Amick Brown awarded a Contract with the City of San Diego to provide SAP Consulting Services

Amick Brown has been awarded a 5-year contract with the City of San Diego to provide SAP Consulting Services.  This contract follows the prior contract awarded to Amick Brown in 2015.  We are so proud to be able to assist the City with their SAP  program and look forward to a continued successful partnership through 2025.

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As the Human Resource Manager at Amick Brown, Jenna is responsible for managing all HR programs and functions. She handles onboarding, payroll, benefits, employee relations and much more. She works close with our employees to ensure we are meeting their needs and provides support where necessary. Jenna has been on the Amick Brown team for almost seven years and truly enjoys her role as our Human Resource Manager.

Prior to joining Amick Brown, Jenna attended Chico State where she received her Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a minor in Project Management and an emphasis in Human Resource Management. This is where her passion for human resources blossomed and what made her want to pursue it as a career. She became a SHRM Certified Professional in 2015 and continues to learn and grow as a HR professional.

Jenna just recently became a mother and with her husband, welcomed their daughter into the world. She loves spending time with her family and watching her daughter grow and change every day. She also likes to get outside, ski in the winter, hike in the summer, visit wineries in her hometown and try new restaurants!

Follow Amick Brown at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/amick-brown-llc

Connect to Jenna through Jenna’s LinkedIn Profile. We hope to hear from you.

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Amick Brown has been certified by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) as an 8(a) Certified Small Business.  Entrance into the SBA’s 8(a) business development program was granted after Amick Brown successfully completed a rigorous application process to ensure that we met the SBA 8(a) program standards.

The 8(a) certification with its associated business development opportunities has a nine-year contract period and will allow Amick Brown to pursue sole source federal and state government contracts as well as set-aside contracts allocated to 8(a) certified companies.  We look forward to new opportunities to serve our customers in the government sector.

Anitha Brown, Managing Partner and Co-Founder commented saying “This is an exciting opportunity for Amick Brown.  Our company has had steady growth since its establishment in 2010.  Achieving 8(a) certification at this point in our history offers the potential for significant growth over the next few years.”

Amick Brown also offers the following technology services under GSA Schedule 70: SIN 132 51 – Information Technology Professional Services (NAICS 541511, 541512, 541513, 541519)

Amick Brown, LLC is an Information Technology consulting company providing IT consulting and staffing services with a focus on Cloud & Network Technologies, SAP and Business Intelligence.  We are also an SBA Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and are certified by the Women Business National Council (WBENC) as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE). We are an SAP Services Silver Partner and are IS0 9001-2015 certified.

The company was formed in 2010 by a team of experienced IT professionals. We are headquartered in San Ramon, CA and have an additional office in Sacramento, CA. Our experienced IT professionals support customers nationwide in the commercial and public sectors. Our team has mature processes, established infrastructure and the ability to scale which enables us to quickly provide resources matching our customer’s requirements.

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Chicago Public Schools is the nation’s third largest school district – funding over 600 schools and employing over 40,000 people.  The Board has made a strategic decision to undertake a number of technology improvement projects over the next twelve (12) to thirty-six (36) months.  Their vision is that every student in every neighborhood will be engaged in a rigorous, well-rounded instructional program and will graduate prepared for success in college, career, and life. The goal is to provide innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of education for their students, reduce the administrative burden on their educators, facilitate parent interaction and increase community engagement.

Amick Brown looks forward to serving CPS in support of their goals over the coming months.

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We are excited to get to work!

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Our decision to pursue ISO 9001 accreditation supports our commitment to providing high-quality services to our clients and to our goals of continual improvement.  We have developed our quality management system in order to improve overall performance, to maintain a high-level of quality with regard to our services and to focus on customer satisfaction.

To become ISO 9001 compliant, Amick Brown developed key process plans and documentation, a quality manual, measurement, communication and purchasing plans, as well as processes to track non-conformances and corrective actions.  We would like to acknowledge The Core Solution.com – ISO Experts for Small Businesses (www.thecoresolution.com) for helping us to understand the standard, providing training to our team and guidance as we built processes to ensure our compliance.

Amick Brown underwent two comprehensive audits by Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. (www.pjr.com) in order to achieve the certification.  We are proud to say that there were no non-conformances noted.

We look forward to providing high quality services to our clients and to continual improvement.

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Amick Brown a Sponsor at the SAP Innovation Day in San Diego on August 30, 2017.

This day-long event, attended by as many of 700 people, showcases SAP solutions that the City of San Diego has implemented or is the process of implementing.  In addition to serving as a sponsor of the event, Amick Brown is showcasing our SAP Analytics solutions and answering attendee questions regarding SAP BI and HANA.   Come see us at the event!

Lots of activity at the Amick Brown table!

Arlo Magpantay, ERP Functional Manager poses with himself!

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In any employment situation, cultural fit is critical. We often focus on this fact when hiring a permanent employee, but the reality is that work culture matters in even the shortest of temporary assignments.

First of all, what does “cultural fit” mean?  Cultural fit is a combination of motivators, work method, values, and personality. It is a connection between the employee and employer and work environment which contributes heavily to being happy and successful in any position.

Why does it matter? It matters because we are human – we want to thrive and make a difference. We want work to be satisfying and yes, make us look forward to doing it.

How we all approach these human goals is unique to our motivators, work methods, values and personality.

Let’s see some examples:

Company A is made up of hard driving, win at all costs, and the more work hours the better sort of place. Employees are recognized and rewarded for the inroads they make to beat the other guy, internally and externally. Every month/quarter/year is a chase for the big sale or the big innovation. Individual accomplishment and work environment is important to employer and employees alike.

Motivators – The Win individually first, then The Win for the team

Work Methods – Long and hard. Fast and furious.

Values – Recognition as an individual first, then as a team member

Personality – Alpha and confident, thrive on pressure

Company B is made up of hard driving, win at all costs, and work hours are many but not stressed sort of place. Employees are recognized and rewarded for the inroads they make to beat the other guy – but mostly externally. Every month/quarter/year is a chase for the big sale or the big innovation. Collaborative accomplishment and work environment is important to employer and employee alike. Individual accomplishments are also highly sought.

Motivators – The Win for the team

Work Methods – Collaborative/Individual hybrid

Values – Team relationship is a valuable part of the work process

Personality – Confident and has a strong desire for input and feedback.

Company C is a hyper-flexible and intellectually scrappy start up. It is risky in nature because of its life stage. Employees work within and across departments due to necessity and this makes for an extremely collaborative environment. Any losses or missteps are very visible, but so are the wins. High satisfaction is realized because an employee makes a visible difference directly each month/quarter/year.

Motivators – Making a positive difference every day will achieve The Win

Work Methods – Very team collaboration oriented. Very fast and nimble.

Values – Recognition for team wins, individual contribution is secondary.  Work relationships very important

Personality – Entrepreneurial, enjoys the risk/reward ratio

Now for some food for thought:

1. Choose the example which most closely matches your current organization.
2. Now circle back to the short to mid-term staffing requirement.
3. Place a technically strong, resume validated candidate into a company that conflicts with the cultural definitions of the human represented in said resume.
4. Will the result be optimal for either side of the placement?

The outcome is assured to be conflicted at best. Co-workers, Managers, and the Contractor will struggle to understand how to do business well. Communication within each of these 3 scenarios is quite different. Unspoken expectations are quite different. How challenges and successes are handles and communicated are quite different.

All of these are affect optimal success because… employers and contractors are Human.

Let us align motivators, work methods, values, and personality and watch your contracting program thrive.

Sheri Tate is the Director of Marketing at Amick Brown

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We are often asked why companies would hire outside consultants, when they could likely solve their business requirements on their own. After all, they have employees in house, which is more convenient for the company to get things going on solving their problem or starting on their new project. Not only that, these employees already know the company inside and out. Why would they waste their time bringing in an outsider and have them go through onboarding, training, and acclimating them to the culture of the company. Yes, at first look these may all seem like valid points to not hire consultants. However, there are many great reasons why companies hire consultants rather than employees.

Here are some of the reason why companies hire consultants instead of employees:

1. They want someone with a broader perspective

Often times, companies or clients already have an idea on how to solve the problem they are facing, but they want to make sure that the solution they have in mind is legitimate. Sometimes, they may be close to the answer, but may be missing out due to being too close to the problem. So, they turn to consultants for their expertise because they may have already worked through a similar problem in the past with someone else. The consultant can also give insight on what they have seen work (and not work)  with prior clients. With this experience, they can bring new and innovative ideas, or possible challenges to the table. Consultants bring in a new frame of reference for the company, and helps get rid of the mentality of “things are always done this way” attitude in organizations. In doing so, solving problems or getting projects done on time become more effective.

2. They need more manpower temporarily

Companies have important problems that need solving, but they don’t necessarily have the employee breadth to focus on them. It makes it difficult, since the companies still have to focus on their everyday operations and new projects usually require reprioritizing employees’ core job responsibilities. However, hiring new employees to fill in these gaps may not always work out considering most of these projects do not last very long or may not happen at all. Despite, having employees in house, companies might have difficulties getting the teams organized to do this critical work.

In these situations, consultants come in to serve as temporary, highly skilled employees. Since, they are not full-time employees of the company, it is often cheaper to use consultants than to hire new employees. Consultants are used to switching around companies, creating a very fast learning curve. Also, companies do not have to take their own employees away from their actual day-to-day jobs. It’s a win-win situation all around!

3. They need specific skills that they do not currently have

Another reason why companies hire consultants is to acquire specific skill set that might not be easily available in house. Working with firms who have access to these highly skilled professionals may be more efficient for your company.  With constant innovation in the tech world, keeping your staff 100% state-of-the-art is nearly impossible. Luckily, consultants make it possible for companies to bring in the skill set they demand whenever they need it, since staffing firms make it their business to keep consultants trained and ready for every situation.

4. Sometimes, it is better to have a mediator/ nonpartisan influence

When companies run into a challenging problem, it can be troublesome for them to make decisions or take the necessary actions without getting caught up in emotions or politics. In order to alleviate the situation, companies bring in consultants to provide unbiased solutions to the problem. Consultants are then able to come in and ensure that the problem is being handled by an external party that is both experienced and removed from any controversies. Moreover, consultants can also serve as back-up or affirmation for a client who is attempting to carry out a new idea that might not be well-received within an organization, without any risk to their career.

There are many, many more reasons why companies hire consultants/contractors. I have only touched on a few and would love to hear your must unique reason for hiring a contractor!

With the advent of culture matching and executive oversight for every project, the reward will outweigh the risk.  Save the high dollar value of advertising, screening, interviewing, and hiring an employee by meeting requirements with consultants.

AmickBrown.com

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We live, play and work in an immensely diverse world.  To classify ourselves, we align with others of the same representative group.  We categorize ourselves into numerous different groups based on race, gender, age, religion, culture, ethnic background, etc.  The list of identity groupings can be endless.

The traditional view of diversity in the corporate world has had a focus on preventing discrimination of specific minority groups – preventing exclusion.  We are experiencing a shift now….from preventing exclusion to embracing inclusion.  We are moving away from regarding diversity only as a compliance requirement, to recognizing the value of and benefiting from the various perspectives of different identify groups as a business strategy.

The new view of diversity as defined by the Society for Human Resource Management encompasses “the qualities, life experiences, personalities, education, skills, competencies and collaboration of the many different types of people who are necessary to propel an organization to success.” 

20633211 – diversity color tree finger prints illustration background set. file layered for easy manipulation and custom coloring.

Some of the benefits associated with a focus on diversity and inclusion include:

• Diverse teams that include individuals of different ages and with different backgrounds and perspectives can be more creative and innovative because the contribution and influence is more varied and therefore rich.
• Employers want the best and brightest to join their organization. You don’t know what identity group your best match might be associated with.  A company with strong diversity and inclusion goals and a diverse workforce will be attractive to high potential candidates regardless of their identity group.
• As with employees, customers will be associated with many identity groups as well. A diverse and inclusive workforce as well as a brand that represents a company’s diversity position will be helpful in attracting those customers.
• While affirmative action programs still exist to counter-balance historic discrimination, fostering a diverse workforce, and working with diversity supplies will satisfy compliance requirements – not doing so might result in missed opportunities.

At a high level, developing a business strategy to support diversity and inclusion can be approached in a similar fashion as other business strategies.

• Must have Executive commitment;
• Create a responsible party/organization to champion the effort and shepherd its development and progress;
• Perform an assessment of the current state that includes not only the demographics of the organization but also the perspectives of the employees regarding the company’s diversity;
• Evaluate the results of the assessment and determine path forward that might include hiring goals encompassing all of the dimensions of diversity, diversity supplier purchasing goals and organization leadership goals to name just a few;
• Facilitate organizational, process and any system changes required to support the strategy and goals;
• Communicate and provide training to all in the organization. Ensure the message is shared by the executive leadership to demonstrate its commitment to diversity;
• Monitor, measure and evaluate – adjust as needed over time.

Consider diversity in terms of the benefits it can bring to an organization.  Companies that expand their hiring practices to include individuals from varying backgrounds and those just entering the workforce in addition to those that are seasoned with experience will be rewarded with a rich and diverse workforce.  The brand will benefit as well, and at a minimum, the daily work life will be enriched by the many cultures, generations and viewpoints offered by a diverse group of individuals.

As a core belief in how we approach our business, Amick Brown works hard every day to promote the internal and client-facing benefits of diversity.

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