What is special about Business Informatics

The MBI program is the first distance education program to export a very successful approach to informatics and management from Central Europe to the rest of the world. In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland this success has come from the strong synergetic effects from truely integrating business administration concepts and computer science technology into one field. Graduates are in top demand in the job markets across the world!

The Information Systems (IS) discipline which is mainly found in English speaking parts of the world is similar to Business Informatics (BI). However, there are major differences which make Business Informatics more attractive for employers (and perhaps employees also): 1) Business Informatics comprises information technology, i.e. relevant portions of applied computer science, to a much larger extent than Information Systems. 2) Business Informatics has substantial constructive features. This means that a major focus is on developing solutions for business problems.

Information Systems, on the other hand, has a strong focus on explaining empirical phenomena of the real world. Someone called it an "explanation-oriented" approach as opposed to the "solution-oriented" BI approach. Whereas IS researchers do a lot of empirical surveys and explain why things in the real world are as they are, BI people try to construct IT solutions for the problems they observe or assume. Business Informatics academics, for example, like to apply new technologies to business problems and do feasibility studies by means of building software prototypes. Students are taught this constructive approach as well. Their ability to shape reality - other than just explain reality - is what makes them attractive as employees for enterprises, and also good candidates for entrepreneurs in the business IT field.

Another tradition of Business Informatics is tight connections between research and teaching. Since most researchers are lecturers at the same time, new insights gained in research projects become parts of the curricula quite fast. Subjects taught in courses are under permanent revision and reconsideration because the pace of scientific and technological progress is quite fast. We attempt to keep our courses up-to-date all the time, including new methods, technologies, and tools as they are gaining practical importance.

SBI's faculty has an excellent reputation both in research and teaching. All members are professors holding chairs at 15 European universities. Thus all important facets of Business Informatics are reflected in the program. All members are experienced as teachers and developers of new courses. The Dean of SBI chaired several committees which proposed and established nation-wide Business Informatics curricula.