BY: HALEY FISHER, MANAGING CONSULTANT AT TWELVE CONSULTING GROUP
In the past 5 years, the Twelve team has grown from 1 to 45 employees, built three offices, and successfully implemented 293 Anaplan projects for 90 different clients. Twelve holds a steady spot in the Minnesota Business Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”, and has given back to our communities through volunteering and donations totaling nearly $200,000. Twelve is a gold-tier partner for Anaplan and was named Anaplan Regional Partner of the Year at their annual user conference earlier this year. Needless to say, Twelve has been busy. We have been building the plane as we fly it, and because of our growth – we needed to bring on a new pilot.
Pete Amundson joined the Twelve team this September as Head of Delivery. While Pete may be new to Twelve, he is no stranger to the ecosystem - he was a leader in the Anaplan Customer Success Organization for four years. As Head of Delivery, Pete’s role is balancing Twelve’s people, customers, culture, and business fundamentals by focusing on customer health, people development, utilization, employee engagement, and hiring (yes! we are growing!!). All of this on top of being a new dad as of October 2018 and making the move from Wisconsin to Minnesota in December 2018, Pete is surely not bored either! Read on to learn about my conversation with Pete.
Why did you hire Pete as Twelve’s Head of Delivery? (Josh King, Managing Partner)
Pete was a no brainer for me because of his alignment to our Twelve values, his consulting experience, and his customer first mentality. He has an understanding of what our customers need and is passionate about developing our people and teams at Twelve. He’s only been with us for a couple months and he’s been able to make a big impact. We’re lucky to have him.
Why did you apply for Twelve’s Head of Delivery position? (Pete Amundson, Head of Delivery)
Twelve has a tremendous reputation within the Anaplan ecosystem for helping customers unlock exceptional value. As a member of Anaplan’s Customer Success team for over four years, I saw first-hand Twelve’s ability to execute on a number of challenging engagements. No matter the use case, each Twelve project followed a prescriptive process that led to the best chance of success for customers of all size. Customers raved about their experiences working with Twelve, often onstage during Anaplan’s annual Hub event where they were named 2018 Regional Partner of the Year.
When the Head of Delivery position became available, I jumped at the chance to lead Twelve’s well-established Services team. For Anaplan to continue its record growth, the partner community must scale just as quickly. I saw the opportunity to help develop the next generation of Anaplan Consultants and Solution Architects, while also joining an organization whose values resonate with my personal beliefs. At Twelve, I’ve been given the opportunity to hire and develop the leaders who will turn our customer’s Connected Planning roadmaps into reality.
What have you learned since joining Twelve? (Pete Amundson, Head of Delivery)
At Twelve, I’ve learned that our values are at the core of everything we do. We question ourselves on a daily basis to ensure that our actions are aligned with the values we’ve set forth. Since joining, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of our values and why they’re so important to us.
Our value of ‘Personal Growth’ is something that’s near and dear to my heart. During my tenure at Anaplan, I wore just about every hat within our Customer Success team and appreciated the opportunity to explore new roles. I got to learn the product, participate in sales cycles, present at recruiting events, and even lead a team.
At Twelve, I have been blown away by the emphasis on organic growth and the investments we are making in employee development. Upon hiring, all employees are required to spend time implementing Anaplan at one of our current customers. Once comfortable with the platform, we have Career Paths defined for top performers to spread their wings in Sales, Management, Advisory Services, and Solution Architecture. We are proud of our Training Programs and believe them to be the best in breed. As we grow, we lift each other up, creating succession plans for others to fill our shoes along the way.
What is your biggest goal right now? (Pete Amundson, Head of Delivery)
As Head of Delivery, my primary focus is scaling our organization to meet the needs of our growing customer base. We have aggressive growth targets to keep pace with Services demand over the next Fiscal Year. As Anaplan scales to a $1B revenue organization, the need for qualified Consultants and Solution Architects will be at a Premium. As an organization, we are continuously seeking out qualified candidates to join our team. Once onboard, our mission is to provide new hires with industry-leading training modules, certification programs, and project management methodologies required to deliver immediate value to our customers. Our values and processes will ensure that we’re not sacrificing quality or employee happiness on our path to achieving our goals.