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University of Virginia
Customer-Centric IT Strategy
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  3. Business Essentials
University of Virginia

Customer-Centric IT Strategy

This course is part of Leading the Modern Day Business Specialization

Alex Cowan

Instructor: Alex Cowan

24,517 already enrolled

Included with Coursera Plus

•Learn more
4 modules
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.6

(668 reviews)

Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
5 hours to complete
Learn at your own pace
98%
Most learners liked this course

4 modules
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.6

(668 reviews)

Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
5 hours to complete
Learn at your own pace
98%
Most learners liked this course
  • About
  • Outcomes
  • Modules
  • Recommendations
  • Testimonials
  • Reviews

Skills you'll gain

  • Information Technology
  • Technical Communication
  • User Story
  • Design Thinking
  • Business Modeling
  • Cybersecurity
  • Project Portfolio Management
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Large Language Modeling
  • Process Design
  • Business Strategy
  • Agile Methodology
  • Cost Benefit Analysis

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

4 assignments

Taught in English

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Leading the Modern Day Business Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
  • Learn new concepts from industry experts
  • Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
  • Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
  • Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

Now more than ever, corporations are investing heavily in IT. The quality of these investments affect the daily work of millions, yet it’s not uncommon to see industry surveys where the failure rates for IT projects is over 50%. It’s possible to do better and it’s possible to do so consistently. In this two-week course, we’ll step through major challenges within corporate IT and how to address them with the disciplined use of design thinking, Lean Startup, and agile as a team framework.

By the end of this course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and taught by top-ranked faculty, you’ll be able to: Use the Business Model Canvas to focus your company strategy and facilitate buy-in from stakeholders Translate your work on the Canvas to specific charters in IT Rapidly prototype strategically-aligned processes for implementation within your IT infrastructure Please Note: This is a short-form course, two weeks in duration.

To do strategic IT, you’ve got to have a strategy! Ideally, you need one that’s easy to understand and use as a clear basis for action. That’s what you’ll learn this week.

What's included

8 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

8 videos•Total 47 minutes
  • Course Intro•3 minutes•Preview module
  • The Problem with IT Projects•5 minutes
  • The 20-Minute Strategy Brief•3 minutes
  • IT Strategy Brief: Value Definition•6 minutes
  • IT Strategy Brief: The Customer Journey•7 minutes
  • IT Strategy Brief: Key Activities•7 minutes
  • Demo: Business Model Canvas Template•8 minutes
  • Drafting a Process Inventory from Key Activities•4 minutes
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
  • Course Overview & Requirements•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
  • Week 1 Quiz on Customer-Centric Strategy•30 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
  • Get to know your classmates•10 minutes

You’ve learned that being more intentional and acquiring and actionable understanding not just of what users say but of what they do is key to delivering successful IT. Now you’re going to learn more detail on how to iteratively prototype and test solutions to make sure not just that they don’t break, but that they deliver superior outcomes.

What's included

8 videos1 assignment

8 videos•Total 37 minutes
  • Your IT Pipelines•6 minutes•Preview module
  • Prototyping with Process•3 minutes
  • An Example of Prototyping with Process•5 minutes
  • Demo: Sketching a Process Design•6 minutes
  • Test Criteria: 0, 30, 90 Days•7 minutes
  • Skit: Process Design•3 minutes
  • Skit: Validation Criteria•1 minute
  • Towards Outcome-Driven IT Pipelines•3 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
  • Week 2 Quiz on Prototyping IT Solutions•30 minutes

It’s comforting as it is to believe there are simply ‘good’ and ‘bad’ product and technology choices. However, the reality is that you get good outcomes by being able to first diagnose your situation and then pair it with situation-appropriate choices on SaaS products, platforms, and stacks. This week, that’s what you’ll learn how to do.

What's included

10 videos1 assignment

10 videos•Total 43 minutes
  • The Economics of Your IT•2 minutes•Preview module
  • Unpacking a Stack•3 minutes
  • The Model View Controller Framework•2 minutes
  • Stacks, Any Way You Like•8 minutes
  • The Economics of SaaS•4 minutes
  • The Economics of Codeless + BaaS•8 minutes
  • The Economics of PaaS•3 minutes
  • The Economics of a Custom App•4 minutes
  • The Economics of User Devices•4 minutes
  • Towards an Economical IT Portfolio•0 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
  • Week 3 Quiz on Diagnosing the Economics of Your IT Portfolio•30 minutes

Two hot topics in IT that just keep getting hotter are: 1) cybersecurity and 2) AI. This week, we’ll focus on the technical and economic fundamentals of both so that you can facilitate shared understanding and informed, intentional decisions with your stakeholders.

What's included

14 videos1 assignment

14 videos•Total 72 minutes
  • The Screen Door•4 minutes•Preview module
  • The Superstack•6 minutes
  • The Attackers•3 minutes
  • Their Attack Pattern•6 minutes
  • Your Defense Pattern•6 minutes
  • Managing Risk•8 minutes
  • Security and the Stack•3 minutes
  • AI Today, AI Tomorrow•8 minutes
  • The Economics of AI & the Enterprise•3 minutes
  • Finding Your Ground Truth Supremacy•5 minutes
  • The Economics of Predictive Analytics vs. LLM•6 minutes
  • Case Study: Finding Ground Truth Supremacy at Jedburgh•4 minutes
  • Chartering & Governing AI Investments•2 minutes
  • Course Close•2 minutes
1 assignment•Total 30 minutes
  • Week 4 Quiz on Managing Security & Leveraging AI•30 minutes

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

Instructor ratings

We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.

4.7 (141 ratings)
Alex Cowan
Alex Cowan
University of Virginia
28 Courses•511,510 learners

Offered by

University of Virginia

Offered by

University of Virginia

A premier institution of higher education, The University of Virginia offers outstanding academics, world-class faculty, and an inspiring, supportive environment. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University is guided by his vision of discovery, innovation, and development of the full potential of students from all walks of life. Through these courses, global learners have an opportunity to study with renowned scholars and thought leaders.

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Learner reviews

4.6

668 reviews

  • 5 stars

    70.50%

  • 4 stars

    21.10%

  • 3 stars

    5.98%

  • 2 stars

    1.34%

  • 1 star

    1.04%

Showing 3 of 668

A
AC
4

Reviewed on May 6, 2020

Could have been slower and had more hands-on experience. Very quick to go through parts of the content and assume learners are picking it all up easily.

S
SS
5

Reviewed on Aug 27, 2020

Excellent content, and some of the examples are actually related to real life scenarios. It's good to focus on small and medium businesses instead of talking about Fortune 500 companies all the time

R
RK
5

Reviewed on Jun 29, 2021

The examples presented in the course were really helpful in understanding what goes into developing a customer centric IT strategy.

View more reviews
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Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

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When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

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