Digital transformation: Building businesses that are for the future

Technology is evolving faster than ever, but organisational capability is struggling to keep pace.

How can leaders build organisations that are ready for digital transformation?

Join us for the next in-person event in our Executive Education Insight Series exploring what it takes for organisations to adopt, embed and benefit from digital transformation.

Led by Alisdair Smithies, Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Leadership and Management and Academic Director of Executive Education at Alliance Manchester Business School, this session will examine how organisations can build the maturity, culture and capability needed to respond to emerging technologies and future disruption.

As automation, embodied AI and robotics continue to evolve, leaders across all sectors face a pressing question: how can organisations become agile enough to adopt new technologies in ways that create lasting value?

Drawing on his academic background as an AI researcher and his experience in healthcare leadership development, Alisdair will explore the organisational foundations that enable successful digital adoption.

The session will consider how leaders can assess readiness, strengthen business capability, and develop processes that support innovation rather than slow it down.

You will leave with a practical framework for assessing your own organisation's digital maturity, and a clearer view of where AI and automation are heading.

The session is aimed at leaders and AMBS alumni who want to move from the theory of digital transformation to practical next steps for their own organisation.

What the session will cover

This interactive breakfast event will explore:

• Organisational maturity and readiness for digital adoption
• The cultural, process and capability shifts that turn readiness into action
• Different forms of AI and automation, and the disruption horizon - including the potential impact of embodied AI and robotics
• A practical framework for assessing your own organisation's maturity and identifying areas for development

Event agenda

Please note: This is an in-person only event which will not be recorded or streamed.

8:00-8:30am - Arrival, registration, and pastries

8:30-9:20am - Digital transformation: Building businesses that are for the future with Alisdair Smithies

9:20-9:30am - Q&A and discussion

9:30-10:30am – Networking

About the speaker

Alisdair Smithies is a Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Leadership and Management and Academic Director of Executive Education at Alliance Manchester Business School. His work focuses on digital transformation, healthcare innovation and leadership capability.

He has contributed to research on digital health leadership and organisational readiness, including work evaluating the impact of digital leadership programmes on national digital priorities.