Digital transformation has become a buzzword in recent years as tech innovation sweeps across the global market. But there’s still much debate on what digital transformation means and entails.
MIT Sloan Management Review defines digital transformation as not just about digital technology or the process of transformation. Rather, it is about business leaders and their employees understanding trends, formulating and implementing strategies, and using digital solutions to keep up with the ever-changing economic landscape driven by technology advancements.
A McKinsey & Company survey found that businesses had to advance faster than their initial expectations before the pandemic. Internal operations and customer-facing jobs in some businesses came to a standstill as most consumers went online. The economic shift catapulted the digital transformation of an organization from “good to have” to a “must-have”. However, not all markets are ready to adapt.
Looking at the digital competitiveness of countries worldwide, the US and Hong Kong topped the list of IMD World Digital Competitiveness 2021. But countries in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America are lagging. These regions have consistently been in the same spot for many years.
Amidst this, Kurios, a company that provides business training programs for digital transformation in Latin America, was born. At Kurios, the goal is to help businesses navigate their path to success by upskilling and reskilling their employees.
Kurios offers cohort-based business training programs to equip businesses in Latin America for the digital era.
Sign up for Kurios today.What Is Kurios?
Kurios is the brainchild of business partners Carlos Lau, a former growth and operations manager at Uber, and Luis Ubillas, a former financial controller at Amazon. Before they landed promising jobs at two of the biggest tech companies in the US, Carlos and Luis worked for Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP) and Credicorp Capitol in Peru.
Given their knowledge in tech, they saw that the gap in digital skills in Latin America was huge. As the region’s tech sector began recording exponential growth, the demand for competent professionals in the digital field became clear. Without employees that possessed core skills, digitalization would be slow and not effectively executed.
One way to close this gap is for professionals to further their education by taking up a Master’s degree at a university or enrolling in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) like Coursera, and Udemy. However, Latin American universities are not equipped to offer advanced curricula that cover the training requirements of businesses. In addition, the tuition cost for a Master’s degree is hefty and requires one to two years to complete.
While MOOCs are accessible, the student completion rate is dismal even for courses offered by top universities like Harvard and Stanford. In 2020, Forbes reported that a study found that the completion rate of MOOCs was around 20 percent. And while some companies try to provide corporate training, not every organization is well-equipped for this.
To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the large-scale digital divide in Latin America. With their failure to catch up to innovations, a 2020 report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that 2.7 million microenterprises were likely to shut down, thereby leading to the mass unemployment of over eight million people.
Kurios aims to empower Latin America’s businesses by upskilling and reskilling the workforce via training programs that are relevant to business growth. The Kurios founders said, “Our vision is to help people and companies become the best version of themselves, starting with preparing them for the digital age.” Doing so allows businesses to flourish and be more resilient, especially to economic shifts during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kurios mainly caters to B2B enterprises that are looking towards digitalization. Large enterprises represent 80 percent of Kurios’ client base and the remainder consists of startups and SMBs. Kurios is also present in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile.
With such an expansive network, what draws companies to Kurios?
An Overview of Kurios Programs
Kurios offers state-of-the-art training programs best suited for the Latin American market. Since most of its learners are from B2B companies, Kurios delivers the programs in a unique format, combining self-paced learning with live sessions. This format allows the employees to study and work with ease.
Kurios offers four major programs that are integral in boosting a business. These are Product, Growth, Data, and Digital Foundations. Let’s delve into each program to see what you can expect.
Kurios Product Program
- Cost: $1,290
- Duration: 12 weeks (25 hours)
Kurios understands that a product can make or break a company. This is why they know how critical it is to have employees who know how to create products that are competitive and will meet the expectations of end-users.
In this program, Kurios students learn to innovate products considering the market opportunities and consumer behavior. Kurios’ Product program focuses on three modules: Digital Product Management, Working Backwards, and Product Management Execution.
The curriculum covers the following topics:
- Product Mindsets
- UX Research and Fundamentals
- Creating a Product Requirements Document (PRD)
- Building the Product
- What is Working Backwards, and How to Apply It?
- Product Process Stages
Kurios students also learn the ins and outs of product planning, from creating a product strategy, product roadmap, and frameworks to iteration and applying agile and scrum methodologies. Kurios learners accomplish projects about PRDs, case studies, and launching final products to test their skills and mastery of the courses.
The program has 10 hours of recorded lessons and 15 hours of live classes.
Kurios Growth Program
- Cost: $1,490
- Duration: 15 weeks (37.5 hours)
Growth hacking has seen a great demand across all businesses as technology rapidly advances. Companies seek multi-skilled growth marketing specialists who can synchronize the product, sales, and marketing ecosystems to drive businesses forward.
Employees who take Kurios’ Growth program learn to perform better in terms of customer acquisition, conversion, and retention. They also gain a better understanding of how to identify growth opportunities and develop a strategic growth plan.
The core modules of the Growth program are Growth 101, Growth Strategy, Monetization, and Experiment Design. Most of the classes are delivered live, with only 2.5 hours of recorded classes.
The curriculum covers the following topics:
- Product Market Fit
- Growth Framework: Aha Moment, North Star Metric, and Growth Funnel
- Problem-Solution and Prioritization Frameworks
- Customer Acquisition, Conversion, and Retention
- Traditional Funnel vs. Growth Loops
- Intro to Monetization
- Measuring and Optimizing Monetization
- Pricing Deep Dive
- Experimentation Strategy
- Product Strategy
The program also dives into experimentation strategy and product strategy. It touches on topics of how to leverage these strategies to increase growth potential. By the end of the program, learners apply what they have learned by developing different strategies and completing a case study on Uber.
Kurios Data Program
- Cost: $199
- Duration: 2 weeks (5 hours)
Data is essential in making business decisions. According to a study commissioned by Collibra, data-centric organizations are 58 percent more likely to surpass their expected revenue goals.
Kurios designed its Data program to produce employees who can make data-backed strategic decisions. Learners master Amazon’s data framework and other analytics tools. The data program runs for five hours with live and recorded classes.
The curriculum covers the following topics:
- Data Types: Structured and Unstructured
- How Amazon Uses Data to Grow Faster
- Input and Output Metrics
- Using Data In Product Lifecycle
- Analyzing Historical Data
- Amazon’s Framework
- 5 Whys Model
- Analytics Tools
- Data Storytelling
Kurios Digital Foundations Program
- Cost: $240
- Duration: 4 weeks (10 hours)
To achieve digital transformation, the internal team should have a digital mindset. In this program, Kurios shapes employees by making them realize the importance of digital transformation.
Kurios instills the right mindsets among employees, including customer obsession, agility, hunger for experimentation, and a data-driven mindset. The program also underscores techniques and methodologies to boost the everyday productivity of employees.
Kurios Digital Foundations program revolves around two modules: Digital Foundations and Productivity in the Digital Era.
The curriculum covers the following topics:
- The Importance of Digital Transformation
- Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous Environments
- 4 Principles In the Digital Era
- New Roles and Methodologies: Product Management, Product Design, Growth, Data, and Scrub
- Productivity Cycle
- Projects vs. Tasks
- How to Efficiently Plan Weekly
- Follow-up and Execution
The Digital Foundations program lasts four weeks with five hours of recorded sessions and five hours of live classes. Kurios learners also complete case studies tackling insurance and e-commerce companies.
Why Trust Kurios?
In the words of Kurios founders, “We are the only ones providing a combination of cohort-based learning with premium and in-depth curricula (in business skills for the digital age) and with global high-quality instructors.”
Kurios works with industry experts from companies like Amazon and Uber to design programs that cover a wide range of topics in depth. Besides this, Kurios prides itself in curating a team of elite instructors to teach the courses. All its instructors possess at least five years of experience in several relevant fields and have worked with top companies, like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Rappi.
As a result of these, Kurios is trusted by key players in Latin America, including Femsa, the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world; Alicorp, a leading CPG company in the region; Walmart Mexico; and Banorte.
Kurios has grown three times since its inception, training over 3,000 employees from 26 companies. Be part of the next thousand. Create a well-equipped workforce when you enroll your employees to reskill and upskill with Kurios.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
