BPA244: Business Information Technology

This core second year undergraduate course aims to:

• explain how businesses deploy key information technology assets (hardware, software, networks and data) and to enable students to analytically model the cost of these assets
• describe the options and trade-offs between technology development inside the organization versus outsourcing
• introduce and cultivate the idea that information technology has maximum impact under alignment with firm strategy
• offer insight into emerging trends in IT, such as “big data” and “cloud computing”  as well as into emerging risks related to systems security
• stimulate ideas for disruptive applications of technology in supporting novel applications and business plans

Real world examples & mini case studies are a centerpiece of this course. They are drawn from the instructor’s own professional experience, as well as from high quality material developed by other professionals and academics

Laboratory sections run in sync with the lectures and help the students develop hands on experience with:

• creating webpages & blogs, using WordPress tools
• performing modeling & data analysis in MS-Excel
• creating simple data-base driven applications in MS-Access