Pros
Financially one of most stable and profitable companies in the industry. #7 in terms of total revenue of all US AV integration firms in 2014 (via Commercial Integrator Magazine). Privately-owned, so no outside shareholders to answer to. Customer-focused and engineering-based. When job-related mistakes are made, and as long as the customer allows us to, we always seek to resolve them to customer's satisfaction even if it affects profitability of the job. Conservative corporate culture that values relationships with customers and loyal employees. Opportunities for advancement if you prove yourself and stand out. Vacation system has just been updated to a PTO system, with hours worked = hours PTO accrued for all employees. Rewards for tenure and successful work with company, including job profit sharing, "units of participation" (similar to employee stock-ownership with some differences), 401k matching, fair compensation per the market, good insurance and benefits options. New local offices in Dallas and Denver in past year with very nice upgrades. If you can work in a more conservative, "old school" type of culture, the benefits of providing amazing and innovative AVL systems to our customers, having the industry leverage that we do with manufacturers and suppliers, and the stability of a profitable and growing company far outweigh the cons. The corporate culture is also changing and updating from being as 'old school' as it once was - perhaps slowly, but the ship is definitely turning.
Cons
Ford AV has experienced tremendous growth in the past 3 years, which can be both good and bad. Good in terms of increased opportunity, customer relationships, and more job openings, but also means that hiring needs to keep pace with growth, which admittedly has been a struggle. Not just hiring 'warm bodies' but qualified people - getting the right people in the right seats on the bus. Some of 'revolving door' in some positions recently has been people not being good fit to Ford AV, either in terms of corporate culture (the way we do things) or performing well in the role they were hired to do. Ford AV isn't for everyone. We aren't Pixar, Google, Apple, or Amazon. There isn't a lot of investment in 'fluff' (in senior management's opinion) that some other companies may provide that doesn't directly contribute to the bottom line and/or points of connection with our customers. We do have an 'outdated' computer and CRM system. However, once you learn it (which does take a while), it works very well and there are investments all the time that make it and our overall network better. Yes, we're 'old school' in that there is a form for everything, and yes it can be a pain to do all that paperwork that some companies don't require. But again, it's a proven system that keeps a paper trail for everything and keeps the company profitable and accountable within itself. With that said, there are improvements all the time and many forms are become 'paperless' for online/network submittal and approval. One area I would like to see change soon is our digital marketing strategy. Our website needs help, and our social media strategy is next to non-existent. If most customers, especially younger ones, are 'shopping' and researching online, we can't just rely on SEO, YouTube videos, construction leads, and email blasts to our existing CRM database to reach a 21st Century customer and potential employee base. Word of mouth and personal relationship development of course are always best, but to continue our growth into the future we will definitely need to advance in this area.