Perceptive Software Reviews in Kansas City, MO Area

Pros

Lots of company-wide parties and outings.
Good for hanging out with friends.
Good for short-term work experience.
Will hire inexperienced workers.

Cons

"High School" atmosphere.
It's who you know, not what you know.
Bottom 10% in salary in most positions (anything with "Manager" in the title is paid disproportionally more than their subordinates that do the actual work.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to grow out of the small, entrepreneurial mindset and into the big, market-dominating mindset. In order to do that, Management needs to review and replace the non-decision-making decision makers. The rest will fall into place with the talented individuals doing the grunt work.

Pros

Absolutely fantastic atmosphere if you are single or want to be single. Cool perks like T-shirts and extracurricular activities sponsored by the company. Pretty much no limit to spending on corporate cards. Very cool for the young, straight-out of colleague graduate with no real responsibilities or corporate experience.

Cons

Traditional selling techniques where the buyers runs the process, therefore no real opportunity for a sales person to differentiate themselves based on experience/intelligence. True sales professionals quickly realize that they are surrounded by transactional/fax receipt sales people that couldn't survive in another organization where hunting/qualifying/closing are actually required.

The entire sales force is really an Inside Sales Position, not Account Executive, jumping when the prospect says "jump". The AEX's doing "well" are so because of the vertical they are in - their success is indirectly related to their professional sales abilities. All of the good sales professionals have left the organization. Commission plans and sales trips are commensurate with the vertical you are lucky enough to be responsible for, not your sales abilities.

Stating that Sales Management is awful is an understatement. They are not leaders, do not complement your sales efforts, and for the most part, have never sold anything complex. If an outside Big 5 accounting firm were to perform a value-added process audit, the entire layer of sales management fat would be cut.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a moment and think about what sales numbers would look like if you actually had sales professionals that were hunters/qualifiers/trusted advisers/closers in your AEX roles, as opposed to order takers.

Pros

Benefits, leadership, team meetings, doughnuts/bagels on casual fridays, company wide trips to amusement parks, free yoga lessons/weightlifing and massage therapists, takes care of employees more than any other place i've worked.

Cons

Not many cons, a few minor things that aren't even worth mentioning.

Advice to Senior Management

These Executives really know what they are doing. This company was nothing 10 years ago. Scott Coons along with Tim Helton and Cary DeCamp have taken this company to a whole nother level.

Pros

Very nice facility; nice side-perks (gym, beer on Fridays, bagels/soda/coffee/tea), in general, people are nice, good parties.

Cons

Middle-management is absolutely the worst I have seen, ever. And, unfortunately, this kind of clouds everything. The poor management leads to poor feedback, poor goal-setting, poor vision, poor execution. They will promote an absolute dolt who has been there five years over someone who is excellent, but only been there one year. every single time. There are some other complaints -- 401k an benefits are lacking, etc., but it is the management that overrides everything.

Advice to Senior Management

Get honest feedback from your employees (that which is not traceable) and take action, immediately. Firstly, you have too many managers, and secondly, most of the ones you have are terrible. Quit laying off subordinates. That is not the problem!

Pros

The software is recession resistant.

The Friday morning meetings are quite possibly the best thing about the company. Who doesn't want to be in the office before 8:00 am on a Friday morning? Especially after traveling on Thursday evening. The selection of bagels and donuts is excellent. And don't forget about the free soda!!!!

Cons

I feel Managers cannot be trusted and are very inexperienced. They might have a good understanding of the product, but don't know how to manage their teams. Some individuals have been promoted that really didn't deserve it in my opinion. The pay is OK, but not comparable to what other companies are paying in the area.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a good look at the organizational structure. There are too many Managers, and several of them don't know how to manage a team effectively.

Pros

I've been with the company for four years and in that time we've quadrupled the work force but the work ethic and pride in the product is the same. The people who are engaged in their jobs are able to do exciting and fun work. The company has a very good work / life balance and it rewards those who succeed.

To me one of the most important aspects is that the product that we produce is really world class. I'm proud to build, sell and support this product. The executive management team is very accessible and more importantly they are really engaged in the day-to-day operations of the business.

Cons

My observation is that Perceptive Software still views itself as a small company. The company needs to start to invest in professional development and training programs.

Advice to Senior Management

We've got a really smart and engaged senior management team. They've brought on some really great leaders in the last two years but the company could still invest strategically in training and employee development programs.

Pros

I feel the people at Perceptive are treated very fairly by their bosses. It is a culture based on results and can be very rewarding if you are a driven individual. As an Engineering company it is rightly focused on product and allows for lots of very cool problems to be tackled. The team I work on is of the highest caliber and I have never felt such dedication to my co-workers.

Cons

I think it can widely vary from department to department. We are challenged to offer the same opportunities for problems and growth in all areas of the business. Like most places it is what you make of it. There is very little hand holding and driven people are rewarded. This is tough for people who haven't worked at a software company, but rather in an IT position.

Advice to Senior Management

Communication should be stepped up. It can be frustrating to be told something is coming, and then never deliver (like goals for the next fiscal year).

Pros

They layoffs are sad, but they still have great people at PSI. My manager is great and wants to see me and the rest of the team succeed. He really cares about his people and our customers. I don't know many of the managers in the company, but my manager's attitude is like all of the management that I've worked with. There is a great work-life balance and they have a good balance of promoting from within and hiring management from the outside.

Cons

Don't believe all of the negative posts. While Perceptive is experiencing tough times like everyone else, it's still a great place to work. They blew the sales forecasts like every other company, but they had a record quarter ending September 30, 2008, so it looked like they were more recession proof than most companies. In my department, I think they stopped hiring last spring, so it's not like they kept the hiring frenzy right up until they did layoffs.

Some of the work can be mundane - it depends on the customer - but most of my days are interesting and challenging. It's mostly about your perspective and how you choose to challenge yourself to develop the best solutions for your customers.

Advice to Senior Management

Get more conservative in sales forecasts in the future to avoid growing too fast again.

Pros

Challenging environment with great technology and very good opportunities for growth. There are very few companies in the KC area (or in the midwest for that matter) that offer the type of work environment that Perceptive offers. A great deal of energy and effort is placed on making Perceptive a place that people want to work. It is unfortunate that so many people have such negative comments since the vast majority of the 450+ employees would still rate the company very high. I have worked for the company for many years in various capacities. Have there been rough spots? Sure, but I still get excited about work every day because I know that I can make it as good or as bad as I want it to be.

Cons

Is Perceptive perfect? Certainly not. But can anyone name one that is? Perceptive is not immune to this economy. It is unfortunate that so many people had to lose their jobs. We are all feeling the effects of that (and will be for a while). Senior management was very aggressive in their planning for the coming years. We staffed in preparation for continued record-setting revenues. But Perceptive is not responsible for the poor economy. About the only criticism that I can come up with is that Perceptive has tried (for the last several years) to do too much...trying to be everything for everyone. We have been spread too thin in a phases of the company. We need more focus.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop a clear vision for the company and the products. Invest in making sure that all employees understand that vision.

Pros

Coming from an employeer that had absolutely no regard for work/life balance, the thing jumps to the forefront of my mind about my experience so far with Perceptive Software is the recognition that employees have lives and the willingness of the company to promote a healthy work/life balance. There are lots of employee-centric side benefits (free workout facility, dodgeball court, xbox/wii lounge, monthly massage, great building etc) that help to ensure that it is an enjoyable working atmosphere. The workforce itself is young, energetic, and friendly in nature. There are some exceptionally bright people at the company and I have never run into a person who is not more than willing to help a fellow employee out. The majority of the benefits (pay, health, vision, dental) are great by my standards (young, healthy, not married, no kids). Most of all, I simply enjoy my job. I get to travel, meet new people all the time, continue to advance my technical skills, and also conduct training.

Cons

In my time at Perceptive (little over a year), I do not really have any complaints. The one item that could be better is the company match for its 401K; however, I understand that a 401K is not the only avenue for an individual to save for retirement. I have heard a lot of complaints about middle management, but I have personnally not run into any problems with the managers I have worked with so far.

Advice to Senior Management

Since the main complaint I hear from random souces is middle management, I feel that Senior Management should really look at the current situation and evaluate the company's needs for the future. Perhaps there needs to be a formalized training for individuals moving into management positions. As with any company, Senior Management needs to keep in mind that even though someone is extremely bright and great at what their current role is, it doesn't mean he/she will be a good manager.