Niall McKeown – Digital Transformation Workshops

niall mckeown digital transformation course
This September we are delighted to have Professor Niall McKeown leading two Digital Transformation workshops in Dublin. Niall is a real expert in the field so a great opportunity for business leaders to gather some valuable insights in this dynamic area. The workshops have been carefully created specifically for C-Level Executives and Senior Managers.

We grabbed Niall for a quick chat before he boarded a plane to the Middle East; to find out more about his work in this discipline and what he’ll be covering in the workshops….

So, Niall When Did this Digital Journey All Begin?

Well roughly 20 years ago when I founded Ionology, although it hardly seems that long if I’m honest! Ionology began as a technology company and we built one of the first available email marketing tools for enterprise. It was fairly ground-breaking, at the time, an app for email in the cloud, and we had lots of household names, Apple, ESPN, Reuters, Vodafone Ireland, using the software.

However, around 2007/2008 landscape had become extremely competitive with new players entering the marketing and disrupting the industry.

The experience made us to change tack and we began to explore the factors and forces that create radical change within industries; what motivates customers and how organisations can lessen the impact on their profitability. Soon we began developing strategies to help customers take advantage of digital opportunities.

Eventually, after lots of work, the Ionology digital transformation framework was born. Since then we’ve been running training courses, seminars, workshops and more. We fly all over the world to help large organisations implement effective digital transformation strategies. Our YouTube Channel is the most popular channel on the topic of digital transformation in the world, and we were obviously chuffed about one!

I’m a visiting professor at Ulster University and lecturer at Cambridge University but I also spend a lot of time working in emerging territories in Asia and the Middle East.

I’m really looking forward to meeting lots of new people at the workshops next month and helping them get thinking about their next steps to an effective digital strategy.

Can You Tell Us a Bit About What You’ll Be Covering?

Absolutely!

Fist of all I’ll be giving a bit of an insight into something I come across very frequently and want to highlight why it should be avoided!

There’s three different roles / people who should be involved if a company wants to digitally transform:

  1. The Business Leaders
  2. Marketing/Communication Experts
  3. Technologists

Usually the business leaders see the word digital and hand over the reins to the technologist, but the technologist doesn’t have the ability to transform the business. They can digitise it and they often focus on process improvements but its not going to give the business a competitive advantage. So, I want to get people focused on how to innovate and where they should put their resources or indeed not put their resources. This is going to be central to all that we cover.

Leadership is another fundamental topic….

Without leadership things can go wrong. We’ll discuss avoiding random acts of digital. Perhaps there’s some innovation taking place and going in one direction, communication going in another and a strategy that might be either a sales or resource plan. This is insufficient to guide the business through change. None of those things will work effectively in a digital economy because digital innovators work differently.

The course will help business leaders understand how digital innovators think, perform and act. The outcome will be that attendees understand that the mindset of a digitally innovative successful business leader is substantially different to that of a traditional business leader. Participants will know what questions need to be answered if they decide they are to become innovative in the digital economy.

Leaders that take the time to learn new skills are much more successful than businesses that are simply digitising or upgrading their user experiences. Whilst these elements are important, the direction set out by the leadership team, driven by gaining competitive advantage is much more important and effective.

We’ll also be discussing AI and how it’s changing the world around us……

In the very near future leaders will not be replaced by AI but leaders that understand AI will replace those that don’t. AI is a radical game changer, unlike any of the other emerging technologies. It’s a fundamental shift – all business processes that can be automated will be. So, we’ll be spending some time discussing AI and all its implications on the Leadership in AI workshop!

At the end of the workshops, attendees will have a much better grasp of these concepts.

Booking Your Place

We’re very much looking forward to hearing Niall at both workshops. If it sounds like either of these digital transformation workshop could of interest to you or your business – places are available to book online now….

 
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