BIK 2941 Understanding the Digitalisation in Business

BIK 2941 Understanding the Digitalisation in Business

Course code: 
BIK 2941
Department: 
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Credits: 
7.5
Course coordinator: 
Tarjei Alvær Heggernes
Course name in Norwegian: 
Digital forretningsforståelse
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
Executive - Special Course
Semester: 
2023 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Bachelor
Teaching language: 
Norwegian
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

Digitalization has been a hot topic of conversation in recent years. Although the "hype" around the term has settled down a bit, there are still gains to be made by adopting digital technologies to strengthen value-added processes in all types of businesses. Technology is developing inexorably – today, for example, artificial intelligence can answer certain types of exam questions just as well as the average student. This development means that you will never be a business "fully digitized" - the digital transformation is very much an ongoing process.

Although the development of technology may seem almost like magic to us humans, all digital technologies are (so far) man-made systems, most often developed for a specific purpose and with clear uses and limitations. By familiarizing yourself with digital technologies at an overall level, one can get a clearer picture of how they can contribute to value creation and benefits for a company's employees, owners and customers.

The course provides an overall understanding of how different digital technologies and data interfere with business value creation. We address how businesses can use data and digital technologies as resources to promote profitability and competitive advantage and how increased levels of interaction internally and externally affect strategic thinking, corporate communication, marketing, and innovation. We also look at how businesses can facilitate that the measures within digitalization are also implemented and not just planned.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • Know how information, data, and business systems support important processes in the company value creation
  • Understand how digital technologies affect business models and business operations
  • Understand how data can be the basis for good decisions and streamline value-creating activities in a business, and contribute to achieving gains and competitive advantages
  • Know some of the technologies that fall under the term Industry 4.0 and how they can represent opportunities and threats for industries and companies
  • Be able to discuss how the data society and the use of technology change the premises for interaction with customers and partners
  • Know how to facilitate the adoption of digitalization initiatives in an organization
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Identify the information needs of key value-creating activities in businesses
  • Identify the main types of data available inside and outside the business, and reflect on the information content of that data.
  • Analyze threats and opportunities different technologies may represent.
  • Be able to identify processes in the business that can be improved using digital technologies
  • Use insights about/from big data to explore new opportunities that are business-relevant and profitable
General Competence

Students will develop the ability to see ethical dilemmas, assess consequences and emphasize honesty and ethically sound choices in the planning and implementation of digitalization of products, services and processes.

Course content
  • The digital community: big data, the cloud, and the Internet of Things
  • Digital economy, transaction costs, and network effects
  • Technology-supported value creation
  • How business models and business development are driven by data and digital technologies
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Business systems, system architecture, and technical debt
  • The gain perspective; governance gains, rationalization gains, organizational gains, market gains
  • Digital Business Strategy
  • Strategic anchoring of digitalization initiatives
  • Business intelligence and information structuring for analysis
  • Safety, law, and ethics
Teaching and learning activities

The course is conducted as a combination of classroom instruction and video lectures, as well as problem-solving and professional discussions on BI's learning platform. There will be clear bridges between the network and the collection so that the activities overlap and build on each other.  The course has physical gatherings where lecturers from relevant industries and academia contribute.

 

In all BI Executive courses and programs, there is a mutual requirement for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.
 

 

 

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

The course is part of the SLM course series, Digital business understanding, which consists of the SLM courses SLM 1001 The digital transformation, SLM 1002 Digital business strategy, and SLM 1003 Data Literacy and Digitalization Moves. The courses are based on the course BIK 2941 Digital Business Understanding, 7.5 ECTS. If you have completed three courses from the same SLM course series, and meet the admission requirements for taking an exam at BI, you can take an exam within that course series, which gives a total of 7.5 credits.

Qualifications

Higher Education Entrance Qualification

Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.

Required prerequisite knowledge

None

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Group/Individual (1 - 3)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
The course ends with the submission of a project that counts 100% of the grade. The task can be solved individually or in groups of up to three (3) persons. The exam will be handed out in teh beginning of the semester and can be related to own job situation. The exam har to be accompanied by a self-evaluation of each candidate or group. The self-assessment should provide a brief description of the candidate / group learning outcomes due to course learning objectives, as well as a reasoned character suggestions. The exam can not exceed 7500 words, excluding self-evaluation and any other attachments.
Exam code: 
BIK 29411
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
24 Hour(s)
Participation in classroom
Group work / Assignments
106 Hour(s)
Webinar / reading literature / discussion and problem solving in class facebook page
Examination
70 Hour(s)
Project
Sum workload: 
200

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.