Reflecting on five years of growth at Avanade

What does it mean for an organization to grow? As I celebrate my five-year anniversary at Avanade this month, I’m reminded that growth goes far beyond business performance—it comes in many forms and from many different experiences. 

As Chief Growth Officer, I’ve seen Avanade grow as an organization as we simultaneously experienced a global pandemic, economic uncertainty and historic business growth. I’ve seen our people grow as they’ve rapidly adapted to changes in the market. And I’ve seen our clients grow as they navigate unprecedented digital transformation, disruption and uncertainty. Here’s what I’ve learned in my five years at Avanade:

Stay true to who you are and do what matters for your clients. 

Navigating difficult times is never easy, but I think it’s made easier when you know who you are and what you stand for. I’ve seen how our purpose of making a genuine human impact—combined with our vision and principles—has enabled all of us at Avanade to rally around what matters the most: our clients. As we’ve encountered disruption and uncertainty, we’ve stayed true to our goal of putting our clients’ success at the heart of everything we do. And we haven’t stopped asking the right questions: “What do our clients need from us that they didn’t need before? How can we help maximize their technology investments to achieve their ambition? How can we help them navigate what’s next? 

We’ve answered those questions through a number of initiatives, including building more support around our clients with the right talent and the right teams, expanding our industry knowledge and making it easier to do business with us.

Take thoughtful action--but do it with speed and precision.

There has never been a time in my life when I regretted being thoughtful, but it was never more important than during the pandemic. Our clients and our people needed us to respond quickly, but the challenges were complex and required a thoughtful approach. We mobilized to communicate with one voice to our clients and to our people – leading with empathy and ensuring they felt supported, cared for and informed. 

I’ve drawn on that experience many times since. Geopolitical events, social unrest and economic uncertainty   require us to balance between moving fast and thinking through desired outcomes carefully. The common thread is organizational resilience. For Avanade, that’s meant becoming more agile to meet changing market and client needs; speeding up the pace of innovation; and adopting a growth mindset so that our people are encouraged to have an open mind, encouraged to try new things and take calculated risks.    

It’s not just about having good partners. It’s about having a good partner ecosystem. 

As a joint venture formed by Accenture and Microsoft, collaboration is in our DNA. Our longstanding partnership with Accenture and Microsoft is unlike any other in the industry and it enables us to deliver for our clients in truly innovative ways.

As we look ahead, we know that our clients face enormous challenges that they simply won’t be able to solve on their own. Competitors and collaborators will need to work together as partners. A great example is our partnership with the Green Software Foundation, a non-profit formed in May 2021—now with a steering committee made up of Microsoft, Avanade, Accenture, GitHub and others. Together, we’re helping our clients reach their sustainability goals to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by software—something we couldn’t achieve unless each company was willing to bring their unique perspective and expertise to the table

In today’s world, there’s only one speed: fast. To stay relevant, our people must continue to acquire new skills and capabilities faster than ever before. 

To achieve this, we’ve prioritized a culture of limitless learning, one that encourages our people to stretch beyond what they know to learn new skills and capabilities—and to learn with speed. It’s been incredible to see how our people have risen to that challenge, earning more than 60,000 Microsoft certifications to-date and 80 Microsoft MVP designations—more than any other Microsoft services company in the world! 

I’m also proud of our focus to develop the next generation of leaders. One way we’re doing this is through Avanade’s Technology Leadership Career Path program, which provides our highly technical talent with the opportunity to marry their passion for technology with new skills like management and leadership. Today, more than 180 technical professionals are enrolled. 

Culture is everything. 

Business guru Simon Sinek once said, “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” I couldn’t agree more. Building a strong culture—one that sets you apart from the rest—requires a concerted focus on what makes a company great: its people. 

We’ve never lost sight of our focus to create the kind of workplace that not only attracts the best talent but keeps them here. We’re committed to building an inclusive and diverse workplace that encourages everyone to bring their authentic selves to work—and where employee well-being is at the center. We’ve instilled new ways of thinking and behaviors that will not only help our people be more resilient, but our organization, too. And we’ve empowered our people to choose how, where and when they work so they can lead full and balanced lives.  

After all that we’ve been through the past five years, it’s hard to imagine what comes next. What I do know is that because of what we’ve been through, we’re more prepared than we’ve ever been.