Innovative digital transformation is the answer to future-proofing businesses

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Innovative digital transformation is the answer to future-proofing businesses

Businesses with digital capabilities, disciplined leadership and fast execution skills will move ahead during challenging economic times, according to an RMIT expert.

RMIT Senior Program Manager of the MBA, EMBA and Management Program Dr Burkhard Schrage said while “we still do not know what the ‘next normal’ will look like, we do know it will be more digital, more agile, more resilient and feature a more flexible workforce”.

“Business leaders should be creating a vision of the post-pandemic world and implementing strategies to achieve this vision, using cutting-edge skills and digital capabilities in order to lead their company to the next phase of growth.”

However, these types of leaders are in short supply.

A recent study of Vietnam-based businesses conducted by RMIT researchers from the School of Business & Management and KPMG Vietnam, revealed that many businesses in Vietnam lacked the leadership ability to drive innovation, one of the reasons why many digital transformation projects failed.

news-1-innovative-digital-transformation-is-the-answer-to-future-proofing-businesses RMIT MBA students are learning how to program robots to solve an emergency supply chain problem as part of the new Digital Entrepreneurship course.

In order to meet this need, RMIT’s new minor, Technology and Innovation has been imbedded in the University’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, in collaboration with the School of Business & Management and RMIT’s Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE).

The minor consists of four courses: Digital Innovation; Digital Entrepreneurship; Technology Futures; and Digital Risk Management and Information Security.

The new minor will integrate digital technology within the curriculum, and according to Head of CODE Associate Professor Jerry Watkins, “aim to familiarise managers with digital technology to encourage them to use it to provide innovative solutions”.

“Within the Digital Entrepreneurship course alone, MBA student teams will learn how to program robots to simulate the use of automated vehicles to solve an emergency supply chain problem,” Associate Professor Watkins said.

“This exercise goes well beyond a tutorial in robotics programming. Teams must purchase supplies, build a model bridge, and program their robot to cross the bridge and deliver supplies.

“The idea is to show how the robot is part of a wider solution – it’s not just about the technology.”

news-2-innovative-digital-transformation-is-the-answer-to-future-proofing-businesses Daniel Amhoff (second from right) and his team developed an innovative approach to a supply chain problem.

RMIT MBA student, and senior manager of a software and automation company Daniel Amhoff, was part of a student team in the Digital Entrepreneurship course which developed a very innovative approach to this supply chain problem.

“Our team brainstormed the problem and began to rapidly prototype whilst simultaneously monitoring which supplies were in highest demand, so that we could use the supply and demand driven price fluctuation to our advantage,” Mr Amhoff said.

“The engineering minded members of the group delivered a functioning bridge, the tech minded members programmed the robot to navigate towards and across the bridge successfully, and the commercially minded entrepreneurial spirit helped us deliver the project on-time and well under budget.”

He said it was a fun and competitive experiential way to learn about digital technologies, and entrepreneurial and business concepts.

“Design thinking, marketing, and finance principles have been core elements throughout the course, but the CODE team-building exercise additionally required us to be innovative and combine those core teachings with critical thinking to deliver a functioning robot and to pitch a convincing proof of concept to the lecturer and the class.”

Story: Thuy Le

24 November 2020

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