With the right master’s degree, information technology professionals may have access to many career opportunities in management information systems. Students who earn their Master of Science in Management Information Systems from the University of Alabama at Birmingham will graduate with a wealth of relevant information and skills.
Curious about what you may gain by studying MIS at the master’s level through the Collat School of Business? Here’s an overviews of what professionals can learn.
IS business strategy essentials
IS professionals need to understand how to apply information technology skills to business strategy. This is especially important for IS professionals in leadership positions, such as an organization’s IT director or CTO.
Students will take numerous courses that focus on applying IS best practices to help achieve a company’s goals, including the following:
IS 611: Information Technology & Business Strategy
Students will learn how IT and strategy intersect in this course, which details how to create strategies and determine a company’s competitive advantage in terms of technology and innovation.
IS 612: IT Governance & Management
Governance is important for keeping all operations in line with applicable laws, regulations, and company objectives. Creating a governance strategy isn’t easy, which is why this course focuses on common managerial issues that accompany their creation and implementation.
IS 618: IT Project Management
To keep projects moving at a steady clip, IS professionals need to understand the principles of project management. This course is modeled after the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge and prepares students for the Project Management Professional certification exam.
Security best practices
Security needs to be a top-of-mind priority for any professional who leads IS or IT teams. Students graduating from the Collat School of Business with a master’s in management information systems will have a sound understanding of cyber security best practices.
IS 607: Introduction to Cyber Security
Cyber security is a complex topic, with legal as well as ethical considerations that professionals must take into account. This course will introduce students to basics of cyber security and detail how to create a security plan and appropriately manage risk.
IS 621: Incident Response & Business Continuity
Security threats are everywhere, and all organizations must be prepared to handle an incident like a breach. This course will review how to detect and respond to events like these as well as how companies can move past them.
Emerging trends in tech
IS professionals must stay up to date on the latest trends. Students who earn an MS MIS from the University of Alabama at Birmingham will graduate with a strong understanding of important evolving concepts like how social media and big data can impact business strategy.
IS 615: Social Media and Virtual Communities
There’s a lot to be learned from social media if a professional knows how to harness it correctly. This course will explore various platforms and how to use filters to gain greater business knowledge.
IS 617: Data Science for Business
Big data is no longer new, but many companies still have a lot of growth to accomplish regarding how to capture, analyze, and utilize incoming information. This course will discuss how to manage data from an IT perspective.
In-depth knowledge about specific career paths
MS MIS students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will choose between two concentrations which focus on distinct areas of the IS field. Through these concentrations, students will gain a detailed look into their prospective career paths.
Cyber security management concentration
Cyber security is an important business function in organizations today, which means professionals who are well-versed in this area are highly sought after. This concentration includes three unique courses:
IS 613: Information Security Management
Students will learn how to develop technology policies and how to manage security strategies and information resources.
IS 620: Cyber Attacks & Threat Mitigation
This course highlights how to detect network vulnerabilities and reduce risk. Additionally, students will learn about network system operation and how to respond to an attack.
IS 644: Digital Forensics
This class will explain what happens after a cyber attack, including the investigation process and the role law enforcement plays.
Business analytics concentration
IS 617: Data Science for Business
This course will introduce students to the rapidly growing fields of business analytics/ data science, focusing on how data can be used to support decision making in organizations. It explains what and how principles and technologies of data science can be used to extract useful information and knowledge from large volume of structured and unstructured data (e.g., textual content) in order to improve business decision making. Prerequisite: IS 608 or equivalent
IS 619: Advanced Business Analytics
The course is the study and practice of how we can extract insightful knowledge from large amounts of data. It is a burgeoning area, currently attracting substantial demand from academy and industry. Prerequisite: IS 617 or equivalent
IS 651: Data Management & SQL for Analytics
Explore various concepts of data management/ data warehousing for business analytics. The focus of this course is the process of extracting data from a diverse set of sources, transforming and cleaning data, and loading this data into a format used by analytics professionals. Students will also gain expertise in advanced data querying using Structured Query Language (SQL).
IS 652: Data Visualization for Business
In this course, students gain experience with techniques on how to effectively communicate the results of an analysis using information and visual aids. Students learn effective methods of presenting information in textual and graphical formats and how to frame data results in a business case format for interpretation by business managers. Students gain hands-on experience with the use of modern visualization tools.
Expand your IS knowledge at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Professionals who hope to enter the IT field and advance in their careers should develop a well-rounded understanding of the many factors that impact business strategy. Earning an MS MIS through the University of Alabama at Birmingham is one way to gain this knowledge. To learn more, contact an enrollment advisor.
Recommended Reading:
How a Master of Science in Management Information Systems can impress employers
Skills you can learn while pursuing your MS MIS
Sources:
University of Alabama at Birmingham Collat School of Business MS MIS course descriptions
University of Alabama at Birmingham Collat School of Business MS MIS