ANTHOLOGY CLIENTS & ACQUIRED EMPLOYEES BEWARE! - Services PMO Ellucian Employee Review

Cons: Even after executive product direction was determined (by Ellucian leaders), and that direction included giving anthology clients a host of solid “pathways” to move to Ellucian, the hard pressure, go-for-the-close Sales VPs wanted nothing to do with product leadership’s direction and recommendations for anthology customers. They only wanted the short term sale. In fact, Sales VPs blatantly ignored what product laid out because they wanted the fast close, even if it meant a negative, longer term outcome for anthology clients that my teammates would have to deploy. Sales didn’t care nor want to listen to PS or Product as to why certain options would or would not functionally or technically work for schools. Sales VPs had their own dollar-driven agenda, and it was only about closing SaaS contracts asap versus doing the right thing for these acquired accounts. I managed a book of client projects and have known dozens of Anthology CIOs and presidents for years. Anxiety started to settle in with clients as they began speaking with high pressuring, fast talking Ellucian reps who knew nothing about them or their business operations. AEs on the ground were not in-the-know , but senior leaders were and did no training or communicating of the various options getting to Ellucian SIS. Reps omitted crucial peices of information that would help guide clients, and it’s because sales leaders refused to do the right thing by sharing all options. I knew what was happening in PS and in product internally and then began hearing about uncomfortable sales rep encounters from longtime anthology clients externally. That’s when I knew I couldn’t be part of the bait and switch. It’s dishonest. Ellucian’s sales reputation is bad enough, and this was making it worse. In my interactions with Ellucian sales leaders, it was definitely a hard close mentality, not a lot of depth or finessed sales ppl. Ellucian is an “old boys club” (few women in ERP sales), and worse, it always felt like a “sell me this pen” old school sales club where no one cared about the customer, only immediate SaaS contracts. Anthology’s ERP sales Team operated very differently as trusted consultants; many high EQ females in the role, too. For all our PS missteps, Anthology’s sales team enjoyed a much better reputation in the market, and it’s disappointing only a handful moved over because Ellucian’s ERP reps are leaving a terrible impression on Anthology clients. This merger could end up backfiring. If Sales keeps Pressuring clients without giving choices (oh and don’t even talk about flex term Agent working for EVERY school!), then they will leave. I had to because I didn’t want to implement these schools on an option knowing that other viable plans may have worked better for a school’s operations.