Business Informatics is an area of scientific research, academic training and business practice. It is a discipline that combines information technology with management concepts. Business Informatics deals with how the means and tools of information technology (IT) are used in economics and business practice. It refers foremost to the development and deployment of information systems, and their impact on the functioning of an organization. Thus, there are two areas Business Informatics is focused on. First, the development of new information systems in organizations (businesses and public administration), including analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment and management thereof. Second, the use of information systems for the general management purposes, i.e., running all operations that enable an organization to achieve its objectives through the effective use of IT.
Business Informatics has an over 70-year history. The rapid development of information technology and its convergence with telecommunications, contributed to the emergence and spread of new information and communication technologies (ICT), which include computers, mobile phones, the Internet, and eventually different types of smart devices. This directly contributed to the emergence of new economic, legal and cultural phenomena, processes and relationships, which together constitute what we know as digital economy. Hereto, digital economy can be characterized by three terms: information (it is based on the production, processing and commercialization of information), global (it covers the whole world) and network (it operates in a network linking numerous active users). Ultimately, Business Informatics became a key area of interest for modern managers, as computerized information systems are a main source of information and provide tools for decision making. Moreover, information systems can be a source of competitive advantage (such systems are called Strategic Information System). Growing scope of modern information systems and the development of electronic business increase the influence of information technology and digital economy on all humanity.
As of today, Business Informatics is a well-established, successful academic discipline. Yet, it is known by many names representing fields associated with it: Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Computer Information Systems, Information Management, Business Information Systems, Informatics or Information Technology. It should not be confused with computer science which is more theoretical in nature and deals mainly with software creation.
The Institute of Information Systems and Digital Economy at the Warsaw School of Economics is one of the leading research and teaching centers on Business Informatics in Poland. It brings together academics and business practitioners who represent various specialties related to technical, organizational, agency, legal, sociological, ethical aspects of information systems, with a special emphasis on new technologies. The department is cooperating in projects developed jointly with the leading IT corporations like Microsoft, Oracle, SAS, SAP and others.
The mission the Institute is to prepare students for work and life in the modern information society and knowledge economy. Broad educational offer is addressed to all those who want to extend their knowledge and interest in the analysis and development of management information systems, design and use of databases, understanding the concept of contemporary business and society from the digital economy perspective. The Institute provides students with knowledge and strives to develop their competence and attitudes with respect to the use of IT in society, in particular to modeling of information systems, using tools for collecting, storing and processing information, understanding the consequences of digital economy, predicting trends for technological, social and economic changes. Institute’s curricula in the field of Business Informatics, such as Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Business Informatics, are coherent with their majors US counterparts. Institute’s studies not only provide knowledge in the field of computer science in the polytechnic sense, but they also link it with the relevant contributions from the field of management and economics. Employees of the Institute conduct classes at all levels of academic education: undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, executive and doctoral.