Discuss about the Strategic Management And Information System of Atlassian.
Technology has deepened its roots in various industries. Organisations need to ensure that it has adopted the kind of organisational structure that is according to the requirements of the industry. Companies need to incorporate best o technologies so as to ensure sustainable and productive business (Galliers and Leidner, 2014). In any firm there are several operational problems and the use of strategic management software can be beneficial for making the whole business process easier. ERP systems are one of the best software that can help a company to achieve its goals and objectives as they help in planning of the resource utilisation. Atlassian is one of the biggest IT firm in Australia and its products like Jira and Confluences has to be to be one of the best software accounting packages. It is providing its services in more than 170 nations. This report showcases the operational problems that exist in an organisation because of the organisational structure it has incorporated. This also presents the system flowchart for Atlassian and frauds as well as control problems that are exist in the system. It also highlights the challenges and gaps that are present accounting software packages.
It is important for the organisation to have a structure that helps in smoothen their work process. Atlassian has adopted a hierarchical structure where the role and responsibilities of each individual is clear to them. As per Gullkvist and Jokipii, (2013) Management information system has a close relation with the organisational structure. This is because the better the organisational structure the higher will be the chances that information can be handled in a better way. Atlassian is a major player in the Australian software industry and is in the business of generating and developing of the products. They do it for IT officials, Content managers, Project managers, software developers and other IT officials. This firm comprises of approx. 70000 or more clients and have employee strength of approx. 2300 employees.
Large workforce and client base requires an effective MIS organisational structure (Hall, 2012). This is because all these stakeholders act as a node in the MIS network. Pyramidal structure of MIS organisational structure facilitates the hierarchical organisational structure. Four levelled information resources are present with this pyramidal structure. It is fact that level of information lies upon the organisation’s structure. The level at the top helps in policy making and strategic planning at the upper management level. Information generated at second level resources supports in tactical planning for management control and decision making. The third level of information resources assists in operations and controls in the firm that are done on daily basis. The bottom most level is having information linked with transactional processing. Since the decision making at various level of the organisation is different hence need of information at each level also differs the same way (Schorr, et al., 2013).
Many operational problems arise in any firm due to organisational structure present at Atlassian. Most of the issues arise because of structural faults or defects that are present. All the present issues are not good for the firm and are capable of reducing work related efficiency.
Doar, (2011) believes that due to complexity in the organisational structure, several errors occur in the work process. Various internal and external factors are responsible for these operational problems. It has a negative effect on the organisation as it alters the original information carried by the data. Having so many nodes in the operational mechanism also results the same. Data abstraction needs to be ensured at multiple levels hence making the system more complex and ultimately results in some kind of inefficiencies (Lim, 2013). Data management software is often rigid which leads to loss of crucial data. This happens as the source from where data gets generated is neglected most of the time. It is dangerous as the source may contain some real time and crucial data. Additional processing in the MIS makes the information less relevant and valuable.
As the organisational structure seem to be complex hence a timely maintenance is required. This must be done by IT professional as layman will not be able to do it. The talent for the specific purpose can do it easily. The effective utilisation of information systems is bit difficult and hence requires trainings for employees at different levels. This must be done as per the requirement and to improve the usability of the Information systems. Atlassians’s information system has to be given for revision in terms of inputs and outputs. This could be done through the help of suppliers or IT professionals.
Various methods for acquisition of system are available and can be utilised by Atlassian for managing their routine activities and operations in business. Since activities are in large numbers hence the software system must also be dynamic and unique. It must be done as per the position of the company in the industry. Better strategies for growth and development can be achieved through the uniqueness it has.
Christauskas and Miseviciene, (2012) states that commercial software to be the ones that are designed for selling of products and services. Such proprietary software has been implemented within the firm for effective record management. Office writers, MS office are some common type of commercial software.
Toth, (2012), states that custom software are developed or created as per the client’s requirement. It is organisation specific and must be done as per the work they do. This type of software is effective since it reduces external intrusions and alterations and satisfies the need of the company.
As per Belfo and Trigo, (2013) ERP or Enterprise resource planning is a kind of system that assists in the plan making for appropriate resource utilisation. It is business process management software that permits the company to use integrated application software for controlling the activity and operations in a better way. These systems are making the forecast related to demands of firm’s product which is essential in sustainable resource utilisation. Apart from this ERP system provides the features like data Integration to Atlassian as everyday huge data can be transferred from one place to another.
According to Atlassion, (2018) among all the type of system acquisition method the cited firm have taken use of ERP software. It is because ERP software is capable of giving information linked with resource utilisation. ERP systems are taken into account due to its uniqueness and the support it gives to trade process and business. It also assists them in managing huge numbers of clients at the same time because all the resources are aligned in an ordered manner. Systems like ERP ensure trade processes to be unique and assists firms to smoothen their business operations. It can be done because it streamlines the work process and brings collaboration among various departments which is facilitated by storing the data into centralised system. It improves mobility and minimises the operational cost.
In the views of Atlassion support, (2018) it is a flowchart which is mainly a physical design technique that indicates the operations and activities which would be done through any information system. This flowchart describes the process utilising which Atlassian performs its operations and sells its services and products in the market all around the world. With the assistance of software application, such system flowcharts help in measuring the business operations and helps in controlling the sales. Training and development sessions can be carried out appropriately by starting with organisational system flowchart. Along with it appropriate and innovative accounting services may be provided with assistance to system flowchart.
Image below describes the sales flowchart of the Atlassian:
Source: Sales Flowchart, 2018
This type of system flowchart smoothen the working process and can identify the way through which sales can be enhanced. System flowchart is a part of sales that is started within the firm. By the help of system flowchart, the faults in the system can be found out which enhances the sales and revenue. It is done by giving accounting related services to wide range of consumers.
According to Bodnar and Hopwood, (2012) various type of control problem exists in any business and hence wide range of control problems also occurs. Most common type of controls is Detective controls, preventive controls and corrective controls. At different levels different controls exists. Frauds, Mischiefs, errors and access are some of the type of risk that exists. Such problems persist even when control shield is incorporated by Atlassian. It is based on the fact that many external factors find the control system’s weaknesses and attack through that way.
Along with it, various other type of control problems are also present, Atlassian has to deal with all these for example cyber-security, data collection etc. Software advancements mainly associated with the field of cloud storage are at risk due to the increasing hacker’s activities. Protecting data is crucial hence various methods need to be used. Because of presence of active hackers there is always a chance that system may get hacked through which data leaks could be possible and might go into the hands of unauthenticated personnel. Many type of information associated with operations of the company can be stolen by hackers.
Kallunki, Laitinen and Silvola, (2011) suggests that because of several factors, it is possible at any time that data present with the company can get corrupted. This case arises mostly when hackers just have the intention to damage the information system. Such kinds of attacks are not easier to found out and may lead to insignificant information to be accessed through data. Most common type of such attacks is financial statement frauds. Profits or revenues are directly affected and hence can prove dangerous for the firm. Because of enhanced application complexity, the organisation is unable to minimise the application complexities inside the companies like Atlassian.
Atlassion, (2018) states that accounting software that is used by the organisations generally lies in the division of accounting information system. It is largely utilised in the storage and processing of transactions between the different individuals. Accounting software depends on cost and complexity. Further such accounting software helps a stable decision making especially that are linked with firm’s financial affairs. It assists in expense management which is done on weekly terms. In Atlassian accounting software are utilised for earning higher revenues and returns, for enhancing productivity as well as giving higher security to financial data.
Atlassian have developed huge number of accounting software according to their personal requirement and demand of their clients. In the past they were using Confluences and JIRA software as an accounting system but now they have developed software called Xero. Confluences and Jira are very effective tools which assist company in eliminating bugs in the process and also reduce the number of mistakes in Project management. This was a tool that is designed for agile teams that gives higher flexibility to the customers for managing their projects. It empowers consumers of the firm to scale the tools for speedily changing dynamic work environment. Both these tools help in achieving right balance among standardisation and client’s freedom. They offer the package of all three tools in collaboration as per the client’s requirements so as to achieve higher level of performance. Major competition is provided by competitors like Trello, Basecamp, Share Point etc.
Atlassian has approximately 75000 customers that are present in 170 nations (Atlassion, 2018). They offer their services in almost all the industry. Because of adopting innovation they developed several software packages. All these products of theirs have helped them in capturing major part of the market. According to a research this company is the biggest partner firm of the Australian companies. Their plan of product development will make them capable of reaching to rest other parts of the world. Jira’s share in the market has been illustrated in the table below.
|
Country |
Market share |
|
United states |
40.83% |
|
China |
1.15% |
|
Switzerland |
1.15% |
|
France |
3.04% |
|
Netherland |
3.35% |
|
Canada |
4.04% |
|
Australia |
4.30% |
|
U.K. |
5.77% |
|
Germany |
22.06% |
Cassidy, (2016) States that many competitors are present in the accounting software market. Few of the larger competitors are Rally, Asana, Trello, Redmine, Pivotal Tracker, VersionOne, Basecamp, Bugzilla, Frogbugz, TFS, Axosoft and GitHub issues, Intuit Quickbooks, myob etc. Along with this after 2011, they have lost their major part of the market to some other firms like Google search Appliances, Liferay, Adobe CQ, dotCMS, Siteimprove etc. At present Xero, Intuit Quickbooks and myob is leading in the market as it gives software platform which is specifically designed for the unified DevOps and Agile.
Atlassian’s product strategy distribution model along with their adopted organisational culture provides them competitive advantage over their rivals in the industry. For start-up or team based projects, their products act as a very helpful tool. Atlassian’s product attributes like built for teams, adaptability, easier to use, being versatile in nature, open and being integrated etc. gives the edge over most of their competitor’s market. This model’s trait involves being affordable and simple, highly driven through innovation, being organic and expensive, scale oriented and being data driven (JIRA Software, 2018). All provided traits and attributes helps them and their client’s in dealing with the global environment which is capable of attracting more number of potential clients towards their products.
XebiaLabs, (2018) believes that there are major gaps present in the products. This also leads to many types of challenges for accounting software package users. All the gaps and challenges have to be eliminated so as to achieve higher product sale. It is a challenge for the firm as the numbers of potential hackers are increasing on daily basis. In the existing environment they must ensure that that the software packages that is utilised by clients must be highly safe. Number of fraud cases has also increased which compels Atlassian to maintain the standards of their products which will help in reduce the amount of threats present. It is crucial for the company to incorporate data abstraction feature in their products which requires an excellent platform and hence data accessibility is given to very less stakeholders (Soudani, 2012).
In the present global environment and the amount of risks that is present in the industry, it is always beneficial for their clients and the company itself to adopt good firewalls that are protected with the authentication systems and passwords (Wagner, Moll and Newell, 2011). Along with this they also need to ensure that they have a greater control on their software accounting systems. Their ERP systems have to be protected from risks that are created in the business. Their clients must install a highly efficient network security infrastructure which might assist them in creation of a system which is strong and hence can maximise the benefit they provide to their clients.
Conclusion
While concluding the above report it can be said that Atalssian has a Hierarchical organisational structure whereas the structure of their information system is pyramidal. They have taken use of ERP system as their system acquisition method. It is having its sales flowchart so as to improve the smoothness in the work process. Many kinds of control problems exist in their products which can lead to frauds. In the market JIRA, XERO, Intuit Quickbooks and myob are the market leaders which helps them in providing their services in an around 170 nations. Many types of gaps are present in their products and hence their users are also facing many types of challenges.
References
Atlassion support, (2018) Overview of all Atlassian products. [Online]. Available at: https://confluence.atlassian.com/confeval/other-atlassian-evaluator-resources/overview-of-all-atlassian-products. [Accessed on 9th May 2018]
Atlassion, (2018) Atlassion empower all industries and teams [Online]. Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/customers?page=1&sortParam=date_created%20desc. [Accessed on 9th May 2018]
Atlassion, (2018) Features for software development [Online]. Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/features. [Accessed on 9th May 2018]
Atlassion, (2018) Tool for teams, start-ups or enterprises. [Online] Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/. [Accessed on 9th May 2018]
Belfo, F. and Trigo, A., (2013) Accounting information systems: Tradition and future directions. Procedia Technology, 9, pp.536-546.
Bodnar, G.H. and Hopwood, W.S., (2012) Accounting information systems. Pearson Higher Ed.
Cassidy, A., (2016) A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Christauskas, C. and Miseviciene, R., (2012) Cloud–computing based accounting for small to medium sized business. Engineering Economics, 23(1), pp.14-21.
Doar, M., (2011) Practical JIRA Administration: Using JIRA Effectively: Beyond the Documentation. ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., (2014) Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Gullkvist, B. and Jokipii, A., (2013) Perceived importance of red flags across fraud types. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 24(1), pp.44-61.
Hall, J.A., (2012) Accounting information systems. Cengage Learning.
JIRA Software, (2018) JIRA software alternatives. [Online]. Available at: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/comparison. [Accessed on 9th May 2018].
Kallunki, J.P., Laitinen, E.K. and Silvola, H., (2011) Impact of enterprise resource planning systems on management control systems and firm performance. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 12(1), pp.20-39.
Lim, F.P.C., (2013) Impact of information technology on accounting systems. Asia-Pasific Jornal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities and Socialgy, 3(2), pp.93-106.
Schorr, M., Sylvester, M., Dopf, G., Henrich, D., Liebich, G., Conrad, M., Reccius, A., Klein, M., Hohendorf, M., Roesinger, A. and Soltek, R., (2013) Providing accounting software application as enterprise services. U.S. Patent 8,442,850.
Soudani, S.N., (2012) The usefulness of an accounting information system for effective organizational performance. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 4(5), p.136.
Toth, Z., (2012) The current role of accounting information systems. Theory, Methodology, Practice, 8(1), p.91.
Wagner, E.L., Moll, J. and Newell, S., (2011) Accounting logics, reconfiguration of ERP systems and the emergence of new accounting practices: A sociomaterial perspective. Management Accounting Research, 22(3), pp.181-197.
XebiaLabs, (2018) JIRA [Online]. Available at: https://xebialabs.com/technology/jira/. [Accessed On 9th May 2018]
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