May 22, 2023 – Finance, Tech & Analytics Career Resources

Operations Management: How Essential is Operations in Business?

Posted on May 22, 2023April 2, 2024 by Imarticus Learning

Operation management is one of the most sought-after administrators by various ventures. It is mainly used for business functions that are related to the backend. Many small-scale as well as large-scale ventures are adopting operation management for scaling up their business and making them more efficient.

Operation management can easily make effective sales and operations planning for a company. It can easily take in-charge of several tasks like supervising the mass production and the final quality of an item. So that, the market products get a good response from the consumers.

In this article, we will learn more about operation management and its importance in business. Let’s dive in to comprehend better!

What is Operation Management?

Operation management (OM) is a significant branch of management. It is a type of administrator that has been adopted by many businesses to make their business more efficient and to enhance profits. It also helps a business to reach its final goal with a high-productivity rate.

After a business adopts operation management they need not have to worry about the administrating portion. This is because operation management supervises every detail from the initial phase to the final phase. It supervises the very essential parts of a business like the supply chain, plans, logistics, revenue as well as production.

Different Systems of Operation Management

There are various systems that operation management follows to complete a certain task. Currently, there are four different systems that various operation management software use to execute their actions. These systems have been discussed down vividly:

The first operation management theory is Business Process Redesign (BPR). This system mainly focuses on the workflow of a company by steadily analysing and re-designing the business structure of the company. It also assists a company to remove certain business structures that do not enhance the growth of the company and affect customers’ opinions.

Business Process Redisgn (BPR) also establishes and optimises a company’s end-to-end business.

The next theory of operation management is Six Sigma. Ventures who want to focus on the quality of their end product mainly opt for this operation management theory. This system reduces variations, errors as well as defects. This helps a business to enhance the quality of its final products.

The main tools of a Six Sigma system are ratios, defect calculation, and trending charts.

Lean manufacturing is the third kind of operation management system that is widely accepted and used by various businesses. The main task of this operation management system is to annihilate unnecessary elements from the production stage. According to this theory eliminating unnecessary elements that are not required by the customers will save a lot of capital for the venture.
The last operation management theory is the Reconfigurable manufacturing systems. This system assists a business in altering its structures as well as standard components. This system consists of several machines which are interconnected to each other.

Significance of Operation Management in Business

Businesses are steadily adopting operation management because it is extremely essential for growing a venture. Here are a few reasons why operation management is so crucial for every venture:

Operation management is essential because it completely supervises each aspect of a venture.
A business can easily track its insight with the help of operation management.
Operation management is required for addressing design-related issues as well as handling various operations. Apart from these operation management can easily maintain and improve various systems which are used within the business.
Operation management allows a business to grow its capacity and aims in a positive way. It also helps to expand the reputation of various businesses that have adopted it.
Operation management acts as a catalyst to increase the brand value of a business by selling high-quality products to customers. Customer satisfaction is one of the main causes that boost the brand value of a business.
Operation management also increases the engagement and productivity of the employees.
It also helps to increase the sales of a business by reducing its expenditure.

Various Roles of Operation Management in a Business

Here are a few roles of operation management in a business:

Planning

One of the main roles of operation management is planning. Where it has to plan and design the amount of product a company can sell within a particular period by studying past data.

Designing

Another role of operation management is designing. It has to design or create unique ideas for the upcoming product in an economical way according to the need of the customers.

Oversee Quality

Supervising the quality of the products is an important role that is played by operation management. It checks the quality of the products at each stage to identify any minor or major issues. This maintains and upgrades customer satisfaction. Apart from it, this assists to boost sales.

Supply Chain Management

Operation management also manages the supply chain by supervising the sales, production, supplies, rate and distribution. It helps a business to reduce its cost and all

Conclusion

Operation management has emerged to be a boon in the present business sector. Many businesses are rapidly adopting it hence this is creating huge vacancies. A career as an operation manager is quite alluring with high remuneration.

Imarticus Learning has brought a new supply chain analytics course for individuals who are willing to commence their careers in operation management. This course is a collaboration with IIT Roorkee therefore one will acquire the best knowledge from top-notch faculties. This is a 6 months certification course where an individual can upgrade their skills.

The IIT supply chain management certification course is a six months course where one can deal with real-time projects as well. So without any further delay enroll yourself in this course to bag lucrative opportunities.

The Importance of Financial Leadership for Business Success

Posted on May 22, 2023April 4, 2024 by Imarticus Learning

Strong leadership qualities are important in every sector for propelling organisations in the correct direction. While it may sound easy, being an able leader and driving the organisation towards growth is a challenging task to accomplish. It needs planning, focus, resilience, and above all, hard work.

It is the task of a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFO) to propel an organisation towards the right direction by providing financial leadership. A CFO is a senior executive responsible for driving a company’s financial operations and making strategic decisions while helping the organisation compound in terms of revenue.

It is a highly sought-after position and entails acquiring important skills and expertise. You can take up a reliable CFO program if you want to get established as a successful CFO.

What is Financial Leadership?

Financial leadership is the summation of all the strategies and actions that a leader drives to expand an organisation and generate greater revenues. A financial leader is in charge of looking after financial operations like financial budgeting, forecasting, accounting, and financial reporting.

Financial leaders look after the profitability and sustainability of their company. Financial leadership entails a sound understanding of financial concepts and principles. Financial leaders also need to have strong analytical and decision-making skills.

Top Skills of Able Financial Leaders

A credible CFO program can build financial leaders and give their careers a competitive edge. Here are some skills that can help you become an able financial leader, driving your organisation towards success:

Business Acumen

Having sound business acumen is not only required in financial leaders. It is a must-have for all employees. A successful financial leader must be familiar with every aspect of how each business function runs on a daily basis. They must be able to analyse abstract data streams and assess how the data affects each area of the organisation. Able financial leaders must also be able to provide insights into every aspect of the business efficiently.

Financial Planning and Analysis

Financial planning and analysis involve financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis of the functions of an organisation. It entails utilising financial data to offer senior management insights and recommendations which further enable them in making sound decisions and achieving the organisation’s financial objectives. An able financial leader must be adept in financial planning and analysis.

Strategic Planning

Strategic thinking is critical for financial executives. It allows them to define and implement financial plans that complement the organisation’s broader strategic goals. Financial executives must be able to think strategically about how to distribute financial resources, manage risks, and achieve financial goals. Strategic planning is an important financial leadership skill that every leader must work on.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Budgeting and forecasting involve the analysis of the company’s data and allocating funds for projects by predicting its future financial outcomes. Budgeting and forecasting are important skills every financial leader must be equipped with.

Problem-Solving Skills

Financial leaders must be quick problem solvers. Able financial leaders must be able to navigate their way through any problem that dawns upon the organisation at any point in time by analysing data. Financial leaders must be able to identify potential problems and risks and develop innovative solutions to counter those threats. They must also collaborate with other departments to achieve financial success.

Communication

Communication is the key to solving many complex problems in organisations. From communicating the course of action to employees to communicating plans and strategies to stakeholders, leaders have to do it all. Effective communication strengthens bonds between employers and employees in any organisation. It fosters a healthy work culture that aligns employees toward working for a common goal.

How Does Financial Leadership Foster Successful Businesses?

Here are some ways financial leadership can make businesses thrive in today’s age of fierce competition:

It creates an overall culture of financial discipline and accountability within the organisation as a whole.
Financial leadership helps in defining clear financial goals and targets for the employees. It involves the evaluation of performance metrics and the establishment of effective financial reporting within the organisation.
Skilled financial leaders are adept in easily identifying and evaluating potential risks to the company. They also devise strategies to mitigate the risks that get identified.
Financial leadership assists businesses to identify areas of growth. They also enable them to spot opportunities that lead to the optimisation of their operations.
By providing clear direction and navigating an effective financial system, financial leadership ensures that the business remains competitive, profitable, and sustainable in the longer run.

Conclusion

Financial leadership warrants a refined skillset in a number of areas. Only qualified CFOs are able to provide an organisation with the expertise required for financial growth and expansion. If you are thinking of climbing up the corporate ladder and providing financial leadership to your organisation, consider taking up a CFO Course.

Imarticus Learning has curated a perfect online CFO course called the Postgraduate Certificate Programme for Emerging CFOs. This course is perfect for individuals aiming at setting their feet in the sphere of financial leadership. This is one of the best IIM Indore certificate course that 12-month long and is intended for professionals with at least five years of professional experience.

This is a comprehensive course that is taught by the faculty of the reputed IIM Indore. It will equip students with the strategic, analytical, and tech-focused abilities necessary to succeed as a CFO.

Importance and Benefits of Affiliate Marketing and How Effective is it?

Posted on May 22, 2023April 2, 2024 by Imarticus Learning

Marketing has an important role to play in organisations of all sizes. Many young talents are opting for a career in digital marketing. Every organisation has a dedicated marketing team that is in charge of marketing its offerings and generating revenue.

Changing needs of organisations have brought about a revolution in the sphere of marketing. Today, the world has more novel marketing strategies than ever, and this sphere is constantly evolving. Affiliate marketing is one such technique that has been gaining importance recently. Before we evaluate the efficacy of this new strategy we must categorically understand what it is and how it works.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a new-age performance-centric marketing strategy that involves an advertiser rewarding the affiliate on the basis of each sale completed as a result of their marketing efforts.

The affiliate has the liberty to promote the product of the advertiser through their preferred channel with the help of a unique link. The affiliate can promote the product through social media, email, or even advertising providing a unique tracking link. Each customer has to make their purchase through the unique link of the affiliate so that they can earn a commission based on each completed sale.

Affiliate marketing is an increasingly popular marketing strategy that helps business increase their revenue and expand their operation in a short span of time. Since this process is incentive-based, it works as an effective marketing strategy.

Types of Affiliate Marketing

Unattached Affiliate Marketing

In unattached affiliate marketing the affiliate marketer is not affiliated with the commodity or service they are promoting. They are not responsible for the product that they promote.

The affiliate marketer creates content in the form of blog posts, videos, or social media posts and promotes the product or service through a unique affiliate link. Whenever a customer clicks on the affiliate link to make a purchase, the affiliate marketer earns a commission.

In unattached affiliate marketing the affiliate has no control over the quality of the product or service. They also do not have access to additional resources or support from the advertiser.

Related Affiliate Marketing

In related affiliate marketing the affiliate shares a relationship with the product or service offered. Here the affiliate is a credible source of generating traffic and they possess the authority and knowledge necessary to drive traffic. However, the affiliate makes no guarantees regarding the effectiveness of the good or service.

Involved Affiliate Marketing

As the name suggests, involved affiliate marketing needs the affiliate to be equally involved with the product or service. That is to say, the affiliate must have used the product or service and must have conviction over the product or service.

They act as reliable sources of information. On the other hand, given that they are making recommendations, any issues with the offering could pose a threat to their image. Hence, affiliates working with this channel of affiliate marketing must thoroughly research the product they endorse.

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is advantageous for both the advertiser and the affiliate. Its growing prominence is due to a number of reasons. Check out the advantages of affiliate marketing!

Affiliate marketing involves almost no financial risk to the advertiser. This holds true because an advertiser will only have to pay a commission to the affiliate in case of a conversion.
Affiliate marketing grants advertisers a lot of flexibility. Advertisers can expand or contract their teams based on their needs without thinking of finances.
Affiliate marketing is also flexible to affiliates. There is no strict rule that binds affiliates to work for a certain number of hours in this kind of marketing. Neither there is a term that binds affiliates to promote only a particular type of product. They are free to promote any number of products at the same time. Affiliates can take this up as a passive source of income while being engaged elsewhere professionally.
The majority of firms need cash flow to finance the products they are selling. There are also some other start-up costs involved. However, affiliate marketing can be done for a reasonable price, making it possible for businesses to start out quickly without any hassle.
Since the affiliate mainly promotes products among their circle, you can be sure that the traffic to your website is from people who find your product or service valuable.

Importance of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is becoming increasingly popular because it is extremely cost-effective. Affiliate marketing can help businesses increase their sales by reaching a wider audience leading to more conversions.

Affiliate marketing can also assist businesses in increasing brand exposure. When affiliates promote a business’s products or services, they are also promoting the business’s brand. This leads to their brand getting promoted along with their products.

Affiliate marketing can also help businesses improve their SEO rankings. The business’ website’s search engine ranking improves substantially when an affiliate gets linked to the company’s website.

Conclusion

Methods of marketing have evolved over the years and affiliate marketing is one of the emerging marketing strategies. Mastering new-age marketing techniques is not an easy task. However, you can effortlessly grasp them with the help of credible marketing courses if you want to have a career in digital marketing.

Imarticus is offering an Advanced Certification In Digital Marketing and MarTech By IIT Roorkee that will help you refine your marketing techniques and also adapt to newer concepts like affiliate marketing and how to effectively utilise them.

This 4.5-month programme in digital marketing and Martech has been specially curated by IIT academics and business experts to assist you in learning how the modern digital marketing sector operates. It will also help you leverage technology and use digital marketing channels more efficiently.

The Benefits of Predictive Analytics for Business Forecasting

Posted on May 22, 2023April 4, 2024 by Imarticus Learning

The amount of data produced today is much more than ever before. There is an increased demand for more effective and efficient data processing. Predictive analytics is a process that most business use today to examine large amounts of data and forecast outcomes based on the results. For example, a manufacturing company can use predictive analytics to predict the number of products the consumers will buy next season and increase the manufacturing of those.

If you want to grow a career in data science, then a knowledge of predictive analytics will immensely benefit you. Let us take a look at predictive analytics and how it is useful for business forecasting.

What is Predictive Analytics?

Using simple terms, predictive analytics make predictions about future outcomes using data and statistical methods. These methods can be machine learning (ML), statistical modelling and data mining techniques. It is a branch of advanced analytics that assists a business to find patterns inside data to identify opportunities, risks and tendencies.

Data science and big data closely interlink with predictive analytics. The huge volumes of data in clouds such as databases, videos, log files and images need to be processed. Data science professionals use OOPs concepts in Python programming to perform deep learning of the data. They use machine learning algorithms to make predictions by analysing the data. A few of these algorithms are neural networks, decision trees, linear and non-linear progression and support vector machines.

Where is Predictive Analytics used?

The capabilities of predictive analytics are endless today. There is an ever-growing use of this method in various industries. Here are a few of them:

Finance

Banking and financial services were the first sectors to use predictive analytics as it deals with vast amounts of money and data. Some common uses of predictive analytics in banking are to detect fraud, and security breaches, retain customers or maximise ROI (Return on Investment). They can also predict stock prices thereby investors also employ them. Credit card companies and mortgage lenders use these analytics to find out the best rates for their products.

Retail

Businesses where the consumer is directly interacting such as retail and telecoms use predictive analytics to handle customer relationships. The business uses a method called churn analysis to find out if its consumers are likely to shift to another company due to poor service. The retail industry uses analytics to determine lucrative offers, measure the success rate of promotional campaigns and price optimisation. They get a detailed forecast of their market position using insights into customer behaviour.

Airlines

Airline carrier companies utilise predictive analytics to forecast number of the seats they can fill. Although this is not always successful, it helps the company find trends in different months of the year.

Government

The government also uses predictive analytics for its governance. Analysis of population trends, understanding public behaviour and detecting fraud are some of the key outcomes. Predictive analytics is useful for improving the efficiency of the government.

Benefits of Predictive Analytics on Business

There is a tremendous impact of predictive modelling on business. According to a report by Markets and Markets, the predictive analytics market will reach USD 28.1 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 21.7%. Let’s look at a few reasons why businesses worldwide are using predictive analytics.

Gaining an advantage over competitors

Today you will find similar products sold in various companies. These companies need to have some kind of competitive advantage to attract and retain loyal customers. Using predictive analytics, your company can tap into existing customer data and send unique marketing messages to your customers. They can respond either positively or negatively. The customer data is accessible only by your company and hence the predictive modelling composes a customised customer list.

A predictive model finds out buying patterns of customers who may not only buy from your company but also from competitors. The process distinguishes customers who choose your company and you can find out the weakness of your competitors. You can use this data for precise marketing activities.

Reducing risk

Risk reduction is another advantage of predictive analytics. The banking and finance sector can take the help of predictive analytics to construct a proper depiction of a business or person who they are screening. They have all the data at their disposal and can predict a reliable interpretation of that business or person. They can take effective decisions based on this interpretation.

Manufacturing efficiency

For manufacturing and production companies, predictive analytics is really useful. They can use past data to forecast potential production failures and thereby prevent errors. The method can also effectively predict inventory requirements and production rates. With new innovations, the range of predictive analytics is also expanding. A few more uses are human capital retention, forecasting the health risk of workers and predicting market demand for specific products.

Meeting customer expectations

Any business requires customers for its growth. Predictive analytics offers benefits to consumers by forecasting who gets better stuff more easily. Targeted marketing is very common today when customers get recommendations for products. If you open any e-commerce website and buy a product, you are likely to receive emails the next day informing you about products that might be of interest to you. A loyal customer often gets a discount on products which is also the work of predictive analytics.

Fraud detection

Detecting fraud is one of the most important benefits of predictive analytics. Recognising patterns in behaviour on a network and tracking changes in them can indicate fraud or threat. A team of investigators can track only a fixed number of suspected transactions at a time. A predictive model can identify a more specific pool of transactions and detect more fraud quickly.

Predictive Analytics Tools

Apart from the techniques involved in predictive analytics, there are several tools to execute its tasks. These tools are important in milking the larger portion of data. A few common predictive analytics tools are

Tableau
SAP Analytics Cloud
IBM SPSS
Alteryx
SAS Advanced Analytics
Sisense
RapidMiner
Microsoft Azure
KNIME
DataRobot, Inc.

Conclusion

It would be almost impossible today to find a scalable business that is not using predictive analytics. This is not only about data but more about understanding customers. No matter what your business aims are, predictive analytics is the future.

If you wish to go for a data analytics course then you can enrol in the Postgraduate Programme in Data Science and Analytics at Imarticus Learning. You can build a successful career in data analytics if you start your preparation today!

The Role of Investment Banking in the Global Economy

Posted on May 22, 2023March 19, 2024 by Imarticus Learning

Investment banks are mammoth financial institutions that arrange for capital financing and trading to domestic and global businesses, thereby pumping liquidity into the market. Investment banks also improve the economy by matching sellers and investors and brokering deals for large corporations.

Investment banks are totally different from commercial banks in terms of their functions. While commercial banks offer loans to individuals, investment banks arrange funds for large corporations. A few commercial banks are clients of investment banks, who guide them regarding proper avenues of investment. Many reputed institutions offer courses for investment banking certification courses for aspiring professionals.

Functions of Investment Bank

Bulge bracket and boutique investment banks are the main two types of investment banks. The former is a large organisation and performs all functions of an investment bank, while the latter is a much smaller entity and performs a limited few.

In India, we will mostly find boutique investment banks. They generally function the back-end functions of the bulge bracket Investment banks in limited capacities.

The functions of an investment bank are as follows –

Underwriting functions

Investment banks help to create Initial Public Offer (IPO) for an organisation, which intends to go public. When an organisation goes public, people buy its shares and thus it attracts investment, driving the economy of the country.

Advisory Functions

Investment banks help an organisation in the process of its acquisition, merger or sale through the process of financial modelling and prediction analysis. Acquisition, merger or sale are processes where business opportunities are renewed, making growth to the country’s economy.

Investment Management

Investment banks help their clients in buying securities, bonds, mutual funds, etc. and make crucial decisions regarding when to buy, hold and sell these financial products. On the selling side, they support raising capital, making meaningful transactions and closing profitable deals favouring their clients. Both on the buying and selling side, liquidity is maintained in the economy.

Lending Functions

Investment banks also lend their own money to their clients. This proves to be a loan to the clients and an investment for the banks. This function strengthens their mutual relationship and business trust.

International Transactions

Investment banks also help their institutional clients in several complex international financial transactions, thereby enhancing international trade and commerce.

The prevalent global trading mode is foreign exchange or forex. Forex reserve is the quantum of the US Dollar a country possesses. The relation between Euro and US Dollar termed a repo rate, is the instrument through which RBI deals with commercial banks to maintain its Forex reserve. For international transactions, Investment banks take charge of the foreign exchange deal, thereby making the deal optimum and cost-effective for its clients.

Money Market Functions

Investment banks also operate in the field of money market which is essentially a trade between banks or corporations and banks. Trade occurs in the form of short-term debt investment of financial assets only. Investment Bankers help organisations with the instruments of the money market. All these transactions revive the economy of a country.

How do Investment Banks Help in Controlling Money Laundering?

Money laundering is the unscrupulous methodology of making dirty money look legal by mostly rotating them through different financial houses like banks, investment brokers, insurance firms, real estate etc. Criminals may make the best use of this

money in financing various organised crimes.

Anti-money laundering methods help in preventing these crimes that can happen due to money laundering. Banks have strict compliance rules of KYC (Know Your Customer) as the first measure. Nowadays banks have roped in Artificial Intelligence-based solutions as an anti-money laundering method. They also have strict audit compliance in place.

Investment Bankers

There are two types of Investment Bankers who help the economy to grow. The first type is the Front-End Bankers and the second type is known as the Back-End Bankers. Front-End Bankers are those who are the brand ambassadors of the investment bank. They are the real face of the organisation since they meet the clients in person and demonstrate the offerings of their organisation.

The role of back-end bankers comes after the firm receives a contract. All raw data collection, technical analysis, spreadsheet preparation and accumulation of data etc. are done at the back end. In India, most Bankers perform back-end activities.

Investment Banking as a Career

In order to pursue a career as an Investment Banker, one must learn investment banking through any of the reputed institutions offering banking certification courses. In order to learn investment banking, it is desired that an aspirant should have studied a couple of subjects out of mathematics, statistics, economics, computer science, accountancy or commerce at the 10+2 level. An MBA in FinTech or an investment banking certification course should be the right step.

However, in order to crack the interview, a prospective candidate should network with a community of Investment Bankers over social sites like Facebook and professional sites like LinkedIn. Pursuing the right internship is another shot in the arm. Such opportunities may be availed through job portals or consultants.

First-round interviews will be intense with technical, behavioural and problem-solving queries. There will be heavy elimination. The second-round interview is fierce with more in-depth queries on the candidate’s analytical reasoning coupled with behavioural competence and presentation skills.

Conclusion

In today’s world, investment banking is an extremely lucrative career option. Every organisation wishes to have a second line of income besides the revenue it generates from the core operational activities. Investment banks provide such opportunities to the organisation. This also gives a push to the domestic economy in specific and the global economy at large by encouraging trade.

The career of an Investment Banker is highly rewarding since they may steer the future for both the bank they work for and its client. The Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional course at Imarticus will guide the prospective candidate in the right direction. Both online and offline modes of training are available.

Enrol in the course today to boost your career towards a successful future. Contact us through the chat support system, or visit one of our training centers in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, or cochin.