‘It's never too late for an MBA': how a skills development programme supercharges careers

The Guardian

2 days ago

Tech consultants are key figures in the modern economy, advising every size of business from startups to some of the world's biggest organisations on deploying new technologies and helping to implement gamechanging innovations. It's a fascinating and rewarding career – bringing together both tech and business expertise – that requires constant upskilling.
For Korusha Pillay, a senior manager in AI and automation at EY, the opportunity to deepen her knowledge in areas such as leadership and business skills has been invaluable in boosting her career and widening her prospects. She took advantage of the free EY tech MBA to broaden her knowledge of key technologies and explore new opportunities.
Just weeks after moving to the UK to take up a role at EY in 2020, Pillay's life was turned upside down as she found herself in lockdown. 'I'm incredibly goal oriented' she says. 'Without something to aim for, I hit a slump.' So when she saw an announcement on an internal EY newsletter about the newly launched tech MBA, she jumped at the chance. On the same day, she drafted a detailed plan to complete the entry requirements and never looked back.
To qualify for the course, Pillay completed the EY digital badge programme, which offers training in broad aspects of technology, leadership and business. The learning and development programme is available to all EY people globally, with training covering an extensive range of topics.
A bronze badge is typically awarded after 15 hours of study, a silver badge after 30 hours, and more intensive study leads to gold and ultimately platinum badges. Pillay completed 21 badges in subjects such as AI, machine learning, leadership and digital transformation. This gave her the accreditation to join the MBA, where she focused on business, leadership and technology.
The course culminated in a number of written research papers and a final project undertaken with other EY people on the course. Her team tackled employee turnover at EY, developing a prototype app inspired by dating platforms to match colleagues with internal opportunities, a project that received a 100% mark in the final assessment.
The MBA was a transformative experience for Pillay. It gave her life direction during lockdown, but it also helped her develop contacts across the organisation and learn a range of useful interpersonal techniques. She found she could apply the lessons she learned to her daily work. And crucially, she says, it taught her to be more aware of the limits of her knowledge.
'Sometimes you're in this bubble and think you know everything, but a course like this that stretches across so many boundaries made me realise how much more there is to learn.' The MBA helped her develop her knowledge in areas such as managing clients, resolving conflicts and leadership skills.
As one of the first to take the course, she was invited to many presentations, panels and learning events at EY to discuss her experiences. Career opportunities have grown exponentially, she says, 'since I put MBA at the end of my name'.
She says the MBA is so appealing as it is free, online, and involves study at your own pace. The course is open to people at different stages in their careers, 'it's never too late', she adds.
Run in association with Hult International Business School, the EY tech MBA is available to some 400,000 EY employees in 150 countries regardless of their role or position.
For Peter Capsalis, an AI and data senior manager at EY, gaining a deeper understanding of how clients view technology projects has been a major benefit of taking the tech MBA. A chemistry graduate with a master's in data science, Capsalis found the MBA's focus on leadership skills, business strategy and understanding the client's point of view helped with the business side of his role.
'After coming from a developer, technology and data science background, EY's tech MBA gave me more formal organisational knowledge and a better understanding of business strategies and how clients think,' he says.
His MBA covered three areas: transformation in a digital age; digital leadership; and competitive business simulations. The last one 'really framed some of the new advances in technology and what that means for an organisation', he says.
He has learned practical leadership skills, which has enhanced how he manages his own global teams, which operate across different time zones, and his ability to carry out ideation sessions virtually. And the tech MBA has helped him apply this learning when advising clients on how to manage their global teams.
Learning programmes are part of the EY commitment to people development and its employee value proposition, which promises to help employees to 'shape your future with confidence'. The organisation also offers an MBA in sustainability and has a range of other development programmes for staff.
Even more ambitiously, EY intends to have a positive effect on the lives of 1 billion people by 2030 through EY Ripples, a global corporate social responsibility programme that will work with entrepreneurs around the world to scale innovative solutions to global problems. More than 1 million people across EY member firms and their communities will be mobilised through the programme, driving the adoption of business models that protect the environment, while unlocking economic opportunity.
The programme will ensure the next generation of EY people will develop the skills to find and sustain meaningful work, such as bringing affordable energy to off-grid families and providing safe sanitation for low-income communities.
As technology-fuelled business disruption continues to reshape the world, learning and development opportunities and corporate social responsibility programmes such as these are essential for tech consultants to achieve their full potential.
To transform businesses and drive sustainable growth around the globe, tech consultants need to constantly re-invent and transform their knowledge. Building and maintaining market-leading skills is key for consultants as they find new approaches to develop transformative solutions for some of the world's biggest organisations.
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