Leverage our students’ business knowledge and technology skills for digital transformation
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Leverage our students’ business knowledge and technology (SAP/CRM) skills for digital transformation.
At a glance
Who it's for
Any organisations in the private, public or third sector.
Cost
Free. Students receive course credits rather than payment.
Timescales
Around 3 months - June to August. Report and presentation in September.
Best suited to
Business improvement and transformation by emerging technologies - Enterprise Systems, Analytics and AI; Consulting firms looking for junior digital business consultants.
What's involved
A team of 2-3 students takes on a defined problem in your organisation, or joins an existing transformation project during the summer months, and delivers a consultancy report with digital driven recommendations you can act on.
Students apply for the consulting opportunity from Feb-April with CV and a brief statement to the organisation. Confirmation of project allocation is in the middle of May.
Students work remotely in principle and are unpaid (except internship and placement). Outside that the working relationship is to be agreed between the student and the sponsor.
The team engages actively with people they need to meet - your customers, your staff, relevant stakeholders. Each team is supported by an experienced academic colleague, and the students attend 3 days consulting training before starting the project.
Students have taken on projects such as:
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Using CRM tools to improve marketing and growing for a small fitness training business
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Conducting competitor analysis and recommendation for a Responsible AI Metrics company
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Joining a large UK pharmaceutical company's global transformation project as an intern (3 months)
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Consulting on using AI in education for marking - feasibilities and decisions
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Consulting for a local manufacturing firm on data analytics
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Other projects include online platforms and systems for Real Estate, Vehicle Rental, Fashion shops, etc
How it works
1. Tell us your challenge
Register your interest and we’ll talk through whether the project suits a student team, and which route fits.
2. Write a brief with us
We help you shape the challenge into something a team can deliver in three months. A short problem specification would suffice.
3. The team works on it
You agree how to engage with the team for information and people they need, and answers to questions as they come up.
4. You get the feedback
A written consultancy report with analysis and reasoned recommendations and action plan presented to you by the team at the end of the project.
Before you enquire
This consultancy project aims to bring a new perspective with external knowledge to a current problem or for future desirable status, hence it works best when the challenge is real but not urgent. They aren’t suitable for business-critical work, or for anything that has to be delivered to a fixed deadline.
Your support is critical for their success, specifically access to the people and information the team needs.
There is no legal binding agreement for offering a digital business consultancy project, but this can be done if required. If the project involves commercially sensitive information, we have mechanisms in place to ensure anonymity and confidentiality, e.g. university ethics protocol or signing NDA.
Tell us about your challenge
You don’t need a finished brief. Tell us the problem and we’ll help you shape it, and let you know when the next window opens.
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