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The MSIM: Knowing business and tech makes graduates the lynchpins at their companies

Enterprise systems are becoming increasingly complex, and the price tag for implementation is high. As a result, information technology companies realize that they need managers who possess a comprehensive business/IT perspective. The W. P. Carey School offers the only graduate program in the Phoenix metro area that approaches the field from this critical management perspective. In fact, it is one of only a handful of IT programs in the country to do so. The Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) transforms graduates into innovators who know how to analyze problems and determine whether and what technology solutions will work. They are lynchpins at their companies.

2010-10-01

A group of about 30 people interested in the Master of Science in Information Management gathered in a meeting room at ASU's Memorial Union recently. 2010 graduate Glen Walker was on the schedule to talk about his experiences in the program, and he got right to the point: At a governance security conference he attended recently, experts said that in the next few years, 20 percent of companies will have outsourced IT and by 2025 only 25 percent of today's IT jobs will still exist. That's one of the reasons why Walker regards the MSIM as "one of the most important investments I've ever made." "If you want to have a job, you need to be critical to the operation," he said. But the hard-driving 12-month MSIM program does more than just provide job security. It transforms graduates into innovators who know how to analyze problems and determine whether and what technology solutions will work. Its graduates are managers who understand business as well as technology; they are lynchpins at their companies. Just a month into the program, Walker was promoted out of a position he had outgrown. He attributes his advancement to the new ideas and energy he brought to work from his evening and weekend classes. The next speaker up told the prospective applicants a similar story. Joel Urbanowicz said that before entering the program, he rarely thought beyond his department. Now he is the configuration manager for the entire company, and feels confident that he's qualified for upper level IT managerial jobs that he never would have even considered. It's business first "In the last several years, the enterprise systems have become more complex," explains Professor Raghu Santanam, faculty director of the MSIM program. "At the same time, business has been asking the question, 'Well, we've spent so much money on IT, where's the return?' So there's a lot of demand for people who understand both the business and the technology side of the equation. That is exactly what we have positioned this program for. Our students are the people who understand the alignment between business and technology and therefore bring value to the organization." The market for professionals who can bridge business and technology is strong, especially in Phoenix. "There's a large IT professional sector here," Santanam says. Phoenix is home to a number of data centers; companies including General Dynamics, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, American Express and Honeywell have significant IT operations in the city. In fact, the city is not far behind the leading IT centers: New York, Atlanta and San Francisco. Professionals at companies like these realize that they need a comprehensive business/IT perspective. They know they must be able to sit at the table as managers who know IT. The W. P. Carey School offers the only graduate program in the Phoenix metro area that approaches the field from this critical management perspective. In fact, it is one of only a handful of IT programs in the country to do so. Santanam said you would have to go to the east coast to get a similar experience. And, at the W. P. Carey School, IS faculty have the research and consulting ties with companies that enable them to expose students to current business issues. The coursework for the MSIM is designed around that idea: start with an understanding of the business and its problems, then consider what technology could do to help. Take Santanam's business process management course as an example. "Organizations have this tendency to think about technology first, and then how it fits into the business process," Santanam says. When he teaches the course, he flips the order. "I say no, first understand the business process. What are the pain points? What are the solutions? Not just what are the technology solutions — what are the solutions? Once you have figured that out eventually you will stumble upon the technology that will really drive success." There is a method used to arrive at that technology solution, and that's what the students learn. "How do you do as-is process modeling? How do you do the analysis? What are the principles of a sound business process? How do you go about implementing it?" Santanam says. Learning to ask critical questions is key — and it is what makes the MSIM graduate studies rather than professional education. IS Professor Robert St Louis explains. "In professional education, and to a certain extent undergraduate education, you're trying to teach people the right way to solve a structured problem," St Louis says. "When you're talking about graduate education, you're trying to teach people to ask the right questions about an unstructured problem. There's a huge difference there. It's not 'do this and this and you'll get an answer.' It's try to find out what is the issue, and the only way you're going to find out is to ask the right questions." In other words, the program teaches critical thinking. Each of the 10 courses in the program approach their subjects in a similar fashion: start by understanding the business problem, then explore solutions drawing on theory, models and cases. Back to school Catering to working professionals, the MSIM is an evening program. Classes, held two evenings a week and several Saturdays spaced throughout the year, start in the summer and end the following May. The work is broken into four parts, though the department (tongue in cheek) has labeled them "trimesters." Each trimester students take two courses. "It's a very packed year," Santanam says. "It is an 18-24 month program compressed to 12." The program starts in June — Trimester 0 — with Santanam's business process and workflow analysis course and another on the strategic value of IT. Trimester I, from August through October, covers Competing as an e-business and Data and Information management. Trimester II spans November through February. Students study Business intelligence and Information security and controls. During that time students also shoulder an intensive class on Managing enterprise systems, delivered in two all day Saturday sessions. Trimester III, from March to May, includes Enterprise integration and IT services and project management. During Trimester III students also complete the capstone of the program. Working in teams, students work on an applied project that starts early in the program, requiring them to apply new skills as they acquire them. Students start by picking an industry, then a company to analyze. The project itself is a plan to use technology to transform some part of the business (see separate story). The program is designed for professionals working in IT or those who interface significantly with the IT function. Applicants are required to have worked at least two years in a related field, but the average is about eight to 10. As a result, classes are enriched by the experiences students bring to discussions. "The classroom interaction is fantastic," Santanam says. "They learn as much from each other as they do from us." Andrea Julius, a 2009 graduate who works in geographic information systems at SRP, said "One of the richer parts of the experience was the real life aspects — there were a lot of really knowledgeable people from different areas in class." Julius, whose background was more business-oriented, appreciated the IT expertise that her classmates brought to the conversation. In return, her contribution was the business perspective — something that the IT specialists in the program needed to acquire. Those insights, multiplied by 70 (the approximate number of students in the program any given year) make the program dynamic. Living the program Back at the information session, prospective applicants wanted to know what it's like to be in the program. Angela Walline, assistant director of graduate programs, described how the Department of Information Systems takes care of the details for its MSIM students. Staff registers students, buys books and even secures parking permits — to the lot directly across the street from the building where classes are held. "This was a benefit I didn't appreciate until I was in the whirlwind of the program," Julius remarked. "Having the textbooks, parking, graduation forms and all of that taken care of was wonderful and very much appreciated." That's not to say that the program is easy, however. Walker estimated that he spent about 12 hours a week on reading and homework, in addition to eight evening hours in class. On top of a full time job, that makes for a challenging year. Santanam told the group that despite the rigor the program almost never loses a student once classes have begun. Maybe that's because students begin to experience the benefits of their increasing knowledge almost immediately. Andrea Julius explained those benefits this way: "In terms of how I do my job, the program really has given me a different perspective — a broader view of things, more of an enterprise level view." For Glen Walker, the program even altered the way he manages his leisure time — of those 20 hours that he used to devote to studying, many are still spent reading, to keep up with his field and other important matters. He went so far as to say it was "life changing." The prospective applicants listened closely. Program facts

• Applicants need at least two years relevant work experience, an undergraduate degree in a related field and college credit or experience in statistics, brief calculus and a programming language.
• The GMAT exam is not required.
• Applications are accepted online at www.asu.edu/gradapp
• Applications are being accepted starting October 15.
• The early admission and international deadline is January 15, 2011; the last day to apply is March 1, 2011
• Classes start May 31, 2011

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