How much impact has Informatics made in business?

General Questions
#1

I hear (and read) a fair amount on how Informatics (the subject) has revolutionised the way we do business.

In particular, how models of the application of information in organizations (zing!) have created more powerful business structures. This in turn, I’m led to believe, is what has led to rapid growth in various sectors of the trading economy (particularly the mid-late 90’s).
Ok so I’ll be the first to bite and say I don’t know whether all of this is a real crock. I mean I realize that structuring the way data is collected and how information is both processed and interpreted (particularly in accounts) can be vital to the health of a business.

But from what I’ve read it talks about how Informatics will be a leading light (or dawn, if you will) into the 21st century.

Apparently the study of information (and how it’s created, structured, processed, stored and retrieved) is going to make the biggest impact (or already has, according to some) in the future of how business is run.

I don’t have the associated background, so maybe I’m missing something.

I always thought that informatics was basically computer science. Perhaps that definition has changed to something more generic i.e. how information moves around a system.

So in my view it has nothing to do with how well a business would organize and utilize information.
If anyone who is more well rounded in this subject matter than me could explain how it is that Informatics in general is making such an impact in the future of business/market management I for one would really appreciate it.
So to recap, enlighten me.

#2

I’m not necessarily the best person to explain this - I’m quite sure there are others more qualified. My MS is in information science, yes, but I focused more on the library aspect than informatics

I will suggest, though, that you look at Information Science or Knowledge Management.

Partly, it has to do with structuring information. In libraries, this has primarily been done through cataloging pieces of information, whether books, videos or whatever.

Many businesses haven’t developed a structured method for organizing all of the information that the company creates or uses. In some departments, yes, they have - Accounting is a fairly good example. Most businesses have a very structured system of accounts used to charge expenses. But what about the sales department? How are they organizing what they know about their customers? How can that knowledge be used to create better customer relationships? A salesman who is able to research customer XYZ and know that they buy widgets of a certain type AND who is aware of the new products his company is developing can better decide how (or if) to sell this new widget to the customer.

While I don’t know that it’s a new way of doing business (and I don’t know that I’m explaining it as well as it can be explained), it’s a way of making the information more accessible - if it exists, but no one can find it, then how can it be used?