Datamonitor Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

The Management consulting (healthcare) group is small enough to gain a lot of experience and knowledge while still large enough to benefit from its size.

Cons

The only downside is the below average salary and low-tech kit. The company could also use with re-branding. Their slide deck templates could use some improvement.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be smart to increase pay and grow into health economics consulting as well. It would also be avante guarde to use propriety software.

Pros

Gives junior people a start
Learn hard-nosed selling
Reasonable flexibility if you survive
Potential to be exposed to a decent range of disciplines
Some good pockets of business (usually under different brands)

Cons

Poor brand
Below-average compensation
Not best quality products
Had tons of restructuring; never steady ground
No infrastructure (though improving under Informa)
Too chaotic and uncommitted to any real growth strategy
Kind of a long list really..

Advice to Senior Management

Eliminate as much as possible from the apparatus that used to be Datamonitor. Just call it Informa and get on with it. Datamonitor was a cash-generating machine that was designed to be acquired, makes it founder wealth, and then should have been gutted.

Pros

Good opportunities for young people looking for a break

Cons

The same middle managers with a history of failure are repeatedly given new positions, allowed to destroy the brands/businesses they work with and then rewarded witha a new business to play with.

The senior managers are utterly uninspiring and have no idea what is going on. They are content to sit around allowing those below them to do a mediocre job and concentrate on building up their own little empires.

For all its faults, Datamonitor used to be entrepenurial and aggressive. Now it is overly corporate and there is no innovation or understanding of how markets and customer needs are evolving. All the decisions are made top down, by bureaucrats, networkers and administrators with absolutely no understanding of the real needs of the business.

Advice to Senior Management

Start talking to the analysts and sales people on the front line and encourage them to be honest about the state of the company. Remove the systems, processes and bureucracy that are inhibiting them and allow them to get on with their jobs and provide what people really want.

Remove the same old middle managers that have achieved nothing and give more responsibilty to people who understand their businesses.

Pros

Datamonitor is home to some very bright people, it also produces some pretty good content. While the sales environment is high pressure, it is a great place to learn and to develop, provided you are a self-starter.

Cons

The problems with Datamonitor begin and end with the senior management, and by senior I mean those who in essence run the company through the Informa/IBI management board, and the level just below them. The large majority of these individuals are pretty talentless and have only got to where they are through their sycophantic and fawning attitudes to those higher up. It's a real cabal! That would be fine in itself if they left everyone else to get on with the job, but they don't. The level of interference, constant reorganisation and management 'strategising' is only outweighed by the sheer incompetence of the decisions that are made. If they listened more and pontificated and dictated less, they might get somewhere.

Unfortunately, things only seem to be getting worse. Informa, the parent company of Datamonitor, are not a great firm to work for. The care only about the 'corporate image' they present to investors and very little for their staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen, actually get to know people, understand the businesses you are running. Above all, don't assume you know better than everyone on the ground: you don't.

Pros

Exposure to relevant markets
Given responsibility upfront
Decent introductory salary
Decent working hours (nine to five)
Relaxed working environment
Canteen in buildings

Cons

Benefits are poor
Long wait between promotions
Poor senior management
High turnover rate among the junior staff
State of building is poor

Pros

Good friendly, hard working and professional staff

Cons

Recognition and direction from Senior Management is lacking.

Advice to Senior Management

More structured feedback and respect for staff.

Pros

Freedom to conduct research and analysis in a relatively flexible way,
Management in some departments (including mine) are very receptive to the idea of flexible working - a big advantage if you're a parent.
Exposure to lots of interesting information.

Following Datamonitor being rolled into Informa Business Information things could be about to change for the better with regards analyst recognition. In the past it has often felt like analysts don't matter and are totally replaceable whereas people in sales are seen as core to the business and deserving of all the rewards. IBI don't appear to operate like this.

Cons

Work can become repetitive after a couple of years.
Currently the benefits are not that great - no pensions for example. I don't think the salaries are all that bad (although we haven't had them reviewed for something like three years).
Training is not very good - if you want to learn about macros another analyst will have to teach you.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to treat the analysts better to try and retain the more experienced members of staff. Constantly training up new graduates to fill roles vacated by people with only four of five years of experience can't be the best way to run a business built on knowledge and understanding of the market place.

Pros

Compensation, Commission Structure and other Incentives

Cons

No learning, Average Management in the India Office, HR policies and personnel very inefficient and insensitive

Advice to Senior Management

Think Big.

Pros

Its a good place to start off your career. But dont overstay`

Cons

-overworked workforce
- chaotic management
- Salaries are low
- benefits almost non-existent
- lack of loyalty

Advice to Senior Management

Foster loyalty, review salaries and benefits, increase quality versus quantity.
Managers should be experts in their fields

Pros

Friendly environment, supportive collegues. International company with exposure to many industries and clients. The programme gives as much responsibility as you want and trains you to think commercially. Excellent and solid experience of legal and commercial skills that will further career development.

Cons

Unpaid - except for expenses.