Technology is only as powerful as the people behind it: Business & Technology students reflect on NYC Study Away

“This was such an interactive and educational tour," said Ava Turner, a Georgia College & State University marketing student, after a visit to IBM this summer. "It was wonderful to meet and hear from so many people in both the technical and marketing world."

Turner's reflection captures the weeklong study away trip that took J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology students from Wall Street to Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, as part of a Design Thinking Work Practicum led by Dr. Joy Godin and Dr. Jeannie Pridmore.

Over five days, students toured four major companies including Celonis, Qrypt, IBM and SAP, getting hands-on experience with the technologies shaping modern business. At IBM, students worked through a design-thinking exercise built around an imaginary persona, then tested motion-tracking technology used at the U.S. Open. 

"One exciting moment was playing ping pong to see firsthand how IBM's technology can capture player analytics similar to those used in professional tournaments," Turner said.

The visits were paired with plenty of touring the city and sight-seeing. Students visited the Brooklyn Bridge, the 9/11 Memorial, Central Park and took a ferry past the Statue of Liberty. 

“Experiences like these don't just build resumes; they build perspective. The Work Practicum in Design Thinking course gives students something a classroom alone does not: the chance to see design thinking in action, inside real companies, solving real problems." Godin said. “Our goal isn't just to show students powerful technology; it's to help them see how thoughtful, human-centered thinking is what makes that technology effective.”

For senior management information systems major, Jake Young, the week reinforced how design thinking connects to real innovation. 

"Visiting IBM reinforced that successful innovation isn't just about creating powerful technology, it's about designing solutions that solve real problems and empower people," he said. 

That perspective carried through the rest of the trip, from watching SAP's AI copilot Joule power enterprise decision-making to seeing how Celonis uses process mining to solve real business challenges.

 "Experiences like these continue to strengthen my passion for Management Information Systems and the impact technology can have on solving real business challenges," Young said.

That combination of industry access and real-world exposure is the point of study away, giving students a firsthand look at how classroom concepts translate into business value. Students also joined a virtual Design Thinking session with peers from the University of Münster, tackling the question of how organizations can find meaningful uses for AI. This is a partnership that continues when the German students travel to Milledgeville later in the summer.

For Turner, the week reinforced how much technology depends on people. 

"What stood out most from both visits was that technology is only as powerful as the people behind it," she said after touring Celonis and Qrypt. "I'm excited to apply these insights throughout my career."