When Cyril Lebel (full-time MBA 2010-11) went along to a Business School networking event, he was inspired to take on a Business Project with Vodafone Global Enterprise. Thanks to his work investigating the benefits of cloud storage, and support from across the company, he’s since been taken on as Global Service Manager.
Vodafone Global Enterprise was created in 2006 with fewer than 50 people, growing exponentially to over 1,200 employees by 2012. Like many similar companies they were interested in the capabilities of cloud computing, but wanted to know more about the potential security issues.
This challenge gave Cyril an excellent opportunity to put his learning from the core modules of the MBA programme into practice, particularly the use of diffusion of innovation frameworks from his ‘Strategic Innovation’ elective.
Collecting most of his research data via interviews, Cyril made the most of the networking opportunities presented by the project while learning all about the organisation’s operating model and culture.
Working to a tight schedule, he met with a wide range of specialists – from engineer graduate level to senior leadership – who offered technical, marketing, strategic and operational perspectives. Their openness and willingness to collaborate meant that the data collected was of a high quality and also revealed Vodafone Global Enterprise’s appetite for innovation and facing challenges head on.
After the success of his Business Project, Cyril was offered a role in this strategically important area, contributing to the growing commercial success of the company’s tablet proposition. Further research led to a white paper and work around new propositions and products now coming to market. For Cyril, the inspiration sparked at the DUBS networking event has ignited an exciting career.
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