Deakin’s new Graduate Certificate in Digital Transformation and Cyber Security addresses the demand for highly skilled professionals who can lead digital change. We spoke to Dr Emilia Bellucci about what digital transformation entails.
It’s no secret that we are in a time of significant digital change. With cyber security breachs regularly making headlines, the onus is on organisations to step up or fall behind. Deakin’s new Graduate Certificate of Digital Transformation and Cyber Security teaches students to apply cyber security strategies through a digital transformation lens.
Digital transformation centres around the important task of transforming the way an organisation is operating digitally. Dr Emilia Bellucci, from Deakin Business School, takes a big picture view of these skills. “We rely on computers for efficiency and for taking opportunities to the next level,” she says. “This is an opportunity to learn what digital transformation means and how organisations have been transitioning through technological change affecting organisations and society in general.”
Sought after skills for the future
The course encourages students to consider what the next big technologies will be and make informed assessments of whether to take advantage of them. “We teach the strategies you can use to work out the next steps to implement change,” Dr Bellucci explains. This could relate to how an organisation is incorporating e-commerce or importantly, how an organisation is pivoting towards cyber security.
The pairing of digital transformation and cyber security is unique to Deakin. “We’ve coupled digital transformation with cyber security because that’s the biggest challenge in our day now,” Dr Bellucci says. “We are putting a lot of resources into this area and it makes sense that we look at it from the lens of cyber security strategising.”
While cyber security has always been a problem, the general public are now learning more about what happens when things going wrong. “Organisations have been a bit blasé about the amount of spend they put into cyber security,” Dr Bellucci says. “It’s only just recently that they are thinking about the fact that a breach could happen to their organisation and they need to consider the consequences.”
Change on the horizon
In addition to this, there are signs globally that laws will be changing to make organisations more accountable. “In the European union, people are saying its not fair that organisations collect so much data and yet they have no responsibility,” Dr Bellucci says. “As legislation changes it is going to become much more important to be at the forefront of cyber security.”
The Graduate Certificate of Digital Transformation and Cyber Secuirty offers a wide range of electives including opportunities, for those interested, to explore the relationship between law and the digital world. It’s an area where things are changing fast and expertise will be highly valued. “The old era where you could just collect data and work out what you are going to do with it later is over,” Dr Bellucci says. “You have to be responsible with the information that you have.”
The Graduate Certificate of Digital Transformation and Cyber Security will be the next step for professionals who wish to lead change within their organisation. “I imagine the target market for this course is going to be professionals who can see that their organisation needs to pivot to cyber security and they don’t know how to make that change,” Dr Bellucci says.
Whether you want to be a cyber security specialist, a digital transformation analyst, or simply want to bolster your skills in this exciting field, it’s an opportunity to build career prospects in a growth industry.
Learn more about the Graduate Certificate of Digital Transformation and Cyber Security here