‘Our superheroes from the past aren’t necessarily the ones who’ll help us tomorrow’: Avanade CEO on New Horizon transformation
Rodrigo Caserta talks mid-market hunting, leadership transformation, and customer transition
Avanade is undergoing one of the most, if not the most significant transformation in its history, as Rodrigo Caserta, the company’s recently appointed CEO, has turned the focus from enterprise to mid-market.
In an exclusive interview with CRN, Caserta says that after accelerations across all quarters this year and an order book growing double digits year-on-year, the organisation is on track for a good year.
“We’ve seen acceleration across the year: Q2 was better than Q1, Q3 better than Q2, and Q4 will be better than Q3. Strong trajectory,” he says.
“We’ve also started the planning season for our next financial year.”
These results were fuelled by the organisation’s latest strategy, ‘New Horizon’, launched last September.
After 25 years of building “the best Microsoft capability in the world” to support enterprise customers through Accenture, Avanade, the Accenture-Microsoft joint venture, has identified a huge opportunity in the mid-market.
“Mid-market will be our direct, end-to-end channel: lead generation, pre-sales, sales, account management, everything,” explains the CEO.
Before putting in place the new strategy, the business already counted 1,200 customers across the mid-market.
But the company isn’t pulling out from the enterprise market.
“We’re still a dual-channel business; we love working with Accenture on large transformations, but now we also have a strategy for working directly with Microsoft in the mid-market,” says the CEO.
Despite thousands of mid-market customers in its ranks, 80 per cent of the company’s results came from enterprise customers, representing $3bn to $4bn (£2.97bn) in revenue.
As a 25-year-old company, the joint venture now wants to leave the nest, and tackle companies with annual revenue between $500m and $5bn.
Challenges and competitors
But with change come challenges, as evolution cannot be achieved without having to overcome impediments.
After nearly three decades supporting enterprise customers, the organisation had to change its DNA.
“Our superheroes from the past aren’t necessarily the ones who’ll help us win in the mid-market,” Caserta tells CRN.
“Internally, that requires us to build ‘one-to-many’ shared services with standardised SLAs, so we’ve needed to change our processes and delivery methodologies.
“We’re going through a big capability refresh, not managing people out, but injecting new skills to win in the mid-market.
“Talent acquisition is front-of-mind for me.”
The company also had to rethink its pricing, as the mid-market requires it to be more competitive.
The CEO explains that genAI is helping the firm increase internal efficiencies, with the goal to reduce costs and help revisit its pricing model.
It has also changed its go-to-market approach, with pre-packaged offerings through which it aims to leverage external channels.
“We’re not trying to be the cheapest. That’s not our game,” the CEO explains.
“We want to be competitive while offering a strong delivery record and real scale.
“It’s been a year of huge internal transformation: new strategies, leadership changes, reorgs, channel bifurcation.
“It’s been big, but I’m proud of the results.”
The company’s competition has also changed faces, as the mid-market is a much more fragmented space than enterprise.
“In the enterprise space, it’s easy: the big players IBM, EY, Capgemini, Deloitte, Cognizant, you see them everywhere. That’s mature territory.
“But in the mid-market, it’s different.
“Sometimes we find ourselves competing with firms we’ve never heard of.
“Great boutiques, but small, with like 13 employees.
“The large global brands aren’t really playing in the mid-market.”
Time to hunt
As Caserta was called to tackle new opportunities in the mid-market segment, this led him the consolidate and sometimes make changes to the senior leadership team.
In March, the CEO appointed a new executive committee in an attempt to boost Avanade’s mid-market strategy.
“Most changes were planned, but some were a result of realising people’s strengths didn’t align with the new strategy,” he highlights.
To become established in the mid-market, Avanade could not rely on a sedentary life but needed to be active, on the lookout, and move quickly.
“The mid-market requires more ‘hunting’ than ‘farming’,” Caserta said.
“To be competitive in the mid-market, we needed internal changes: leadership, skills, operations.
“Mid-market deals and customers are different; they require different solutions and delivery models.
“Some people left, but many stayed in new roles. For example, our previous CMO [Ruth Rowan] is now our chief growth officer.”
The company also has ring-fenced its mid-market teams in sales, solutioning, marketing.
It now hires 17,000 people onshore, in client-facing roles, and 40,000 to 42,000 people offshore, operating in its service delivery hubs.
Its UK onshore team counts 1,000 consultants, while 4,000 to 5,000 offshore employees support UK customers.
Changes were also made to the country’s leadership, as Paula Panarra was appointed GM of the UK and Ireland in December 2024.
UK number one, Brazil growing the fastest
Amid Avanade’s European and Middle Eastern operations, the UK represents is largest market, and the company’s second largest region worldwide after the US.
“The opportunity in the UK is massive,” explains Caserta.
“This market is underserved; big GSIs have been focused on enterprise customers, and Microsoft UK loves our mid-market strategy and wants to work with us.
“Of course, they’re challenging us to be competitive, but this is where we’re focused.”
Based in Seattle, the business splits its operations into three markets: Americas (US, Canada, Brazil), Europe and the Middle East (UK, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UAE), and Asia Pacific (Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia).
In the Americas, while the US is its largest business, Brazil is its fastest growing one.
The Middle East operations are relatively new, as Avanade launched its entities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi two and a half years ago.
Caserta says he is also involved in early conversations in Saudi Arabia.
While Japan is both the company’s largest and fastest-growing market in Asia, Australia’s performance is reportedly rebounding after a couple of quieter years.
Caserta tells CRN he is also planning to expand to Thailand and Vietnam.
To not only expand but also consolidate its capabilities, the company intends to double down on acquisitions and is currently having conversations with firm across the US, UK, Europe, and Asia.
“Asia, in particular, is vibrant; it is our fastest-growing region right now,” highlights the CEO.
“It’s been a year of huge internal transformation: new strategies, leadership changes, reorgs, channel bifurcation. It’s been big, but I’m proud of the results.
New techs and startups
Avanade also has an eye on and an appetite for new technologies, and aims to help customers create AI roadmaps where the journey is almost self-funded
“A lot of our work is preparing clients for AI success, aligning systems, data, governance, and security.
“Once those are in place, we help build applications.
“We’re also creating a library of GenAI-powered apps that deliver ‘quick wins’ in functions like marketing, procurement, sales, and operations.
“Much of the work with our largest clients is still business-focused, working with CFOs on the value case, helping create a path they feel confident investing in.
“AI for us is not just about the tech. It’s about value, impact, and helping customers get started confidently and sustainably.”
Annette Giardina, Avanade’s chief innovation and sustainability officer, previously told CRN that the company was actively partnering with startups to bring external innovation into its business and customers.
Caserta explains these collaborations mainly concern the US and Asia.
It also has partnerships with the broader Microsoft ecosystem, such as Databricks and Sitecore.
“Our ecosystem is hybrid.
“We don’t believe we can do everything ourselves.
“We’re constantly evaluating where partnerships, especially with startups, can help us expand faster and deliver more value to our clients.”