Business administration

With holistic marketing management, products and services are adapted to customer requirements or aligned with customer needs, the right pricing strategy is determined, the most efficient sales channel (offline and online) is selected and the company's own services are communicated effectively and efficiently to the customer. The key to the success of any company on the market today is the efficiency of its marketing management.

The aim of the department is therefore to familiarize students with the design possibilities of marketing management in addition to the technical and scientific background. This is particularly important because IT products and IT services are goods or service bundles (product and service) that require explanation, and industry-specific marketing and sales know-how is required in addition to technical expertise in order to acquire and maintain customers.

Students learn the essential methods and tools of marketing management and how to apply them correctly, as well as the planned approach to the marketing process. The focus is always on the practical applicability of what they have learned.

Starting with strategic marketing, the course covers market research and the most important methods for analyzing key marketing factors such as the market, customers, competition, etc. The development of competitive marketing strategies forms the basis for the design of operational marketing and the marketing plan. In addition to service management, special emphasis is placed on online marketing and e-marketing - marketing is becoming increasingly user-driven through the Internet (Marketing 2.0 - wikis, blogs, etc.) and thus IT science!

Information technology

The Internet has become an integral part of private and economic life and has contributed significantly to the development of an information and service society. The Internet is a driver of innovation, on the basis of which new business areas are constantly emerging and existing business models are undergoing fundamental changes.

The Internet and Information Technologies department equips students with the specialist knowledge they need to assess, use and anticipate the constant technological change. This includes knowledge of basic network technologies and protocols as well as knowledge of Web 2.0 applications and network security.

Building on the basics of computer science, networks form an initial focus: TCP/IP and related protocols, Ethernet, routers and access control lists (ACL) are introduced in detail here. At the same time, students are familiarized with the basics of the web (HTML, XHTML, CSS, Javascript) at an early stage. Finally, an introduction to databases and data modeling provides an overview of networked information systems. Subsequently, current topics such as the semantic web or web collaboration (wiki, tags, etc.) are used to address the challenges of the growing range of information and solutions are presented. Great importance is attached to knowledge of computer and network security at all levels.

Students should thus be able to make well-founded decisions for IT strategies in their environment and also implement these operationally.

Software Engineering

Der Fachbereich Software Engineering ist Ansprechparter für Firmen aus der Region bei Fragen zu Softwareentwicklungsprozessen, Analyse und Design von Software, sowie Programmiersprachen. Er unterstützt Firmen bei der Auswahl von neuen Techniken und Prozessen und liefert Entscheidungshilfen in Form von „Proof of Concepts“.

Through active participation in research programs and open source projects, the latest technical know-how is developed and transferred to industry via company collaborations.

Business informatics

Business informatics is typically seen as an interface function between computer science and business administration. But what does that actually mean and why is such an interface function needed? To answer both questions, it is important to understand that we live in a digital world in which the use of IT in all areas is becoming more important every day. However, acquiring knowledge in the field of IT alone is not enough. The constant further development of IT systems, IT products and IT services requires detailed consideration of how IT can be used effectively and efficiently in order to ultimately achieve competitive advantages. On the one hand, these competitive advantages can be achieved through IT that specifically supports corporate processes and thus also the corporate strategy. On the other hand, however, completely new business models can also be created through IT and thus also achieve competitive advantages. The task of business informatics as an interface function between computer science and business administration is to master this necessary link between the two worlds in order to recognize and achieve the opportunities for competitive advantages described above.

The core competencies taught in the Business Information Systems department therefore reflect this combination of computer science and business administration in the form of the business systems engineering approach. This approach describes the fact that the introduction of IT always involves more than just IT. The topics of IT management, process management and strategic management must always be considered in conjunction with each other, because changes in one of the areas always entail changes in the other areas.

The department therefore includes courses that deal with only one of the three areas (e.g. Digital Business Models 1 and 2, Process Management 1 and 2, Information Systems 1 and 2), but also courses that deliberately combine these areas (e.g. Fundamentals of Business Information Systems, Case Studies in Business Information Systems).