Perficient: A Global Company Making A Local Impact

Technology is the future; a more evident statement has never been made. All we have to do is look at the hyperspeed trajectory at which society and businesses alike have adopted technology to understand this. However, work remains in closing the inclusivity gap of those participating in this industry. Perficient, a global digital consultancy company with a largely autonomous branch in Fargo, is looking to change that.

What is Perficient

Perficient, as a whole, is a global digital consultancy that works with clients on how to leverage technology to deliver their business needs.

Most of the businesses and employees they work with are experts in their fields, whether that is healthcare, manufacturing, etc. However, they’re not experts in building technology experiences. That’s where Perficient comes in, they work with all of the major software including: Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Google and more.

NASDAQ: PRFT

2021 Revenue: $761 Million

Number of Employees: 5000+

To learn more about the Fargo branch, visit perficient.com/Salesforce-careers

Fargo’s Perficient arm, which focuses on Salesforce platform consulting and development services, was originally known as Sundog Interactive before being acquired by Perficient in 2019.

Since the acquisition, Fargo’s Perficient branch has undergone a number of positive changes in the way of creating a more supportive environment for its female employees, including the implementation of paid maternity leave and its companywide programs: Women In Technology Employee Resource Group and the Bright Paths Program. However, longtime members of the organization say that there already was a good culture in place.

“It was always a collaborative effort working here,” said Allison Pankratz. “Our leader was always very much about collaborating. It didn’t matter who you were or what your position was. He would ask, ‘Who thinks they have an idea for this, who wants to run it?’ And at that point in time, whoever would raise their hand and take it would run with it. There’s never been a feeling of only men understanding technology here. In fact, our leaders understood, before it was ever researched, that there are some traits that women tend to possess that help our teams perform better.”

According to a few team members, this was much different than what they experienced in the past with other companies.

“At my past job, I felt like other women were super competitive amongst each other. I had a boss who was a woman and when I was about to have my first baby, she was pushing me to be in the office more before I went on maternity leave so that I could cover everything,” said Erin Heinrich. “She also was really pressuring me to come back into the office. She would say things like, ‘You’re going to take that much time off? I didn’t even take that much time off.’ There was a lot of pressure around that work-life balance aspect and that’s not at all the experience I have had here.”

TheWit ERG

One huge component of Perficient’s support of its female employees is its Women in Technology Employee Resource Group (WiT ERG), an internal program with more than 500 members across 35 stateside and international locations. The group meets monthly to discuss an article selected ahead of time. The groups will then participate in breakout sessions where employees across all Perficient locations will be paired up with one another at random.

“It’s personally made my professional world so much bigger,” said Glasow. “To talk with someone with a different upbringing and different experiences has made my world so much bigger. It’s more about connecting and networking with other people. When you listen to other people, you learn and create empathy. You create a different level of understanding that allows you to then be a better advocate for yourself, another female or for males who participate. My last breakout session was with three males.”

In order to further their mission of making the tech world more inclusive, Perficient hosts the Bright Paths Program. A program that aims to create “relevant learning experiences that prepare students for the workforce, and further drive innovation and growth in the technology industry.” In doing so, Perficient hosts a 20-week immersive software development boot camp specifically for women. Their initial cohort hosted 22 women in Detroit. 17 joined Perficient as full-time employees.

Did You Know?
In addition to their efforts with WiT ERG and the Bright Path’s Program, Perficient also matches employee donations to Girls Who Code, a nonprofit profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in computer science.

Where is Perficient?

Where did this culture from?

If you ask former Sundog Interactive Founder/CEO and Current Perficient General Manger Brent Teiken where his longstanding beliefs on diversity and leadership came from, he’ll tell you it’s from a source that is very close to home.

“It really comes from the deep conversations that I’ve had with my wife,” said Teiken. “So often I was wrong going into that discussion and she helped me correct, balance and understand that what I thought was the issue, wasn’t really the issue. She brought a female perspective to me and helped me understand some of the issues facing women in tech. That’s probably been the biggest influence-having her perspective as a woman in the tech world herself”.

“We’ve been better as a company because of the diversity that we’ve had. Each of our leaders have unique skill sets and talents,” said Teiken. ‘It has been really humbling for me. I’ve been kept in check and pushed and prodded in a really healthy way.’

How they are keeping the culture alive

At Perficient, 50% of the Salesforce practice leadership is women. At the Corporate level, their Vice President of People is a female. And as a whole, they are continuing to focus on removing barriers-creating women and male allies.

“We want to be setting a tone of empathy and vulnerability as a leadership team to continue engaging women in tech and in our practice,” said Glasow.

PERFICIENT
vision, execution value.

44th St. S. #6, Fargo
701-235-5525
perficient.com