Hitachi Consulting Reviews in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Area

Pros

Great working environment for professional growth

Cons

Below average pay among the other big consulting firms

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Opportunity to become part of a fast growing company
Opportunity to travel for consulting roles
Opportunity to work with various technologies and industries

Cons

Extreme lack of diversity from the Executive Leadership down, without any regard to making any changes
Priorties of "the firm" are the what you do (sales numbers, utilization), the how you accomplish is lower in importance - this says a lot about the culture of the company
Mentoring is not considered a key contribution - it is expected, but it is not valued
Technical training is not valued enough to set aside funding, the only way to get external training is if you find a project that can/will fund - thus you are limited to the technology of that project
Promotions are clearly about who you know and not about what you do

Advice to Senior Management

Until you value your people, truly value them, you will continue to see your strong performers walk out the door. Yes, this is to be expected from a consulting firm (as clearly stated by Phil Parr) - and yet somehow our competitors (those much more successful than HCC) have been able to identify ways to keep their strong performers and even add to them.

Pros

Incredible group of peers to both support and sharpen you
Proven path of succession and high ceilings
Competitive salaries and benefits

Cons

Fast growth can be overwhelming
Long term but small projects can leave you feeling isolated and out of touch

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the career and performance management (CPM) a priority and well managed
Keep the social calendar full and open for those in the field

Pros

amazing talent to work with
great solution offered to the clients
pushing forward to excel always

Cons

extensive travel
relatively small-size company as compared to other big fishes

Advice to Senior Management

you are the best, keep taking care of the employees as you are.

Pros

Great people
Good work/life balance
Good benefits
Heavy emphasis on local community activities

Cons

Poor pay not in line with market and slow process to advance
Too many and continuous organizational changes

Advice to Senior Management

Senior Management needs to be more consistent and become more in tune with what is actually going on at the various offices across the country. Morale has plummetted across the firm this past year with the new operating model. Something has to be done to motivate people again - they are leaving in herds.

Pros

Pros
- great place to start you career
- talented peers and managers
- exposure to a lot of different projects

Cons

Cons
- Work life balance can be a challenge
- living out of a suitcase is fun in the beginning

Advice to Senior Management

- reward your existing employee before you look for outside talent. Pay your existing employee in line with market please

Pros

* Hitachi Consulting has encouraged development of new consulting practices which will help us grow and differentiate ourselves.
* Majority of the employees are smart, hard working talented people that are very interested in helping clients solve real problems
* Most employees are good at collaborating with each other in order to provide the most value for our clients

Cons

* Leadership team members (at times) seem like they are not all aligned. This can create competition among teams for staffing and credit etc. This is definitely getting better with the new org model of 2010 - I am seeing much more cooperation among teams now that the geo/market offices do not control account relationships and staffing.

Advice to Senior Management

Pressure from leadership to form more of a pyramid structure (less top heavy, more bottom heavy) is not always consistent with the level of expertise that some of our clients expect/desire/need. Leadership needs to be careful to not adopt the "Andersen model" of the 80's in the 2010 decade.

Pros

Good people
Good clients
Good training if you try to get it
Good backing from an international firm who is on board with Hitachi being the global consulting arm
Acquistion companies were fantastic

Cons

Terrible strategy going forward
Everyone came here to work for one reason, now we are on another
Focus on profitabilty a terrible message
This is consulting - it is about the people
Hemorraging people

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on the people going forward. Very few people are on board with the strategy. Treat people right - you have not for a long time now. Make an acquisition and quit messing around - if your strategy is to be a $1B company then do it & quit pretending.

Pros

Hitachi Consulting has some of the brightest people I've ever worked with. They consistently demonstrate excellence in their work and deliverables and thought leadership in their solutions and recommendations. I love coming to work every day and being challenged and inspired by my peers and leadership. Because of the relationships we've developed with various vendors and partners, I've also had many opportunities that I would never find in another organization.

Despite being a mid-sized company, Hitachi Consulting frequently competes with the top IT and Strategy Consulting firms in the U.S. The focus on projects versus staff augmentation contracts ensures that the work is both challenging and rewarding.

Cons

As a young company having been formed from several acquisitions, the culture at Hitachi Consulting is still very much in flux. While this offers opportunities to influence the culture and define the work environment, it also leads to inconsistencies in go-to-market strategy, employee expectations and measures, and internal communication.

Advice to Senior Management

While an attitude of "profitability first" may seem appropriate in the current economic climate, it is not particularly encouraging to employees. Everyone needs to understand the need to control costs and drive revenue, but focusing on the bottom line at the expense of employee needs will have a significant impact on retention and morale--both of which will affect the developing culture, partner relations, and revenue stream as significantly as any of the other measures being taken to ensure a profitable company. In other words, take care of the employees and they'll take care of your profitability.

Pros

Top notch people provide a stimulating professional environment and make it enjoyable. I have been able to work on a variety of projects that have built up my skills. I have seen a lot of increased focus on training and regimented skill development over the past year. Recently, HCC went from geography based teams to technology and management consulting teams that I see as a positive for my future career development. The changes were the result of a new Strategic plan to grow significantly over the next 5 years.

Cons

Dust needs to settle on all of the changes the past year, while I think they will be good in the long run, they have created much turmoil. Some people prefered the geography model. I personally enjoy travel and prefer to work on projects wherever the best opportunities are located. In a few years this may be a negative but for now it is not a problem for me.

Advice to Senior Management

No more org changes for a while - stick to the significant growth strategy.