Complaint Review: Phoenix Business Consulting

Years ago, (2004)I wrote articles for  www. saptips.com. The site has since converted over to ww.erptips.com. One of the articles I wrote was around SAP Project Management and the ‘soft’ skills needed for a successful implementation. Now, here in early 2011, I’m going to revisit that article and update some experiences and lessons learned from a project back east. The end result was one of the absolute worst experiences of my life as well as SAP career. It also reaffirms my beliefs which I will expand upon later. Now, I will warn you, I will mention 3 people by name. Some of you may know these 3 people, some of you may be offended by what you are about to read. I will tell you my experiences with these people and my thoughts about them.  Before you go ‘lawyer’ on me warning me about libel, slander or defamation; those components are a possibility but can only happen if the statements are untrue. In other words, if the statements are in fact true, the libel, slander and defamation claims are invalid. So, here we go. In June 2010, I was contacted by a rep of Phoenix Business Consulting regarding a SAP Project. The primary contact was a chap by the name of Hanif Sarangi. You can read about this chap here; http://firmsconsulting.com/2010/11/02/deloitte-consulting-is-sued-marin-county-hires-a-dodgy-firm-to-back-up-its-claims-against-deloitte/ Sarangi started off to be an ok guy until he actually went to the client in Durham, NC and told them I could be there on July 6, 2010. This was news to me as I was finishing another project in Northern California. Hanif did not okay this with me but I went ahead anyway to NC. This is going to sound like whining but I actually missed the fireworks as I had a 6:30 AM flight from San Francisco. (Those who have watched the show from San Francisco know what I’m talking about, sorry NYC) In any event I met the team and found them to be tolerable. My first impression of the first person of this group, Barbara Torian was, ‘she’s going to be trouble’.  Boy was I ever on target on that one. Now in fairness, I will tell you I’m not a fan of black females. Call me a sellout, token or whatever name you come up with but at the end of the day, I’m more attracted to white females. I have my reasons but will save that for another time. I will tell you Barbara Torian did nothing to change my mind, in fact only enhance those feelings.  It is what it is, get over it. Anyway, there was already an employee there working as the Basis consultant. I won’t mention his name but I will tell you, he’s an outstanding guy and we have remained close. Those of you who have managed projects before know we need 2 Basis resources, one on the client side and one on the consulting side. I approached Barbara with this request and after a short search came up with a person thought to be suitable for the task. Enter Donald C Smith. Right off the bat, there was conflict. Smith (he doesn’t warrant even calling him by his first name) chastised the employee and me without any provocation. He has the people skills of a boulder. Everytime, EVERYTIME he opened his mouth it was to put someone down!! I will give him credit, he was bold, he would even tell you to your face how worthless you were and how better he was not only at his job but even better than you at YOUR job and how everyone else was better at you at your job as well. Smith is a despicable individual, AVERAGE Basis resource and if you looked up the definition of disturbing the peace, you would see a picture of him next to it. Another employee, whom I shall not name for fear of them being terminated said, ‘ I knew of him a long time ago and I didn’t like him then and don’t like him now’. Also, LADIES, I have it on solid authority that he has been arrested/accused of domestic battery on at least one occasion. Just that alone should tell you what type of ‘man’ he is. Ok,so, before too long, Smith had offended me by telling others not to believe that BS that Travis was telling you. Now this was in relation to my experiences involving SAP’s Solution Manager which at one point I was involved in as a part of SAP America’s Active Global Support division. Smith, even disrespected the employee to the point that within one week of being on-board, the employee was a nervous wreck and there were then questions about whether we wanted the consultant to stay. There were incidents of blatant intimidation, in which he emailed the employee and told him it would take Smith 30 minutes to do what took the employee 3 days. This was a slap in and of itself but he had the unmitigated gall to copy several other employees as well!! This was when it really got ugly. Reenter Torian who at the onset was no more qualified for the position it held than I am being a heart surgeon. She actually told the employee, if you don’t like it you can leave. Eventually, she ‘forced’ the employee out. Then it was my turn. I’m happy to go step by step with the sequence of events but believe me, it will come out in due time at a time and place where all parties WILL be forced to tell the truth. In any event, after a heated argument, it was decided I was no longer a part of the project. Then the dram with Sarangi started. Now, mind you, I have 3 SIGNED timesheets from Torian but Sanragi REFUSED to honor them!! Not only that but he and Smith conspired to STEAL property in excess of $250. Furthermore, Sarangi even attempted to play ‘lawyer’ accusing me of making threats, saying his has all these witnesses and he wants to help me. I refer you  back to the link at the top of this blog. You will get a good idea of the help this creature gives. Then he goes on to question my credentials. Look, I am an NBA Certified Agent. I invite you to review the process of becoming a certified agent and see for yourself how intense the process is. Then you will see for yourself that Sarangi, Torian, Smith and even Rick Cornell are more concerned with the cowardly act of making themselves look good b/c if they can’t obtain this status, why should I? As I am transitioning away from active SAP consulting, my advice is this; Stay away from Hanif Sarangi and Phoenix Business Consulting and Donald Smith. These two are truly the most despicable people I have ever had the displeasure of working with. Instead of spending all their energy trying to figure out if I’m sleeping with someone or validating my credentials, or trying to figure out what I AM, they should be spending more time figuring out what they ARE. Insecure, abusive and wretched individuals.