Business informatics

Business informatics (BI) or organizational informatics is a discipline combining information technology (IT), informatics and management concepts. The BI discipline was created in Germany, from the concept of Wirtschaftsinformatik. It is an established academic discipline including bachelor, master, diploma and PhD programs in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and is establishing in an increasing number of other countries as well as Australia or Mexico. BI integrates core elements from the disciplines of business administration, information systems and computer science into one field.

BI shows similarities to information systems (IS), which is a well established discipline originating from North America. However, there are a few differences that make business informatics a unique own discipline:

Information systems (IS) focuses on empirically explaining phenomena of the real world. IS has been said to have an "explanation-oriented" focus in contrast to the "solution-oriented" focus that dominates BI. IS researchers make an effort to explain phenomena of acceptance and influence of IT in organizations and the society applying an empirical approach. In order to do that usually qualitative and quantitative empirical studies are conducted and evaluated. In contrast to that, BI researchers mainly focus on the creation of IT solutions for challenges they have observed or assumed.

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