The Importance of MIS as a Major and as a Career (extra credit)

On Friday afternoon, Brian Sullivan and Matt Lazenby from the company, Sogeti, came to Loyola to speak to students about management information systems as a major and a career.
Brian Sullivan is a Loyola alum, graduating with a Marketing degree. He has worked at Sogeti for twenty-six years and cannot stress enough that technology is all about business. Matt Lazenby was an English major with no technical background until he entered the real world. He later received a MIS degree, which aids in all business scenarios on a daily basis.

The presentation was not so much about learning new information about MIS, but reinforcing the idea that technology is prevalent in all areas of business. The four main themes of MIS are competition, communication, direction and opportunity. The film clip for competition was a cheetah chasing its prey, but losing the race to a human that ran faster. The purpose of the clip was to show how competition comes from places one is not prepared for, so be prepared at all times. The clip for communication was a Swedish man who thought a captain was “thinking” instead of “sinking.” Effective communication is vital because one needs to interpret information and explain it in a way that others can understand. The direction clip showed an animal running extremely fast, but ultimately ran right into a tree by lions. One can run as fast as possible, but without direction, one can become dinner. The idea is to have goals. The clip for opportunity was from Dumb and Dumber when Harry and Lloyd turn down the opportunity to travel with girls in bikinis. It is necessary to take advantage of all opportunities that come everyday.

In between reviewing the four major themes of MIS, Brian had quotes from previous Segeti employees that majored in MIS and what their current careers are. Brian McManus graduated from Loyola with an MIS degree, and is now the Senior Operations Manager at UnderArmour. He is in charge the e-commerce business and focuses on creativity and marketing. Brian is an example of a MIS graduate who now has an incredible occupation doing something more along the lines of marketing. Brendan Kelleher graduated from Loyola with an MIS degree as well and worked at Baltimore Gas and Electricity until this past month. Brendan contacted Brian McManus and now works at UnderArmour. This supports the thought that a MIS degree does not solely relate to technology, although information learned will help daily. In addition, the relationship between Brendan and Brian illustrates the strong network and communication between Loyola alumni.

I enjoyed the presentation for various reasons. Brian Sullivan was a motivating speaker and did a great job of relating MIS to the real world and ideas that would interest the audience. His advice was to participate as much as possible because the real world revolves around participation. I also took pleasure in his view of restaurant servers since I have waitressed for many years. He feels that servers have strong people skills, which is particularly important in business, and that they hold the satisfaction of others in their hands. Servers are responsible for making their guests happy. Because servers are not usually held to that level of importance, my side job at Bertucci’s seems more valuable now. MIS has proved to be an informative class for me this semester and I am more aware of its significance in the business world. Knowledge of technology will defiantly benefit me in any career I enter after graduation.