Business strategy consulting is a growing field. Digital transformation is one trend driving the need for consultants who can provide advice and support on areas existing business leaders aren’t familiar with. Emerging technologies like AI and machine learning also offer opportunities for strategy consultants. If you feel like you’ve got your finger on the pulse of modern business trends, it could be a very profitable career choice.

OPIT’s BSc in Digital Business provides an educational pathway to achieving success as a business strategy consultant. If you already have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s could be your next step to gaining thorough proficiency in this field.

Understanding Business Strategy Consulting

Successful companies tend to be very good at what they do, whether that’s providing a physical product or a service. The most successful firms know that for some things, they need external help. Business strategy consultants are usually third-party, outsourced professionals who spend time with the company on a temporary basis. They’re onboarded to deal with specific challenges, from employee churn to reduced profits.

Consultants use their business acumen and digital skills to assess problems and suggest solutions. They may also help implement those solutions, set goals and KPIs, and monitor results. The success of a consultant’s strategy could determine the future of their career. With that in mind, these professionals are highly driven to help the companies they work for succeed.

Specific responsibilities may involve:

  • Assessing current budgets and financial processes
  • Liaising with executives from CEOs to CFOs
  • Driving efficiencies across various departments
  • Identifying growth opportunities

What skills does a business strategy consultant need to perform these duties? Ideally, they’ll have a strong grasp of the company’s industry. They also need to demonstrate digital fluency, particularly in data analysis and visualization. Business consultants must also be objective, great listeners, and effective communicators.

Educational Pathways to Business Strategy Consulting

Business strategy consultants need a bachelor’s degree at the very minimum. OPIT’s BSc in Digital Business covers many of the skills needed for success in this role. You’ll learn business management skills alongside computer science. There are sections on managerial economics, project management, and digital analytics — all critical knowledge for a business consultancy role.

Graduates can opt for a master’s degree to hone their skill set. The MSc in Applied Digital Business delves deep into business strategy and its interplay with digitalization. There’s also the opportunity for an internship to gain real-life experience.

Building Your Career as a Business Strategy Consultant

Your degree is a great foundation for your career as a business strategy consultant. However, it’s important to build up from here any way you can. Here’s one step-by-step pathway you could follow to achieve success as a business consultant.

  1. Take an Internship

As mentioned before, some courses come with the opportunity for internships. Consider seeking time working with existing consulting firms. You might want to think about the industry you’re most interested in and opt for organizations within that sphere. Another option is to approach companies within that market and offer your services to get as much experience as possible.

  1. Create a Network of Contacts

While you’re finding ways to gain this experience, start building a network of contacts. A business leader who is impressed with your internship now might hire you in the future. Make sure you keep a record of their details. You can also attend conferences, webinars, and industry trade shows. Speak to people, tell them what you do and what your goals are. It’s a great way to meet people with similar interests and make contacts that can help your career.

  1. Embrace Life-Long Learning

Continuous education is also vital. The digital landscape is always shifting, so business strategy consultants have to keep up with trends in transformation and data management. Seeking out courses that you can complete alongside your existing career is one way to ensure you’re always ahead of the curve.

Key Skills for Success in Business Strategy Consulting

All business strategy consultants need the following skills:

  • Knowing how to make tough calls.
  • Handling conflict and objections.
  • The ability to make snap decisions.
  • Utilizing multiple streams of data to make those decisions.
  • The determination to see projects through to completion.
  • The confidence to take risks and pivot when something isn’t working.

Your OPIT courses support you in the development of these skills. Because you study foundational business skills alongside data science, you learn how to connect analysis to business decisions. You can quickly justify what others might see as brash choices by visualizing the data that led to that path.

OPIT’s Role in Shaping Future Business Strategy Consultants

At OPIT, our courses are helping create a highly skilled cohort of business strategy consultants. The career-aligned courses are designed to meet the demands of the consultancy industry and the digital needs of the companies you’ll work with.

The BSc in Digital Business is a fully remote, online course. The program runs over five terms, with a final additional term for completing your dissertation project. The minimum timeframe is 24 months, but 36 months is the standard length.

You’ll start with business fundamentals, moving on to computer architectures, ICT skills, and web development. More importantly, for prospective consultants, you cover digital business models, business strategy, and critical thinking.

The MSc in Applied Digital Business builds on what you already know. You’ll cover data science and AI and how it fits into the digital economy. From here, you’ll discover business problem-solving, digital project management, and entrepreneurship, among other topics.

After your third term, you’ll start your thesis project, where you’re encouraged to intern with a trusted industrial partner. You can complete this course in 12 months on the fast-track plan, and the regular duration is 18 months.

As well as the high-quality course content and opportunities to work with professionals, you gain access to unparalleled student support. It’s important that students don’t feel alone or isolated during remote learning. With the proper support, online or hybrid study can be more effective than traditional classroom or lecture-based learning. Analysis from the UK shows that 85% of studies on online learning confirm that supportive, digital courses are more beneficial to students than conventional courses.

Combine Digital Fluency With Business Expertise for a Lucrative Career

Your role as a business strategy consultant could change the direction of many companies. The satisfaction you’ll gain from driving success and transformation is second to none. Successful consultants never stop learning, always discovering new ways to uncover business opportunities.

If you’re excited to start your journey towards business strategy consulting, explore OPIT’s available courses or contact us for more details.

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The Yuan: AI is childlike in its capabilities, so why do so many people fear it?
OPIT - Open Institute of Technology
OPIT - Open Institute of Technology
Nov 8, 2024 6 min read

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  • The Yuan, Published on October 25th, 2024.

By Zorina Alliata

Artificial intelligence is a classic example of a mismatch between perceptions and reality, as people tend to overlook its positive aspects and fear it far more than what is warranted by its actual capabilities, argues AI strategist and professor Zorina Alliata.

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA – In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown and developed into something much bigger than most people could have ever expected. Jokes about robots living among humans no longer seem so harmless, and the average person began to develop a new awareness of AI and all its uses. Unfortunately, however – as is often a human tendency – people became hyper-fixated on the negative aspects of AI, often forgetting about all the good it can do. One should therefore take a step back and remember that humanity is still only in the very early stages of developing real intelligence outside of the human brain, and so at this point AI is almost like a small child that humans are raising.

AI is still developing, growing, and adapting, and like any new tech it has its drawbacks. At one point, people had fears and doubts about electricity, calculators, and mobile phones – but now these have become ubiquitous aspects of everyday life, and it is not difficult to imagine a future in which this is the case for AI as well.

The development of AI certainly comes with relevant and real concerns that must be addressed – such as its controversial role in education, the potential job losses it might lead to, and its bias and inaccuracies. For every fear, however, there is also a ray of hope, and that is largely thanks to people and their ingenuity.

Looking at education, many educators around the world are worried about recent developments in AI. The frequently discussed ChatGPT – which is now on its fourth version – is a major red flag for many, causing concerns around plagiarism and creating fears that it will lead to the end of writing as people know it. This is one of the main factors that has increased the pessimistic reporting about AI that one so often sees in the media.

However, when one actually considers ChatGPT in its current state, it is safe to say that these fears are probably overblown. Can ChatGPT really replace the human mind, which is capable of so much that AI cannot replicate? As for educators, instead of assuming that all their students will want to cheat, they should instead consider the options for taking advantage of new tech to enhance the learning experience. Most people now know the tell-tale signs for identifying something that ChatGPT has written. Excessive use of numbered lists, repetitive language and poor comparison skills are just three ways to tell if a piece of writing is legitimate or if a bot is behind it. This author personally encourages the use of AI in the classes I teach. This is because it is better for students to understand what AI can do and how to use it as a tool in their learning instead of avoiding and fearing it, or being discouraged from using it no matter the circumstances.

Educators should therefore reframe the idea of ChatGPT in their minds, have open discussions with students about its uses, and help them understand that it is actually just another tool to help them learn more efficiently – and not a replacement for their own thoughts and words. Such frank discussions help students develop their critical thinking skills and start understanding their own influence on ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools.

By developing one’s understanding of AI’s actual capabilities, one can begin to understand its uses in everyday life. Some would have people believe that this means countless jobs will inevitably become obsolete, but that is not entirely true. Even if AI does replace some jobs, it will still need industry experts to guide it, meaning that entirely new jobs are being created at the same time as some older jobs are disappearing.

Adapting to AI is a new challenge for most industries, and it is certainly daunting at times. The reality, however, is that AI is not here to steal people’s jobs. If anything, it will change the nature of some jobs and may even improve them by making human workers more efficient and productive. If AI is to be a truly useful tool, it will still need humans. One should remember that humans working alongside AI and using it as a tool is key, because in most cases AI cannot do the job of a person by itself.

Is AI biased?

Why should one view AI as a tool and not a replacement? The main reason is because AI itself is still learning, and AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT do not understand bias. As a result, whenever ChatGPT is asked a question it will pull information from anywhere, and so it can easily repeat old biases. AI is learning from previous data, much of which is biased or out of date. Data about home ownership and mortgages, e.g., are often biased because non-white people in the United States could not get a mortgage until after the 1960s. The effect on data due to this lending discrimination is only now being fully understood.

AI is certainly biased at times, but that stems from human bias. Again, this just reinforces the need for humans to be in control of AI. AI is like a young child in that it is still absorbing what is happening around it. People must therefore not fear it, but instead guide it in the right direction.

For AI to be used as a tool, it must be treated as such. If one wanted to build a house, one would not expect one’s tools to be able to do the job alone – and AI must be viewed through a similar lens. By acknowledging this aspect of AI and taking control of humans’ role in its development, the world would be better placed to reap the benefits and quash the fears associated with AI. One should therefore not assume that all the doom and gloom one reads about AI is exactly as it seems. Instead, people should try experimenting with it and learning from it, and maybe soon they will realize that it was the best thing that could have happened to humanity.

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The European Business Review: Adapting to the Digital Age: Teaching Blockchain and Cloud Computing
OPIT - Open Institute of Technology
OPIT - Open Institute of Technology
Nov 6, 2024 6 min read

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By Lokesh Vij

Lokesh Vij is a Professor of BSc in Modern Computer Science & MSc in Applied Data Science & AI at Open Institute of Technology. With over 20 years of experience in cloud computing infrastructure, cybersecurity and cloud development, Professor Vij is an expert in all things related to data and modern computer science.

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the fields of blockchain and cloud computing are transforming industries, from finance to healthcare, and creating new opportunities for innovation. Integrating these technologies into education is not merely a trend but a necessity to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in the future workforce. Though both technologies are independently powerful, their potential for innovation and disruption is amplified when combined. This article explores the pressing questions surrounding the inclusion of blockchain and cloud computing in education, providing a comprehensive overview of their significance, benefits, and challenges.

The Technological Edge and Future Outlook

Cloud computing has revolutionized how businesses and individuals’ access and manage data and applications. Benefits like scalability, cost efficiency (including eliminating capital expenditure – CapEx), rapid innovation, and experimentation enable businesses to develop and deploy new applications and services quickly without the constraints of traditional on-premises infrastructure – thanks to managed services where cloud providers manage the operating system, runtime, and middleware, allowing businesses to focus on development and innovation. According to Statista, the cloud computing market is projected to reach a significant size of Euro 250 billion or even higher by 2028 (from Euro 110 billion in 2024), with a substantial Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.78%. The widespread adoption of cloud computing by businesses of all sizes, coupled with the increasing demand for cloud-based services and applications, fuels the need for cloud computing professionals.

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, has paved the way by providing a secure, transparent, and tamper-proof way to record transactions (highly resistant to hacking and fraud). In 2021, European blockchain startups raised $1.5 billion in funding, indicating strong interest and growth potential. Reports suggest the European blockchain market could reach $39 billion by 2026, with a significant CAGR of over 47%. This growth is fueled by increasing adoption in sectors like finance, supply chain, and healthcare.

Addressing the Skills Gap

Reports from the World Economic Forum indicate that 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines by 2025. However, 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms, many of which will require proficiency in cloud computing and blockchain.

Furthermore, the World Economic Forum predicts that by 2027, 10% of the global GDP will be tokenized and stored on the blockchain. This massive shift means a surge in demand for blockchain professionals across various industries. Consider the implications of 10% of the global GDP being on the blockchain: it translates to a massive need for people who can build, secure, and manage these systems. We’re talking about potentially millions of jobs worldwide.

The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), an EU initiative, aims to deploy cross-border blockchain services across Europe, focusing on areas like digital identity, trusted data sharing, and diploma management. The EU’s MiCA (Crypto-Asset Regulation) regulation, expected to be fully implemented by 2025, will provide a clear legal framework for crypto-assets, fostering innovation and investment in the blockchain space. The projected growth and supportive regulatory environment point to a rising demand for blockchain professionals in Europe. Developing skills related to EBSI and its applications could be highly advantageous, given its potential impact on public sector blockchain adoption. Understanding the MiCA regulation will be crucial for blockchain roles related to crypto-assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Furthermore, European businesses are rapidly adopting digital technologies, with cloud computing as a core component of this transformation. GDPR (Data Protection Regulations) and other data protection laws push businesses to adopt secure and compliant cloud solutions. Many European countries invest heavily in cloud infrastructure and promote cloud adoption across various sectors. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be deeply integrated into cloud platforms, enabling smarter automation, advanced analytics, and more efficient operations. This allows developers to focus on building applications without managing servers, leading to faster development cycles and increased scalability. Processing data closer to the source (like on devices or local servers) will become crucial for applications requiring real-time responses, such as IoT and autonomous vehicles.

The projected growth indicates a strong and continuous demand for blockchain and cloud professionals in Europe and worldwide. As we stand at the “crossroads of infinity,” there is a significant skill shortage, which will likely increase with the rapid adoption of these technologies. A 2023 study by SoftwareOne found that 95% of businesses globally face a cloud skills gap. Specific skills in high demand include cloud security, cloud-native development, and expertise in leading cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. The European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) highlights a need for improved digital skills in areas like blockchain to support the EU’s digital transformation goals. A 2023 report by CasperLabs found that 90% of businesses in the US, UK, and China adopt blockchain, but knowledge gaps and interoperability challenges persist.

The Role of Educational Institutions

This surge in demand necessitates a corresponding increase in qualified individuals who can design, implement, and manage cloud-based and blockchain solutions. Educational institutions have a critical role to play in bridging this widening skills gap and ensuring a pipeline of talent ready to meet the demands of this burgeoning industry.

To effectively prepare the next generation of cloud computing and blockchain experts, educational institutions need to adopt a multi-pronged approach. This includes enhancing curricula with specialized programs, integrating cloud and blockchain concepts into existing courses, and providing hands-on experience with leading technology platforms.

Furthermore, investing in faculty development to ensure they possess up-to-date knowledge and expertise is crucial. Collaboration with industry partners through internships, co-teach programs, joint research projects, and mentorship programs can provide students with invaluable real-world experience and insights.

Beyond formal education, fostering a culture of lifelong learning is essential. Offering continuing education courses, boot camps, and online resources enables professionals to upskill or reskill and stay abreast of the latest advancements in cloud computing. Actively promoting awareness of career paths and opportunities in this field and facilitating connections with potential employers can empower students to thrive in the dynamic and evolving landscape of cloud computing and blockchain technologies.

By taking these steps, educational institutions can effectively prepare the young generation to fill the skills gap and thrive in the rapidly evolving world of cloud computing and blockchain.

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