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There is much more to a successful technology product than its code. Companies seeking to exploit need employees who understand how works and how it can be applied in business.
But people who can do both are hard to find. Smith School of Business in Toronto is trying to fill that gap with North America’s — and it believes the world’s — first master of management in
Jay Rajasekharan is one of the MMAI programme’s first students. The qualified mechanical engineer is keen to work in consulting or product development, but his goal is to be ready for whatever the future may bring. “
Business schools such as Kellogg, Insead and MIT Sloan have introduced courses on
Smith has been in the forefront of integrating technology into its programmes for some years. In 2013, it was the first business school in Canada to launch a masters in management analytics, says Stephen Thomas, director of that course and the MMAI. “Now, a couple of years later, three other schools have launched similar degrees,” he says, adding that he expects other business schools to follow suit.
The idea for the new programme came last November from the school’s board, which voiced concern over a growing shortage of business managers who understand
Kjell Carlsson, a senior analyst at Forrester, says a lack of the right skills has created a bottleneck in the adoption of
“Technologists can tell you all about the technology but usually not what kind of business problems it can solve,” Carlsson says. With business leaders, he adds, it is the other way round — they have plenty of ideas about how to improve their company but little way of knowing what the new technology can achieve. “The foundational skills businesses need to hack the potential of
Rajasekharan, 30, started his career as an engineer in the aerospace industry. He soon became interested in the business side of the projects he was working on, and moved into his current role as a business analyst at IBM. Rajasekharan believes
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