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Course details

MSc in Digital Transformation (Online)

Mode: 100% online (with optional events)
Length:  two years (part-time)
Fees:  £9,800 (instalments and funding options available)
Start dates:  January, May and September
Next welcome week:  22 January 2024
Next start date:  29 January 2024
Application deadline:  19 January 2024

Additional costs: due to the nature of the subject, and copyright restrictions placed on institutional libraries by some publishers, students will need to purchase some core texts.

Support with your application: Contact our course adviser team today for helpful application advice.

APPLICATION PROCESS ❯

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This MSc is part of the Hull University Business School, a leading UK business school with internationally recognised accreditations from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Why this MSc?

Digital transformation is about harnessing technological potential for your organisation. Technologies such as 3D printing, blockchain, AI and quantum computing are set to reshape the business landscape, but there’s always something new on the horizon. With the constant pressure on organisations to adopt novel digital technologies as they emerge, how do you predict what’s around the corner?

With our MSc in Digital Transformation, you will understand that while a prediction is impossible, there are sensible things you can do to manage and harness technological potential. Learning to adapt to new technological shifts and interpret their business value requires a new mindset and new capabilities.

Rather than using technology to automate old ways of doing business, you will gain the confidence to evaluate technological potential and choose the right technology to transform how your organisation operates. You will be able to understand the deeper issues around each shift, analyse new technologies strategically and assess their organisational benefits and transformational potential.

Whatever industry you work in, you will get the know-how to help your organisation minimise its exposure to costly mistakes and safeguard its resilience. Whether it’s a global pandemic or a cyber-attack, you will develop the data analysis skills you need to address the digital challenges your organisation has to be ready for.

You will learn how to interpret and visualise data to support your organisation’s decision-making process. You will also get a critical understanding of the role of ethics in digital transformation and learn how to avoid the ethics violations that have tripped up corporations of many different sizes in recent years.

On completion of this MSc, you will be able to confidently manage the adoption, implementation and utilisation of current and future digital technologies. This will make you a valuable individual for any organisation looking to use data-driven insights to help it maintain a competitive advantage.

What you learn

Through looking at case studies, you will learn how introducing new technologies inside an organisation affects its structure, the working relationships between people, the power dynamics and the way data is exchanged. You will examine how new technologies can create resistance to change, disrupt business operations, and allow for the creation of unintended consequences. You will see how failed technological transformation projects have even led to bankruptcy for some businesses.

You will gain an understanding of the relationship between an organisational system and its environment, so that you can realise the potential of future technologies for an organisation. You will apply systems thinking to analyse problematic situations in different ways. These are skills you can continue to use throughout your career and as you move into more senior positions.

You will also learn how to

  • Identify the organisational challenges created by disruptive digital technologies, but also to realise the opportunities of harnessing such technologies and their transformative power for your organisation

  • Analyse, interpret and visualise data for decision-making in your organisation

  • Perform digital analyses on social media data for the classification of online customer behaviour

  • Set up cyber-awareness programmes within organisations and improve resilience in the face of cyber-security threats

How can an MSc help you succeed in your career?

Watch our Q&A with Programme Director Dr Dionysios Demetis on how the course can help you adapt to the changing digital landscape:

How can an MSc help you succeed in your career?

Watch our Q&A with Programme Director Dr Dionysios Demetis on how the course can help you adapt to the changing digital landscape:

VIEW MORE WEBINARS

Got a question about studying with us?

Our course advisers are happy to help.

TALK TO A COURSE ADVISER ❯

Course modules

You study the following compulsory modules.

Disruptive Technologies in the Digital Economy (30 credits) Grey


You will explore how digital technologies can lead to failures and unintended consequences for organisations, but also, how technology can enable organisations to achieve a meaningful digital transformation and compete in the context of the digital economy. You will review the latest technologies, such as 3D printing, blockchain, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and their wider implications in business and society.

You will also start to think through technology in a systems theoretical manner and develops critical thinking around digital assets. This is essential as new technologies change frequently and managers need to approach them carefully.

More critically, as businesses rely more and more on technology and the protection of digital assets becomes critical for their uninterrupted operation, you will concentrate on the cybersecurity challenges that organisations face.

Information Management and Visualisation (30 credits) Grey


You will explore information management principles in the context of business decisions, with an emphasis on information visualisation. This creates hands-on opportunities to reflect on data principles and the key distinction between data and information.

How can managers move from the different possibilities that data create in order to generate meaningful information in a business context? These explorations are done through specialised software like Tableau or Mathematica but no coding will be required.

You will take a management approach to information, so you can reflect critically on the value of data in business, understand the impact of data, and explore different forms of data manipulation and visualisation.

Customer Led Disruption in a Digital Era (30 credits) Grey


Every single organisation is vulnerable to disruption caused by changes in the way that customers behave, what they demand and what they value. You will focus on the customer, how their behaviour is increasingly shaped by digital technology, and how to build deep unique insights to transform businesses and gain sustainable competitive advantage.

You will explore how innovative digital disruption is often led by customer demand and changing needs. Tools will be used to create sophisticated segmentation analysis using demographic, behavioural and psychological data, mapping customer journeys online and offline to define and develop transformative business opportunities.

You will explore the impact of online communities and key opinion leaders (including influencers) through analysis of social media, forums and dark social data. You will develop an understanding of how to analyse this data, some of which may be owned by different departments in an organisation. You will also examine some of the ethical challenges and legal frameworks which are essential in handling sensitive information.

Digital Strategy & Innovation (30 credits) Grey


On this module, you will broaden your perspective on different types of innovation, to help you develop and evaluate digital transformation strategies. You'll examine the challenges of implementation process, including identifying stakeholders, beneficiaries and end-users of the implementation process in an organisation where complexity reigns. You will also review prominent perspectives (theories) on adoption and diffusion studies.

You will explore how organisational members make sense of digital innovation and how they can oversee the implementation and adoption of technology in a complex organisational environment. Organisations have many different stakeholders with different professional backgrounds, experiences, motivations, capabilities and underlying rationalities. How can we bring those together?

By exploring how human-machine interaction underpins the process of implementation, we can build a holistic view of a process which is absolutely vital to organisational success in the digital era.

Dissertation (60 credits) Grey


You will undertake a research-oriented dissertation (8,000-10,000 words) on a topic of your choice, associated with the sub-themes of the taught modules. As part of your dissertation, you will review existing and appropriate literature, select and justify a research design as well as a theoretical framework/model, collect empirical data from a business, and analyse, discuss, and present your findings.

Teaching team

Our staff hold a rich array of both academic and industry experience to support your learning goals. With their expertise, you’ll be able to explore a range of topics within the field with a new level of depth and insight. 
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Dr Dionysios Demetis

Programme Director
Dr Demetis is a lecturer in management systems at the Hull University Business School. He is also Vice-Chair of the Humber Business Resilience Forum which promotes a secure Humber region by enhancing the cybersecurity of its businesses. He is the author of two books and numerous other publications while his research on anti-money laundering has been featured in the United Nations bibliography and received funding from the European Commission. You can read his full profile here.
Diego Navarra

Dr Diego Navarra

Online Tutor
For the past 17 years, Dr Navarra has taught BSc, MSc and Ph.D. students from around the world. He's worked as a consultant, trainer, programme leader and module coordinator in the fields of business and project management, information systems, supply chain management, IT strategy and management, global business and sustainable management, business administration, organisational development, and public sector management and research methods.
Dr Wei Xie

Dr Wei Xie

Online Tutor
Wei's research interests include cybersecurity, organizational and societal issues of Information Systems, decision-making; digital innovation; behavioral finance, healthcare intervention, and global IT. Wei enjoys teaching engaged and motivated students from all over the world. In addition, she feels rewarded by the innovative course and students’ diversified working experiences and cultural backgrounds.

How you're assessed

All assessment for the course is based on coursework and submitted online.

Your performance on the course will be assessed through a range of methods including:

  • ongoing tutor and peer feedback

  • practical work, including group projects and discussion forums

  • written work, including case studies, reports and essays

Ready to start harnessing technological potential for your organisation?

Learn more about how to apply:

APPLICATION PROCESS ❯ 

What are the entry requirements?

If your application does not meet the standard entry requirements, you may be asked to attend a short online interview with the Programme Director. On the basis of this interview, and provided that sufficient work experience offsets formal requirements, the Programme Director will make a recommendation to the Faculty about your acceptance into the programme.

If you're unsure whether you're eligible to apply, please get in touch with our friendly course adviser team for advice:

DISCUSS MY OPTIONS ❯

Career prospects

Many companies are looking to expand their operations to digital platforms and make more meaningful use of digital technology. To do this, they need employees who understand the implications of digital transformation for their business.

You will leave this course with a broad and deep subject matter of technological domains like AI, augmented reality, blockchain, quantum computing and 3D printing. You will be able to think reflectively about technology, the ethics of technological change, and how to develop a digital strategy that protects your organisation from cyber-security threats.

With a Digital Transformation MSc, you can be central in planning, coordinating, and exploring digitalisation activities within your current organisation, or in your next move up the career ladder.

Roles open to you as an MSc Digital Transformation graduate could include:

  • Digital Transformation Manager

  • Information systems manager

  • Cyber-Security Manager

  • Information Technology Manager

  • Information Systems Analyst

Ready to apply?

Our step-by-step application process is easy to follow.

 

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