NTT DATA reviews

NTT Data created a BU called "Launch" combining 5 or 6 software development agency acquisitions under their umbrella in an attempt to modernize their business services portfolio. They quickly stripped away all perks and benefits, good software tools, and cultural elements that made each acquired agency great prior to acquisition (de-modernizing all acquired agencies). Leadership had too many cooks in the kitchen at the start, all angling for greater power and trying to retain a spot long enough to obtain their retention bonuses and then parachute out of there. The business pipeline was poor during integration, and continued to be poor on the long trail of becoming "Launch" resulting in several rounds of layoffs. By several I mean like more than 4 from Jan '23 on; I hear through the grapevine they're still conducting layoffs (writing this as of Nov '24). And that's on top of the outsized attrition of good people leaving a terrible work environment all along the way. Think of anything you like about a company that does something right, and you've thought of something NTT Data fails at every day; take your pick. Notes on details: they don't entertain typical tech titles like "Product Manager" even though that's exactly what those people do. NTT employs "functional consultants" with other tacked-on, meaningless gibberish so that job titles are 8 or more nonsensical words. I also put that I worked here less than 1 year, as I was only officially an NTT Data employee for about 10 months post-integration but worked at the acquired agency for 9+ months.

This is a very flawed organisation. Let's run through some key problems: 1. Much of its growth in the mid to late 2010s came from acquisitions which were executed very incompetently, with difficult integration decisions simply not taken. 2. Nonsensical organisational structure, often as a result of (1) above and especially in relation to "Digital". 3. Over-promotion and favouritism. Several small internal cabals massively over-promote junior staff who did not demonstrate the required skills and experience. Staff who were the engine of delivery and project success were often ignored. 4. Management disdain for technology and technologists despite all the sales guff. This is related to management confusion over what 'Consulting' actually means within a systems integrator. 5. Feeble training opportunities for more senior staff. To be fair, they have made more efforts to help juniors but that's because they are so very profitable. 6. Misallocation of resources. Massively expensive refurbishment of Royal Exchange offices funded by a loan from the Japanese parent organisation followed in short order by a failure to meet profitability targets.