About


Smart Consulting, an East Lansing based boutique consulting firm that specializes in creating custom Strategy, MARketing, and Technology solutions for corporate, government, and academic organizations. Our expertise includes advisory consulting, design and development of social media marketing communications, user experience and usability evaluations, and information technology solutions.

CONSTANTINOS K. COURSARIS, Ph.D., M.B.A., B.Eng

Information Technology Strategist, User Experience Architect, and Digital / Social Media Marketer

Constantinos is Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor in the Departments of Media and Information and Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University. He is also Adjunct Professor with Usability / Accessibility Research and Consulting. Constantinos’ background consist of extensive scholarly and applied experience in media and information spaces. Having worked with multiple information and communication technologies over the past 20 years, he is ready to support your organization’s considerations of I.T. infrastructure updates and extensions, overhauls, and on-going maintenance. As a former owner of a social network site, Constantinos can assist in a number of layers with respect to your virtual organization, from the design and development of digital interfaces and applications to the requisite marketing efforts in support of your organization’s goals and objectives. Lastly, as a seasoned scholar and practitioner of user experience methodology and usability evaluation, Constantinos can offer mission critical assessment and actionable feedback to ensure your organization’s screen or mobile applications are designed to afford your end users an optimally usable and legally compliant accessible experience. Constantinos has applied his expertise in support of academic units and institutions, government and non-government organizations, as well as for-profit and non-profit businesses around the world including among others the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Canada, and the United States.

WIETSKE VAN OSCH, Ph.D., M.Sc. / M.Phil., B.Sc.

Organizational Transformation Manager and Enterprise Social Software Strategist

Wietske is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University  Her research centers on the effects of Enterprise Social Media on team innovation and organizational performance as well as the role of online communities in organizational processes. In addition to her research work, Wietske has consulted on the use of information technology to enhance innovation for companies including Xyratex and Steelcase  Additionally, together with Constantinos, she has worked for the past three years with Leo Burnett developing extensive training and analysis tools for creating, implementing, and evaluating social media and digital marketing communications. Using her deep understanding and years of research in the social media realm, Wietske can provide research, training, and strategic support on all facets of organizational digitization, innovation, and social media marketing.

 

 

KRIS OLSZEWSKI, M.A., B.A.

Front-end Developer and User Interface Designer

Kris is a results driven Front-end Web Developer & User Interface Designer with over 6 years of professional experience. He is passioned about simplicity, aesthetics, performance and metric-driven web development. His interactive map  for HBO’s Game of Thrones  was featured on Time Magazine website  Additionally, his work at Michigan State University was featured in University Business articles and recognized at CASE conference for higher education  Kris is committed to working with you during the full cycle, from gathering design requirements to post-launch maintenance, troubleshooting, and support.

 

 

GUGU MABUZA,  PMP, ITIL, B.A., M.A.

Database and Mobile Application Developer

Gugu has a passion for delivering challenging projects on schedule while improving processes and thrives on inspiring others to embrace change and new technologies. During his career, he has acquired extensive skills in best practices for improvement planning, automating processes, centralizing resources, and establishing standards to facilitate productivity. He offers an expanded perspective to information technology services design, product development, and software delivery capability development and management. His versatile skill sets, attention to detail and solution focus have helped multiple companies in building successful revenue generating products and helping customers achieving success in implementing solutions that have solved key business problems by strategic leverage and use of data products.

 

 

YANJIE ZHAO,  B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Data Scientist

Yanjie is a proficient computer scientist in the utilization of machine learning and computational modeling to either extract current trends (e.g., sales, social media interactions, sentiment) or forecast outcomes of interest. With a deep understanding of multiple programming languages and visualization methods, Yanjie is able to communicate findings into meaningful and actionable recommendations for use by any manager in any industry sector. She has been active on multiple projects types, including from industry, academia, and government. Yanjie is ready to support your business intelligence efforts and accelerate your performance.