This fall, students in the Business Intelligence Group (BIG), the student consultancy group associated with Associate Professor Yoo-Seong Song's Applied Business Research class (IS 514), worked on projects related to supply chain management, digital health, biotechnology, and higher education for companies located at the University of Illinois Research Park and overseas in East Asia and Africa.
"As an experiential learning platform, BIG seeks to provide students with opportunities to work with partners both locally and internationally," said Song. "We're especially excited to work on a project dealing with healthcare issues for a partner in Africa; we are envisioning additional opportunities in several countries in Africa going forward."
For one of the projects, student consultants worked with a distributor of industrial and electrical products to determine whether the company should launch a B2B rewards program, and if so, how it should be designed and implemented as well as its desired impact. Over the course of 15 weeks, the students provided bi-weekly progress reports to the client, concluding with a final presentation of their research and recommendations.
"At BIG, I've learned to solve difficult problems, lead a team, and produce actionable recommendations, which will help a Fortune 500 company take real steps toward a new initiative," said MSIM student Eóin Fahey, who served as project manager on the B2B rewards program project. "This is more than I ever thought I would achieve as a student, and I'm extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to grow professionally."
"During their project engagements, the students in BIG build skills that today's employers are looking for: teamwork, problem-solving, analytical thinking, and effective communication. Creating actionable insights is always challenging, but our students are successfully delivering results that consistently exceed our clients' expectations," said Song.
In the spring of 2024, BIG will continue to work with local and international clients, especially in the field of digital health. The student teams will help the clients with product management and innovation strategy consulting.