The Consulting Diaries: Confessions of a new IBM Consultant

Growing up, I never once said “Mom, Dad, I want to be a strategy consultant”, as aspirations of becoming a teacher or famous pop star seemed more appealing. What I didn’t know then was that becoming a consultant for an organization as large as IBM created opportunities for me to work with a wide variety of organizations – and now my potential for travel and performance could equal or even exceed that of a Canadian musical sensation. That is, unless your name is Justin Bieber!


Being a new undergraduate hire, the main question I got was: “How can you consult to organizations based on your expertise and knowledge when you have no industry experience?” I never had an honest answer. I also didn’t understand why IBM chose to hire five undergraduates straight out of school, not to mention that most of us didn’t have technical backgrounds. I mean, I was hired by IBM, International Business Machines. I was going to be working with computers, right? Wrong. For those of you who don’t know, IBM sold its personal computer business to Lenovo about seven years ago. IBM’s main business, with over 50% of revenue, comes from two services: Global Business Services, our business consulting practice, and Global Technology Services, which (surprise, surprise) provides technology consulting and implementation services.


The new Consulting by Degrees (CbD) leadership development program, designed for new university graduates, is how I got involved with the Big Blue machine. It is a program developed to create an opportunity for new hires to act as a business analyst, while gaining industry experience within different teams/areas of the global business services area. Every three months or so, we switch assignments, roles, and industries, getting a breadth of experience within our first two years.


IBM also has a give-back program called “Corporate Service Corps” in which we are providing high potential and high-performing IBMers a chance to develop their leadership skills while they perform top quality community service in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. These employees partner with non-governmental organizations to work on some of the world's toughest problems, such as environmental challenges and access to educational resources. This is a program that not only attracted me to the company, but motivates me to perform at a high level every day. In less than two years I will have a chance to apply and bring something new to a needy community.

IBM provides us with a large variety of educational programs, a mix of online learning modules, in-class learning conferences and on-the-job training. Being a brand new hire, I would not be able to survive if I did not get the one-on-one training that my project managers have invested in me. Being exposed daily to someone’s personal intellectual capital increases the breadth of knowledge you have. There are also formal programs, like the mentorship program, that help employees explore new opportunities within the company. IBM values its employees and understands that a service firm is only as strong as its weakest link. This is why IBM encourages personal learning and growth. In fact, you cannot survive within this company if you are not willing to continue to develop post graduation. Growth never stops – both personal and company wide.


What is a Business Analyst (BA)?:
A business analyst (BA) is a project resource that often performs the liaison function between the business side of an enterprise and the providers of services to the enterprise. BAs also assess business or financial models and support their integration with technology. It can also be defined as a consulting role that has the responsibility for investigating business systems and processes, identifying options for improving those processes/systems, and bridging those needs of the business using technology.

About the Author:
Liana Caruso is a Consultant in the Strategy & Transformation practice of IBM Global Business Services in Toronto. Ms. Caruso graduated from The Sprott School of Business at Carleton University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in January 2010 and joined IBM upon graduation.

first days at IBM as an intern......

May 6, 2010 at 8am, in my business casual attire, I got off the bus and wandered towards what I was pretty sure was the IBM Canada Lab building for my first day of work. I was so excited to start my 16 month internship as a Market Analyst at IBM. And as soon as I opened the doors of the visitors entrance, I could see that I wasn't alone on this new adventure. I was in the presence of at least 100 buzzing interns, a few drowsy from the early start to their first day.


Even though that day was 4 months ago, it still feels like just last week! There are a million great ways to describe my internship so far at IBM, the people I've met and worked with, the things I've got the chance to do, but it might just be easiest to say: I'm really glad I work here. Here are some brief takes on the variety of aspects that make up my IBM life:

I felt lucky to get any internship at all, but as being an IBMer sinks in, I feel even luckier to be a student with an IBM internship. I can get my work done in my choice of environment, based on whatever stimulates me most that day! Be it my PWA (fancy acronymn for cubicle), my desk at home, under a tree outside the Canada Lab office, or in a Cottage Oasis area on the top floor of the building, I go wherever motivates me most; all with my trusty, portable thinkpad (IBM laptop).

At IBM I was welcomed into the intern community, Future Blue, with open arms. Along with many others, I was new to IBM and to Toronto, and Future Blue made the transition so easy. We plan after work BBQs, attend Jay's Games, play volley-ball, go to networking sessions and more! I enjoyed all this fun Future Blue stuff so much, I'm now the 2010-2011 Communications Team Lead (check out the blog I run: futureblue.wordpress.com).

As for my real work at IBM, it's pretty awesome too. Everyone on my team welcomes new ideas and suggestions, even if they're from me, a new, inexperienced intern! I've never felt looked down upon, something that really surprised me, given the talented and senior people I'm on projects with.

I can't wait to see what the next year at IBM has in store for me! Maybe I'll see some of you in the halls,

- Olivia