Avanade:

Avanade Inc. is a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft which was founded on April 4, 2000. The company is a global IT consulting company that specializes in solutions using Microsoft enterprise technology. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company had 3,900 employees in 22 countries at the close of its fiscal year 2007. Avanade has 3,000 badged staff located offshore in India, the Philippines and Bratislava who work in Accenture-managed delivery centers as part of its global delivery network spanning six cities in India and one in the Philippines.^[1]

History

Avanade was formed in April 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft. Ownership was initially split between the two founding companies, with Accenture owning 51% and Microsoft 49%.^[2] In 2001, however, Accenture increased its ownership to become the majority owner and Avanade became a subsidiary of Accenture.^[3]

Through the joint venture, Accenture and Microsoft looked to enter what they perceived to be a largely untapped market for Microsoft-focused consulting services for companies in the Fortune 1000.^[4]^[5]

Acquisitions

Operations

Avanade operates its business throughout 42 cities in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. These locations include:

In addition, Avanade operates an offshore delivery network comprised of Avanade-badged consultants contracted from Accenture delivery centers in India and the Philippines. Overall, these “Global Delivery Network” resources make up more than 40% of the total worldwide Avanade workforce, and form an important part of the company’s strategy for enhancing the price competitiveness of its services.^[1]^[11]

Services

Avanade services center around three primary areas: application development and integration with the Microsoft .NET platform, infrastructure services aimed at streamlining, upgrading, and securing customer infrastructure investments, and a third, emerging area around delivering packaged ERP and CRM solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM.^[1]

Finances

In fiscal year 2007, Avanade grew revenues by 23% to $593 million and increased headcount by 22%. Geographically, revenues were led by the company’s operations in North America (51%), followed by Europe (39%), then Asia Pacific (9%)

In addition, a significant portion of Avanade clients comes from engagements that come from Microsoft and Accenture. In fiscal year 2007, that amounted to more than 70% of total revenue for the company.^[1]

Recent News

Awards

In addition, Avanade work has also received recognition via awards given to its clients, such as:

Criticism

On July 3rd, 2007, Avanade was cited as the developer of the Colorado State Titling and Registration System (CSTARS) in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. The newspaper article reported that the system, which had taken over 7 years to develop at a cost of about $10 million, was “unplugged in April, just seven months after it was launched”. The article went on to say that a report conducted by a North Highland Co. found multiple problems with the project led by the Colorado Department of Revenue, including:

The newspaper article stated “it could take 18 months and an unknown amount of money to relaunch it”.^[17]

On August 14th, 2007, the Rocky Mountain News reported that the CSTARS system developed by Avanade could cost the State of Colorado an additional $10 to $15 million dollars if the State had to start over nearly from scratch rather than making changes to the new system.

A portion of the blame for the project's failure was attributed by a third party consultant hired by the state to a "flawed and ambiguous" request for proposals process, the selection of “a vendor with limited qualifications", and "quality assurance issues”. The same third party consultant acknowledged that the State of Colorado has a "terrible reputation" for handling its computer problems. "I suspect the failure rests on the shoulder of the legislature," said Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, who wondered how lawmakers can do a better job in issuing legislative directions.^[18]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Avanade Annual Report 2007. SEC EDGAR website
^ Microsoft and Andersen Consulting Announce Expanded Alliance Microsoft website. March 13, 2000.
^ Software Notebook: A Microsoft joint venture gets big, quietly. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. October 2, 2006.
^ Microsoft, Andersen team up. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 14, 2000.
^ Microsoft teams up with Andersen. Seattle Times. March 14, 2000.
^ Avanade buys into Queensland with DCG. ARN. March 11, 2003.
^ Microsoft joint venture buys Midwest consulting and software developer. Puget Sound Business Journal. May 27, 2003.
^ Avanade acquires Chicago company. Puget Sound Business Journal. March 2, 2005.
^ Avanade acquires Danish ERP consultant HOB Business Solutions A/S. TMCnet. November 2, 2007.
^ Avanade acquires Quadreon. Avanade. June, 2008.
^ Avanade website office directory. [Retrieved December 28, 2007].
^ Microsoft Announces 2008 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners. Microsoft Website. June 2008.
^ Accenture and Avanade Receive Microsoft Partner Awards. Accenture Website. July 2006.
^ Avanade Named to Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and President's Club Avanade announcement. July 25, 2007.
^ Avanade Earns Microsoft Business Solutions President's Club and Elite Inner Circle Recognition Avanade announcement. November 6, 2006
^ Avanade Inc Joins Elite Microsoft Business Solutions Inner CircleAvanade announcement. August 8, 2005.
^ Computer system for vehicle titles a wreck, study finds. Denver Post. July 3, 2007. $10 million vehicle registration deal assailed. Rocky Mountain News. July 3, 2007.
^ State Might Scrap DMV Computers Flawed system for registering cars cost $11 million. Rocky Mountain News. August 14, 2007.

Avanade

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