Alianza Reviews

4.3

86% would recommend to a friend

(87 total reviews)

Brian Beutler

92% approve of CEO

84% positive business outlook

Alianza has an employee rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on 87 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Alianza employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

87 reviews
2.0
2 Feb 2018

Great people terrible culture and leaders

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A very talented group of people work at Alianza. there are some cool employee perks. They have identified a real need with legitimate business possibilities. CEO is tremendous at tracking down funding and sales relationship building. The core employee group is also very VOIP knowledgeable.

Cons

They were pretty apathetic to customer experience as they built out alluring features to possible new clients while trying to get profitable. Senior Management would frequently critique development, project management, qa and other departments which they have no knowledge or experience in. It was powerpoint torture for project/product managers trying to communicate something only to get nit picked over details immaterial to the decision to be made or information to be conveyed. Days would be spent agonizing over internal powerpoint presentations prior to them lasting 10-20 mins. Senior leadership would also determine someone incapable of something because of something they read or heard about Google or Apple doing better than Alianza. My experience was they see themselves as reader's digest experts on everything while ignoring some harsh realities of being a young company struggling to grow. The employee development I experienced was simply criticism of what my manager did not understand. Expectations were to make Alianza white paper worthy but with no time or resources to accomplish it. The open PTO policy became an expectation to have no time off when attempting to take the 1 pre approved week off I got in two years was positioned as a burden to the company upon returning.

avatar
Alianza Response
8y
I am sorry to hear that you did not have a more positive experience at Alianza. I appreciate the feedback and hope that I can learn from it and be better in the future. I’d like to respond to a few of your comments: I acknowledge that our senior team often provides direct feedback and critiques performance. I understand that this can be uncomfortable for some people. However, at Alianza, open and honest feedback is a part of our culture. One of our core values states: “We care enough to be candid and objective in our interactions with each other.” If we can’t be critical of each other and ourselves, I believe we are robbing ourselves and Alianza of opportunities to learn, grow and improve. Our desire for open feedback is not just top down. I welcome feedback and criticism on the executive team's performance and on my performance and decisions. I know I have lots of areas where I can improve; and I want to learn and grow from the advice of others…especially those that have achieved high levels of performance; including Google, Apple or any other company, employee or outsider that has something to offer that is going to help Alianza or me to be better. No sacred cows at Alianza; just a hefty appetite to learn, grow and continually improve. I’m also sorry about your PTO experience. A few years ago we started experimenting with a less formal PTO policy. We hoped that if PTO was managed directly between each employee and their direct manager, it would focus the company on contribution and merit, rather than the simple accrual method. We heard of other companies having success with this approach and wanted to give it a try at Alianza. At first, feedback from the team was positive, but after a few years we started seeing challenges and pockets of abuse from both managers and employees. At the beginning of 2018, we listened to employee feedback and implemented a hybrid PTO policy with better guardrails and more clearly defined expectations, but still not the simple accrual method we used before. At the same time, we also implemented a new sabbatical policy for employees that have built up tenure and domain experience with Alianza. So far, the response has been positive, but I’m always open for critical feedback on changes or tweaks we could make to help us be even better. Another of our values states that, “We align all we do with the customer experience in mind.” It is because of our deep care for our customers and their experience working with Alianza, that we hold ourselves to such a high bar for individual, team and company performance. I appreciate all of our employees that care deeply about our customers, do their best, contribute in meaningful ways, give and take candid feedback, and make Alianza better every day.
2.0
22 Aug 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Coworkers are great people. Really easy to work with and as a new employee you can count on your team to help you get setup. The company has a good variety of snack, most of which are healthy and if you don't wan to leave for lunch there is always enough food there to make your lunch.

Cons

The executive team is a bit stale. It seems like the company is constantly spinning the same ideas over and over again. It feels like we simply rebuild the same thing with a new look. It would be nice to see new or added leadership that can bring a fresh idea to a company that is almost 20 years old. Also, it is time to drop the term "new" or "startup" from the regular use in the office. Neither are true and it kind of holds the company focus back.

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Alianza Response
5y
Thanks for your candid feedback. I don't think the challenges you describe are as much about "spinning the same ideas over and over" as they are a reflection of how Alianza's leadership needs to do a better job of communicating our current ideas (strategy) to the rest of the company. Our strategy could not be further from "rebuilding the same thing with a new look". We are launching three completely new product lines this year - things that our customers and the market have been asking for and we are delivering. We do a monthly All-Hands Company Update meeting, where I talk with the company about multiple aspects of our strategy. But as our team grows, this is not enough, and we are expecting our team leads and middle management to do a better job of reinforcing our strategy (purpose, vision, mission, goals and objectives). Not all managers want to do this type of work and unfortunately, some teams were not fully communicated with - which I feel responsible for. We recently made some leadership changes within our technology organization that are already yielding good feedback.
5.0
26 Jan 2015

Great Company with Great People

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Freedom to work without micromanagement - Exceptionally Smart Co-workers - Everyone is a Grown Up and works hard to get the job done collectively - Open PTO policy: If it's approved you have it off, no counting PTO days remaining - Break room: I eat Breakfast, Lunch, and snacks and don't pay for any of them. Everything is provided in the break room by the company - Benefits are 100% paid: Medical and Dental have no premiums - Fitness Account for yearly fitness related expenses like a gym membership or home gym equipment paid for by Alianza - Ski Passes, Golf Tee Times, Climbing Passes all paid for by the company - Everyone has ownership in the company

Cons

- Its a small company which sometimes means you get to wear a lot of hats, normally that is a okay as it adds variety unless it's something you hate to do. - You gain weight from the free food in the break room. Not sure where to put this, but Alianza requires a different mentality that other companies. You'll make it here and thrive or you won't. This isn't a place to put in a leisurely 8 hours of work while you talk at the water cooler. We work hard while we are here and then we go home. For most of us that is 40-45 hours a week, but there are weeks when it is more. I mention this because some of the negative reviews have dates that also coincide with individuals that didn't get this part of our culture. Alianza is a fantastic place to work. it's not perfect, but if you're a motivated individual that wants to be challenged by the people around you and experience a lot of growth professionally this is a great place.

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Glassdoor has 110 Alianza reviews submitted anonymously by Alianza employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Alianza is right for you.