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Digital Transformation is Focus of CIMS’ April 12 Annual Meeting

RTP Headquarters
RTP Headquarters

What does it take to digitize your business? And what solutions does doing so provide to your organization?

These are among topics being discussed at the April 12, 2018, annual public meeting of the Center for Innovation Management Studies (CIMS) being held at the RTP Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Digital transformation refers to how a company has or is transforming its core business processes using digital technology in order to create value and gain differentiation in its market, explains Paul Mugge, CIMS director.

“The idea of digital transformation and what it takes for an organization to successfully execute such a change is a topic that has become pervasive in all discussions we have been having with our CIMS members and partners,” he said.

“The presentations at our upcoming public annual meeting will be relevant for individuals in organizations that are considering or in the process of digital transformation, or those who simply want to learn more about it,” he said.

Individuals may register for one or more of the eight presentations that run in sequence starting at 8:30 a.m., as well as the welcoming reception the evening prior which features networking and a poster session at which NC State graduate students will present summaries of their work with CIMS research projects.

Registration information is available at the CIMS website. Cost varies based on the number of sessions and meals selected. There is no charge for university students.

Presentation Topics and Speakers

  • “VF Corporation’s Partnership with NC State University and CIMS” – Scott Deitz, vice president of public affairs, VF Corporation, NC State University’s newest industry partner. Overview: Hear how their vision of a collaborative, strategic partnership will support student development at NC State and advance apparel and textiles innovation within VF. The long-term partnership will initially focus on engagement with the College of Textiles and the Poole College of Management, including specific innovation management activities with CIMS.
  • “Tracking Materials of Concern (MoC) with American Coatings Association” – Sarah Khan, Mike Kowolenko, Paul Mugge, Neil Parker, William Rand, R. Ravi, and Fred Renk, NC State College of Engineering and Poole College faculty and CIMS staff. Overview: Hear from both researchers and industry partners what the American Coatings Association (ACA) is doing to track MoC and the ability to create a similar platform at NC State. The NC State research team will discuss the architecture, design, and plan to build this Big Data Analytic Platform over the next three years, and explain the custom visualizations planned for the ACA Industry Advisory Board.
  • “Tales from the Road: This CIMS Stuff Really Works” – Larry Blue, chief operating officer, Bell and Howell, LLC. Overview: Hear first-hand how Bell and Howell is transforming its business utilizing digital transformation practices and techniques to enhance manufacturing and distribution applications.
  • “Digital Transformation Patterns and Success Determinants: A Three-year Study of Digital Transformation in Organizations” – Gerhard Gudergan, executive director, Center Smart Services, RWTH Aachen Campus and director of research, FIR at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and CIMS colleague. Overview: Gudergan will provide an update on this study, including “Patterns of Digitization,” a global survey that examines the drivers of success in digital transformation, and “Digital Transformation Ontology,” a project that involved use of IBM Watson to understand how digital transformation is captured in the literature, showing the array of publications involved and the different levels of digital transformation content we found.
  • “Digital Transformation: An Ecosystem Perspective” – Rahul Basole, associate professor, School of Interactive Computing; director, Institute for People & Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology; editor-in-chief, Journal of Enterprise Transformation; visiting scholar, Stanford University; fellow, Batten Institute, Darden School of Business. Overview: In today’s complex, hyperconnected business environment, successful (digital) transformation requires a system perspective. In this talk, Basole will discuss the challenges in navigating transformations from an ecosystem perspective and present the value of adopting novel visual analytic and computational methods and tools to augment and accelerate decision makers’ ability to discover, make sense, and analyze opportunities and strategies.
  • “Fast Forward: Rethinking Enterprises, Ecosystems, and Economies with Blockchain” – Veena Pureswaran, global research leader, IBM Institute for Business Value. Overview: For centuries, global trade has been the single greatest creator of wealth, and market friction, the greatest obstacle to wealth. Blockchain technology – which creates a permanent and transparent record of transactions – has the potential to obviate intractable frictions across industries. The IBM Institute for Business Value, supported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, has been studying adoption of blockchain technology and its intersection with other emerging technologies like IoT (Internet of Things). Learn more about how the future of business networks will be transformed.
  • “Cyber Data Security: Issues and Challenges to Consider When Protecting Your Data” – Mladen Vouk, distinguished professor, NC State College of Engineering, and associate vice chancellor for research development at NC State. Overview: In his presentation, Vouk will be “getting real about how digital data tends to be susceptible to cyberattacks,” covering topics that include the importance of equipment, hiring and training people, and most importantly, having a proactive plan in place to better protect your organization from such risks.
  • “Computational Research: Leveraging the Libraries, NC State’s Competitive Advantage” – Darby Orcutt, assistant head of collections and research strategy, NC State University Libraries. Overview: Forget what you think you know about libraries. Meet the NCSU Libraries, an international leader in the digital transformation of libraries. A key aspect of its value is its cutting-edge support for computational research, connecting NC State University researchers and teams with authoritative content in formats compatible with innovative analytics tools.