New Technologies for Business Leaders (Coursera)

Offered by Rutgers University,
New Technologies for Business Leaders (Coursera)

This introductory course is developed for high-level business people (and those on their way) who want a broad understanding of new Information Technologies and understand their potential for business functions (e.g. marketing, supply change management, finance). This is not a course for people looking for guidance on how to become a deep technical expert or implement these technologies.

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From Blockchain over Artificial Intelligence to Virtual Reality technologies: This course will empower business leaders to embrace the concepts and bring the state of the art information technologies into their organizations to improve client and customer engagement and ultimately the bottom line of their businesses. Instead of digital disruption, the new technologies and management methods will become the foundation of a Digital Transformation journey for better customer relationship management and client satisfaction.
The content is structured in a way that promotes discussions on challenges that business management and marketing functions face due to the rise of new technologies such blockchain, cryptocurrencies, internet of things (IoT), virtual, mixed and augmented reality (VR/AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. This course will use case studies to explore frameworks, tools, and strategies that are already proven in the real world and prepare ourselves and our organizations to have the tools needed to succeed in a fast and changing world. This course is not a deep technical curriculum, but based on thousands of hours helping (often C-level) executives to grasp the technologies' potential in their own areas of expertise.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Introduction to digital transformation
This module will introduce business professionals to the concept and underlying trends of Digital Transformation as they relate to business strategy and especially to customer engagement. Compared to the earlier industrial revolutions, the so called fourth revolution, Digital Transformation, opens opportunities, creates challenges and requires new and creative cross functional collaboration at a much accelerated trajectory. Business leaders need to have an understanding of Digital Transformation and assess the current state of their companies regarding the use, misuse, or lack of the new technologies. The module provides the comprehensive understanding of the technology driven revolution and frameworks to discuss and implement digital transformation projects that can include VR/AR, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and Blockchain technologies.

WEEK 2
Augmentes, virtual and mixed reality
This module discusses Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and everything in-between. We will start by identifying changes in the media market and the impact they had on consumers based on the interaction provided. We then will explore technologies and buzzwords, and finally, we will look at examples of how these technologies are used in the real world today and discover clues for leveraging them in our own environments.

WEEK 3
Internet of things
This module introduces fundamental concepts, terms and technologies behind Internet of Things and how they are being used to improve business processes and specifically marketing and customer retention. We will demonstrate different applications and products that are leading the market and how marketers can think about this technology as an opportunity to attract and retain customers. The customer journey model will be introduced and used for the IoT scenario as a general tool for leading a digital transformation.

WEEK 4
Artificial intelligence and big data
This module provides an overview of the key terms and technologies about “Big Data” and “Artificial Intelligence (AI)” and how these technologies allow new ways of customer engagement and management. It promotes a discussion about ethical and moral implications around Artificial Intelligence. Examples from different industries about the use of big data and AI are provided.

WEEK 5
Blockchain technology applications and crypto currencies
This module introduces the fundamentals of Blockchain technology, as a key accelerator of the evolving customer engagement including and far beyond the crypto currencies. The module presents practical scenarios by industry and how Blockchain can change current business models to benefit the customer and client relationship and also discuss how Blockchain technology combined with IoT and AI creates synergies for organizations. Finally, we will provide a list of communities created around Blockchain.

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