On 3 June 2024, the Heinrich Lecture, dedicated to the memory of Prof. Lutz J. Heinrich, co-founder of business informatics as a discipline and formative scientist at the JKU, took place for the fourth time. This year, Prof. Dr Susanne Strahringer, holder of the Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Information Systems in Industry and Trade at TU Dresden, was invited to give the lecture.

This year's lecture addressed the topic "Digitalisation without IT specialists and managers? - Contributions of business informatics to solving a dilemma". Prof. Strahringer presented solutions from the key areas of business informatics: technology, organisation, and leadership. Three central theses for solving the dilemma were shared with the audience:

1. Software development without IT specialists using low-code/no-code approaches
2. Digital transformation driven by specialist departments outside of IT - from shadow IT to business-managed IT
3. Sharing economy at the IT management level - instead of no CIO, SMEs in particular can rely on fractional CIOs

The presentation encouraged the participants to discuss and intensively analyse the solutions presented. The discussion covered the perspectives of scientific research regarding these three approaches within the discipline of business informatics, the possible practical implementation in companies, and the associated implications for the teaching of business informatics at universities and for the training of future IT specialists and managers. 

Over the past few years, the Heinrich Lecture has developed into an event for intellectual exchange that honours the fundamental contribution of Prof. Lutz J. Heinrich. The series will be continued next year.