An Introduction to IT and IS for Finance Professionals

The worlds of finance and IT are becoming ever more interconnected. No longer do budgets, forecasts and reports need to be done individually by hand – thanks to technology, all of these can be done by computer and aspects can even be automated. All of this serves to streamline the day-to-day operations of finance professionals, meaning they can turn their attention to other tasks that will add greater value to their organisation or practice.

Beyond finance, modern technologies can generate additional value for the organisation as a whole. Computerised systems can speed up operations and reduce the resources needed to reach goals – all of this creates savings that can be passed onto customers or used to boost profit margins. Being pioneers in new technology can create a competitive advantage or prevent the organisation from falling behind competitors. 

As a finance professional, you may be involved in appraising new technologies for finance or organisation as a whole, giving input into specific matters such as data analysis and data protection or providing insights from financial analysis and advice to IT managers. All of this will require you to have a strong understanding of IT and information systems (IS). This is where this course comes in – we’ll be covering some of the key applications of IT and IS for modern businesses and finance departments, as well as looking at how IT and finance professionals need to work together to ensure finance and organisation gets the most out of technology.

Provides 16 hours of CPD

What you’ll learn:

  • The key benefits of using IT to transform an organisation’s operations so that you understand when and why new technology should be implemented 
  • The costs and benefits of IT and IS to consider in a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the organisation invests in the most appropriate technology  
  • McFarlan’s strategic grid for establishing how important information systems are to the organisation’s strategic success, now and in the future 
  • The fundamental elements of an effective information strategy that ensure IT supports wider business goal.
  • The critical areas in which the finance and IT functions should collaborate to ensure the organisation’s IT systems are as effective as possible
  • How the performance of the IT function can be monitored and, therefore, improved, and the important role finance professionals play in this process
  • The data protection and privacy responsibilities that must be considered to ensure the organisation avoids legal and ethical repercussions, including an introduction to GDPR requirements 
  • Key security risks and how an organisation can protect its IT and IS from these
  • The two main types of systems architecture: centralised and decentralised, and the advantages and disadvantages of each so that the most appropriate approach can be chosen for the organisation 
  • Big data management and its importance in ensuring an organisation can utilise the data it collects
Applying what you learn:
This course also provides a series of practice questions that will solidify your knowledge of IT and IS. Having completed this course, you should be ready to face the challenges that IS and IT can bring.

What’s included in the course?

Videos

  • Thoroughly explores the concepts, theories and models for this topic
  • The content is professionally explained by our expert tutors alongside a visual presentation
  • Come with downloadable audio files so you can listen to the content offline and on the go

Handbooks

  • Full coverage of the video content using engaging and easy-to-follow language
  • A range of examples to show you how these concepts might apply to real-life situations, e.g. in finance
  • A practical exercise for each module based on the subject’s application in a finance team
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Practice questions

  • A series of questions designed to test your understanding of what you’ve learnt on the course
  • Designed to get you to apply what you’ve learned to scenarios and commit the theory to memory

Presentation slides

  • The visual presentation from the video can be accessed for note-taking and for browsing alongside the video or audio download
  • Can be viewed as still slides or in an interactive format to move around the screen

Purchasing the course

To purchase this course, simply add the course to your basket with the button below and then either proceed to checkout or continue browsing for more CPD courses…

Astranti CPD Course:
An Introduction to IT and IS for Finance Professionals

£239.00

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