When Andrea Milano shares her proudest Perficient moments, she begins with people she leads and solutions provided to clients. She’s a shining example of Women In Technology at Perficient who successfully merge project management excellence with championing growth for everyone.
Innovation Starts Inside
The scope of Andrea Milano’s work is expansive and is powered by her innovative mind along with both leading and learning from colleagues. The same level of innovation she employs to galvanize clients is unilaterally applied to sparking innovation internally. In addition to her client-focused approach, Andrea is regarded as a thought leader, mentor and coach to colleagues. She recognizes the value of sharing her knowledge and expertise with others and takes the time to help team members grow, develop skills, and gain exposure to large projects.
Andrea’s approach to leadership empowers Perficient team members to consistently perform at a higher level, deliver outstanding work and exceed client expectations.
When asked how she measures success, Andrea thinks about it on a case-by-case basis but mentioned that two factors to success never change: “For individuals, [success is] providing growth opportunities for people to do what they’re passionate about” and for the client, she continued that, “helping them to meet whatever objective it was that they laid out and maybe we don’t get there on the path they would normally take, but to make sure we get there.”
Reimagining What’s Possible
Internally, Andrea is synonymous with going the extra mile to ensure clients are wowed. She ensures this by keeping clients informed of project status and reimagining solutions that replace previously held ideas of what’s possible. More often than not, what this looks like is ensuring that clients receive not only what they explicitly ask for but also what they didn’t even know they needed.
Andrea works to quickly identify areas of opportunity within a project to deliver more than what was asked. This attention to detail and intuitive project management lens have earned the trust and respect of her clients, who often become long-term partners and even refer business to us.
Risks for Wins
Andrea’s career is not void of big risks. Many of those risks have provided opportunities for either growth or introspection and in rare cases, both. One risk Andrea Milano took was carving out two career breaks relatively early in her career to recalibrate and redefine her goals. Career breaks are inherently risky. Sometimes time away can adversely impact future employment opportunities. However, she was able to find employment after both breaks and returned to work with renewed passion.
Another risk involves intentionally taking on projects that involve complex problem solving. When you take on tough projects and return to the client with solutions that make them happy, it allows for trust building, relationship growth, and increase in business. One example she gave involved taking on a small, but challenging project. That project that began with a 2-person team has ballooned into a lasting partnership with more than 10 dedicated solutions architects and a $5 million a year deal.
The Andrea Effect
Andrea Milano’s impact is not limited to her own success; she elevates the entire team and sets a standard for professionalism and commitment that others strive to achieve. Her presence at Perficient is a testament to the difference one individual can make when they go above and beyond to ensure client satisfaction and inspire their colleagues to be better.
This is part of an ongoing series intended to highlight exceptional Women In Technology of Perficient.
We invite you to learn more about Perficient’s Women in Technology: click here.
