Detica Reviews

Pros

Salaries are competitive and are reviewed frequently at the lower grades. Decent benefits package (health care, travel insurance, pension and bonus). Good work life balance.

Cons

Since it is a consultancy and not a software house / IT corporation the opportunities are a little more limited. Little on offer by way of staff training.

Advice to Senior Management

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pros

Pleasant working environment in Guildford. Free kit-kats, fruit, drinks, etc. Subsidised canteen with good food. Company supportive of needs for compassionate / sick leave. Opportunities to socialise with colleagues outside of work, eg. sports clubs, film club etc.

Cons

Work could be very dull at times. Procedure followed often more important than result. Not in the top pay bracket for the type of work. I found you could be judged for leaving on time even if all work was completed although this did not seem to apply to management.

Advice to Senior Management

Better recognise key contributors at low levels and reward appropriately. More honest review structure, not based on personal prejudices. Don't palm off responsibility for things to others if it is something you are capable of authorising.

Pros

Interesting work, good pay package, good team atmosphere, free kit-kats

Cons

Increasingly bloated corporate management and HR, in danger of becoming just another big glossy consultancy with out-of-touch management

Advice to Senior Management

- Ensure that processes and procedures are proportionate, easily understood, and support rather than obstruct the work - at the end of the day customers want solutions, not paperwork.
- Ensure that reorganisations are necessary, for the better, and designed to last - don't just indulge in change for the sake of change.
- Keep annual appraisals simple and straightforward, and ensure core competencies are pragmatic and meaningful (avoid managementspeak and pretentious HR stuff).
- Oh, and the standard Detica Powerpoint template using a small pale grey font on a white background is terrible - a struggle to read and a poor example of PPT design!

Pros

The best reasons for working at Detica are the very bright people and good trainng on offer. Good knowledge sharing. Good benefits and most nights out have drinks on the house.

Cons

Boring offices, rapidly losing interesting clients. Mainly Government projects which might excite some people.

Advice to Senior Management

The processes are improving for listening to staff needs, just need to make sure that ideas are actually implemented and not just talk.

Pros

Highly talented consultants in the technical areas mostly
Respected and highly credible intelligence, law enforcement and security experience
Flexible working locations
Interesting client base in UK and overseas

Cons

Senior management does not respect the value of experienced hires.
Many 'Heads of Profession' lack grounded consulting experience from true consultancy firms and mistake what they are reading in MBA books (too bright to actually do one) as their own work - these people are developing young consultants.
Strong focus on not challenging the direction of the firm has meant significant 'elephants in the room' exist with no formal or informal mechnasim to debate the issues.
Organisation is not organised to win and has benefitted from growth largely due to luck and reduced fees to win on price.
Has an environmental culture of 'happy to advise on that but no time to actually do any work'.
Often disloyal to colleagues, peers and team to promote own credibility with clients - a really weak attribute of senior people.
Spend little time making bad decisions and no time making good ones.
When challenged over HR and people management the firm proudly responded by outsourcing employee relationships to a counselling hotline - completely abdicating management and leadership responsibility.
Bonuses never reach anywhere near 20%, often between 5-9% - at a good level.
Promotion route is only as good as the last Director of your unit, which changes every 4-6 months - no continuity, and therefor eno respect of career ambition.

Advice to Senior Management

Replace the old guard from the small Detica firm who have secured high positions just by being around in a small firm for a few years, with true heavy hitters from the Big 4 and other seasoned consultancies.
Listen to you people.
Pay up bonuses to those that have earned them and give bigger bomuses to those who have delivered super profit - or 'over selling' as it is known.
Leadership by noticeboard is not leadership, it is abdication and fear of your own people.

Pros

- some of the brightest and best people I've met - in terms of experience and pragmatic approach. If only their attitude still prevailed throughout the company!
- collegiate atmosphere in patches - but this is rapidly disappearing (see "highly political" below)
- some of the work is genuinely challenging and interesting

Cons

- still very much a middle-size IT company with some business change body-shopping work tacked on
- working with some of the prime contractors can be "interesting"!
- very much "if you follow the process of course they will change permanently" attitude
- feedback from the customer is ignored
- mentors and line management have no idea what you do and aren't up to date with latest thinking
- has become a highly political culture over the last 5 years; networking, perception management and "face fits" seems to be the way to get ahead
- overly snobby "we only recruit Oxbridge grads" attitude results in some good people with real experience being screened out
- some good intentioned people, but it's mainly "follow the process" rather than pragmatic application of principles. Well-meaning amateurs comes to mind.
- danger of becoming a clone of their clients' cultures

Advice to Senior Management

Find out:
- what your strategy should be, now you've been a year under BAE Systems, and then start actively developing the core competencies you'll need using your R&D / capabilities development budget
- tellyour consultants what that strategy is, why, and by when
- how well your core offerings are really regarded by your clients - don't just file tick-box feedback forms
- which individuals your clients respect and why - and then make a serious attempt to hold on to them.

Pros

Opportunity to progress if you 'fit' the environment/culture
Good hours (Said with caution as it is Consulting after all)
Opportunity for you to make a difference

Cons

communication system amongst employees and senior managements need to be improved. Also knowledge sharing needs to be encouraged and to promote personal development.
Problems can arise since one person wears many hats.
Limited internal career opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

The above needs improving and the company has to improve internal processes to function well, since being acquired by the larger company BAE. Also make Detica a fun place to work.

Pros

This is my third employer and I can honestly say that this Company tries hard to make a difference to its clients and its staff. The management team is relatively young (ie all around 35-40yrs old) but this makes the Company feel a bit more open and honest, with the seniors so much more approachable than I've come across elsewhere.

Cons

You can find yourself working in a variety of different locations, mainly around the south of England, but prepared to add some travel time either side of your working day. Some growing pains given the recent acquisition and rapid expansion, but at least this gives the impression of a Company going somewhere.

Advice to Senior Management

Since the acquisiton by BAE Systems, there is a new management team promoted up from within and I think it's doing well. The previous management was pretty good, but the new team has the advantage of not having to worry about share price and seems to have more focus on the future of the Company.

Pros

Intelligent people, good working environment and interesting work.

Cons

Pay and rewards are not as good as competitors. Review process can be very political rather than truly measurable.

Advice to Senior Management

Commit to developing careers and improve pay and rewards.

Pros

The location is convenient and opportunities for advancement are great. The workforce is pretty young, and there is positive energy all around. The work is interesting and employees are freely encouraged to contribute their ideas. There are happy hours and the camaraderie among the employees is very good.

Cons

The starting salaries are somewhat low. There is also a merger taking place that might affect the work place in the future, though this has not yet happened.

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest that they offer better salaries to attract better candidates. I would also suggest that they improve the HR offices; they have lost some candidates through poor performance with HR personnel.