Eric Lambert – MSIS 2022

Senior Demand Planner at LaCrosse Footwear Incorporated 

Way back in the early 2000’s I graduated from Cal State Fullerton with an undergraduate degree in Business Admin and a concentration in Finance. I was very torn at the time by the appeal of a Computer Science degree, however. It seemed so detailed, so intricate, and creative. But I stuck with my plan, the Business Admin path. I was also working my early jobs in the consumer goods industry / action sports apparel world at the time and it just seemed like the Business Admin path would help my growth in that world.

Turns out that was true. After graduation, I saw career growth. Interestingly though not in the realm of Finance but in Product Development - Design and Merchandising. Careers are like that sometimes. Opportunities don’t always come in the way you expect. I was faced with challenges like curating a winning line plan, improving SKU productivity, and forecasting product sales. It was unexpected and great.

Over time though, I began seeing the rough edges of the day-to-day work that myself and my peers were doing. Inefficiencies, painfully manual workflows, undocumented processes and outgrown systems. I also began seeing the consequences of those inefficiencies. Wrong decisions, stress, burnout, turnover. I wanted to help so I tinkered and built.

I became the “Excel Guru” in the office, whichever office I was in. Process automation through VBA and PowerQuery. But then new challenges. How can I push the value of these tools further – more predictive, less descriptive? How am I going to maintain all of this stuff? How do I hand processes off to others? How do I convince people to invest in new solutions?

I knew the tools were out there. Lots of them. I needed to navigate that landscape. I started like I always had, with self-directed learning. It helped… I learned new things but there were holes in my knowledge. I could solve specific new problems but the foundations weren’t there. As those problems evolved my solutions had to be rebuilt, not simply reworked.

A couple of years ago and around twenty years into my career, I took a chance at going back to school and pursuing a Master of Science in Information Systems at Cal State Long Beach.

The MSIS program was a newer program in the College of Business at Cal State Long Beach. I believe I am among just the 3rd cohort to complete it. As a Business undergrad with a lot of experience working in analytical roles, an MBA didn’t quite feel right for me and a CS master's didn’t quite fit my goals either. Coming from that perspective, the MSIS program’s blend of technical skills and business world applications for them has been a perfect fit for how I expect to focus my career in the future.

Beyond the content of the coursework, the MSIS program also offered a great community of instructors and students. The cohort was a great cross-section of students from a wide array of backgrounds. New undergrads and career veterans. Students with CS/IT-focused backgrounds and business-focused backgrounds. Instructors know their stuff technically but focus on results. The “how” of a solution is important but more important is “why”. There’s a real interest in addressing the fact that a solution needs to include convincing non-technical leaders to adopt them.

In my professional life, I continue to bang the drum in favor of data-driven decision-making and continuous process improvement in a business setting through automation and the practical use of ML. Especially in settings where it hasn’t already been embraced culturally as a norm and is in the nascent stages of development. With the knowledge I have gained through the MSIS program I’m more confident than ever that I will be leading that evolution for years to come!