Business administration is not necessarily considered sexy by those outside the field, but especially when it comes to the basics of business administration, this university discipline consists of much more than just a salad of numbers and can be a valuable tool, especially in the IT sector, for organizing your own work even better. Unfortunately, not everyone in project management takes to heart the fact that entrepreneurial thinking promotes innovation within a company, for example, and that it can also help to leverage hidden efficiencies. For example, it is also very important for programmers to know and understand at what point and why a work step may become inefficient. New ideas and an experimental approach to issues are particularly appreciated in the technology sector. Even if, of course, not all of this can always be implemented in everyday life, you at least gain experience and problem-solving skills with every step. It is not for nothing that companies such as Google still offer up to 20 percent of working time as free time for self-defined projects, sometimes also for tutorials and other training formats. As far as the 20 percent rule at Google is concerned, according to former Vice President Marissa Mayer, there is a certain catch.
One thing is for sure: if you have at least some knowledge of business basics and the fundamentals of economics, you will also gain a better understanding of management decisions as a computer scientist.
Business administration basics: how does IT differ from other sectors?
It is typical for the tech sector that hardly any materials are processed. The most important raw material for the value chain is the theoretical knowledge and practical know-how of the employees, which is therefore associated with high personnel costs. There is often hardly any passive income in the sector, so although IT companies also have routine tasks, overall they see themselves less as managers and optimizers of resources, but have to keep moving and are generally happy to do so. The sector is developing dynamically, and technologies sometimes become obsolete almost as quickly as they come onto the market.
Making technology transfer usable
In business administration practice, good HR management, including scouting, talent development and training, as well as smart project controlling, are considered the key to success in the industry. The billing model for IT services is theoretically flexible, as the price for a feature is not always fixed. The actual hours spent and the actual value that the customer finds in a specific feature must be taken into account when calculating cost estimates. This is a risky process, as on the one hand profit potential could be wasted, but on the other hand the customer is every company's greatest treasure and should be given the greatest possible transparency without wanting to undercut competitors in a dumping style or completely forego internal information. The secret of success here lies in fair give and take at eye level. At arocom, the aim is always to pass on new developments or knowledge advantages to customers via technology transfer and to make them usable in the long term by integrating them into their business processes.
Project controlling as a customer service
According to Gabler-Wirtschaftslexikon, controlling is defined as "a part of the corporate management system whose main task is the planning, management and control of all areas of the company. As the name suggests, project controlling involves monitoring whether the project goals are achieved in terms of time, budget and quality. This means that during the course of a project, the actual progress is compared with the target progress at predefined time intervals. If necessary, adjustments to the project steps can be made in the meantime and also taken into account in future projects. Before the start of a project, a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) must be defined to adequately define the success of the project. Possible parameters include the hours spent or the number of tickets processed. Milestones are then defined. These describe certain services that are to be completed at a certain point in time during the project (e.g. complete 80% of all tickets by time XY). During the execution phase, the actual status is then compared with the desired progress and adjustments are made if necessary. One tool for prioritizing tasks in software development is the so-called "backlog".
arocom standards for customer satisfaction
With the right project controlling and project management, important standards are guaranteed, because the customer should know at all times what they will receive and when. However, it is even more important that the expected quality is delivered or exceeded and that the collaboration also works well on a human level. On this basis, follow-up orders and recommendations are likely, and there is a chance of long-term cooperation based on trust.
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