Successful cases, challenges, and new opportunities: students about the Micro-Master’s program in Digital Transformation for Business
23 / 8 / 24In August, the Digital Transformation for Business program, a 16-week micro-master’s degree program designed to teach top management how to transform a company’s processes using the experience of successful cases and AI technologies, ended. During the course, students worked on tasks for their own companies. Each homework assignment is a part of a future digital business transformation plan.
What our students learned:
⭢ identify and modernize inefficient business processes
⭢ implement AI in company processes in a targeted manner
⭢ Understand the ethical aspects and key threats when implementing AI in business processes
⭢ build their own digital transformation strategy taking into account the specifics of the organization.
In addition to the contractual form of training, students also had the opportunity to receive scholarships funded by a grant from UMAEF (Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund), the first regional direct investment fund from the United States in Ukraine and Moldova, established through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In this material, we share feedback from the students of the course.
“With such intensive training, there are always a million questions, including organizational ones, and it was nice to feel support and feedback.”
Mykyta Shtankov
Project Director
“The first thing that set me up for work was good communication with me as a program participant, including support via email and Discord. Next, I noted the high quality and huge amount of useful materials that I had to work through between meetings and workshops. Sometimes it was not easy, but the principle of placing the material, the form of presentation and a convenient time breakdown with tests at the end did their job. I wanted to keep up with the tasks and continue my studies.
What helped during studies
The need to constantly switch between English and Ukrainian – both in work and in communication with speakers – keeps you in good shape during your studies. It has already become an integral part of our lives, including our professional life. Still, English opens up huge opportunities.
I consider the selection of speakers and trainers to be very successful. These are people who have achieved significant heights in their fields, and at the same time demonstrated a good attitude and willingness to answer the questions and needs of the participants.
What was most memorable?
The workshop “Digital Transformation Failures” with Yulia Maruniak was the most memorable. The topic itself is interesting, and the opportunity to work deeply on well-known cases of failures and learn from other people’s mistakes is very valuable. As it turned out, there are plenty of high-profile examples of failures in this area.
The workshop allowed us to take a fresh look at seemingly well-known stories. The participants were drawn into discussions and small group assignments. The speaker managed to keep track of the timing well, give the opportunity to reflect and at the same time cover a large amount of interesting material.
I have gained a pleasant learning experience and knowledge from SET University. As well as a warm working atmosphere, a high level of quality education and attention to detail.
“Constantly comparing a product with competitors is not enough if you don't know your “strengths” or use them inefficiently.”
Evelina Golovanova
Coordinator of the Ukrainian Startup Fund at the Innovation Development Fund of the Ministry of Digital Transformation
Challenges in operational work before the training
The obvious challenges include the lack of continuous operation due to air raids and power outages. The less obvious ones include the remoteness of team members and the transition to a hybrid or online workflow.
Before the program, we already had AI tools, but we didn’t use them as efficiently and extensively as we did after the program. It was important for me to understand not only the benefits of the tools but also the rules and ethical aspects of their use. Effective management and modern tools are inseparable in order to make decisions quickly and efficiently.
Problems of modern business
Constantly comparing your product with competitors is not enough if you don’t know your “strengths” or use them inefficiently. You need to constantly monitor trends and feel the market. Especially in times of difficult challenges and events, it is critical to adapt the work of the team and your own. This is about flexibility, and it is a must-have.
What was the most interesting part of the program?
The learning journey was especially valuable to me because of the amount of practice and real-world tools that we tested and discussed right in the classroom. Also, the community of like-minded people in the program, powerful lecturers who inspired me to study outside of work. Among the modules, the material on leadership and understanding the types and methods of teamwork was particularly interesting. It is extremely useful and helps to find “your” model of work, style and effective management mechanism.
“I really like the quote by Mykhailo Fedorov: “Data should run, not people”.
Alexander Sherstyuk
Employee Onboarding Expert at EVO
What challenges did you face in your work
In my company, the processes were already prepared for stressful conditions, as we reconfigured them during the pandemic, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and automating certain parts. AI tools mostly help us with basic tasks at the level of generative models.
Problems of modern business
In my personal opinion, everything related to physical paper documents should disappear. This will help companies significantly speed up external and internal processes. I really like the quote by Mikhail Fedorov: “Data should run, not people”. Therefore, it is important to optimize processes so that human resources do not have to be wasted on “running around”.
What was the most interesting part of the program?
The most memorable workshop was “Return of Investments in Digital Transformation Process”. It was very interesting to hear about real cases of Ukrainian companies, the stages of solving their challenges through digital transformation, and the subsequent effect of these initiatives.
—
SET University is a Ukrainian educational institution that provides higher education to future leaders of the technology industry. SET University combines a modern approach to education with a focus on technology and entrepreneurship, the name SET is an acronym for Science, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. SET offers master’s degrees and short micro-master’s programs, and the university also runs accelerators and boot camps to support startups.
Subscribe to our newsletter
