Harris Computer Reviews

Pros

The people are the best part of this job. Friday breakfasts are a nice perk as well as a good rewards program.

Cons

There is a constant shift in direction that seems to be reactive rather than pro-active. This company needs to get better at making plans ahead.

Advice to Senior Management

You have a great staff and fairly good management. There needs to be more driven focus on items - don't react to problems as they become large issues, spend more time solving the problems up front.

Pros

It has air conditioning. You have the opportunity to learn a lot of new software. Most of the other employees are nice.

Cons

- There are 17 people in the office and yet the internet connection is a 3 Mbs DSL connection. Yet, there are many times whole databases must be downloaded from customer server. Supposedly the $2,500 to have Suddenlink extend the cable modem to that location is too much?
- Little to no communication from management, when they do communicate it is mostly bad
- No clear guidelines as to what is expected from employees, just that you aren't meeting expectations.
- Incompetent customer support manager who doesn't know how to use the software
- Management relies on other employees to train new employees because they don't know how or don't have the time.
- Salaries are low.
- Expected to work 45 hours a week minimum plus one half Saturday a month.
- Not compensated for the extra time or the Saturday.
- I was hired to be a Microsoft Dynamics GP project manager and ended up being a support tech for their utility billing software.
- first month on the job I spent sitting in a cubicle reading out of date technical support manuals and bothering other support techs trying to learn the software.
- Customer support manager is a text book micro manager.
- The regional manager only comes in maybe once a month to check on things. Other than that he is on his ranch in East Texas somewhere because supposedly "He works better from home." Well, so do I, can I work from home? By the way, how much is that guy making?

Advice to Senior Management

- Move the tech support manager to his own department or get a manager in there that can do more than send out e-mails telling the support techs that there are calls in the queue as if they don't already see that.

- Communicate expectations as to how many calls should be closed a month. Set some kind of standard. Don't say an employee is simply not producing enough.

- Take an honest look at the more senior support techs time sheets and how they close their calls. There was some padding going on.

- Drop the minimum 45 hour work week. It's not the employees fault the company is understaffed and doesn't want to pay to get good people.

Pros

Benefits are the best in the city, You get around 10K bonuses every year plus bursaries. Everyone is friendly, the deadlines are not strict. The work is overall easy.

Cons

Can't improve as a Software Engineer.
No such thing as pair programming, everyone is for himself.
No code reviews
No unit testing
No team meetings
Old technology

Advice to Senior Management

Business side is great, they are doing a great job.

Pros

1) Technology - the use of new technolgies to communicate (instant messenger, e-mail, WebEx, conference calls)
2) Semi-Annual Reviews so that employees know their strengths and weaknesses with the company
3) A strong marketing department that supports the sales staff
3) Fringe Benefits that include $250 LifeStyle Rewards that can be used for movie tickets, concert tickets or other hobbies.
4) Performance based bonues - the better you perform, the bigger the bonus!
5) An accessible management staff - got a question or concern? It is relatively easy to reach a manager to get an answer regarding your concern.
6) TEAM enviroment - everyone works together to achieve the company's goals

Cons

1) Long Sales Cycle - It will take a year or more to achieve measurable success in this industry, since local governments make decisions based on town meeting schedules - which typically occur annually.
2) Low Base Salary - Many other industries with a long consultive based sales offer higher base salaries OR higher commission percentages
3) Medical Benefits coverage is expensive and limited
4) Sales representatives do not have their own leeway to negotiate with prospects - all negotiations must be run through management
5) Referral sales to other divisions are not compensated
6) Quotas are uniform throughout the country and not based on the individual territories and market conditions
7) Training is poor or in many cases non-existent. Sales people are responsible for gaining product knowledge through their own efforts - there is no structured training for sales people on the products
8) Ongoing sales training is up to the individual sales representatives and is done through their own efforts and at their own expense.

Advice to Senior Management

1) Adjust quotas to match the regional markets throughout the country
2) Allow sales representatives a range to negotiate with prospects WITHOUT having to go to management
3) Conduct sales training more frequently
4) Provide structured product training to sales people rather than relying on sales people to learn the products only through a self taught methodology
5) Provide ongoing sales training including through a variety of media including web, classroom, and regular conference calls
6) Utilize a standard CRM that is fast, easy to use and can stand alone (it does not require an internet connection)