Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool
Transcript of Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool
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6 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2015
FACILITIES AND IT:
TWO TEAMS, ONE
GOAL, ONE TOOL
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CUSTOMER IN FOCU
Cebeo is an electrical wholesaler with a strong customer focus. They are
not only concerned with the services at their stores, but also with offering
even better support to their employees. The collaboration between
Facilities and IT is a good example of this.
Cebeo focuses on the sale of electrical supplies for the
building and housing industry. Both the shops and web
shops offer a diverse range of materials for professionals:
from installation material to cables. Cebeo continues to
diversify their range with more specialized products –
and they recently started selling professional tools for
technicians. Over the years, Cebeo has developed into a
large organization with about 700 employees who work in
procurement, logistics, sales and supporting services like
Finance, Marketing, HR, Facilities and IT.
‘We want to be the best’
Cebeo is market leader in Belgium. “This is really important
to us,” says Jo Vanackere, responsible for the internal and
external communication at Cebeo. “But more importantly:
we try to stay close to our customers. It doesn’t matter
to them that we’re the biggest, but rather that we’re
the best. Everything we do should focus on helping
customers improve.” This strategy is reected in all of
Cebeo’s activities: from the way they help customers to
communication. “It’s all about the customer’s experience,”
says Vanackere. “Analysing our customers’ purchasing
behaviour has helped us understand their needs. We
adjust our basic product range based on these needs,
helping us improve the availability of these products for
our customers.”
Cebeo continues to work on their customer-oriented
approach, says Wim Neirink, IT application development
manager. “We expanded our webshop with a number of
functionalities important to technicians, helping support
them in their work as entrepreneur. We have the same
approach at our stores. It can be hard for customers to visit
the stores during opening hours. This is why our stores
have lockers where customers can collect their orders
when it suits them.”
Centralizing supporting services
Cebeo has always been a decentralized organization. The
warehouse has close to 40,000 m2 storage room, and 32
stores spread across Belgium. Over the past years, Cebeo
has grown considerably thanks to a takeover, which meant
they had to manage the organization differently. “Up to
three years ago, the sales and supporting services were
spread across several locations,” says Vanackere. “This
leaves you miles apart, but you still have to work together
– which isn’t efcient.” “What’s more, the look of the
buildings didn’t match Cebeo’s image,” says Neirinck.
“We supply goods for projects in the service industry
sector, so our ofces should set a good example.”
In 2011 Cebeo decided to bring management,
procurement and all supporting services under the
same roof. “This wasn’t a straightforward decision,” says
Vanackere. “Especially when it came to the human aspect.
Moving to the other side of the country isn’t necessarily
a logical step for someone from Antwerp. That’s why we
thoroughly prepared and discussed the move. We’ve been
located in the new ofce for three years now.
More central, structured and efcient
In addition to the internal centralization of Cebeo, the
stores were also modernized. “New stores were opened,”
says Vanackere, “and older stores were redecorated.
The buildings that house our stores are also like a shop
window where we can apply our clever solutions for
houses and buildings. This has made our buildings
more complex.”
“Facilities had to manage a large number of sites
with a small team,” says Neirinck. “They needed a more
structured approach – so they started looking for a tool
to support their tasks.”
TEXT: NIENKE DEUSS PHOTOGRAPHY: JONAS MERTENS
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CUSTOMER IN FOCU
Simply working togetheraccording to Cebeo:
1. Initiate collaboration with
supporting services at an
early stage.
2. Focus on common ground and joint
aspects of the services.
3. Research your users’ needs and take
these into account when setting up
your tool.
4. Make it as easy as possible for
people to use a tool.
5. Don’t do everything at once, but
take it one step at a time. Jo Vanackere (l) and Wim Neirinck