Alexandre Delahaye, Partner and Project Director

Lyon only

He joins the IAE School of Management for two masters in auditing and business

consulting. Then the famous EM Lyon [School of Management] welcomes Alexandre

for his master’s degree, with a specialty in business consulting. The objective: to

acquire the added value required to join a consulting firm in Lyon. "I liked Lyon a lot

for its quality of life, its "bouchons" (typical restaurants in Lyon), its proximity to the

ski slopes and to the sea. I really wanted to stay there", remembers Alexandre.

"The Parisian anthill did not appeal to me at all."

But in and around Lyon, offers for end of studies internships in management

consulting are rare. Through the EM, an opening starts to emerge… in Paris.

Its scope: information systems consulting on the finance accounting sphere.

May 2013, here he is, an internship at CGI Business Consulting for six months, which

will in the end turn into seven years! Alexandre then discovers Microsoft Dynamics

2012 ERP on a multimillion euro project at Lagardère Travel Retail.

The Knight of Lagardère

At the time, monitoring the profit margins of Relay stores, located in train, subway

stations and airports remained an exercise in approximation. However, these

margins were in large part regulated for the sale of tobacco products, newspapers

and books. Then the group diversified into food service, beverages or even souvenir

gifts. "Therefore, a migration project towards the Microsoft Dynamics ERP became

of great interest to the Lagardère group for its flexibility. It had to allow he switch to

a reference database of more than 400,000 active stock items for managing

margins and better activity monitoring. In short, a large-scale deployment with a

lot of people involved and big stakes", specifies Alexandre.

Having begun on the project as an intern, the client wants to continue with

Alexandre. Six months later he is hired on a permanent contract. As the consultants

begin to leave the project, Alexandre replaces them and is trained as topics evolve.

In December 2014, he is contacted by Flexmind, which he joins in February 2015.

Alexandre then leaves the Relay stores behind, Geodis becomes his new customer.

It is there that Alexandre makes three pivotal encounters. Those of Catherine,

Jonathan and Jérôme. Professional topics bring them together, with a nice ‘vibe’.

This continues at afterwork get-togethers, bars and lunches without forgetting the

right-next-door wine cellar. "We got to know and appreciate each other," says

Alexandre. In August 2015, the Lagardère IT services director contacts him again to

inform him that the project is still far from going into production. A major problem.

If the project does not go live in January, everything may be stopped dead on its

tracks with all the financial and human investments wiped out.

MacGyver is back !

Alexandre then returns to lend a strong hand to the team in place. He must also

imagine alternative solutions, even unusual ones. "I did support the customer on a

large number of subject areas: income, training... the qualification of the

developments was not yet complete. The CGI consultants were struggling... I acted

as a firefighter, a bit like the wild card of the project. And we finally got the

go-ahead to enter into production on January 1, 2016, with very considerable

pressure", adds Alexandre. He stays with the customer, becomes project manager

on ERP, first in support, then on the evolutionary portion. A solid relationship is built

with the CIO and the entire accounting team. "Mutual trust, I grew up with this

client and I hope I have helped them grow too", confides Alexander. In March 2018,

a lunch with Jonathan will be the triggering event. The latter tells him about the

project to create a different ESN, together with Catherine. Jonathan unveils to her

why Alexandre fits naturally into the FiveForty° perspective.

The beginnings of the tribe

"It was a great proof of trust and friendship. Touching even. When I started at

Flexmind, I was very impressed with the quality of their interventions. I thought

I had a little bit of experience. Next to them I realized that I still had a large margin

of progression. At first I even wondered which planet they were coming from when

they were debating. I felt like I was light years away," he jokes. "They pull you

towards the top by being extremely educational. An association of this quality was

very rewarding." Alexandre does not think it over too long and joins them.

"The desire to work with them again was strong and to build together such a very

exciting project" says Alexandre.

Jerôme in turn completes the quartet of partners. Very quickly, a flagship

recruitment of a Dynamics finance consultant is completed: welcome Maciré!

"A beautiful person, we could hardly find better for a first recruitment", smiles

Alexandre who also appreciates his five-a-side football coach at FiveForty°.

The tribe is growing rapidly. Alexandre points out: "We are all different, and we

complement each other perfectly. Our tribe is very coherent." °

Lyon only

He joins the IAE School of Management for two masters in auditing and business consulting. Then the famous EM Lyon [School of Management] welcomes Alexandre for his master’s degree, with a specialty in business consulting. The objective: to acquire the added value required to join a consulting firm in Lyon. "I liked Lyon a lot for its quality of life, its "bouchons" (typical restaurants in Lyon), its proximity to the ski slopes and to the sea. I really wanted to stay there", remembers Alexandre. "The Parisian anthill did not appeal to me at all."

But in and around Lyon, offers for end of studies internships in management consulting are rare. Through the EM, an opening starts to emerge… in Paris. Its scope: information systems consulting on the finance accounting sphere. May 2013, here he is, an internship at CGI Business Consulting for six months, which will in the end turn into seven years! Alexandre then discovers Microsoft Dynamics 2012 ERP on a multimillion euro project at Lagardère Travel Retail.

The Knight of Lagardère

At the time, monitoring the profit margins of Relay stores, located in train, subway stations and airports remained an exercise in approximation. However, these margins were in large part regulated for the sale of tobacco products, newspapers and books. Then the group diversified into food service, beverages or even souvenir gifts. "Therefore, a migration project towards the Microsoft Dynamics ERP became of great interest to the Lagardère group for its flexibility. It had to allow the switch to a reference database of more than 400,000 active stock items for managing margins and better activity monitoring. In short, a large-scale deployment with a lot of people involved and big stakes", specifies Alexandre.

Having begun on the project as an intern, the client wants to continue with Alexandre. Six months later he is hired on a permanent contract. As the consultants begin to leave the project, Alexandre replaces them and is trained as topics evolve. In December 2014, he is contacted by Flexmind, which he joins in February 2015. Alexandre then leaves the Relay stores behind, Geodis becomes his new customer. It is there that Alexandre makes three pivotal encounters. Those of Catherine, Jonathan and Jérôme. Professional topics bring them together, with a nice ‘vibe’. This continues at afterwork get-togethers, bars and lunches without forgetting the right-next-door wine cellar. "We got to know and appreciate each other," says Alexandre. In August 2015, the Lagardère IT services director contacts him again to inform him that the project is still far from going into production. A major problem. If the project does not go live in January, everything may be stopped dead on its tracks with all the financial and human investments wiped out.

MacGyver is back !

Alexandre then returns to lend a strong hand to the team in place. He must also imagine alternative solutions, even unusual ones. "I did support the customer on a large number of subject areas: income, training... the qualification of the developments was not yet complete. The CGI consultants were struggling... I acted as a firefighter, a bit like the wild card of the project. And we finally got the go-ahead to enter into production on January 1, 2016, with very considerable pressure", adds Alexandre. He stays with the customer, becomes project manager on ERP, first in support, then on the evolutionary portion. A solid relationship is built with the CIO and the entire accounting team. "Mutual trust, I grew up with this client and I hope I have helped them grow too", confides Alexander. In March 2018, a lunch with Jonathan will be the triggering event. The latter tells him about the project to create a different ESN, together with Catherine. Jonathan unveils to her why Alexandre fits naturally into the FiveForty° perspective.

The beginnings of the tribe

"It was a great proof of trust and friendship. Touching even. When I started at Flexmind, I was very impressed with the quality of their interventions. I thought I had a little bit of experience. Next to them I realized that I still had a large margin of progression. At first I even wondered which planet they were coming from when they were debating. I felt like I was light years away," he jokes. "They pull you towards the top by being extremely educational. An association of this quality was very rewarding."

Alexandre does not think it over too long and joins them. "The desire to work with them again was strong and to build together such a very exciting project" says Alexandre. Jerôme in turn completes the quartet of partners. Very quickly, a flagship recruitment of a Dynamics finance consultant is completed: welcome Maciré! "A beautiful person, we could hardly find better for a first recruitment", smiles Alexandre who also appreciates his five-a-side football coach at FiveForty°. The tribe is growing rapidly. Alexandre points out: "We are all different, and we complement each other perfectly. Our tribe is very coherent." °