Operations Management and Information System Issues
Management of the operations within a company is conducted in the best possible way, as intern assumes, because of the following aspects:
· A founder of the Academy Lyazzat Sofiyeva has huge background knowledge in teaching and what particularly students need more, because she taught advanced accounting in Kazakh Economic University (currently named as Narxoz). Therefore, some teachers, whose background knowledge is well-known for her, are her colleagues from Narxoz.
· The presence of the expert in the field of teaching accounting in accordance with IFRS makes the process of interviewing much easier, since candidates pass them directly with founder and it increases efficiency without spending any material resources for identifying which candidate is better.
· Correct layout of the office and operating audience also increases productivity, saves time for consumers to ask questions (if any), and simplifies the process of management and other regulations. In other words, office and audience are on the same floor and opposite to each other.
Information Systems (IS) is, as for any other modern company, a key tool of the Academy for developing successful operations and gaining competitive advantage. Company’s financial data is stored and processed using 1C Accounting System (the latest 8th version). All the necessary financial data is accessible for the Chief Accountant and information security measures are undertaken to maintain financial and other data in safe manner.
SWOT Analysis
| Strengths · Compliance with high quality standards · Continuous improvement of training programs · Flexible pricing policy · Customer focus · Invite people and get money reward in terms of 10% of total price | Weaknesses · Auditorium is small · Dependent on professional league of accountants that issue official certificates · In case of illness of one of the lectures, it is sometimes difficult to find another appropriate professor |
| Opportunities · Expansion of services (e.g. other cities) · Creation of its own organization who will issue certificates à collaboration | Threats · New entrants · New approach of teaching that competitors may develop |
Observations and findings
The intern observed that this Academy is very young, but at the same time, successful company in the sphere of national certification for accountants. The company’s internal atmosphere is friendly and cooperative and this factor creates good conditions for employees and for the intern respectively. Being so young, it has already build up relationships with strategic partner – “Professional League of Accountants” and is counted in the top list of partners. And to point out, well-educated staff made a row of good strategic and operational decisions: for example, the Academy ceased to be served in “ATF Bank” and chose “Forte Bank” and this decision significantly simplified the process of working with documents (the issue was in notarization). Flexible and discount pricing strategies are also one of the main attractive features that made the company well-known in the market during short period.
Recommendations
Due to the globalization and emerging of modern technologies, the intern proposes to put efforts in the development of new ways of teaching in order to attract new customers. This will be especially convenient for those clients who cannot come up to class for 3-hour lecture or if they leave far away from the company. One of the ways is to implement webinars. It is a type of web-conference where the lecturer carries out the class online via internet and clients, in convenient atmosphere, can enjoy the class from home. Intern believes that this is a big step in the development and expansion of this company.
III. Project part