Long, hard fall - Pre-Sales Architect Softchoice Employee Review

1.0
Aug 2, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Companies like Softchoice - traditional large account resellers with diversified offerings spanning many geographically dispersed markets, who have been evolving to meet changing market conditions - are great places to begin a career in technology, sales & marketing. The sheer breadth of products, solutions, and services you get exposed to at a company like CDW, SHI, Insight, Zones, Software One, Comparex, PCM, or Softchoice is an amazing way to start one's career in the industry. Just like a company like CDW, SHI, Insight, Zones etc. there are good jobs at Softchoice. There are some amazing people, great managers, and good mentors. Great opportunities for networking with vendors & participating in one of the most dynamic industries out there. While it can vary wildly by market, Softchoice's office facilities can have aesthetically pleasing common areas.

Cons

Unlike many of its competitors, Softchoice is not accessing new markets overseas. Unlike its competitors, Softchoice is not growing by strategic acquisition. Unlike its competitors, Softchoice is not expanding its vertical focus. Rather, Softchoice is declining. Sales are down, Softchoice is losing customers and has been for many years. Softchoice is "strategically" dis-investing in many markets, pulling out of specific verticals like Public Sector. While the business has been crumbling, management has resorted to shell games with KPIs to artificially show growth and success. Since acquiring Softchoice, the private equity group Birch Hill has done their best to cut through the baloney that is Softchoice management KPI & reporting. It was this effort that highlighted the declining customer base and really drew attention to the extremely negative impact that has on the company's long-term outlook & financial health. The biggest problem with Softchoice has gone unaddressed for years. The Sales organization is honestly the weakest aspect of the business. But its also the largest & everything revolves around it. Recently Sales Leadership was realigned to report directly to the CEO, but that has not helped. What it did not do was address the high turnover in sales, it did not address the inability to attract talent, it did not address the inability to grown & retain talent, it did not bring a refined sales management process into focus. No, it kicked the can, ignored the real problems with the Sales organization - typical Softchoice fashion. Fast forward to today, Softchoice is finally attempting (albeit unsuccessfully at the moment) to address some of the more fundamental issues with the Sales Org. In the meantime, Softchoice is failing - substantial declines in both top & bottom line financial results. Softchoice's competitors are outpacing it with investments to really drive transformation. PCM has become a managed services juggernaut, actually sitting at #2 on the MSPMentors 500 list Softchoice loves to brag about. Zones was named Microsoft' Volume Licensing Partner of the year at WPC, again. Softchoice is falling behind. Softchoice's competitors are more innovating, bring better more compelling offers to market. With smart investments, they are quickly outpacing Softchoice, while it still seeks to address fundamental issues with its Sales Org. The culture at Softchoice is not good. Its juvenile, adolescent, overlooks real issues, rewards Sales performance and not Customer Success.

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Softchoice Response
9y
Thank you for your feedback. I wanted to respond to your comments personally. At Softchoice, we have chosen to invest in the markets where we can win. And while we have made acquisitions in the past, and will continue to make strategic acquisitions when they make sense, today, we are aggressively focused on an organic growth strategy. This multi-year strategy will grow our people, our customer base, and our marketshare across North America. To set the record straight, Softchoice is enjoying growth - particularly in the areas we’re investing in. In the last five years, we made the decision to grow our services and solutions capabilities. And while other organizations pursue traditional modes of technology deployment like volume licensing, we’ve chosen to invest our energies in cloud-based technologies, because that’s where our customers need our help the most. And I’m delighted to say those choices have paid off for our team. Our Managed Services are ranked 5th globally by MSPMentor, we are among the top providers in North America for Office 365 - and we’re the number one Microsoft Azure partner in North America. Let me be clear on how we report on our performance. We are unabashedly transparent with how we report our progress to all stakeholders - most importantly, the people of Softchoice. As you know, each month I host our company-wide Orange Nation Live show, broadcast to every location across North America, where I’m joined by senior leaders to share our monthly results with the entire company. As it relates to your comments concerning high turn-over - I am very proud of our sales organization. We continue to spend a huge amount of energy (and money) on training and development for new hires. In the past year alone, we’ve added 200 new people, and frankly, we can’t hire great people fast enough. I will concede one point - Softchoice isn’t for everybody. If you’re not willing to invest in yourself, and grow, you won’t have fun. The tech business is extremely demanding and competitive. Lastly - my door is always open to any member of the Softchoice team. I encourage anyone who has questions about our strategy, or ideas to make Softchoice the best place to work, to drop by, call me, or send an email and let me know how you're feeling.

Explore other reviews about Softchoice

5.0
May 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company culture and great place to work.

Cons

None that I can think of.

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Softchoice Response
2w
Thanks for your review and for recognizing our excellent culture! We're thrilled you've had a positive experience on our team.
3.0
Jun 9, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Challenging and interesting work. The potential is there.

Cons

Management does not listen and executives are fed bad information to action on. Director and VP level folks control the narrative and make bad decision after bad decision

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