Avanade reviews

They follow a churn and burn model for their consultants, forcing them to travel extensively while paying salaries that are much lower than their competitors. They also charge clients a premium rate for the overtime their consultants work without passing any of the earnings on to the consultants. Consultants are encouraged to pretend they know more than they do for clients and learn on the job, which is difficult. Managers have very outdated ways of thinking, and believe that extensive processes and methodologies are all that is necessary to successful project delivery. They cling to an antiquated methodology that insists you can eliminate all uncertainty on projects and a "one-size" fits all development approach, at least within the ERP practice, which leads to disastrous results. Project managers who have no working knowledge of the product they are implementing are valued over consultants who do all the legwork for clients. Project managers are valued for handling clients well instead of leading effective teams. Overall, working hard is valued over working smart. HR representatives and career managers don't always look out for your best interests, and even when they do, they can't overrule senior management to help you. Your colleagues may be smart, dedicated, hard-working employees, but poor management leads to constant thrashing on projects. Overall, these methods are still profitable to the company, so burning through consultants is no problem because they focus a great deal on training and can always hire more college graduates who are eager to start their careers.

Avanade tends to panic a bit when it appears financial goals will not be met. There has been an increasing focus on short term revenue generation at the expense of longer term consultant training and business development when the finances look to be in trouble. Avanade's reorganization is focusing the company more on commoditized work but there is little understanding within the company for how to execute on the reorganization plan. Avanade has gone through several rounds of RIFs this year as a result of the changed market conditions. Unfortunately, this has led to the release of many of Avanade's most talented consultants. The remaining senior people primarily focus on business development or other management functions. Those senior people live in fear for what will happen to their jobs and morale at this point is low. Meanwhile, Avanade has probably RIFed too many employees and will likely have to restart hiring again. This whipsaw effect tends to disorient consultants and build much less loyalty than management assumes. As an aside, the severance packages offered to RIFed employees is surprisingly low. This implies a lack of respect for those who have built the company and an inconsistency with stated company values.