Collaboration can be the spark plug that leads to great outcomes.
Recently, a principal consultant at Vendavo needed help with a project for a client. And not just any client, but the company’s biggest “potentially over the next decade,” Justin Bailey, vice president of Vendavo consulting, explained.
Dedicated time to “hammer out the details” — featuring not just Vendavo consultants, but people from other teams — that took place during Thursday time slots set aside for project reviews and brainstorming paid off.
The ultimate result?
“In the end, this will easily quadruple the quality of what that final deliverable is going to look like,” said Bailey.
At Vendavo, consultants aren’t a secluded group — they comprise a unit within the company dedicated to helping clients with pricing needs by putting Vendavo software in place and subsequently maximizing its performance. And to Bailey, the aforementioned anecdote captures the collegial approach that the team, composed of “practitioners with a pricing background,” takes: pooling each others’ respective talents to ultimately provide long-haul value for clients.
Managing consultant Daniel Kozarich said that this structure makes for an uncommon consulting experience.
“It’s very unique that we have a software package to support us. In traditional management consulting, you might come in to do six to eight weeks of work and it could become shelfware,” Kozarich said. “Whereas we’re institutionalizing it and changing how companies operate.”
That type of broad, all-encompassing support requires not just expertise on the implementation front, but ongoing engagement after the fact — guidance provided by post go-live-focused team members like consultant Jenika Shannon.
“My main focus is maximizing value for our customers by being a strategic partner with them to implement best practices for our solutions, and also using bespoke analytics to help them achieve commercial excellence,” Shannon said.
Naturally, having the industry expertise and relevant skills are a major part of the equation. But, in speaking with Bailey, Kozarich and Shannon, the trio pointed to solid teamwork, a willingness to collaborate and a focus on impact as part of the fabric of Vendavo’s consulting team.
Working With Big Names
What do you think makes the consulting culture unique or notable?
Bailey: We have long-term relationships that you don’t normally get in management consulting. Simultaneously, there's always something new coming through. That dynamic really brings in people who are intellectually curious, but also looking for that right work-life balance and relationships.
Kozarich: I don’t see politics here. Everyone wants to succeed. Everyone wants to help each other. It’s a very team-oriented environment. This is year 11 for me — which I can’t believe — but it just shows how great Vendavo has been to me.
Shannon: The two words that come to mind are “collaborative” and “candid.” Vendavo is the first place where I’ve worked where I’ve felt not only able to, but interested in, developing deeper connections with my colleagues. We all really care about each other — not just what we can do for each other in terms of our work, but how we’re doing as people. That’s really special.
What growth have you experienced at Vendavo?
Kozarich: I started as a consultant many years ago, and I’ve worked my way up through the organization to become a managing consultant where I now lead a team. I never thought I would have a project in Beijing, China, or go to Mumbai, India, or even São Paulo, Brazil. It’s helped me see different cultures and how different companies work in various parts of the world.
Shannon: I started out as an analyst two years ago, and over the past couple years I’ve moved to associate consultant and now consultant within the organization. I feel much more comfortable dealing directly with clients, owning the entire engagement, from charting a path for our combined success to managing our clients’ expectations, which was something that I hadn’t really been able to challenge myself with before coming to Vendavo.
Bailey: I’m completely comfortable putting Jenika in front of my CEO, or the CEO of a $6-billion-dollar company. This group is projected to continue to grow, so that we’ve cemented actual career progression, roles, levels, definitions and expectations. We continue to invest in that as a group, so everyone knows where they’re at and what they need to do to move forward.
What exposure do you get to other teams at Vendavo? How does that benefit you?
Shannon: It’s impossible to do my job without collaborating with our engineering or our sales team. That’s helped me understand how all of the different pieces of the Vendavo puzzle fit together. The more context that I garner from those experiences with other parts of the organization, the better I get at being a point person for our clients.
Kozarich: We’re very collaborative. You can talk to other groups. We’re not siloed. It’s an open dialogue with any other parts of the organization. I’ve learned a lot, and talking to various people in different areas has helped grow my career.
Bailey: I’ve had conversations with my counterpart on the presale side, and I’ve told him explicitly, “Please hire my people.” It’s always sad when they leave me, but it’s good for the company because all that know-how of our software works and what our customers need helps the organization be stronger and better.
I understand the consulting team is growing. What would you tell potential newcomers?
Kozarich: There’s a lot of opportunity for growth. If you’re someone who is passionate about learning — not just pricing and sales and commercial excellence, but also technology — this is the place for you, because we will continue to improve upon our products and chart new pathways.
Shannon: If you really want to make an impact with the work that you’re doing, Vendavo is a place that you should be. Every single person who works here is contributing something that is important to not only our business, but also our customers, which I think is unique and special.
Bailey: We’re not a huge organization, so people can have as much impact here as they want to have. The people who really succeed here are the ones who take that opportunity, grab it and run with it. We work hard as a company, but as a leader I want to make sure that we balance that against personal life and other career objectives.
If you really want to make an impact with the work that you’re doing, Vendavo is a place that you should be.”
Looking ahead, what are you looking forward to accomplishing in the future?
Kozarich: I’m excited about some of the new products that we’re launching in 2022, like sales optimizer, and our next generation of commercial analytics. I’m really looking forward to some of the new modules that are coming out and how customers will be benefiting from them.
Shannon: Meeting some of my teammates in person. There are people who I work with almost every day that I haven’t had a chance to see in person. That’s pretty exciting.
Bailey: The growth of the portfolio is particularly exciting. From the completeness of the offering, what we can do for our customers will continue to increase and expand.
