Blockchain technology, marketplace lending, and Apple Pay are just some of the innovations that cross his desk.
Such transformative ideas are in abundance in London, where he is based and where he studied for an MBA at Cass Business School. London’s mixture of Fortune 500 firms and fledgling start-ups are what drew the American from Los Angeles.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at UCLA, Andrew joined the music industry, before becoming a business development consultant for a US bank. After that came roles in the real estate and non-profit sectors.
Since graduating from the MBA in 2013, he has also co-founded UrbanEmber, a heat-mapping mobile app start-up.
When and why did you decide to get an MBA?
After my undergraduate degree I found myself constantly balancing a desire for the structure and scale of large corporations, versus the agility, freedom and creativity of smaller start-ups. My experience of being CEO of a national non-profit while balancing a corporate finance career showed me the benefits of each path, but also helped me see opportunities for growth.
An MBA seemed to fill all the gaps, and set me on a path toward the career I wanted.
Why London?
It seemed like an enriching opportunity to move to a new, international hub for business and innovation, rather than stay in my comfort zone of Los Angeles.
London’s clear global leadership in many established industries such as banking, private equity, and venture capital could be enough for many MBAs. But what’s even more exciting now is its extraordinary recent growth in emerging areas such as fintech and cross-industry start-up innovation.
I would argue that Cass’ program is strategically and geographically the best-placed MBA in London, due to its deep connections with both the established businesses of the City of London as well as the new avant-garde start-ups of the "Silicon Roundabout" in Shoreditch. An MBA literally couldn’t ask for a better position in London.
Altogether, the balance of culture, industry and innovation placed London as the clear number-one destination for my MBA.
What has Cass Business School done for your career?
Cass Business School primarily unlocked a network of people and career opportunities for me in London and far beyond.
The dynamic courses, international strategy consulting project and opportunity to study for three weeks at the partner campus in Dubai made the MBA feel much more like I was building the future I wanted rather than doing an academic exercise.
Applying for and then winning a number of opportunities at Cass, such as the Cass Entrepreneur Scholarship, the CitySpark start-up competitions and earning a place in the London City Incubator also allowed me to gain demonstrable career experience that helped me to distinguish myself from peers at other schools.
What are your top tips for getting hired by Accenture?
Accenture Interactive requires candidates to have a very strong balance of personal and technical skills and a real passion for their area of expertise. AI provides end-to-end marketing experience — from creative design, to customer experience, to digital production, to e-commerce development — so a candidate should have a clear idea of where they fit in that ecosystem.
Why should companies consider digital transformations?
The fundamental reason I see for embracing digital transformation is the opportunity to unlock and provide universally better customer experiences, not just adding technology or mobile apps to keep up with competitors.
Digital transformation is a mind-set that allows companies to learn from customers, and offer them precisely what they want in a more cost-effective and scalable manner. The combination of better analytics, mobility and ultimately experience design is invaluable and undeniably adds value.
It is nearly impossible to think of an industry that isn’t already being transformed by digital and any companies that don’t adapt to this change will be left far behind.
Furthermore, digital customer experience is no longer defined by direct competitors. If a bank, for example, thinks they can keep up with digital transformation by following their competitors, they will be quickly disrupted and soon replaced by innovations such as Apple Pay, crowdfunding sites and blockchain technology, and innovators such as TransferWise, to mention a few that I’ve already switched to as a consumer.
How can companies make use of big data?
Big data can be applied to nearly all business decisions today, however it requires the right tools to access it, the right people to understand it and the right questions from leadership to make it valuable. Without some level of capability in all three areas, companies won’t be able to unlock the potential of big data.
So my advice is to start with a clear and actionable question and a view of what you want big data to do for you, then scale up the technological and management capabilities to answer those questions. Then once the value gained by applying big data intelligently is clear, a company should consider incrementally investing further.
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