It was another exciting International Case Competition on the Strategic Value of IT Management at CA World 2011 in Las Vegas. Now in its third year, the competition featured 30 stellar MBA (Masters of Business Administration) and MIS (Masters of Information Systems) students to demonstrate and evaluate the strategic value of IT management for an organization.
The students represented top business schools from the following universities:
• Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) -- Third Place
• Indian School of Business (India)
• Indiana University (U.S.A.)
• Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (India)
• University of British Columbia (Canada)
• University of Calgary (Canada) -- First Place
• University of Cincinnati (U.S.A.)
• University of South Florida (U.S.A.) -- Second Place
• Utrecht University (Netherlands)
* Laura Higgins, Carolyn Nalder, Brian Eshpeter from the University of Calgary (Canada).
The first day of the competition featured our co-sponsor and case study client, Visa Inc. Two weeks prior to CA World, the students received this difficult challenge: How can Visa, a global payments technology company, adapt and align its IT infrastructure to take advantage of new business opportunities and adjacent markets, while leveraging its extensive IT capabilities? On the first day, Visa threw in a twist to the case study, asking the students to consider social media and emerging market opportunities as well. This led to overnight work sessions for all of the teams!
It was a tough 2-1/2 days of intense competition, with the student teams presenting to an esteemed panel of judges from CA Technologies and Visa, as well as distinguished faculty judges. It was an entirely new experience for these students to present to the actual client, but they told us it was an extremely valuable experience. One of my favorite quotes from one of the students: “I was enthralled by the scale of the competition. It was very encouraging to see the seriousness with which the competition was conducted. The judges were the senior-most people in Visa and CA. We felt extremely privileged in getting this opportunity to present at such a high level. Also, during the awards night, it was great to see all the senior management of CA and most of all the CEO congratulating all the teams personally. It was a gem of an experience.”
Having started this competition in 2008 and seen it grow and become more prestigious has been exciting and rewarding, not only for me but also our co-sponsors from Oakland University, Indiana University and the University of Arizona. CA Technologies is proud to sponsor such a unique case competition, and we look forward to next year’s case event, which will begin in September with the preliminary Regional Competition round. We’re always looking for more universities to participate and for customers to join us in promoting innovation and these creative business solutions. To get involved, please contact me (Connie.Smallwood at ca.com).