MBA Students Learn How Digital Transformation Moves from Strategy to Execution

An industry talk titled Digital Transformation & IT Governance in the Real World: From Strategy to Execution was participated by MBA students from the Faculty of Management, recently. The session was conducted by Ts. Ahmad Kamal bin Hasan Basri, Director of ICT at Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia (UPTM), recently at the Cyberjaya campus.

A recipient of the World CIO 200 and CIO 100 ASEAN awards, Ts. Ahmad Kamal shared his experience in digital transformation and IT governance, drawing from his work at UPTM, MARA Corporation, HRD Corp and Khazanah Nasional.

Coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Lilian Anthonysamy, the session gave students a closer look at how digital transformation is planned and carried out in organisations. Ts. Ahmad Kamal introduced six key steps in a digital transformation roadmap, covering the setting of transformation objectives, assessment of digital readiness, execution, change management and post-implementation review.

He also showed how organisational pain points can be identified and translated into prioritised initiatives. The discussion also covered IT governance and its role in keeping transformation initiatives on track, including stakeholder buy-in, limits of authority, transparent procurement and project steering committees.

Ts. Ahmad Kamal emphasised that digital transformation is not solely an IT function, but requires coordination across departments and alignment between business needs and technology. Overall, the session gave the participants a practical perspective on the challenges of turning digital strategies into action, complementing their academic learning with current industry practices.