Richard Dron tells you about what its like to learn web app development here in Salford Business School

Are you looking for a Business Management programme where you can learn technical skills, like web app development? Are you interested in working in the digital space after you complete your degree? Or are you a business looking to work with a university because you need students with a business perspective who can manage the process of managing web app development projects?

I’m Richard, Programme Leader for BSc Business Management with Innovation and Technology, and also I look after the Web App Development module. I think it’s great and it might just be what you’re looking for!

What makes our web app development module so special? Well, firstly its part of the BSc Business Management with Innovation and Technology programme, that trains managers to run businesses of the future and harness the power of tech. I might be biased but I think it’s a brilliant programme. We’re an amazing academic team and we’ve got fantastic students too!

We use the term industry informed to describe this undergraduate degree programme. But what does that mean? Well, we’ve co-created this module with industry in mind. To make our students even more industry ready, this year they are working to client briefs and industry expectations with a local industry partner, on their way to working in digital careers where the skills they develop here will be really important.

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Dr Aleksej Heinze

This year has offered some dramatic lessons in the power of social media. Twice, people have confounded predictions to vote for ideas which have targeted emotional responses.

Now we have President Donald Trump, and the UK Government scrambling to navigate a path out of the European Union.

As 2016 draws to a close, a shooting in Washington at a pizza restaurant – the so-called pizzagate incident – exposed just how dangerous and how effective those emotional appeals on social media can be.

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Richard Dron discusses US Election predictions

Am I the only one that thinks there is chance that Donald Trump actually might win in the US Election prediction? I don’t have a crystal ball, but even with Beyonce and Jay Z’s help I am just not sure Hillary Clinton can win this week’s US presidential elections.

I have to tell you, I was thrown a few months ago with the result of the EU referendum. But, was I in denial? Were the signs not there? I went to give a talk to our MSc Digital Marketering students about analysing social media and I was asked for a prediction. I said:

At the moment it looks like leave is well ahead but there will be a swing … there is always a swing!

I had the data in front of me, visualised. The conclusions were actually obvious, and I still couldn’t see it. My lesson from #brexit is quite simple. Don’t let your mind play tricks on you and believe only what you want to be true.

Do you know why I think that we need to prepare ourselves for another shock voting result from our friends from across the pond – here are my thoughts based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) research…

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sad pug (CC) by hannah k

On Friday morning, 24th June 2016 I woke up to the news that the UK had voted to #leave at the EU Referendum. I have to admit that I was confused and I still am. I was a #Remain voter. However, practically everyone in my village was voting #Leave. I knew there were pockets of #Leave voters. I just thought we overall, after everything was counted, would be staying in the EU.

What is more concerning is the number of #leave voters who are showing both anger and #Bregret. They never believed their vote would matter and were actually as convinced as me that the UK would #Remain an EU nation. Have you, like these voters, got anything to #Bregret? In particular, that within hours of the result the key pledges of the leave campaign have been backtracked on – was the nation misled?

Shortly after the result was announced #Bregret was born. Many #Leave voters admitted that they had not expected the drop in the value of the pound. Others were angry when Nigel Farage admitted that the NHS funding claim was a ‘mistake’. These feelings and expressions of remorse have grown. They started with the voting public ringing electoral services to ask if they could change their vote, and since then #Bregret has gone digital.

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Dr Morven McEachern and Dr Kevin Kane

In response to issues around poverty, unemployment, declining public services and other austerity measures, social enterprises around the globe are successfully addressing social problems in a sustainable way.

Similar to other parts of the globe, UK social enterprises are outperforming their mainstream SME counterparts in nearly every area of business (e.g. turnover growth, workforce growth, job creation, social innovation, and start-up rates).

The impact of social enterprises is particularly noted across the service (incl. education), health and social care sectors. Thus, it is no surprise that the University of Salford and Salford Business School in particular, created a Centre for Social Business which was launched in 2013 by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.

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How do beacons work?

Have you heard about beacons? How do beacons work? Beacons are one of many technologies that Salford Business School’s PUPRU is working with. If you don’t know by now what #PUPRU is, you can read about it here. The #PUPRU team are a group from the Centre for Digital Business with a focus on researching the use of emerging and disruptive technologies in business. Disruptive technology is defined as:

… new digital goods and services that revolutionise, change and disrupt accepted methods of performing business activities and transactions …

We have all been exposed to disruptive technologies, but perhaps not been aware. All disruptive technologies have potential to be the next big thing, creating significant opportunity, as with past disrupters like the Internet, smart phones and Google. You may not see the relevance, but unforeseen digital disruption drastically impacts business revenues. For example, GAME group closed 277 stores in the UK and Ireland in 2012 when consumer habits changed and more people began downloading their games. EE’s 2015 third quarter results showed a 10.3% collapse in voice minute revenue as customers moved to VOIP communication apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat. Desktop PCs and laptop sales declined by 9.5% in 2015 with increased global demand for tablets and smart phones. It is no longer necessary for you to own desktop PC devices when there are cheaper mobile alternatives, offering mobility and additional functionality. A new service could disrupt an existing business and is a strong motivator to rethink IT strategy and align it with business strategy. This is where #PUPRU comes in and looks to engage with organisations investigating the use of emerging disruptive technologies in their strategies.

Now – to beacons – what are they?

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Northern Digital Awards

Salford Business School and The Candidate Ltd have been short-listed by the Northern Digital Awards 2016. This recognition in the category of “Digital Marketing Campaign – Third Sector” is for the success with student recruitment to the free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which is part of an international collaboration developing Digital and Social Media Marketing masters course (JEMSS project).

The objective of the iversity.org hosted course was to create an online campaign to promote a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Digital and Social Media Marketing to global digital marketing enthusiasts and attract 3,000 student sign-ups.

As the course development is co-funded with support from the European Commission, MOOC promotion activity must deliver agreed EU objectives. This included the dissemination activity from 4 European partner universities: University of National & World Economy (Bulgaria), City College (Greece), Kaunas Technical University (Lithuania) and University of Lodz (Poland). All digital marketing communications were managed by England’s Salford Business School (lead partner) and The Candidate Ltd – both part of the Northern Powerhouse.

Why was this digital marketing campaign short-listed by the Northern Digitals Awards?

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Dr Aleksej Heinze

A Digital marketing strategy is critical for organisations operating in markets with high Internet penetration.

However, one of the challenges in digital marketing is that it is based on communications using technologies where hardly a week goes by without a search engine ranking algorithm update or a social network update. Keeping track of the technical changes alone becomes a major task and then there is the need to work out how these changes affect an individual organisation and ultimately its business model.

No organisation wants to follow in Blockbuster’s footsteps and have to close due to not keeping up with the latest technological offerings and how the changes impact on their customers. Researching and teaching digital marketing over the last 10 years has shown that whilst there is change there are also a number of constants.

As we discuss on our Digital Marketing Strategy course, the success of a digital marketing strategy is always dependent on its implementation. How do organisations go about developing and implementing their long term (from 3 to 5 year) plans in such a fast paced and constantly changing environment?

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Richard Dron – Technical Innovation Officer

Let me introduce myself! I’m Richard, and I am the University of Salford Business School Technical Innovation Officer. Some of you might have met me last year, because I was a student studying an MSc in Information Systems Management.

Through connections I made on my course I heard about this position, applied, and here I am. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting me yet, I’m sure you will soon. I try to be involved in multiple projects, and there are lots of ways that our paths could cross.

If you are a student, a company or a colleague at the Business School, my role connects to all of you!

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Dr Aleksej Heinze

The Schengen area has never been tested to the same level as it is now. The unprecedented volume of refugees arriving in Europe has left its leaders struggling to cope. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, issued a sober warning that the crisis puts Schengen into question, while Italy says it is ready to impose border controls and Hungary has sealed off its main train station.

The Schengen Agreement is one of Europe’s most remarkable achievements. Implemented in 1995, it allows free movement of people between member countries – effectively removing border controls. It means that visas, rights of asylum and checks at borders outside the Schengen area apply across member states. Now, some are keen to argue, it is under threat.

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