Data-driven decision-making is transforming industries like education, healthcare, and finance by harnessing big data and AI. This report explores the critical shift from traditional decision support to AI-powered automation and highlights how these changes impact organisations and society. The report discusses the technology and skills that are currently driving the digital economy and also attempts to reveal what comes next.
Authors
Dr Andrew Pope is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at Cork University Business School, UCC, where he specialises in design and technology. Andrew is Co-Director of the MSc Design and Development of Digital Business and teaches on the MSc Business Analytics programme in UCC. Andrew is the recipient of both the UCC President’s Award for Teaching Excellence and the Irish Academy of Management’s Outstanding Educator Award. Andrew has over 20 years of research experience, collaborating on publicly and privately funded research projects.
Dr Simon Woodworth is a lecturer in Business Information Systems and a Co-Director of the MSc in Business Analytics. He has 15 years’ industry experience in the telecommunications sector, followed by 20 years as an academic. He is Co-Director of the Health Information Systems Research Centre and Lead Investigator in the The Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research. He teaches technical topics including Python Programming, Software Development and Operations and Mobile Application Development. His research interests are focused on Health Informatics and Cyber Security.
Dr Huanhuan Xiong is a lecturer in Information Systems for Sustainable & Responsible Business, and also a senior researcher in Financial Services Innovation Centre, at university College Cork (UCC), Ireland. Currently she serves as a co-director of the MSc Design and Development of Digital Business postgraduate programme. Since 2020, Dr Huanhuan Xiong is the lead researcher in Financial Service Innovation Centre (FSIC), her research areas include but not limited to: big data analytics, decision making, financial well-being, financial resilience.
Commissioned by the N-TUTORR National Digital Leadership Network.
