A company that wants you to succeed

A company that wants you to succeed

When building your consulting career, it pays to work for a company that believes in training and professional development as much as you do, if not more. At Rand Group, we know how important career advancement is; it’s woven into our work culture and is one of our core values. We interviewed Sarika Krishnan, Vice President of Quality and Process Excellence here at Rand Group to learn more about her journey and the role the company has played in her career growth.

Q: Sarika, tell us how long you have been working for Rand Group, and how you began your career.

A: I joined Rand Group in October 2005, so I am celebrating my 14th year with the company. I began my career with Rand Group as an Associate. My background is in math and computer science, and I worked as a developer in India with Navision Software Ltd. before it was acquired by Microsoft as one of their ERP offerings. When I moved to Houston, I applied for a Developer position with Rand Group and got hired.

Q: How have your career advancement opportunities that you’ve experienced with Rand Group differed from other places that you’ve worked with?

A: In other organizations, people have an opportunity for growth but it is in a more linear fashion. After working on a couple of projects as a Developer at Rand Group, I developed a keen interest in client-facing responsibilities, understanding business processes, and working directly with clients. I spoke with my manager and requested to work on a project in the capacity of a Functional Consultant and I was immediately given the opportunity. It allowed me to learn other aspects of a project and eventually succeed in learning the complete project management cycle from start to finish. This provided numerous opportunities that helped me take the next step towards becoming a manager and managing projects. As I was working on multiple implementations and managing projects, there was an opportunity to manage and improve the support offerings at Rand Group. After solely managing support for some time, I was offered the opportunity to manage the entire Microsoft Dynamics NAV practice including support. If someone is passionate and willing to learn and put forth the effort to be successful in a role that they are in, there are endless opportunities that are offered to the employee.

Q: Would you say that Rand Group has contributed to your success?

A: Rand Group is a big contributor to the success that I have had working here. Other than providing the opportunity to go to the next level, there is the freedom to do what interests you and what you are good at. By working with a variety of clients across multiple industries with different products, there is an ongoing opportunity to learn new products, new business processes, and for self-development.

Q: Is there a particular moment where you felt like the company invested in you and your career?

A: At the beginning of my career when my kids were really young, Rand Group was very supportive, encouraging, and believed in me to get the job done. I have been able to balance my personal and professional life and have a career with significant growth because of the flexibility I have while working here. Rand Group has continually invested in me. As soon as I feel like I have learned all the aspects of a certain position or role, I have been offered something new and different from what I have done before.

Q: Have you personally experienced having a mentor? What was that like?

A: I would attribute my success here to having two great mentors throughout my career. Both have been instrumental in providing guidance that has helped me succeed throughout my various roles. They taught me the importance of time, resource, and client-relationship management, and have always encouraged me to be a perfectionist. I have witnessed the importance of stepping in to help the team no matter your position directly from my mentors. I still consider them my mentors as I have never stopped learning from them. I make an effort to empower my managers by providing the same mentorship that I received at the beginning of my career, and I encourage them to be a mentor to their direct reports. This helps build a culture within the firm where all new employees have someone to reach out to and look up to as they begin their careers here at Rand Group.

Your career is important to us. We believe in a culture that invests in our employees and helps them to grow and excel. At Rand Group, you can have a rewarding consulting career with a company that appreciates and values its employees. Work with a company that nurtures your success and provides opportunities to take your career to new heights.

Compensation and benefits

  • Objective and comprehensive bonus programs reward your contributions:
    • Production Bonus
    • Travel Bonus
    • Recruiting Referral Bonus
  • New Business Referral bonus
  • 100% company-paid major medical health benefits
  • 100% company-paid dental insurance, life insurance, long term disability, short term disability
  • 401k Plan with match

Work-life balance

  • Travel no more than 35%
  • Generous Paid Time Off + Bonus Paid Time Off at 5, 10 and 15 years of service
  • Annual charity match to a non-profit of your choice

Work-life balance

  • Travel no more than 35%
  • Generous Paid Time Off + Bonus Paid Time Off at 5, 10 and 15 years of service
  • Annual charity match to a non-profit of your choice

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There are multiple possibilities when it comes to strategies for migrating to the Cloud. It may be a choice between rehosting your apps by shifting them to Azure or rearchitecting them and adding new capabilities or rebuilding them. Whatever the reason, it’s important to be armed with the right information if you are approaching your executive team. Here’s what to focus on, when presenting a cloud strategy to your management team.

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