Hanne

“As consultants, we have a huge impact on the companies we work for and many times a greater impact than if you were employed by the client.”

I started at Gemini Consulting more than 20 years ago after a career in research and product management in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. From the very beginning I worked in the Global Life Sciences team in Brand & Experience where our focus at that time was mainly within product strategy, positioning and launch of new products which was an area that I had a lot of experience from in my previous career. Being part of a global team meant a lot of traveling and we were engaged in work with some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. A lot of my projects were in the US, but I also did many projects in France, Germany, Italy, UK, and Belgium. I can only recall having done two projects during these first years in the Nordics and in all my projects I worked in a multi-national team.

In 2006, I left Capgemini to be part of a team setting a new small consultancy firm based out of London. I was offered to join my former manager and it was a great opportunity to be part of creating something new – a challenge that was hard to turn down. It was an amazing experience building something from scratch, creating a business from an empty office with a couple of desks and chairs.

However, in 2008 I returned to Capgemini Invent to take a lead position in the global leadership team of Consumer Products, Retail, Manufacturing and Life Sciences. My job was to look after Life Sciences and ensure that we worked together in building the Life Sciences practice across Europe and the US. I had missed my colleagues and in the coming 3 years, I managed all life science work globally working closely with my global colleagues across Invent, Technology, Application Management and Business Services. I stayed in Life Sciences until 2015 where I decided to try something new so I left Life Science domain to work in our CPRD community.

Tell us about your role at Capgemini Invent?

Today, I work as an Account Executive for one of our largest retail clients. As Account Executive I’m responsible for securing long term relationship and that we grow our business with the client. This includes business development, responding to RFPs, commercials, staffing of our projects, oversight of our delivery to the client and ensuring that we strengthen our relationships across the client organization and that we continuously work on expanding this network of contacts.

What makes you passionate about your work?

What makes me get out of bed in the morning is the people I work with, the opportunity to learn every day and the impact we have on our clients and their business.

As consultants, we have a huge impact on the companies we work for and many times a greater impact than if you were employed by the client. Our job is to create change and help our client in their transformation journey and the impact we have doing that is quite amazing.

How does your work challenge you?

Being a consultant, you always need to be on top of things and have experience with the latest developments. I think it is challenging to keep up with the pace of change and constantly being part of developing new solutions and support our clients with this constant flow of new challenges. One recent example is how we adjusted our work in the COVID pandemic. We have realized that we can do a lot of work remotely for our clients – we rose to this challenge and showed that it is possible. Taking leadership of client development and leading young consultants during these challenging times are big challenges that I enjoy.

Looking back at your years at Capgemini Invent, what are your key takeaways and highlights so far?

After over 20 years in the Capgemini Group, I have so many highlights. In terms of project experiences, one of the projects I am most proud of is a 10-year trends and strategy exercise we did for a big global pharmaceutical company. We were a great global team and looking back I can proudly say that about 80% of our 10-year predictions have shown to become reality. Another project highlight is to have been part of a big organizational transition for big retail client and helping them find solutions to complex organizational issues together with their team.

I am also very humbled towards the great people I have gotten the chance to work with. The trust we as consultants are given by our clients, as well as from the leadership team at Capgemini Invent is amazing. It has also been great to see how the management consulting practice of Invent has developed over the years. It has been a long journey and we have a much stronger market position today than we had when I joined back in 1998.

We help clients invent their futures by bringing to life what’s next. Please tell more about this, perhaps by sharing an example.

One thing I am proud of is Capgemini’s partnership with MIT. We started the partnership right in the beginning when digital really kicked off and we could from the start back up everything we did with ideas based on thorough research. Thanks to this partnership and all the great work with have done, Capgemini Invent and the larger Capgemini Group are today well-known for our capabilities within digital transformation. The research we do adds to the trust that we bring the best solution and delivery capabilities to our client.

What makes Capgemini Invent stand out?

We have a collaborative approach that is highly appreciated by our clients. What stands out with Capgemini Invent is really the people and the way we work together. Capgemini Invent is not a very hierarchical organization and you, as an employee, have the ability to take on opportunities and go with them – this for me is a strong part of our culture.

What is your best advice to a student or younger professional who dream to start a career in management consulting and at Capgemini Invent?

Think about what your goals are and make up your mind in which type of organization you would like to work in. As a student, you need to understand that working as a consultant is very different from working in a line organization. You need to thrive with change and capable of a high workload, but you also get the opportunity to work on many interesting aspects of business and leadership and the ability to learn every day. The impact we have as consultants is huge, but it takes extra effort.

Why should you join Capgemini Invent?

Capgemini Invent is an inspiring employer that gives you the opportunity to grow, learn a lot, and to work with interesting clients. You get to explore opportunities in various disciplines and being part of big transformation journeys – from strategy to implementation. You will be part of creating long-lasting change at our clients.

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Testimonial given when Hanne worked as a Director in our Consumer Products & Retail industry, at Capgemini Invent

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