, and profitability. The video also introduces the concept of digital mindset, which is the ability to embrace change, experiment, learn, and adapt in a fast-paced and uncertain environment.

Some of the learning objectives of this video are:

• To understand the difference between leveraging technology and being a technology business or a digitally transformed business.
• To recognize the importance of leadership in driving digital transformation and creating a culture of innovation.
• To learn how to develop a digital mindset and foster it among your team members and stakeholders.

Video 3: Top 6 Myths Exposed – Myth #1.

The video debunks the common myth that improving IT leads to digital transformation. The video explains why this is a false assumption and how it can hinder the true potential of digital transformation. The video also introduces the concept of digital maturity, which is the measure of how well an organization can leverage digital technologies to create value and achieve its strategic goals.

Some of the learning objectives of this video are:

• To understand the difference between IT improvement and digital transformation. IT improvement is about creating operational efficiency and reducing costs, while digital transformation is about creating new business models and innovation.
• To learn how to assess the digital maturity of an organization and identify the gaps and opportunities for digital transformation.
• To recognize the importance of strategy in driving digital transformation and aligning it with the organizational vision and mission.

Video 4: Top 6 Myths Exposed – Myth #2.

‘Digitising Operations is Strategic & Transformational’. Digitising your operations and services is not digital transformation. Here we seek to explain what strategy is and is not and of course why this important in the world of digital transformation.

Video 5: Top 6 Myths Exposed – Myth #3.

‘Improving digital marketing delivers a digitally transformed organisation’. To successfully create a digitally transformed organisation, the leaders need to bring others into the decision-making process, including, the communications, HR, R&D and tech teams. Failure to engage with these key departments will result in a lack of strategic direction and the implementation of tactics (such as social media keyboard bashing)

Video 6: Top 6 Myths Exposed – Myth #4.

‘All digital transformation strategies are good strategies’. Are they really ? Let’s see.

Video 7: Top 6 Myths Exposed – MYTH #4 (Cont’d)

‘All Digital Transformation Strategies Are Good Strategies’. Here Niall takes a look at ‘Good Strategy vs ‘Bad Strategy’.

Video 8: Top 6 Myths Exposed – MYTH #5

‘Any digital innovation is better than no digital innovation’. Not quite. Here Niall explains why reaching for the moon and getting the stars isn’t really the best strategy.

Video 9: Top 6 Myths Exposed – MYTH #6

‘The Digital Mindset Will Come’. No. It. Won’t. The digital mindset requires time and resources. Here Niall looks at ‘T-Shape Thinking’ and why it is the leaders who must create capacity within their organisation to allow the digital mindset to flourish. This is an essential step for successful digital transformation.

Video 10: Is it ‘Strategy Push’ or ‘Technology Pull’?

Here Niall explores whether digital transformation is all about strategy leading the way or should we take inspiration from the technology and let that feed our strategy? It’s a difficult one!

Video 11: The 7 Principles of Digital Transformation –  Diagnosis

Here Niall looks at a real life case study and describe how we used the Ionology 7 Principles of Digital Transformation to help diagnose why one business was displaced by its competition.

Video 12: Real Life Example of Digital Transformation.

Here Niall continues on from our 7 Principles of Digital Business Strategy diagnosis in video no. 11. In it he explains the theory of disruption disruption first described by Clayton Christensen in his book ‘The Innovators Dilemma’ and then goes on to  illustrate how collaborative innovation saved this failing business and see how they truly digitally transformed.

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