Last updated on Aug 26, 2024
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Assess your current situation
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Define your vision and goals
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Select your digital initiatives and activities
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Allocate your resources and responsibilities
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Implement your digital strategy
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Review and improve your digital strategy
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Here’s what else to consider
A digital strategy is a plan that guides your department or institution in using technology to achieve your goals, enhance your performance, and improve your learning outcomes. Developing and implementing a digital strategy can be challenging, but it can also bring many benefits, such as increased engagement, efficiency, innovation, and impact. In this article, you will learn how to create and execute a digital strategy for your department or institution in six steps.
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- Francois Dapelgo Enterprise Architect / Digital Transformation
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- Oluwatoyin Ajilore-Chukwuemeka Education Research | Policy | Social Entrepreneurship I Afrocentric Human Capital Development | StoryTeller
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- James Taylor President, Brazil Manaus South Mission
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1 Assess your current situation
The first step is to evaluate your current digital maturity, needs, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can use various tools and frameworks, such as SWOT analysis, digital maturity models, or digital audits, to help you with this process. You should also consult with your stakeholders, such as students, staff, faculty, alumni, partners, and employers, to understand their perspectives, expectations, and feedback. This will help you identify the gaps and priorities for your digital strategy.
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- Oluwatoyin Ajilore-Chukwuemeka Education Research | Policy | Social Entrepreneurship I Afrocentric Human Capital Development | StoryTeller
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Some ways to get started can be a department-based survey of faculty member ease of use and familiarity with certain digital tools that are keep to the implementation
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2 Define your vision and goals
The second step is to articulate your vision and goals for your digital strategy. Your vision should describe the desired future state of your department or institution in terms of digital transformation, culture, and capabilities. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), and aligned with your overall mission, values, and objectives. You should also consider how your digital strategy supports the wider social, economic, and environmental goals of your sector and society.
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- James Taylor President, Brazil Manaus South Mission
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The digital strategy must underpin and enable the success of the University's overall Strategic Plan. It must also be wholly incorporated into the Business Plan, or Resource Plan, of the institution. Unless this occurs, the institution is not proceeding in the direction of growth in a sustainable manner. Many Higher Education Institutions fail to achieve their strategic plans because their digital and resourcing and growth and sustainment initiatives are not synchronized.
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- Oluwatoyin Ajilore-Chukwuemeka Education Research | Policy | Social Entrepreneurship I Afrocentric Human Capital Development | StoryTeller
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In cases where the digital strategy adoption is based on totally new tools or drastic changes are made to existing digital tools, while being time-bound with the goals, it is important to include some flexibility in the time structures. Change management is not a walk in the park, especially when it involves some level of behavioural changes on the part of the stakeholders.
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- Patricia J. Pardo, Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscientist at PJP Select Enterprises- Current
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What I learned in my role setting up a digitally intense Magnetoencephalography (MEG) lab might have some general application here:You never know what individuals will have key ideas or concerns you are missing: Get buckets of input from a large, group of individuals with varied expertise from teachers to engineers to architects to advanced computer experts to those who have done this type of project before. Visit multiple sites that are doing what you want to do. Listen and watch those there to see what frustrates & what empowers those trying to get something done. Think of solutions during visits. And have experts visit your site. ✅Trust no local expert completely who has also a competing financial incentive. Look at ALL plans.
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- Nathalie DREAN 🌟 Enseignement supérieur pluridisciplinaire , RH, Management, Communication, Digital, Projet Pro, Personnel Branding, Entrepreneuriat. Facilitatrice LinkedIn ✅ 🎯💯 Ecoles d'ingénieurs, de Management et Universités.
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Pour mettre en œuvre une stratégie numérique pour votre département ou institution d'enseignement supérieur, il est essentiel de commencer par définir une vision claire des résultats que vous souhaitez obtenir. Pour cela, utilisez des outils tels que des ateliers de brainstorming ou des groupes de discussion pour impliquer les parties prenantes et recueillir leurs idées. Ensuite, définissez des objectifs SMART (spécifiques, mesurables, atteignables, pertinents et limités dans le temps) qui vous permettront de suivre votre progression et d'ajuster votre stratégie si nécessaire.
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3 Select your digital initiatives and activities
The third step is to select digital initiatives and activities that will help you achieve your vision and goals. You should assess the feasibility, impact, and cost-effectiveness of each option, and prioritize them according to your needs and resources. Additionally, consider how to integrate and coordinate your digital initiatives with existing processes, systems, and policies. Examples of such initiatives include developing digital literacy for students, staff, and faculty; enhancing digital teaching methods; improving digital communication platforms; increasing digital access for diverse groups; leveraging data for decision making; and fostering digital innovation.
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- Francois Dapelgo Enterprise Architect / Digital Transformation
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The digital initiatives to choose can be as small as just a capability of the company. Picking a small scope and dealing with it successfully can lead to good results can give confidence and excitment to move further. Then leveraging on that experience you can address a broader scope such as one or several BU or the overall company. If going digital is crucial to redefining the business to prevent it from imminent death, then going on tiny steps will not fit the purpose.
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- Yogesh C.
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Those digital initiatives mentioned above can have a transformative impact on an organization, promoting digital fluency, collaboration, and innovation. By embracing these initiatives, organizations can unlock new opportunities and stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.
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A key point to add for digital strategies, is they have to be audience focused! Define who exactly you want to reach and identify their preferred methods of communication and on what platforms. Doing this during your background research in the creation of a digital strategy will focus your goal and SMART objectives more fully. Each audience must have a defined objective with an associated call to action or else you are just throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks digitally.
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- Conxa Rodà Co-director of CIMED, Congreso Internacional de Museos y Estrategia Digital at REMED - Network of Museums and Digital Strategies
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When assessing, besides the aspects already mentioned, I'd include the users' needs and expectations. And to prioritze it's also useful to consider value and effort. Once identified the digital initiatives with highest value and lowest effort, go first for these. And continue.
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4 Allocate your resources and responsibilities
The fourth step is to allocate your resources and responsibilities for your digital strategy. You should estimate the budget, time, and human resources required for each digital initiative and activity, and secure the necessary funding, support, and approval from your senior management and governance bodies. You should also assign clear roles and responsibilities to your staff, faculty, and external partners, and establish a governance structure and a reporting mechanism to monitor and evaluate your progress and performance.
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- Yogesh C.
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By establishing a robust governance structure and reporting mechanism, progress and performance can be effectively monitored and evaluated. This allows for timely adjustments and ensures that the digital strategy remains on track.By efficiently allocating resources and responsibilities, organizations can maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of their digital initiatives. This step helps in establishing accountability, ensuring proper coordination, and ultimately driving the desired outcomes from the digital strategy.
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5 Implement your digital strategy
The fifth step is to implement your digital strategy according to your plan. You should communicate your digital strategy to your stakeholders, and engage them in the implementation process. You should also provide adequate training, guidance, and support to your staff, faculty, and students, and encourage them to adopt and use the digital technologies and practices. You should also be flexible and adaptable to the changing needs and circ*mstances, and be ready to adjust your plan as needed.
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Three things I found helpful are to address the concerns, fears and resistances directly with empathy, compassionate listening and community building. Visit faculty students and staff to hear their feedback firsthand. Explain how technology addresses their self interest and adds value to their work.
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6 Review and improve your digital strategy
The sixth and final step is to review and improve your digital strategy on a regular basis. You should collect and analyze data and feedback from your stakeholders, and measure your outcomes and impacts against your goals and indicators. You should also compare your performance with your peers and benchmarks, and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of your digital strategy. You should then use the findings and insights to inform your future actions and decisions, and to update and refine your digital strategy accordingly.
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7 Here’s what else to consider
This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?
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The very concept of digital strategy has taken a full rebirth, thanks to the surging popularity of AI. I think this article could benefit from somewhat of a reorientation with AI at the center of digital transformation. Let me state a couple of radical shifts: Intelligent automation: AI automates repetitive administrative tasks within the higher education sector, allowing staff and faculty to focus on more strategic activities, such as curriculum development and student support services.Mass customized student experience: AI technologies enable personalized learning experiences by analyzing student data and tailoring educational content and support to individual needs.
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- Xingchen Liu Building efficient teams
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I'd like to share some of my thoughts from my project experience. Focus on talent digitization. Be a digital evangelist, inspiring team members to be aware of and ignite their interest in digitalization, letting them experience the benefits.Create an open environment for knowledge sharing and collaboration, accelerating the dissemination of digital knowledge and skills, and driving organizational digital progress. Moreover, provide incentives for digital talent. Whether it's a dedicated member from the digital team or other business unit, rewarding exceptional digital performers will further enhance the internal drive for digitalization.Focus the talent, they are the key to unlocking the potential of digitalization!
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