Since March 2021, Marc Dreu has been part of the Avanade family. He works as a Functional Consultant in Marketing & CRM and is a Works Council member. Among other goals, one of his main career goals is to be the trusted advisor for clients and manage them on a strategic level with a focus on customer centricity. He lives in Arnhem with his girlfriend and likes to be active with sports such as playing squash and riding a motorcycle.

In ‘Let’s get technical’ we tell the stories of Avanadi who work on their technical knowledge to build experience and expertise in order to challenge the client and create valuable recommendations. Avanade supports employees to focus on self-growth and expanding their skills and knowledge. Through training, peers, growth opportunities, events and initiatives.

Switching to another company and role

After a couple of years of working as an account manager, Marc searched for a new opportunity to boost his career: “My last work experience before Avanade was at another IT company, advising on the full Microsoft Cloud spectrum and focusing on digital transformation in particular. I realized that I gained a lot of generic knowledge about the solutions and how to sell and negotiate. I wanted to make more impact in my conversations with clients and decided to combine my technical knowledge and business experience, in order to build valuable partnerships. When someone told me about Avanade and the company culture, I applied for the role as a Functional CRM Consultant. Now, I work full time at a company where I can fulfill my career ambitions.”

Carving out a career path

Marc thought long and hard about his career switch: “I would take on a different role and I wanted to make sure I made the right decision. Aside from Avanade, I had two more offers from different companies. What I liked about Avanade was the scale of projects, type of clients, the focus on Microsoft technology and the company culture. I am convinced this will help me to advise clients even better and support them in making better business decisions. And I can take my tech knowledge to the next level and truly make an impact. I now focus on the sales and marketing part of CRM to help our clients meet their business goals. This means I am configuring systems and helping our customers to understand their clients better by using the power of the CRM platform of Microsoft. On a daily basis I lead a team of professionals to fulfill and exceed customers' expectations.”

Supporting each other

“What challenges me is to be a better person every day by being a trusted advisor for our clients and helping my colleagues whenever and wherever I can. I am eager to learn new things, set up new initiatives within Avanade, and be the voice of many Avanadi as a Works Council member. Within Avanade you are the one that decides the next step in your career. If you share your ambitions, goals and wishes, you will receive the support to make these changes. I would like to think along with the vision and roadmap of a client and instruct an operational team of experts to build the best possible solution. I like the show, don’t tell principle; show everyone what you can and take responsibility for your actions. At Avanade, we all help and support each other to be proactive and create a lasting impact with our knowledge and skills. Something I experience on a daily basis.”