For over 20 years, Marit advised senior leaders and board members on digital transformation & strategy, business transformation, organizational design, cost optimization and portfolio management. Before her switch to Avanade, she worked for one of the Big Four companies as Director Digital Transformation. Since September 2018 Marit is now Head of Avanade Advisory Netherlands.

In ‘Meet your manager’ we share Inspiring leadership stories of Avanadi with a management role. Leadership is not all about decision making and strategy, it is about risk taking, going against the grain, and caring for others - acting for the greater good. Here we weigh up some of the successes of our manager by exploring the true nature of the individuals concerned.

Next level advisory

Marit lives in a small village in The Netherlands with her husband and two daughters. In her spare time, she likes to partake in outdoor activities, such as running and hiking. As important, is spending time with friends and family around the dinner table. In her current role at Avanade, she built the advisory business from scratch and is now further expanding the business and team: “I was asked to set-up the advisory business and was intrigued by the use and choice of technologies and the degree of innovativeness within the company. From an advisory and consultancy perspective I did not have the experience where a company not only advises on a solution, but also builds and implements it. An approach which supports the client throughout the whole process. Currently, I am expanding the advisory business that was built with my knowledge and experience. For companies to be future proof, they need in-depth insights which are translated into concrete solutions. My tasks vary from helping clients in their digital journey, managing and building my team, and meeting with leaders within the company, both in the Netherlands and globally.”

From inspiration to action

“To succeed we need to work together’’. Something that comes naturally when working at Avanade. I daily meet with colleagues from other departments such as data & analytics to discuss the type of business questions and assignments we receive from our clients. But also, we recruit together and search for the best possible candidates. In addition, I am involved with international teams to talk about the offerings, local experiences and current projects for inspirations and new ideas and translating them to our market. When managing my team, I always want to make sure that I match the right person to the right job. Looking also into the company culture and type of domain. We support companies in, for example digitalizing sales processes, advising on how to effectively work together in a digital way, guiding them in cloud transformation and help in the adoption process of working with new technologies. Everything to prepare them for the future and make companies more flexible and react quicker by implementing the best possible solutions.”

Diverse team

Marit is also a career advisor for multiple team members: “I really like that my team is full of all types of diversity and has an equal male to female ratio. In terms of diversity, Avanade walks the talk and has for example many women working in C-level positions. I truly believe our advice to clients propels us by having such diverse teams. To engage my team members, we have a team events calendar and host monthly social and knowledge events to share our experiences and give updates. We already followed a salsa workshop, held a table tennis competition and organized several knowledge sessions with presenters from our own team. It all has to do with sharing value and keeping everyone involved and connected.”

Look at our career pages to find out more about working at Avanade.