Master of IT in Business - A Recollection!
Master's at SMU:
Its exactly one year since I completed my last coursework related to Master of IT in Business at Singapore Management University(SMU). I thought it will be quite interesting to recollect some of the important learning that I acquired over the years at SMU. The coursework, in general, was quite interesting as it blended technology, business, and management. I really enjoyed the courses on Finance, Strategy, Sourcing, and Vendor management. My specialization was on Banking Products and Processes and I acquired fairly a good knowledge about the Banking Industry. If you are interested in learning about the program, you can refer to the following URL: SMU MITB
Banking Products & Processes:
This is a foundation course that provides cursory knowledge on various banking products: Savings, Loans, Derivatives, Custodian Services, Trade Finance etc. Besides it covers processes under each banking domain (e.g: Loan Servicing Process). The process knowledge that you gain through this course can be applied in most industry (i.e. the concepts). Key Learning: Process Modeling using Biz Agi, Introduction to Banking Industry.
Accounting & Finance:
Knowledge in Accounting and Finance is very critical in today's business. Whether you are head of business or a project manager or a consultant, you are bound to deal with accounting and finance at some point in your career. For a start, if you are head of business, you are most likely to be involved in forecasting and budgeting and that requires fairly a good knowledge in Corporate Finance. Accounting helps you to understand the sources and uses of Cash, while Finance helps you to make better decisions based on available capital. Key Learning: Financial Statement Analysis, Costing, Corporate Finance, Option Theory, Portfolio Management
Strategy:
As much as Industry structure, a firm's competitive position is very important in analyzing future products. The coursework focuses on how firms make strategic decisions based on various economic and financial variables. You will be introduced to frameworks such as SWOT, PEST, BCG Matrix, Porter's 5 forces, Blue Ocean etc. They key objective of this course is to make students put a strategy hat when making IT decisions. There will quite a lot of interesting cases that you need to analyze and solve - my favorite was on Harley Davidson. There is also a five-week strategy simulation exercise that is part of the curriculum. Groups of 5 students compete to improve the market share, price multiples for their companies. Key Learning: Overview of Strategy, Frameworks
IT Project & Vendor Management:
Students are introduced to various issues related to projects - Scope, Schedule, Budget, and Quality. Real-time cases are used to study the impact of project decision making. Besides project management, students are also introduced to Program Management, Portfolio concepts, Negotiation, and Vendor management. There's also a simulation exercise on project management. Key Learning: Negotiation, Vendor Management, Project Risk Management
Global Sourcing:
Sourcing deals with how firms can gain advantage by sourcing resources from different geography. Concepts such as offshoring, outsourcing, crowdsourcing, vendor management are introduced in this coursework. Students are required to study cases and provide 3 page summary and recommendation. Key Learning: Concepts such as Strategic vs Non-Strategic vendors, Vendor Analysis, Offshoring/Outsourcing and its impact.
Financial Markets Architecture:
Financial markets are basically the capital and money markets that provide liquidity to economy. In this coursework, we are introduced to capital market transactions and how to design systems for capital markets. Students are required to choose a topic on Capital Markets and then build a solution design and present it at the end of the coursework. Key Learning: IT Architecture, Planning, Designing
Analytics:
This is one of the toughest courses in the program as you are expected to do report every week. However, the knowledge that we gained from this course was immmmmmense. Its a roller-coaster ride and we had to slog to get the reports done in time. Key Learning: Statistics, SAS Enterprise Miner, SAS Enterprise Guide, JMP Pro, Statistical techniques - Clustering, Principal Component Analysis, Probit/Logit/Discriminant Modeling.
In general, we had a very mature group of students and the discussions inside/outside the class were constructive. Most of the students enroll as part-time students and they work in local/MNC banks. This is a highly recommended course for working individuals keen on career acceleration.
Its exactly one year since I completed my last coursework related to Master of IT in Business at Singapore Management University(SMU). I thought it will be quite interesting to recollect some of the important learning that I acquired over the years at SMU. The coursework, in general, was quite interesting as it blended technology, business, and management. I really enjoyed the courses on Finance, Strategy, Sourcing, and Vendor management. My specialization was on Banking Products and Processes and I acquired fairly a good knowledge about the Banking Industry. If you are interested in learning about the program, you can refer to the following URL: SMU MITB
Banking Products & Processes:
This is a foundation course that provides cursory knowledge on various banking products: Savings, Loans, Derivatives, Custodian Services, Trade Finance etc. Besides it covers processes under each banking domain (e.g: Loan Servicing Process). The process knowledge that you gain through this course can be applied in most industry (i.e. the concepts). Key Learning: Process Modeling using Biz Agi, Introduction to Banking Industry.
Accounting & Finance:
Knowledge in Accounting and Finance is very critical in today's business. Whether you are head of business or a project manager or a consultant, you are bound to deal with accounting and finance at some point in your career. For a start, if you are head of business, you are most likely to be involved in forecasting and budgeting and that requires fairly a good knowledge in Corporate Finance. Accounting helps you to understand the sources and uses of Cash, while Finance helps you to make better decisions based on available capital. Key Learning: Financial Statement Analysis, Costing, Corporate Finance, Option Theory, Portfolio Management
Strategy:
As much as Industry structure, a firm's competitive position is very important in analyzing future products. The coursework focuses on how firms make strategic decisions based on various economic and financial variables. You will be introduced to frameworks such as SWOT, PEST, BCG Matrix, Porter's 5 forces, Blue Ocean etc. They key objective of this course is to make students put a strategy hat when making IT decisions. There will quite a lot of interesting cases that you need to analyze and solve - my favorite was on Harley Davidson. There is also a five-week strategy simulation exercise that is part of the curriculum. Groups of 5 students compete to improve the market share, price multiples for their companies. Key Learning: Overview of Strategy, Frameworks
IT Project & Vendor Management:
Students are introduced to various issues related to projects - Scope, Schedule, Budget, and Quality. Real-time cases are used to study the impact of project decision making. Besides project management, students are also introduced to Program Management, Portfolio concepts, Negotiation, and Vendor management. There's also a simulation exercise on project management. Key Learning: Negotiation, Vendor Management, Project Risk Management
Global Sourcing:
Sourcing deals with how firms can gain advantage by sourcing resources from different geography. Concepts such as offshoring, outsourcing, crowdsourcing, vendor management are introduced in this coursework. Students are required to study cases and provide 3 page summary and recommendation. Key Learning: Concepts such as Strategic vs Non-Strategic vendors, Vendor Analysis, Offshoring/Outsourcing and its impact.
Financial Markets Architecture:
Financial markets are basically the capital and money markets that provide liquidity to economy. In this coursework, we are introduced to capital market transactions and how to design systems for capital markets. Students are required to choose a topic on Capital Markets and then build a solution design and present it at the end of the coursework. Key Learning: IT Architecture, Planning, Designing
Analytics:
This is one of the toughest courses in the program as you are expected to do report every week. However, the knowledge that we gained from this course was immmmmmense. Its a roller-coaster ride and we had to slog to get the reports done in time. Key Learning: Statistics, SAS Enterprise Miner, SAS Enterprise Guide, JMP Pro, Statistical techniques - Clustering, Principal Component Analysis, Probit/Logit/Discriminant Modeling.
In general, we had a very mature group of students and the discussions inside/outside the class were constructive. Most of the students enroll as part-time students and they work in local/MNC banks. This is a highly recommended course for working individuals keen on career acceleration.
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