This article originally appeared on Fuqua’s Daytime MBA student blog and is shared here with permission.
by Priyanka Varma, Daytime MBA ’21
I viewed my first year at the Fuqua School of Business as a time to explore various industries and decide which one I ultimately wanted to pursue after graduation. Technology was one of the industries that piqued my interest. Therefore, when I heard about the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP), I saw it as the perfect opportunity to learn more about the tech industry and develop my client-facing skills.
Additionally, I felt that FCCP was a great way to build onto my existing skillset that I had developed from my prior strategy and business management experience at JP Morgan, a global investment bank. While I previously held several internal consulting roles, I was excited at the prospect of working one-on-one with a client and developing my client-facing skills through FCCP. In particular, I looked forward to learning how to better manage multiple client stakeholders and deliverables.
The Project
I joined four other Fuqua students to work with Boomi (a subsidiary of Dell Technologies) on a competitive analysis project. Specifically, Boomi had requested we research the outcomes of various mergers and acquisitions in the iPaaS (Integration Platform-as-a-Service) industry over recent years. Our research culminated in us presenting qualitative and quantitative data on three key transactions in the iPaaS industry. Through our research, we were able to advise Boomi on the mergers and acquisitions strategy they should pursue over the next few years in order to maintain their position as a market leader.
The Workload
I was very fortunate to have a great team. We met weekly to discuss progress on our research and had bi-weekly meetings with the client to ensure they were up to speed on the work we were conducting behind the scenes. The workload came in ebbs and flows but was highly manageable since everyone on my team kept an open line of communication with each other.
My best piece of advice to anyone working on an FCCP team is to be flexible and transparent. Transparent in the sense that one needs to communicate their capacity to their team members. And flexible in the sense that one needs to be willing to shoulder more responsibility during weeks when their team member(s) may have other commitments to take care of.
The Takeaways
Looking back at my FCCP experience, I was able to check off the two things I was looking for right from the get-go: 1) client-facing experience and 2) exposure to the technology sector. In addition, during our quantitative analysis, I was able to put into practice some of the topics we had covered in classes like accounting and finance. Last (but not least), I had the chance to meet and work with other amazing Fuqua students, and we had a blast!