Pros
Before July 2023, Cision has a unique work culture. Employees take ownership and leadership of their work. Great benefits.
Cons
Encountered extremely poor post-acquisition execution resulting in severe destruction of company's value and culture. A lack of business knowledge in the new executive management who took over, including lacking understanding of fundamental business principles of corporate value, growth, Cision's identity, positioning and PR technology sector. Experienced multiple rounds of reorganizations initiated by new executive leadership brought in from Brandwatch, starting in mid-2022, which had derailed/haltered regular business progress and development. Transitioning to a new CEO Cali Tran, joined as the new CEO at the beginning of 2023. The Cision leaderships wanted to support Tran to be successful. Yet unfortunately Tran started introducing destructive business operations, including openly claiming many of his clients as competitors and wanting to "get rid of them". This cascaded into massive confusion at frontline sales. In the middle of 2023, Tran, again claimed that (as part of his good credit), he made the decision to maintain selling prices despite supplier price increases due to inflation, impacting Cision's margins. In the middle of July 2023, approximately 150 hardworking employees in the US were summoned into last minute virtual meetings and let go abruptly. This included functional officers who want Tran's success at Cision, top performers in all critical functions. These positions were filled by individuals from ex-Vericast/Valasis, and Brandwatch. Cali Tran is formally the president/CEO of Vericast and Valasis, online coupon distributor. The company received 1-star from 1000 insider reviewers on glass-door, and documented rounds of layoffs with deteriorating culture during Tran's tenure. Other general cons include low compensation.