The rising importance of shifting the conventional business model into a digital one

MSM’s Master in Management students recently finished their course in Digital Transformation. A course that’s very applicable to the current situation the world is in. The course was built around the question “do digital technologies’ progress change in human behaviors and needs, or do human behaviors change the digital technologies?”

There’s no right or wrong answer to this. Irrespective of the answer, the fact is that “change” is a must. Change can take different shapes, structures and magnitudes; transformation is one of them especially at their maximum levels.

Digital transformation is a multidisciplinary process that introduces enormous changes in most if not all facets of an organization to revive its game plans, to face the fierce competitions and to capture the new opportunities of the digital world. Today, digital technologies are transforming every aspect of business forms.

“The key takeaway, in my opinion, is the rising importance of shifting the conventional business model into a digital one. The idea of creating a better consumer journey is crucial for the digital transformation process as the value proposition needs to stay appealing and current. Most of the time, the company needs to increase the number of touchpoints so the digital environment meets the physical elements of the business to engage and create a relationship with its customers.” – Elizabeth Velazquez, Master in Management Student

The course was taught by Dr. Adriana Seclaman who provided the Master in Management students with an interactive and engaging course. The 4-day course outline was divided in lectures, group assignments, presentations, cases and questions and discussions. Topics that were covered were among others the domain of digital transformation focusing on costumers, competition, data and innovation and mastering disruptive business models.

The students also had the opportunity to get a sneak peek in how real Digital Transformation Projects are being run. IT Digital Transformation and Business Partner Director at Philips, Mihaela Popescu shared her experience on digital transformation and human centric design during a guest lecture.

"I appreciate the opportunity to share my experience on digital transformation and human centric design. I enjoyed the engagement of the MSM students and applaud them to thrive even in the full virtual course environment." – Mihaela Popescu, Guest Lecturer

Current Master in Management student Elizabeth Velazquez shared that the working in groups, even by distance learning, and doing analysis and exercises on key elements of the digital transformation was very interesting. “Inside my team, we all possessed different backgrounds which was helpful to deliver better results.”

About the Master in Management
The next Master in Management intake starts 28 September 2020.

The MSM Master of Arts in Management (MM) program is a one-year full-time master’s program for recent graduates and young professionals (< 3 years of working experience) with the ambition to manage people and processes with success in any organization, country or context.

Our Master in Management provides you with a first necessary step to fast-forward your career to higher levels by providing you with a solid foundation in the practice and theory of management in a fast-changing global world. During this course you will be provided with the opportunity to understand how to steer your organization to high performance in a diverse and multicultural international business context. You will learn from experienced faculty, international companies and fellow participants from different cultural, business and study backgrounds.