Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool

8/20/2019 Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/facilities-and-it-two-teams-one-goal-one-tool 1/4

6 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2015

FACILITIES AND IT:

TWO TEAMS, ONE

GOAL, ONE TOOL



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



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

Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool

Documents

Transcript of Facilities and IT: two teams, one goal, one tool