Business Informatics

Research Group

The Business Informatics research group is part of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is based at the Velbert/Heiligenhaus campus.

Our work in teaching and applied research focuses on enterprise systems, digital business models, and organizational resilience. We support companies in intelligently shaping their value creation through digital technologies and securing it sustainably in an increasingly dynamic environment.

Head of the Group

Prof. Dr. Oliver Schneider has been appointed Professor of Business Informatics at the Velbert/Heiligenhaus campus in 2025.

He began his academic career studying Business Informatics at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich. From early on, his career has been shaped by the intersection of business and information technology, initially working for several years on SAP implementation projects within the German Armed Forces.

After his military career, he gained extensive industry experience, first as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, then as a manager at Henkel in Düsseldorf, and later as co-founder of a software startup. Building on this experience, he completed his doctoral studies at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, focusing on success factors of corporate venture capital investments in startups.

His research explores how established companies can sustainably enhance their competitiveness through digitalization, whether through investments in startups, external innovation initiatives, or by further developing and securing their own internal capabilities.

Lectures, tutorials, labs, projects, and seminars

Members of the Business Informatics research group contribute to teaching across Bachelor’s and Master’s programs at the Velbert/Heiligenhaus campus.

• Enterprise Information Systems (BA)
• Controlling (BA)
• Fundamentals of Business Administration (BA)
• Modern Project Management Approaches (MA)
• Organizational Project (BA)
• Project Work Management (BA)
• Project Management (BA)
• Advanced Business Informatics (BA)

In addition, we supervise KIS projects 1, 2, and 3.

Project assignments and theses

Looking for a topic for your project assignments or thesis? Feel free to get in touch with us!

Enabling business through IT systems

We investigate how companies can leverage enterprise systems to integrate business processes, enable data-driven decision-making, and improve operational efficiency.

• ERP systems as backbone of integrated business operations: Designing and analyzing hybrid system landscapes that combine traditional ERP systems with modular microservice architectures to increase flexibility, scalability, and integration capabilities.
• Business Intelligence & Analytics: insight-driven decision making: Developing data-driven decision support systems and advanced analytics concepts to enhance business steering and performance management.
• Smart automation: AI and workflow optimization: Exploring the use of artificial intelligence, low-code technologies, and process mining to automate administrative and operational processes.

Building the (digital) businesses of tomorrow

We explore how organizations can use digital technologies to create new business opportunities and systematically strengthen their innovation capabilities.

• Corporate entrepreneurship & internal ventures: Analyzing organizational structures and conditions that enable successful internal innovation initiatives.
• Launching and scaling (digital) startups: Investigating key success factors in building and growing digital business models.
• Design thinking, ideation & prototyping: Applying user-centered methods to develop, test, and validate innovative products and services.

Driving operational excellence in the digital age

We examine how organizations can maintain and enhance performance in highly volatile environments through modern leadership, project, and transformation approaches.

• (Agile) project & portfolio management: Designing adaptive methods to successfully manage complex and dynamic projects.
• Business continuity & operational resilience: Developing strategies to ensure business continuity and strengthen organizational resilience against external shocks.
• Change & transformation management: Identifying key success factors for implementing profound organizational and technological change.