Digital Transformation in the Enterprise

IT Fundamentals· 2 CUs· E006

Performance assessmentDue Jun 2, 2027

Lessons0 / 8

Digital transformation and emerging technology

Evaluating technology

Proposing and leading the change

Digital transformation and emerging technology

What digital transformation is

12 min

Term	Meaning	Example
Digitization	Analog to digital	Scanning paper forms
Digitalization	Digital tools improve an existing process	Online form feeds the database directly
Digital transformation	Strategy, operations, culture and business model change around digital capability	Clinic shifts to virtual visits and remote monitoring as a core service

Drivers: customer expectations, competition, cost pressure, regulation, new data.
Dimensions: customer experience, operations, business model, workforce and culture.
Failures are usually organizational: unclear goal, weak sponsorship, poor change management, not the technology.

Buying a tool is not transformation. The test: did the way the organization creates value change?

Business need: A measurable gap between current and desired performance.
Digital transformation: Organization-wide change in how value is created and delivered, enabled by digital technology.

A firm converts 20 years of paper invoices to PDFs. This is:

Most digital transformation failures trace to:

E006 is new as of February 2026; follow the task and rubric in the course.

Content

Task details

Proctored

Digitization changes analog to digital; digitalization uses digital technology to change a business model; digital transformation spans the whole organization.
EPAM, quoting Gartner definitions
Of ROI, TCO, NPV and payback, only NPV discounts future cash flows to today's value. Payback is simply investment ÷ annual return.
Nucleus Research, ROI/TCO/NPV/payback
Security and privacy are separate challenges: privacy risks can arise from how data is processed, with no security incident at all.
NIST Privacy Framework
Technology acceptance model: people adopt a system when they see perceived usefulness (better job performance) and perceived ease of use (free from effort).
Wikipedia, technology acceptance model
Rogers: adoption speeds up with relative advantage, compatibility, simplicity, trialability and observability. Use them to explain an adoption challenge.
Wikipedia, diffusion of innovations
Kotter's eight steps start with creating urgency and building a guiding coalition; short-term wins come sixth, instituting change last.
Kotter Inc., 8 steps
Gartner hype cycle in order: technology trigger, peak of inflated expectations, trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment, plateau of productivity.
Wikipedia, Gartner hype cycle

Tips

Read the task and rubric first; use each rubric aspect as a heading.
Pick a technology with a clear release or major-update date inside the required window, and cite a source that shows the date.
Name the problem in the scenario's terms before naming the technology.
Cost-benefit: list cost categories and benefit categories, then name the measure (ROI, payback, NPV). Numbers are not required unless the task says so.
Security and privacy are separate: security protects systems and data from attack; privacy governs how personal data is collected and used. Give implications for each.
Adoption challenge: name who resists and why (skills, trust, workload), then a specific fix (training, pilot, champions, phased rollout).
For the presentation: one message per slide, data on the slide, a clear ask at the end, speaker notes or narration if required.
Checklist: technology identified with date and citation; fit to the problem explained; cost-benefit reasoning; security and privacy challenges with implications; adoption challenge and solution; roadmap with phases, owners and KPIs; data supports the claims; APA citations; professional writing that passes the grammar check.
Write it yourself. No purchased bundles, templates or sample papers; WGU checks originality.

The learner evaluates technology for organizational improvement.
The learner proposes integrating new technology to solve a business need using research and data supported storytelling.

Study hours

30 h

Lessons

2 h 19 min

SourcesUpdated Nov 4, 2026