Katie, who works out of the Boston office, has consulted with leading telecommunications, publishing, media, and retail companies. “I focus on helping telecom and media companies innovate and refresh their customer lifecycle strategy, from acquisition to customer base to customer retention,” says Katie. “These changes can involve anything from product strategy/value proposition and offer design, to sales effectiveness and channel strategy, to customer value management.”
I’ve realized the most important thing that studying sociology taught me – how to think critically about a problem or issue at hand, develop a structured approach, and leverage data to further support or push forward the critical thinking – is the backbone of consulting
It’s an exciting industry and one that’s been at the forefront of the digital revolution, transforming how human beings interact with business, society, and culture. “So many of the changes the other industries have undergone over the past 10 years were both driven by and enabled through innovation in telecommunications, media, and technology. And legacy players in the industry are not immune to being impacted by the changes they have enabled – requiring them to compete differently in order to position themselves to remain at the forefront of customer rapidly evolving consumer preferences.”
At the same time, the lines between TMT companies are becoming more blurred: Telecoms are buying media companies, media companies are innovating with new technologies, and tech companies are beginning to produce their own content and distribute this directly to consumers. “All this means that the industry is both creating and undergoing rapid change,” says Katie. “Being part of helping a company succeed and face their toughest challenges in this quickly changing environment is exhilarating, rewarding, and never dull.”
While her main objective is achieving impact on the organization’s top line, Katie sees other, more subtle ways in which she’s helped bring about meaningful change. “The work I have done in salesforce effectiveness and call centers has changed the way thousands of employees do their jobs every day – what offers they have at hand, how they position them to consumers, what tools they have access to in order to close the deal, what KPIs they are measured on, and how they are incentivized to achieve their objectives. Seeing the work we do have s tangible impact on both helping the salesforce be more effective and better providing consumers what they are looking for is very rewarding.”