He was their first KEA intern, but certainly not their last!

Jacob Sibbern was both absorbed and inspired when NTT DATA Business Solutions visited his Business Economics and IT programme in connection with an elective course on SAP. So much so that he knew then and there that he just had to be a part of that business. He therefore asked if he could get an internship, and he managed to become part of the Department Big Data & Advanced Analytics, which provides products and solutions for companies with large IT systems. The internship has only enhanced the positive experience of the company that Jacob got in connection with the guest lecture, and therefore he has now nominated the company for the award as KEA Internship of the Year:

"The internship has been absolutely amazing. Right from the beginning, I was thrown into projects that I didn't even think I could be thrown into as an intern. Whenever I needed help, I always had someone to ask and to learn from. And it's been fun at the same time because we all got along so well," Jacob says and continues:

"The most important thing I've learned is to work in a team and that communication is essential to prevent projects from failing and customers from being disappointed. I made a mistake at the beginning of the internship, but my colleagues were really good at telling me what I could do better for next time and explaining to me why it was important."

Very proud of the nomination for KEA internship of the year

For internship supervisor and Principal Data Scientist Emil Bach Zwergius, the joy of the internship is completely reciprocated:

"It's been a really positive experience to have Jacob do an internship. Definitely a win-win situation. I could tell from the start that he had a solid technical toolbox in his backpack. He just needed a little push, and then he delivered value right away. It's been clear from the start that he can combine theory and practice, and it's been a huge pleasure."

This is the first time that the Department of Big Data & Advanced Analytics has an intern from KEA, and that this first internship has even led to a nomination for the award as KEA Internship of the Year also tells us that Jacob and the company have been a really good match:

"I am very proud and delighted with the nomination. We haven't had many interns before and we've never had one from KEA, so it's pretty new to us. So, my goal was really just for Jacob to have a good internship experience, and if he could create value for us, that was just a bonus. The nomination tells me that we reached the goal of creating a good process, and I must also say that he has certainly created value for us and our customers. So, this is not the last time that we will welcome interns from KEA if they can deliver value as Jacob can!"

Had to find the difficult balance between technology and business

During his internship, Jacob primarily worked with extracting data from customers' systems and analysing and visualising their work processes so that customers were subsequently able to improve their processes. According to Jacob, the company has been very good at accepting his ideas and input:

"Among other things, I worked on customizing a report and redesigning a dashboard that a customer should use. I had been given a specific instruction on how to make it, but I had another idea. However, it was rejected at first, but I believed in it and chose to go ahead with it anyway, and when my colleagues saw my results, they also chose to go ahead with my idea instead of the way they would have done it otherwise."

However, Jacob is fully aware of the importance of being humble to the fact that the others have far more experience than him. The link between handling technical development and the business aspects of the consultancy job was particularly instructive:

"The most fun task by far was when I had to extract data from an SAP CRM system (Customer Relationship Management system, ed.), transform, analyse and present my results to the customer and our department managers in different countries. Using a Process-Mining tool I didn't know in advance, I had to make the process of manual work with leads in a CRM system visible; all the way from the start-up of a lead to the further handling to a potential sale – including, among other things, analysing how much time passes between each step of the process. I put this into the current process-mining solution and made a visualisation in PowerBI, so that customers could see where and how they can optimise their sales processes," says Jacob and continues:

"In the presentation, I had to think a lot about my choice of words, because it couldn’t get so technical that they didn't understand it, which was difficult when I had been buried deep in it for a month. But it went really well with the presentation and they were all impressed that I had made it in such a short time and had done it so well. It was really cool to be assigned the responsibility with that project and then have so much success with it."

"Jacob delivers every time"

Emil Bach Zwergius was particularly impressed by how Jacob solved this specific task, but also by the development Jacob has generally gone through:

"Jacob has gone through a great development in his process. Technically, he had to learn a whole new stack of tools he didn't know in advance and provide solutions using those tools. He just learned that incredibly quickly. But personally, his development has been just as great. I asked him to make a presentation to me shortly after he started, and he was somewhat nervous and had a really hard time with it. At the end of the internship, he made several presentations directly to customers and international managers in the company, and he just delivered every time! It has been a pleasure to experience this development," says Emil and continues:

"And it's not just in our team that Jacob has made a name for himself. He has also helped other teams that needed some technical backup. I got an email yesterday from a consultant from another team, who spontaneously praised Jacob’s skill and personality."

Jacob has been offered a position in NTT DATA Business Solutions when he graduates with a bachelor's degree in Business Economics & IT, which he is very happy about and is looking forward to:

"This is where I want be for many years to come!"