The new master program Business Intelligence & Process Management (BIPM) will start at the 1st of October. The BIPM master is taught entirely in English and combines the fields of business administration and information technology. All courses are set up as small interactive seminars in which students work closely with their international classmates as well as with the professors. I believe that the BIPM master prepares its students for a successful and fascinating career in the coming decades. Let me shortly explain why I think so.

We are living in an era of exponential growth of data. This “big data” era creates new challenges and opportunities for organizations. However, data is only useful to an organization if the organization has people who are able to analyze the data and to make sense of it. Otherwise data is only as useful as a book written in a language that nobody can read. The first pillar of the master – Business Intelligence – is about how to manage and analyze data.

However, understanding data is not enough. New insights without the ability to act accordingly are worthless. Therefore organizations need employees who have the skills to transform these data insights into business decisions and innovative business processes. In the future, data-driven process excellence will be a cornerstone of business success. The second pillar of the master – Business Process Management – is about the organizational impact of information technology and data.

These two pillars are mutual reinforcing themselves: the gathered data is only meaningful and valuable if you understand your business processes well; and you can only improve your business processes in an innovative way if you have up-to-date data about the state of your organization and the surrounding environment.

Unsurprisingly, organizations are desperately searching for employees who are able to transform big data into big business impact. Both, Business Intelligence and Business Process Management are at the top of the priorities of global Chief Information Officers, but they complain that it is very hard to find young talents with that particular knowledge. Our graduates of the BIPM master will have in-depth business-IT skills to help companies succeeding in the big data age. Therefore, I am convinced that our students are excellently positioned for a great career.

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by Roland Mueller