IT Solutions Blog

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that: it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." 
Rahm Emanuel

The Education Strategy Forum is an invitation-only meeting which brings together leaders within the higher education industry, alongside government representatives, policy makers and solutions providers – such as Crimson. The event was held on the 25^th and 26^th February, where they discussed the research report they produced, which is based on information obtained from delegates. The delegates are made up of 241 individuals from UK higher education institutions, including 17 Vice-Chancellors and C-Suite, 95 Directors, 84 Heads of Department and 45 members of Senior Management. They were interviewed over the phone and face-to-face, when they discussed trends and issues that are currently being tackled by university leaders. The report discusses the main findings of the research – student experience and engagement, data analytics, transformed learning, and the student journey – as well as discussing spending power, initiatives and investments.

Changes to higher education funding are forcing universities to compete in a cut-throat global market where competition levels show now sign of letting up anytime soon.

I always get a warm fuzzy feeling the day after Crimson’s Innovation Conference. Everybody in the office is talking about the conversations they had and the remarkable presentations they witnessed – we get as much out of it as our guests! So while it's still fresh, here is my take on what we learnt at this year's conference. 

The key message at Microsoft Future Decoded 2017 was ‘create a culture that embraces digital transformation’.

With cloud, big data, and artificial intelligence already rewriting the rules of business and competition in every industry, the speakers discussed how the escalating pace of change, particularly around automation, AI, blockchain, and quantum computers, would impact on organisations and their employees.

Clare Barclay, Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft UK, was the first of the keynotes to speak during the morning session on Tuesday 31 October 2017. She announced Microsoft’s latest white paper ‘Creating a culture of digital transformation’, which encapsulated the discussion points of the day’s keynotes.

We keep hearing about how technology is accelerating and that artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to change the world. But what does this really mean for you and me during our lifetime? I look around and still see humans fumbling around trying to get the printer to work, so what gives?

Business leaders are becoming increasingly aware that their competitors could unveil a new disruptive innovation at any time. Such disruptions have the potential to topple major organisations and transform entire industries.

To reduce the possibility of this happening, organisations must adopt cutting-edge ideas and embrace digital technologies. In most cases, it is the CIO’s / technology leader’s responsibility to drag the organisation into the 21st century. This is not easy, particularly for large companies that have powerful strong-willed stakeholders and ancient legacy systems that are vital for day-to-day operations.

In this article, Crimson’s IT solutions consultants highlight five actions that CIOs can take to drive change within their organisation.

Some organisations are embracing the process of digital transformation whilst others are being dragged into the 21st century by a few adventurous individuals.

Entire sectors are now being disrupted by new innovations, so whether you like it or not, your company must accept that digital change will happen eventually. Successfully shifting your organisation’s culture and business models onto the digital platforms and digitising your products and services is dependent on several factors; having the right leaders, getting buy-in from the board and key stakeholders, and finding talented staff.

I went to Microsoft’s annual UK Conference Future Decoded with the expectation that I’d be hearing a lot about the potential and functionality of Microsoft Dynamics 365, the latest cloud-based amalgamation of Microsoft’s CRM, ERP, Flow and Adobe Marketing solutions.

There were several intensive breakout sessions specifically on this topic, but the real focus of the day for the speakers was ‘digital transformation’.