Broadview Networks Reviews

Pros

Nice place to work the worker are very helpful You can learn a lot

Cons

Poor healthcare plan NO raises for years No advanagement for workers

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your workers

Pros

competitive product set
competitive pricing
flexible
willingness to do what it takes to win the deal
commission can be significant

Cons

when known Broadview has a negative connation in the IT & Telephony world
minimal positive name recognition
salaries need to be higher

Pros

You will get plenty of help from sympathetic co-workers.

Cons

Most managers have NO management skills or training and just became managers because they were there the longest and the most willing to Kiss corporate ass. You will work much more than 40 hours a week w/o OT. You will be graded monthly on performance based on things that have nothing to do with your ACTUAL job performance, they will dig around in all of your projects until they find something to give you a poor grade on. You will be treated like a third grader and have people listening in on your calls which they do openly. You will be told in the interview that they are hiring more PMs so you will have between 40-50 projects, not true, you will always have WELL over a hundred projects, they NEVER hire enough and the ones they hire won't stay so it is just a vicious cycle. They got rid of a bunch of PMs and outsourced their jobs to the Philippines so is your job really secure? The training is a JOKE and might as well be non existent, you will just get thrown to the wolves in a very short time.
There is no 401K match, never was and never will be DESPITE what they tell you in the interview.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up! When the big-wigs from NY visit, all the managers crack their whips to make everything look as though it's rosy instead of having the guts to tell them what is wrong.

Pros

one of verizon's largest customers. has an award winning hosted ip phone system solution.
there are no territories, so you can hunt business anywhere!

Cons

There are many times that one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. lacks hands on training.
Resources are limited.

Advice to Senior Management

more product training

Pros

decent salary, benefits if you can negotiate.

Cons

Upper management is narrow minded, very egotistical and self-serving. It's the good ole boys club.

Advice to Senior Management

Either learn to respect the people you hire or fire yourself. That's the only way this company is going to move forward.

Pros

Your coworkers will likely become some of your best friends. Most everyone is very friendly and kind. For the most part, getting work done requires some cooperation between departments and usually people are willing to help. An exception is middle management, who (no matter which department) seems to balk at the idea of providing timely input.
New innovations in their VOIP line might save the company, which might trickle down and help employees morale and paychecks.

Cons

Middle management seems to want to prevent most individuals from growing within the company. I have seen workers there for 2 years and 10 years still in the same position and without pay-raises (beyond inflation tied raises). The recession seems to have kept people from leaving, but now the employees are fed up and starting to trickle out.
Upper management seems incompetent to stop the bleeding of both talent and revenue. Broadview can't seem to get its footing in the telecom world without a merger, and as an opinion, a big reason why Broadview is treading water is because they don't reward talented people and good ideas. Many of their own employees resent working for them.
Also, beyond the industry low payscale (many workers in NYC making $33k, yikes!), the 401k doesn't match one penny, Broadview only recognizes 6 holidays, terrible healthcare plan, the list goes on.

Advice to Senior Management

Treating every employee fairly with respect is a good start, and that begins with removing many middle managers in place who don't bring positive morale. All most workers want to feel is that their contributions day in and day out are noticed and appreciated. Firing workers every 2-4 months does not give people a feeling that they are safe and of course it doesn't bring positive morale. A swing in attitude could bring back more efficient workers, good ideas, and a better bottom line.

Pros

They give you a base salary starting out in the 35- 45k range, with full benefits.

Cons

Its a cold calling and door knocking job. I had three managers in five months very high turnover.

Pros

Supervision was minimal as long as you got your work done. I did and juiced it for what it was worth.

Cons

This was a place where all of a sudden you no longer received raises. Imagine working 5 years without a raise? That is why you did your job but make sure you take care of yourself since they didn't care about employees. How do you acquire other companies and continue not to give people raises or incentives. The Xmas party went from really nice to really nothing. What were the men in black doing? The dudes that were in charge, they are no longer there. Off to perhaps destroy some more companies or lives.

Advice to Senior Management

Get it TOGETHER!!!!

Pros

The training and the benefits are great.
Management is hands on and halpful.

Cons

The company wide quota system expects reps in small markets to hit the same numbers as NYC or Philadelphia. Very unlikely.

Advice to Senior Management

Weight the commissions more evenly with the markets the reps are selling in. I worked NYC, and I worked in Syracuse. Glaring diiference in the size, number of prospects, type of business. I think this issue is known behind the scenes, but would have to be presented carefully.

Pros

There is a willingness by the company to embrace new technology and shift focus. Co-workers can be generous with knowledge sharing.

Cons

People are constantly being fired but they pick people off one by one now so it is under the radar. People who have been here for a long time feel they have bullseyes on their backs because of their salaries. This isn't to say that Broadview won't offshore an entire department's jobs again like they have in the past.
There used to be interdepartmental cooperation to acheive a common goal of excellent customer service at low rates but that has changed to an environment that is adversarial in some instances.
The goal now is the same as with other companies - make your numbers and it doesn't really matter how you do it.
People don't help each other like they used to. Sometimes it is a matter of survival. The people who are left have additional workloads and don't have the time anymore to stop and help.
Broadview claims to be employee focused because they know how to listen. Unfortunately senior management does not actually listen to lower management or non-management workers. Broadview may embrace cutting edge technology but their heirarchical management style is an antique they are unwilling to let go of. There is no work and personal life balance regardless of the written policies; all managers are expected to devote their life to Broadview. People on vacation are expected to check their emails and generally be available if needed 24/7. Managers receive no compensation for overtime.
Office politics are in full force and they are horrendous but it seems they are relished by upper management. One just has to hope they haven't inadvertently offended a favored one.
I'll get off the soapbox now.

Advice to Senior Management

Attempt to value all of your employees including those at ground level and make them feel valued. Find a way to allow all employees to speak to you or others without fear of repercussion and then find a way to actually listen to them.
Right now you have insulated yourselves and know only what the corporate politics of your senior management will allow you to be told. You are doing the company and yourselves a disservice if you continue to manage in this way. You are small enough to change and I hope you do.