Karan Girotra is a professor of operations, technology, and information management at Cornell Tech and Cornell University. He collaborates with companies building new business models in the areas of urban living, smart transportation, and e-commerce, helping them design rigorous, research-based solutions. Professor Girotra’s research team has been recognized by many awards, including the prestigious Wickham Skinner Early Career Research Award and multiple best paper awards. He has also won awards for his teaching on entrepreneurship and new business models, and was featured in the Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 business professors list. In addition to his academic work, Professor Girotra is one of the founders of TerraPass Inc., which the New York Times identified as one of the most noteworthy ideas of 2005. Since then, TerraPass has helped businesses and individuals reduce over 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Professor Girotra holds Ph.D. and A.M. degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Digital
TransformationCornell Certificate Program
Overview and Courses
Digital transformation isn’t just for tech startups. It’s a critical strategic focus area for today’s business leaders — and an initiative necessary for nearly every organization or venture to compete.
In this certificate program, you will learn how to find and produce new, streamlined, and disruptive business ideas through digital auditing and a rapid ideation process. Additionally, you’ll have the chance to pitch your ideas and develop a plan to rigorously test and evaluate your opportunity to ensure market suitability. By the time you complete the program, you will have developed a toolkit for the rapid ideation process as well as a strategy to move to the next step in manifesting your digital innovation concepts.
The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.
In this course, you will learn best practices to quickly generate multiple ideas for new ventures. You will flex your creative muscles by using tools and activities daily to expand your list of ideas. Then, you will apply your best practices to a number of product and service design, business model transformation, and sales transformation templates to devise ideas for new products and services. By the end of this course, you will have over 100 ideas for new products or services that you can begin to refine.
You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
In this course, you will apply a number of daily ideation techniques to evolve the use of digital tools in your organization. You will evaluate your business model and determine where you can integrate digital tools to better meet your customers' needs and increase profitability. You will then identify niche digital marketplaces that are opportunities to fulfill unmet customer needs. In the culmination of this course, you will gain an extensive toolkit for developing new ideas throughout your organization or for your entrepreneurial ventures.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
- Rapid Ideation
Using your own expertise, you will refine your list of business opportunities in stages to your three most viable ideas. Then you will enter these ideas into a peer-to-peer collaboration platform to receive feedback from the wisdom of the crowd. You will also rate each of your classmates' three best ideas. Finally, you will develop a one-minute pitch, practice it with a partner, and record it. You and your classmates will view and provide feedback on each other's pitches. By the end of this course, you will have selected your best product or service idea and prepared a polished pitch to present to stakeholders.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
- Rapid Ideation
- Generating Opportunities for Digital Disruption
In this course, you will conduct a five-step value creation analysis using the Business Model Canvas for a product or service idea. In conjunction with this analysis, you will evaluate your idea based on your competition and your unique value proposition. You will then craft a concise statement of why your idea will work. Finally, you will gather feedback from your peers and professionals in the industry to determine where you need to iterate your product or service idea. By the end of this course, you will have a validated Business Model Canvas for your concept.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
- Rapid Ideation
- Generating Opportunities for Digital Disruption
- Developing and Pitching Ideas
In this course, you will design a testing plan for your product or service. You will choose an experimental strategy such as prototyping or pilots for collecting real-world data. Then, you will formulate your experiment to ensure reliable results while being conscious of accuracy and cost. You will identify what success looks like for your product or service and develop metrics to test those factors. By the end of the course, you will be prepared to test your prototype or pilot and evaluate how your product or service idea needs to improve.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
- Rapid Ideation
- Generating Opportunities for Digital Disruption
- Developing and Pitching Ideas
- Value Creation and the Business Model Canvas
In this course, you will investigate different strategies to reduce the impact of unknowns and other risk factors on the successful deployment of your product or service idea. You will identify and evaluate a sequence of operational tasks to develop your product or service. Your task sequence will then undergo a peer review to inform the necessary changes to reduce risk and make your plan more viable. You will leave this course with a validated strategy for the development of your new product or service where risk has been reduced.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Preparing for Digital Transformation
- Rapid Ideation
- Generating Opportunities for Digital Disruption
- Developing and Pitching Ideas
- Value Creation and the Business Model Canvas
- Prototypes and Pilots
Symposium sessions feature three days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.
Join us for the next Symposium in which we’ll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including innovation, strategy, and engagement. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.
Upcoming Symposium: February 13-15, 2023 from 11AM – 1PM ET
- Monday, February 13: Leading Successful Hybrid Teams
- Tuesday, February 14: Practicing Decision Triage
- Wednesday, February 15: Acknowledging Cultural Differences in the Workplace
All sessions are held on Zoom.
Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.
How It Works
Course Length
Program duration
Class Size
Effort
Format
Model
Course Length
Program duration
Class Size
Effort
Format
Model
Faculty Author
Key Course Takeaways
- Conduct a digital audit for your company or venture
- Identify what innovation should look like and identify gaps
- Develop a mindset to rapidly generate opportunities for digital transformation
- Use digital business model transformation templates to generate ideas
- Conduct a value creation analysis
- Develop a validated Business Model Canvas for your concept
- Identify a risk-limiting path to develop your idea
- Develop an action plan to implement digital innovation
Download a Brochure
Not ready to enroll but want to learn more? Download the certificate brochure to review program details.
What You'll Earn
- Digital Transformation Certificate from Cornell Tech
- 70 Professional Development Hours (7 CEUs)
Watch the Video
Who Should Enroll
- Business leaders
- Technology leaders including CTOs
- Entrepreneurs
{Anytime, anywhere.}
Request Information Now by completing the form below.
Digital Transformation
| Select Payment Method | Cost |
|---|---|
| $3,699 | |