Digital Consulting Project with ContraForce

MIS 6349: Digital Consulting Project has given us one of the best experiences in the entire graduate life. How much ever knowledge a person may be able to acquire through theoretical studies, that one shot of receiving an industry experience goes a long way. And that is what we received as a part of being in this course. The curriculum revolves around consulting topics that show the everyday challenges faced in the industry.

Across the span of the semester, we were exposed to different consulting topics including, TOSCA Framework, McKinsey way, Speech Preparation, Zero-Based Budgeting, and Digital Transformation. My favorite was Cost-Benefit Analysis. The fact that it was a familiar topic piqued my interest more. In the previous encounters, this was a very straightforward method. But given the fluctuations and uncertainties in the consulting environment in the actual industry, it is not that straightforward. Handling the actual obstacles that affect the timeline in an actual project environment is entirely different from the basic Cost-Benefit Analysis. Learning the nuances of applying Cost-Benefit Analysis to an actual project will come in handy while weighing the pro and cons in real-time.

Our team of 6, in collaboration with ContraForce, a cybersecurity firm that specializes in Extended Threat Detection & Response and Customized Security Solutions, had an amazing experience. From ideation to product development to deployment, we learned a lot of new things. We were exposed to Cloud technologies and Security environments such a Microsoft Azure Sentinel and Machine Learning Solutions were employed to solve day-to-day cybersecurity problems. We created a solution for the company that employed a reduction in the time spent by cybersecurity professionals on threat hunting and ultimately cost efficiency.

The project presented us with technical obstacles since we were new to the field and we had a lot to learn in a small timeframe. Post completion, we can say that we are proficient in Azure Sentinel, Data Analytics, and Visualization in Python and KQL. I would like to thank the ContraForce team, Stan Golubchik, Ricky Melendez, and Ojas Sonnis, for the constant help they have provided throughout the timeline of the project. Whenever we were in a fix during the execution, we always had guidance from our team to steer us in the right direction. The number the things we learned from them about the cybersecurity industry is immense.

This project helped us gain real-world experience in the industry and I enjoyed applying all the new skills that I learned to the project.

#mis6349 #jsom_dcp #utdallas #jsom #digitalconsultingproject #dcp #consulting