Autonomy Reviews

Pros

If you get lucky and land a monster deal, you can make a ton of money.

Cons

No tech resources. No training. No leads. Unhappy customers due to lack of support.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in sales reps. Avoid high turnover. Respect reps.

Pros

Great opportunity to gain experience. After working here, any other job will seem like a cake-walk. An amazing place to work for the soul-less sycophant or if you have great salesmanship skill and want to make a ton of money.

Cons

No feedback on your work or abilities, unless of course you really screw up- then you are essentially annihilated with verbal abuse and destructive criticism. Marketing exceeds capabilities. AE's not always paid full commission despite doing the job required.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees with respect. The paranoia of senior management and poor treatment of account executives is amazing- tell us how to succeed at Autonomy rather than how to fail, and you might see more success.

Pros

Cambridge is a great city
Some bright folk that have been conned into working here for a short while
Great sewage work smells
If you have chav tastes you will be well catered for with football tickets avaible at Spurs

Cons

Exceptionally poor company to be an employee
Sweat shop style
Thoroughly dislikeable management
Feel like a con worker
All the disadvantages of a start up with few of the benefits

Advice to Senior Management

Get out before the sham is exposed

Pros

Free Coffee
Every other Friday is a free breakfast and Lunch. Free use of the microwave. Casual dress code for San Jose

Cons

Expectaions are to work you like dogs and in turn you get burned out and leave. Very high turn over.
They hire straight out of college so they pay low and expect un realisitic goals to achieve.

Advice to Senior Management

Look in the mirror and ask if you would want your son or daughter to work here.
Everything is about making money. No passion on what would make employess happy and perfom better.

Pros

Nice office space and free lunch on Fridays but thats about it-
Good people below the top management level

Cons

Everyone is expendable and no trust is exhibited
Work you like a dog
slow to pay commissions for sales people
customer satisfaction is non-existent aside from a few
house of cards that will come down

Advice to Senior Management

Let some executives that know how to manage and motivate people by treating them with respect run the company and the stock price will soar-
Treat your customers better and focus on making them successful rather than focusing on an "all in" and walking away-

Pros

That headline is not meant to offend anyone who is in need of a job, it is meant as a warning for those who are under the guise that Autonomy is a good place to work. If you have been successful in the past, you are not reading this anyway as this company should not come up on your radar. If you are looking and do not know anything about Autonomy or if you have been recently acquired by Autonomy, consider this your fair warning.

My company was acquired by Autonomy so that is how I ended up here. I was one of the few who were relatively successful sales reps, primarily because I had a book of business to bring along when we were acquired. Because I had the trust of my customers, prior to the acquisition, they continued to move forward with me in sales cycles. If fact, ONLY because I was able to forge a solid trusting relationship, was I able to continue to sell to my prospects. Since there are no territories and you are selling competing product lines internally at Autonomy, I was forced off of several opportunities because management felt that another product was a better fit. In essence, I had to hand over the business I had just won on a verbal commitment weeks earlier, to my previous competitor (who now is an associate), who had lost the business weeks before. But the customer said they would only do business with me, as I was the associate they trusted. Management still made the customer move forward with the product line I was not managing and made me split the deal 50/50 with another rep, who did nothing and actually lost this same business earlier. This happened to me 3 times within 2 months. Confusing? Well, that one word sums up this whole company.

Cons

If you are interviewing, please read every sales rep review on this site. Collectively you should be able to determine this will be a black hole on your resume. You are REQUIRED to present a scripted pitch, which you are allowed very little latitude and then present a demo whether it is necessary or not. The level of arrogance as to what they think is a successful sales cycle is outrageous. You are given a window on Monday afternoons where the Executive team will call you (The dreaded SMS call I am sure you read about) to discuss your top 3 deals. I had waited as long a 3 hours one afternoon for them to call me (they give you a 30 minute window). These calls provide no added value. In fact, the calls always run behind and preclude you from actually partaking in productive sales efforts. If you are in a client meeting, they expect you to excuse yourself in order to take the call, as they are on a “strict timeline”.

From a sales perspective, this position is a late night info-mercial. If you interview and take this job, you are the equivalent of a 300lb, acne riddled, balding person who has a closet filled with dusty 8 minute abs videos, empty Propecia and Proactive containers. Autonomy is all hype and no content. You will recognize this on day ONE of training and kick yourself.

Advice to Senior Management

Management, you should consider advertising your software and services on TV at 4 AM where the rest of America’s quality products are sold.

Pros

View of the Bay from offices.

Cons

If you are remotely a professional sales person even considering autonomy would be a tremendous mistake. This company is run by ego maniacs that hide behind email and phones knowing the only leverage they have against you is firing you. They enjoy attempting intimidations from a distance but can't handle anyone with a backbone.
Don't waste your precious time listening to their sales fluff and positioning. Move on to an adult company that may remotely show respect for and remembers that in the US the poorest treatment of individuals ended in 1865.

Advice to Senior Management

Be worried about your future.

Pros

Job security. Location is very good.

Cons

Compensation is not very good. Upper management is very distant. Never know whats going on in the company.

Pros

Lots of opportunity for promotion and bonuses and share options. Interesting work and technology. Chance to alter the tech for the better.

Cons

Long hours. Tech sometimes oversold

Pros

They pay well. They know it's all that keeps you there.
Technology has a good story, but has failed to move on.

Cons

Agressive Microso management with no respect or empathy for staff.
The software has a good story but as they increase product range through acquisition Rand D is suffering in favour of gluing products together.
Customer care is non-existant.
Software is rarely deployed past a pilot.

Advice to Senior Management

Everyone who works or has worked at Autonomy knows what has to change and who has to go......make the changes before the market changes it's mind. You're only one bad quarter away from what you deserve !