Harness the power of purpose
For more than 100 years, Gies Business has been a leader in business education and research. But we don’t just teach business skills. Through our innovations and engaging experiences, we empower learners to discover what drives them, and then we give them the tools and knowledge they need to excel at it.
Our students are passionate, driven leaders who are eager to apply their talents to your business needs. By partnering with us to sponsor an experiential learning project, you’re not only helping develop future business leaders, you’re getting to work with dedicated student consultants with access to leading industry experts, state-of-the art technology, and decades of high-quality research.
Whether you’re a multi-generational family business, a powerhouse corporation, or an intrepid new venture, you can benefit from our services.
“It was really quite inspiring to see the talent that the university really nurtures and nourishes, so much so that you feel like our world is in good hands with these students.”
Denise Brown, Caregiving Years Training Academy
Experiential Learning: A win-win for you and our students
Here’s how it works
You come to us with a problem your business is trying to solve or an opportunity you’re hoping to take advantage of. We turn your needs into a semester-long consulting project for students.
Under the supervision of expert faculty, students conduct in-depth research and investigate high-impact solutions for your project. While the students are sharpening their business acumen, you’ll gain valuable insights about your organization.
The projects we work on
We’ll help you find solutions to business problems – or take on exciting new opportunities –in four main areas:
Marketing Strategy Strategy & Growth
Data & Technology
The impact we make Finance
Your organization:
• Finds solutions for your biggest business challenges
• Utilizes University of Illinois resources and expertise
• Develops a talent pipeline
Our students:
• Gain real-world, hands-on experience
• Develop and improve business skills
• Explore career options
• Preview potential employers
Real problems, real solutions, real value
We offer a range of experiential learning opportunities that connect student talent with organizational needs.
Action Learning
Action Learning connects students with organizations to explore business challenges through short-term, course-embedded projects.
• BUS 301: Business in Action (Undergraduate)
Through this fast-paced project course, every Gies junior partners with an organization to deliver practical business solutions in marketing, operations, or strategy.
• MS in Finance (MSF)
Finance graduate students apply advanced technical skills and business acumen to deliver insights in valuation, capital markets, investment strategy, and financial modeling.
• MS in Business Analytics (MSBA)
MSBA students work on data-rich projects that involve trend analysis, dashboard creation, and predictive modeling — which help organizations make smarter, evidence-based decisions.
• MS in Management (MSM)
With foundational knowledge across core business disciplines, students tackle challenges in marketing, operations, and growth strategy — bringing structured thinking to a wide range of industries.
• MS in Technology Management (MSTM)
Students focus on the intersection of business and technology, helping organizations explore opportunities in digital transformation, innovation strategy, and technology implementation.
CONNECT WITH US
Can’t think of a problem to bring us?
Illinois Business Consulting (IBC)
Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is the University of Illinois’ premier student-led, professionally managed consulting organization. We bring together top-performing undergraduate and graduate students from across campus — including Gies College of Business, Grainger College of Engineering, the iSchool, and other top-ranked programs — to tackle complex, realworld business challenges.
Our interdisciplinary teams collaborate with clients on multi-month engagements, delivering in-depth analysis and actionable recommendations tailored to their unique goals. Each project is guided by experienced professional advisors who ensure a structured, high-quality, and impactful experience from start to finish.
Over the past two decades, IBC has partnered with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to startups, nonprofits, and international enterprises. Whether the objective is market entry, operational improvement, strategic growth, or organizational transformation, IBC brings fresh insight, analytical rigor, and a commitment to excellence that delivers results.
Our research can still add value to your business. We can help you analyze your sales strategies or financing portfolios, learn more about your customers, uncover new viable markets for your business, and more.
SAMPLE PROJECT IDEAS
Strategy & Growth
Projects we can help with:
• Operational analysis
• Business plan development
• A company needs to identify target geographies (city, state, or region) to launch a new product.
• A company wants to know if there are inefficiencies in their production process and if so, how they can reduce them.
• A company wants to transition a successful business-to-business product into the business-to-consumer market. They want to know which steps they should take and why.
• A company needs to develop a detailed implementation plan for the release of a new product. They want to learn how they can best utilize current personnel and resources to successfully complete the project.
Finance
Projects we can help with:
• Acquisition strategy
• Forecasting
• Cost-benefit analysis
• A company wants to see which market indicators on prospective revenue trends can better predict liquidity needs for their budget.
• An organization would like to better predict leading indicators of increases or decreases in revenue.
• A company has identified a gap between their customers’ needs and their current offerings and would like assistance developing a new service to fill it.
• Go-to-market strategy Online portal matching buyers and sellers Tech company focused on artificial intelligence
• An organization wants to identify key risk and performance measurements for commodities and fixed income products.
• An internal team wants to compare benefits and features of different data visualization tools to determine which one would best fit their needs.
Data & Technology
Projects we can help with:
• Emerging technologies
• Data visualization
• A work group wants to identify business cases for implementing Internet of Things (IoT).
• A company wants to quantify the value that connected devices/sensors bring to their customers so that they can better measure how it impacts pricing.
• A company wants to collect internal financial data so that they can develop a set of key performance metrics.
• An internal team needs to create a visual tool that makes it easy for the company to make decisions and attract investors.
Marketing Strategy
Projects we can help with:
• Customer profiling
• Competitive benchmarking
• Sales strategy
• A company wants to learn more about their customers;’ needs and values so that the company can effectively market to them.
• A company wants to see exactly where their customers differentiate them from competitors so the company can integrate new messaging into their brand identity.
• A company wants to learn if there are other viable channels they could leverage for marketing their products.
• A company would like some assistance with developing new sales or marketing strategies that could help them increase our customer conversions.
• A company wants to analyze their current marketing strategies to see if they are working as intended.
• A company has an idea of how to market their product, but they need some help developing an implementation plan.
We’re in your corner
When you partner with the Magelli Office, you’re not just a customer – you’re on our team, and we’re on yours. We’ll kick off your project just like we would our own, with a deep-diving interview to map the scope of your project. Throughout the semester, we’ll touch base with you as we conduct research and investigate solutions to ensure that our recommendations are the best fit for your needs.
Project Timeline
In the fall semester, project work begins in late September and concludes in early December; in spring, work starts late January and wraps up in early May. This timeline presents the milestones for both fall and spring projects.
Project Proposal
You propose a project to the Magelli Office via our web form. We accept and review submissions throughout the year.
Scoping Call
The project manager or senior manager will meet with you to confirm key details about your proposed project so they can match your project with the optimal team of consultants. Occurs about 3 weeks prior to project kickoff.
MANAGING THE PROJECT
Participating in weekly conference calls and maintaining regular email communication with your student team will help ensure that key deadlines are met, the project stays on track, and the team remains on schedule to successfully complete end-of-semester deliverables.
Project Kickoff
Consultants meet with you to conduct an in-depth interview about your project, learning more about your needs and discerning where to start their research.
Midpoint Presentation
The team delivers a midpoint presentation to highlight the initial findings of their research and to outline next steps.
Final Presentation
The team wraps up their work and delivers a presentation of their final analyses. At this time, they’ll transmit all remaining deliverables and make any final recommendations for solutions or continuing work.
200+ clients per year
300+ projects per year
200,000+ hours of work per year
“Our
project helped us gain valuable insights into our competitors and gave us actionable items to further differentiate ourselves from our competition.”
Derek Neuland, Puzzle Labs
In both its name and purpose, the Magelli Office of Experiential Learning honors longtime Gies Business faculty member, administrator, mentor, and friend Paul J. Magelli.
From his early days as the son of a coal miner to his later years as a renowned mentor of thousands, Magelli was a man unafraid of a challenge. He had passion for his work and found purpose and joy in mentoring others. Magelli earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree in economics from the University of Illinois. Later in life, he returned to the university, serving in various administrative capacities from 1989 until his passing in 2016.
In 1995 Magelli created what is now known as Illinois Business Consulting (IBC), giving students the opportunity to solve real problems for real clients. IBC is now the largest professionally managed student consulting group in the nation, and it has become the model for similar programs at other institutions.
Thousands of students have benefitted from Magelli’s innovative thinking and generous spirit.
75 faculty and staff members overseeing projects
100% of Gies Business students participate in action learning
1,600+ student consultants
The Legacy of Paul J. Magelli
