Careers in the Services Economy
Business Information Technology: Careers for the new technology-intensive, information-based services economy
The services sector continues to be a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. economy to the extent that 80% of the U.S. labor force and over 70% of the U.S. GNP is related to the production and management of services. The continuous development of Information and Communication Technologies has resulted in new service-oriented fields such as:
- Information Management – To plan, integrate and manage all the diverse information assets necessary to manage a business: from customer interaction to strategic decision making;
- Web Services – To automate different aspects of business processes over the World Wide Web;
- Data Management & Architecture – To ensure that data is available, accurate and secure across the organizations;
- Services Supply Chain Management – To integrate, coordinate and enhance an organization’s operations across the supply chain, taking into account the more complex interaction with field service, customers and business partners;
- Customer Relationship Management - To use sophisticated methods and technology tools to attract and keep customers.
As implied above, today's projects and positions in the new services fields need “business analysts”, a type of employee who is trained both in business and technology. Students in the BIT major will acquire a deep understanding not only of technology and its place in the global economy but also of the business skills needed to help organizations improve upon their decision making competencies. As part of the BIT curriculum, students study process analysis and design, project management, and decision modeling. They also gain experience with topics such as information security and network management that are critical for successful careers in the emerging services economy.