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.