My Agilisys Journey: Eve Bracken

Eve Bracken, Junior Consultant, shares her experience working within the Transformation and change practice at Agilisys, including her day-to-day role and advice for starting a career in consulting. What is it like working in the Transformation and change team? Within a team of approximately 50 consultants, each member is constantly provided opportunities to make valuable […]

Eve Bracken, Junior Consultant, shares her experience working within the Transformation and change practice at Agilisys, including her day-to-day role and advice for starting a career in consulting.

What is it like working in the Transformation and change team?

Within a team of approximately 50 consultants, each member is constantly provided opportunities to make valuable contributions during client interactions as well as to the internal progression of BC.

The BC team assigned to a project will work collectively to gather information from the client about the current intricate workings of their institution. Once we have gained an in-depth understanding of the task at hand, we generate ideas to improve the service being offered. For example, this may be acquiring a program currently operating via telephone, email, or face-to-face, and digitally transforming it to function, almost exclusively, from an online platform.

What does a typical day look like?

With the new #Agilelife approach, if you are an early bird or a night owl, you can make your hours amenable to your lifestyle, whilst of course being considerate towards clients’ needs and internal meetings. The majority of the day will be spent in client consultations, uncovering their thoughts on the current and/or new process design. It is always a collaborative methodology in BC, whether that is manifesting an environment for innovative ideas in order to improve one of the local government’s services, or simply asking your colleagues for feedback on your most recent process map.

How did you get to where you are now?

The first few months at Agilisys were challenging as I took on the role whilst finalising my undergraduate degree at The University of Edinburgh. During the early mornings and late nights, I discovered that working full-time requires a different skillset and has an alternate end-goal from academia. The teamwork, the sense of achievement through little wins, and making a client happy is something you do not witness during the procedure of constructing an essay for an examiner you will never know the name of.

Nevertheless, the blend of humanitarian and statistical skills attained through reading psychology has provided me with the ability to analyse the current state of a council and then, effectively/meaningfully communicate a pioneering approach in order to tackle the pain points, cut costs, and improve efficiency of work as well as, customer satisfaction.

Tell us about your team

From the get-go, my colleagues could not have been more welcoming, always checking in to see how I was settling into the company. Helping your associates out is at the core of BC, relieving pressure and stress to keep well-being at a consistently high level.

If a ‘business-changer’ needs an extra pair of hands, they can reach out by making a generic request on the Team’s group-chat (e.g. ‘does anyone have capacity to help with xyz today?’), and for those up to the challenge to take on additional work, are given the liberty to do so.

What do you enjoy most about working at Agilisys?

During an introductory call for the new starters of the company, our CEO, Andrew Mindenhall, highlighted how the dotcom boom was a major transformational time for the whole world.

Imagine booking a holiday: this is now done almost exclusively online as opposed to in the early 2000s when you would have to physically venture down to your local travel agent to price match holiday destinations for you. Fast-forward to 2021, it is no longer a privilege nor is it impressive to have your service online, it is an expectation and in fact, the norm.

However, the digital transformation journey for local government and healthcare units has not been on this same fast-track. The fact that Agilisys are a leading choice for the UK’s public sector organisations and are on the cutting edge of technology, is something I am proud to be a part of. It is truly inspiring to be involved in changing the future and making people’s lives easier without them even having to realise it.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their career in consulting?

The first week I joined the company I was asked what I wanted to get out of my time with Agilisys and my response in turn, was ‘variety’. Almost six months in and I can confidently say that I am not only given the breadth of opportunity in terms of the myriad of projects there are to get involved in in the business but also my tasks within these projects differ on a weekly, if not daily basis.

From that, I would advise those looking to start a career in consulting to seize every opportunity that comes your way. Life is what you make of it, and you regret all the chances you don’t take.