Orla Daly leverages extensive IT and digital transformation expertise to drive business growth. With leadership roles at ExxonMobil, EMC, and National Grid, she has managed large-scale IT integrations and strategies. A graduate of Dublin City and Stirling Universities, she enjoys New England's outdoors.

In a compelling conversation with Global Woman Leader Magazine, Orla discusses key trends shaping the future of online learning platforms and their impact on IT-business partnerships. She explores adapting IT to evolving educational needs, rethinking governance for agility, and fostering leadership mindsets to embrace innovation.

With the rapid digitization in the eLearning space, what trends do you see as crucial for shaping the future of online learning platforms? How will they impact IT-business partnerships?

The eLearning space is undergoing a tectonic shift driven by technological advancements and changing workforce demands. The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is reshaping the industry by enabling personalization and improved interactivity in learning experiences. This has sparked an evolution from the traditional one-size-fits-all approaches to adaptive learning pathways that respond to individual learner needs and preferences. Learning has moved away from passive, video-centric training models towards interactive, hands-on learning experiences powered by advanced digital social interactions and AI capabilities.

With technology as a key enabler for most business strategies, the partnership between IT and business is critical to achieve business goals. IT skills need to remain current to capitalize on new technologies to advance the business, and technology literacy is even more important for business teams. As per our IT Skills and Salary report, 65% of IT executives reported skills gaps, and 56% anticipated more in the near future. Organizations recognise that investing in existing talent through upskilling and reskilling is more cost-effective than continuous recruitment. 72% of IT decision-makers plan to address these growing skill gaps by training existing talent. This can include business reskilling as well as IT upskilling. 

The increased alignment between technology investments and business objectives, particularly in with Gen AI is resulting in a blurring of lines between business and IT roles requiring organizations to focus on developing comprehensive training programs that encompass technical skills, compliance understanding, and leadership.

As eLearning platforms evolve, how should IT adapt to meet the changing needs of learners and educators while ensuring long-term sustainability?

As learning platforms continue to evolve, IT departments responsible for the selection and adoption of eLearning platforms should consider solution fit not just for the capabilities needed today, but recognize how an eLearning solution can support future skill development, aligned to both the goals or the learner and the organization.

AI-powered innovative solutions have significantly addressed the traditional challenges of creating and managing employee curricula. For instance, Skillsoft's introduction of Dynamic Content in its Percipio platform represents a breakthrough in adaptive learning technology. It enables organizations to automatically assign training content based on individual employees' interests, career trajectories, and regional compliance requirements, reducing the administrative burden while ensuring personalized learning experiences. Implementing such advanced features brings multiple benefits to organizations and increases employee engagement.

To ensure sustainable success in this evolving landscape, IT teams must promote a culture of continuous learning and innovation within their teams. This approach enables organizations to stay ahead of technological advancements while providing robust, adaptable learning solutions that meet current and future educational needs.

As technology accelerates, how do you rethink traditional governance models to allow for faster iteration and response without compromising operational integrity?

We are living in an era of technological change, and governance models must evolve from rigid hierarchies to adaptive, networked systems. The key lies in creating governance frameworks that balance rapid innovation with robust oversight. This means developing regulatory mechanisms that can quickly adapt to emerging technologies while maintaining core ethical and operational standards. Moreover, IT teams must be agile, and IT leaders must invest in agility and collaborative skills that enable IT teams to understand business goals and drive the right conversations around prioritization. To ensure successful governance transformation, organizations must implement frameworks that emphasize transparency, accountability, and cross-organizational collaboration. This approach helps break down silos and enables faster, more effective response to technological changes.

When driving digital transformation, what mindset shift do leaders need to have to avoid getting stuck in legacy systems and truly embrace innovative changes?

Leaders driving digital transformation must shift from a fixed, traditional mindset to one that embraces ongoing evolution and innovation. Rather than viewing technology changes as one-time implementations, successful transformation requires cultivating an organizational culture that thrives on continuous improvement and calculated risk-taking with a focus on outcomes over outputs.

The key is nurturing an environment where teams are empowered to work collaboratively across traditional silos, experiment with new approaches, and respond quickly to changing needs. This means adopting agile methodologies that enable rapid iteration while maintaining operational stability. Leaders must have the agility to drive process simplification in addition to delivering new technology capabilities, while showing that failure is acceptable when it leads to learning and improvement.

How do you ensure that eLearning platforms use data to personalize learning experiences without violating user privacy or creating biases?

Balancing personalization with privacy and ethical considerations in learning platforms requires a multifaceted approach aligned with emerging AI regulations and best practices. A robust data governance framework, coupled with regular audits, is essential to protecting user personal data while delivering tailored learning experiences. Adopting privacy and bias considerations early in the design stage of our products and services allows us to address these challenges head on and put the customer in control of their data while offering a personalized user experience.

Organizations must invest in skilled professionals who understand the technical and ethical implications of AI-driven personalization to meet these challenges and comply with the law. This has become particularly critical in light of recent legislative developments, such as the EU’s AI Act. These experts play a crucial role in identifying and managing risk associated with privacy and bias before any impact learners. Inserting skilled professionals in regular audits and monitoring processes and systems ensures that personalization algorithms don't perpetuate existing biases or create new ones.