Business informatics

Business informatics (BI) is a discipline combining information technology (IT) – or informatics – with management concepts. The BI discipline was created in Germany, from the concept of "Wirtschaftsinformatik". It is an established, successful academic discipline including bachelor, master and diploma programs in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The term Business Informatics is now common in Central Europe. BI has strong synergistic effects from truly integrating business administration concepts and computer science technology into one field.

Differences between business informatics and information systems

Business Informatics (BI) shows numerous similarities to the discipline of Information Systems (IS) which can mainly be found in English speaking parts of the world. Nevertheless there are a few major differences that make Business Informatics very attractive for employers:

1. Business Informatics includes information technology, like the relevant portions of applied computer science, to a much larger extent compared to Information Systems.
2. Business Informatics has significant constructive features meaning that a major focus is on the development of solutions for business problems rather than simply describing them.

On the other hand, information systems strongly focuses on explaining empirical phenomena of the real world. IS has often been called an "explanation-oriented" approach in contrast to the "solution-oriented" BI approach. IS researchers try to explain why things in the real world are the way they are and conduct a lot of empirical surveys whereas a BI researcher tries to develop IT solutions for problems they have observed or assumed. Academics in BI, for example, are often fond of applying new technologies to business problems and doing feasibility studies by building software prototypes. BI students are also taught this constructive approach. Their ability to not only explain reality, but rather shape it, is what makes them very attractive employees for companies as well as good candidates for entrepreneurs in the business IT field.

Tight connections between research and teaching is another tradition of Business Informatics. Recent insights gained in research projects become part of the curricula quite fast because most researchers are also lecturers at the same time. The pace of scientific and technological progress in BI is quite fast, therefore subjects taught are under permanent reconsideration and revision.^[1][2][3]

Studying business informatics

The external links in this article may not comply with Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

A number of English-language undergraduate programs and postgraduate programs lead directly to the degree of a bachelor or master in Business Informatics. Examples are:

• Master of Business Informatics at the Business school of the University of Reading
• Bachelor of Commerce with Specialisation in Informatics at the University of South Africa (UNISA)
• International Master of Business Informatics (MBI) by the Virtual Global University
• Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics at the German University in Cairo
• European Master of Science in Business Informatics (EMBI) at Dublin City University
• Bachelor and Master of Science in Business Informatics at the University of Rostock
• Master of Business Informatics at the Computer Science Department of Utrecht University
• Master of Business Informatics at the University of Canberra
• Master of Science in Business Information Technology (BIT) at Middlesex University
• Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Business Informatics at Dhurakij Pundit University
• Master of Science in Business Informatics at Northern Kentucky University
• Bachelor and Master programs in Business and IT Management at Jönköping International Business School

Many German, Austrian, and Swiss universities offer equivalent programs in German leading to a degree (Bachelor/Diploma/Master) in "Wirtschaftsinformatik", for example:

• Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany)
• German University in Cairo (Egypt)
• University of Hamburg (Germany)
• University of Münster - Westphalian Wilhelms-University (WWU) (Germany)
• University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
• Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
• University of Vienna (Austria)
• University of Linz (Austria)
• University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
• Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany)
• Fachhochschule Kaiserslautern (Germany)
• McMaster University (Canada)

Russian universities have started offering equivalent programs in Russian since 2002:

• Bachelor and Master of Science in Business Informatics by State University - Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
• Interesting are also programms of Economical Cybernetics that are offered by several Russian universities. That programms are focusing on Operation Research and Mathematical moddeling of business.
  e.G. Kazan State University provides offers Economical Cybernetics since 1970.

The German university in Cairo GUC has been offering undergraduate degrees in business informatics since 2005 and will also be providing post-graduate MBA programs.

Research

• European Research Center for Information Systems, University of Münster and associated research institutions and companies

References

ar:ادارة نظم المعلومات

cs:Informační systém de:Wirtschaftsinformatik es:Informática de negocios fr:Informatique de gestion ko:경영 정보 시스템 he:מערכת מידע nl:Beleidsinformatica pt:Sistema de informação de gestão th:ระบบสารสนเทศ