Oracle Executive Guides Successful MMS Experiential Learning Team
MMS Students Help Oracle Ride the Wave of 5G with Wes Tilley MBA '01 as Their FCCP Project Sponsor
It is often said that experience is the greatest teacher. Our knowledge of new concepts, theories and frameworks is cemented via their application in the real world environment. This idea is foundational to the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) and one that has rewarded hundreds of MBA students who have participated in our team-based consulting practicum over the last 30 years.
So when in 2018 the FCCP program was made available to our pre-experience Master of Management Studies (MMS) students for the first time, an audible buzz could be heard in the halls at Fuqua. On any given day in fall, MMS students could be found in team rooms engaged in intensive Problem Solving Sessions with their Faculty Advisor or in the Fox Center meeting with their assigned MBA Engagement Manager; a unique role played by a second year MBA student to coach and advise a project team.
According to Professor Tony O’Driscoll who serves as one of the program’s Faculty Advisors, “Two years in, it is abundantly clear that the opportunity afforded our FCCP teams to put theory into practice is making a substantial difference. It is a joy to observe how the students integrate the concepts from their coursework to address the client challenges. Beyond that, the teams also learn what it really means to work collaboratively under time pressure to deliver value. It has been a real privilege to work with this bright young group of students and it has been gratifying to see how their work efforts have delivered value.”
Creating the right experience, however, is not a trivial task. It requires a client who is willing to work with Fuqua to establish the right work scope for the project and to provide support and guidance to the team for the duration of the project.
“The strongest predictor of a successful FCCP project outcome is how much the collaborator engages with and mentors the student team to ensure that their work is headed in the right direction. We have been incredibly fortunate during the past two years to have a wealth of alumni who have stepped forward to champion these projects and engage with the teams to guide the work in a productive and positive direction” remarks Faculty Advisor and 2011 MBA alumna Stephanie Knight.
A great example of this effective client – student team relationship was the Oracle project last year. Oracle was seeking to leverage its existing market position to ride the coming 5G wave. The student team was tasked with identifying an attractive market segment to pursue given the rollout of 5G. This required the team to delve deeply into the technology itself, the patterns and trends that were emerging from the rollout of the technology, and the best opportunity for Oracle to capitalize on these emerging patterns. This was a rather daunting challenge to try to tackle in a very short time. The team dove in with curiosity and enthusiasm, and thanks to the steady guidance from alumnus Wes Tilley, and the client team he assembled at Oracle, the team was able to deliver an “Ecosystem based platform recommendation in the Gaming space that was very well received.”
“We really enjoyed the experience with the student team” says Wes Tilley, VP of Communications Cloud Software at Oracle. “We challenged them with a project that was timely and relevant for the work that we were engaging at the time. We wanted them to have a true experience of working in a team dealing with product strategy and direction. They had a lot to learn, but dove right in and performed beyond our expectations. Not only did they absorb the information and technology, but came up with ideas that we had not thought of.”
While experience is the greatest teacher - particularly in a pre-experience master’s program like MMS – positive growth through these real-world engagements does not happen by accident. It requires the context created from having a willing collaborator like Oracle who engages with FCCP faculty, second year MBA engagement managers, and the MMS student teams themselves to co-create the work every step of the way. The result of this collaboration is a truly transformative learning experience for the students and a big-value deliverable for clients.
Professor O’Driscoll summarized it this way, “This is a true win-win for both the student and the client, and it is such a joy to see the development trajectory of the student teams during the project. This program is truly transformative and we could not do it without collaborators like Oracle.”
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Are you interested in having a team of Fuqua MMS students address a business challenge at your company? We are accepting project submissions through September 15. Click here to learn more
MMS Students Help Oracle Ride the Wave of 5G with Wes Tilley MBA '01 as Their FCCP Project Sponsor
It is often said that experience is the greatest teacher. Our knowledge of new concepts, theories and frameworks is cemented via their application in the real world environment. This idea is foundational to the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) and one that has rewarded hundreds of MBA students who have participated in our team-based consulting practicum over the last 30 years.
So when in 2018 the FCCP program was made available to our pre-experience Master of Management Studies (MMS) students for the first time, an audible buzz could be heard in the halls at Fuqua. On any given day in fall, MMS students could be found in team rooms engaged in intensive Problem Solving Sessions with their Faculty Advisor or in the Fox Center meeting with their assigned MBA Engagement Manager; a unique role played by a second year MBA student to coach and advise a project team.
According to Professor Tony O’Driscoll who serves as one of the program’s Faculty Advisors, “Two years in, it is abundantly clear that the opportunity afforded our FCCP teams to put theory into practice is making a substantial difference. It is a joy to observe how the students integrate the concepts from their coursework to address the client challenges. Beyond that, the teams also learn what it really means to work collaboratively under time pressure to deliver value. It has been a real privilege to work with this bright young group of students and it has been gratifying to see how their work efforts have delivered value.”
Creating the right experience, however, is not a trivial task. It requires a client who is willing to work with Fuqua to establish the right work scope for the project and to provide support and guidance to the team for the duration of the project.
“The strongest predictor of a successful FCCP project outcome is how much the collaborator engages with and mentors the student team to ensure that their work is headed in the right direction. We have been incredibly fortunate during the past two years to have a wealth of alumni who have stepped forward to champion these projects and engage with the teams to guide the work in a productive and positive direction” remarks Faculty Advisor and 2011 MBA alumna Stephanie Knight.
A great example of this effective client – student team relationship was the Oracle project last year. Oracle was seeking to leverage its existing market position to ride the coming 5G wave. The student team was tasked with identifying an attractive market segment to pursue given the rollout of 5G. This required the team to delve deeply into the technology itself, the patterns and trends that were emerging from the rollout of the technology, and the best opportunity for Oracle to capitalize on these emerging patterns. This was a rather daunting challenge to try to tackle in a very short time. The team dove in with curiosity and enthusiasm, and thanks to the steady guidance from alumnus Wes Tilley, and the client team he assembled at Oracle, the team was able to deliver an “Ecosystem based platform recommendation in the Gaming space that was very well received.”
“We really enjoyed the experience with the student team” says Wes Tilley, VP of Communications Cloud Software at Oracle. “We challenged them with a project that was timely and relevant for the work that we were engaging at the time. We wanted them to have a true experience of working in a team dealing with product strategy and direction. They had a lot to learn, but dove right in and performed beyond our expectations. Not only did they absorb the information and technology, but came up with ideas that we had not thought of.”
While experience is the greatest teacher - particularly in a pre-experience master’s program like MMS – positive growth through these real-world engagements does not happen by accident. It requires the context created from having a willing collaborator like Oracle who engages with FCCP faculty, second year MBA engagement managers, and the MMS student teams themselves to co-create the work every step of the way. The result of this collaboration is a truly transformative learning experience for the students and a big-value deliverable for clients.
Professor O’Driscoll summarized it this way, “This is a true win-win for both the student and the client, and it is such a joy to see the development trajectory of the student teams during the project. This program is truly transformative and we could not do it without collaborators like Oracle.”
----
Are you interested in having a team of Fuqua MMS students address a business challenge at your company? We are accepting project submissions through September 15. Click here to learn more