Collaborative Solutions

Collaborative Solutions, part of the Cognizant family, is a global finance and HR transformation consultancy that implements cloud solutions to enable successful outcomes for large- and medium-sized organizations. It has experience with companies across the spectrum, from 200 to 200,000 employees and its clients include many of the Fortune 500.

In this firm profile, we’ll dig under the surface to explore the inner workings of Collaborative Solutions. Insights we’ll cover include but are not limited to: firm history, career/internship opportunities, salaries, interviews, and key practice areas.

Regardless of whether you’re a serious jobseeker or just seeking general information, you’ll find out what you need to know about Collaborative Solutions without having to scour multiple websites. Without further ado, let’s review the facts.

Table of Contents

1. Collaborative Solutions Key Stats
2. Collaborative Solutions History
3. Collaborative Solutions Careers
4. Practice Areas
5. Industries
6. Office Locations
7. Career Path
8. Collaborative Solutions Exit Opportunities
9. Collaborative Solutions Culture
10. Collaborative Solutions Interviews
11. Collaborative Solutions Interview Process
12. Collaborative Solutions Salary
13. Collaborative Solutions Target Schools
14. Collaborative Solutions Diversity Programs

Collaborative Solutions Key Stats

• Collaborative Solutions Website: www.collaborativesolutions.com/
• Collaborative Solutions Headquarters: Reston, VA
• Collaborative Solutions Number of Employees: 1,300
• Collaborative Solutions Number of Locations: 16
• Collaborative Solutions Chief Executive: Carroll Ross
• Collaborative Solutions Revenue: $70M

Collaborative Solutions History

If you’ll interview with the firm, this section will give you an edge. Knowing the history of Collaborative Solutions LLC will help you understand its culture and how it has adapted to the changes brought about by rapid digitization in the global economy.

Collaborative Solutions began aiding the transformations of HR and Finance workplaces in 2003. In 2007, becoming a Workday Consulting Partner enabled rapid expansion. Though the firm is headquartered in the Washington, DC area, it has over a dozen offices worldwide.

As a result, the size of Collaborative Solutions’ workforce has doubled in recent years and is forecasted to continue to grow to meet the needs of current and future clients.

Collaborative Solutions Careers

Interested in joining ‘Team Collabie?’ (Yeah, we’re cringing too.) There are many different consulting opportunities that a career at Collaborative Solutions offers. The firm delivers Finance and Human Resources solutions across sectors, helping its clients connect with the appropriate Partner technology for the situation, be it Workday, AppLearn, Automation Anywhere, Phenom, utmost, or Turnkey. Let’s explore Collaborative Solutions careers further.

Practice Areas

Collaborative Solutions practice areas include three broad areas: Advisory Services, Deployment Services, and Continues Value Services. These practice areas are further subdivided:

• • Advisory Services
    • Strategy – help clients identify and develop plans around their most pressing challenges related to HR, finance, or student transformation.
    • Change management – help clients maximize ROI by ensuring employees adopt and engage fully with the technologies their employers invest in.
  • Deployment Services
    • Rapid deployment – help clients get software up and running quickly using pre-configured templates.
    • Balance Deployment – cloud-based software deployment that balances speed and simplicity with some degree of customization.
    • Enterprise deployment – consultative, customized deployments suited to a client’s exact needs.
  • Continuous Value Services – help companies take advantage of the full potential of the cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) investment they’ve made; ERP post-implementation support that drives value and efficiency while allowing senior leadership to operate more strategically.
    • Application management services
    • Service delivery enablement
    • Optimization projects
    • Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures

Industries

The industries Collaborative Solutions operates in are wide ranging. However, the firm conducts most of its business in the following six industries:

• • Financial Services and Insurance. Both insurance and banking institutions have been overwhelmed by technological changes and have begun using Workday to keep up.
  • Government. Public enterprises and public services on all levels are constantly undergoing key HR-related projects; Collaborative Solutions ensures these projects are as efficient as possible.
  • Healthcare. Medical organizations often encounter unique challenges in transitioning into cloud-based technological systems; Collaborative Solutions offers a one-stop shop that enables easy navigation through HR, finance, and supply chain management so healthcare clients can focus on patient care.
  • Higher Education. By collaborating with Collaborative Solutions, higher education institutions can maximize their Workday use to its ultimate potential.
  • Nonprofit. Nonprofits frequently need assistance to ensure that reports are accurate and that all operations are efficient; Collaborative Solutions increases efficiency and accuracy.
  • Professional & Business Services. Coupling Collaborative Solutions’ consulting team with Workday’s Professional Service Automation (PSA) is the solution most often delivered to professional and business services clients.

Office Locations

Collaborative Solutions headquarters are in Reston, VA. However, there are sixteen total offices:

U.S.

• • • Atlanta, GA (Southeast Regional Office)
    • Chicago, IL (Midwest Regional Office)
    • Pleasanton, CA (West Regional Office)
    • New York, NY (Northeast Regional Office)
    • Tampa, FL (Accelerated Cloud Deployment Center & Integration Factory)
    • Denver, CO (Rocky Mountain Regional Office)
    • San Diego, CA (Southern California Office)

International

• • • Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (Victoria Office)
    • London, UK (London Office)
    • Dublin, Ireland (Dublin Office)
    • Sydney, Australia (Sydney Office)
    • Melbourne, Australia (Melbourne Office)
    • Perth, Australia (Perth Office)
    • Auckland, New Zealand (Auckland Office)
    • Manila, Philippines (Manila Office)

Career Path

The most common Collaborative Solutions career path requires expertise with the core cloud technologies the firm helps clients implement. However, there are other options at the firm, from creative to HR to recruiting.

The firm brings in both folks fresh out of undergrad and also ones with years of experience. A sampling of current open positions:

• • Workday integrations consultant
  • PowerPoint graphic designer
  • Workday engagement manager
  • HCM principal consultant
  • HCM consultant
  • HCM associate consultant
  • Regional Sales Manager – Healthcare
  • Regional Sales Manager – Financial Services

Collaborative Solutions Target Schools

Collaborative Solutions doesn’t officially have any target schools, but it does give preference to a select few:

• • SUNY Albany
  • University of South Florida
  • University of Phoenix
  • Virginia Tech
  • Florida State University

In addition, the firm recruits from schools in close proximity to its offices.

Collaborative Solutions Diversity Programs

Collaborative Solutions has a few diversity programs / affinity groups to support employees:

• • Hue (for POC)
  • Hype (for Young Professionals)
  • Spectrum (for LGBTQ+)
  • Valor (for veterans)
  • Women Together (for women)
  • Working Parents Network (for parents)

Collaborative Solutions Exit Opportunities

A career at Collaborative Solutions isn’t likely to last forever – as with any consulting firm – so it’s smart to think about potential exit opportunities before even starting with the firm.
Some employees leave Collaborative to work for a client, perhaps one they were staffed on a project for and developed good rapport with. Others leave to pursue jobs at other consulting firms, jobs with the companies that provide the underlying technology solutions (like Workday), or jobs with private equity or venture capital firms that are migrating portfolio companies to the cloud.

Collaborative Solutions Culture

Culture at Collaborative Solutions can be a mixed bag, depending on who you talk to. When Cognizant acquired Collaborative in 2020, this caused some issues within the firm.

1. The acquisition wasn’t communicated well by Collaborative leadership, frustrating many within the company.
2. A culture clash occurred as the two firms attempted to integrate; the ripple effects from this are still being felt years later.

In addition, the growth Collaborative has experienced in recent years has led to growing pains; leadership has tried to keep up, but some employees left for greener pastures amidst the company’s metamorphosis. For example, some employees complain about poor benefits or low base pay compared to market rates. All in all, leadership does seem open to receiving constructive feedback and instituting changes – it’s just taking a little longer than some employees care for.

Despite the apparent negatives, Collaborative Solutions culture does have a lot of things going for it. People at the firm do seem to like who they work with, even if the hours can be long and sometimes unpredictable – not unusual for the consulting lifestyle.

The firm does pay out good bonuses and has some sweet perks including unlimited PTO, “Flex Fridays,” and good work-life balance. There is also a commitment to giving back to the community. Through the company program Volunteer Time Off, employees can help out at volunteer organizations of their choosing. The main charity that Collabies volunteer at is Autism Speaks (the firm has supported Autism Speaks for over a decade).

Collaborative Solutions Interviews

A Collaborative Solutions interview will vary based on the role you are applying for. For certain positions, it will be technical in nature. For others, it will be more traditional or behavioral. Some questions you may get in a Collaborative Solutions interview are:

• Are you good with Excel?
• Why Collaborative?
• How do you manage work-life balance?
• Do you prioritize well?
• What do you know about Workday?
• Have you ever failed at something? Why?
• Tell me about a time you saw something unethical at work.

Collaborative Solutions Interview Process

As an undergraduate, the Collaborative Solutions interview process may start with an on-campus career fair or interview. As an experienced hire, you would apply online. However, don’t apply blindly without first networking (unless you want to diminish your chances of getting an interview)!

The interview process can take as long as a month and include a mix of behavioral questions and basic interview questions with a mixture of managers and senior managers. As you interview with more senior individuals, the interviews may become conversational with fewer behavioral questions. After the final interview, you should hear about the firm’s decision within 3-4 days.

Collaborative Solutions Salary

An analyst will start out making between $70-80k for their initial Collaborative Solutions salary. That number will increase as they ascend the ladder, of course.
Salaries at Collaborative Solutions are slightly under what competitors pay.

Conclusion

While not perfect, Collaborative Solutions is an evolving company with potential. If implementing SAAS cloud-based solutions gets you out of bed in the morning, you may want to consider applying. Make sure your resume is optimized before applying to give yourself the best possible shot.

 

Additional Resources:

• Top 25 Consulting Firms
• Top 10 Boutique Consulting Firms in US
• Consulting Resume: Complete Guide
• Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide