Starting fall 2018, the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies will be offering two new Bachelor of Science and Business Administration programs – big data and analytics. UCM will be the first school in the Midwest to offer these programs, which will train students to better collect, analyze and prepare information for businesses.

The new program will train students on using software tools and interpreting data in order to identify important business trends and apply them to decision making, according to the program proposal.

Kerry Henson, a professor in the computer information systems department, stated the demand for people who can interpret the wealth of information they have is being recognized.

“Companies have realized that they have a tremendous amount of data, or at least have access to a tremendous amount of data. But what do they do with it? What can it tell them?” said Henson. “This focuses about trying to help organizations understand what they can know about what they have at hand.”

Real-world applications of this program include product market segmentation, finding candidates for jobs, determining accounting fraud and finding ways to make their business run more efficient, according to the program proposal. Companies big and small, such as Target and Cerner, are beginning to look for people to collect and analyze the data.

Sam Ramanujan, a professor in the computer information systems department, feels there is not enough people in the field to meet the demand.

“This is where most organizations are going to put in their money. They want to make sure what data they’re capturing with what infrastructure they’ve got is put to full use,” said Ramanujan. “This will show them a real return on their investment.”

Students can register for courses beginning on March 26. For more information regarding registering for courses, visit ucmo.edu/registrar/enrollment/. For more information regarding the new big data and analytic courses, contact Dr. Someswar Kesh, department chair of computer information systems, at kesh@ucmo.edu.