At Solucia, Cécile Tardieu is the IT Director, and
head of Transformation Audit and New Markets.
Together with Laurent Sengier, CEO and CFO,
they recall that moment when switching
integrators changed everything.
Before anything, can you outline Solucia’s value proposition?
Cécile Tardieu: Solucia is a player in insurance and legal
protection with a strong service component. Our customers
are employee committees, company executives and individuals.
We intervene to assist them on all kinds of disputes between
neighbors, with employers or with families on inheritance
matters, for instance.
Laurent Sangier: Our service platform allows us to ensure
customer management in a very reactive manner, something
that is not always the case in the realm of insurance. Our call
center is perceived by our customers as a highly approachable
hot line, comforting by the quickness of its interventions.
What were your needs before starting to work with FiveForty°?
CT: We had chosen to implement Microsoft “Finops”, but the
operation turned out to be calamitous with our integrator.
We were experiencing a considerable loss of productivity in
day-to-day management activities. In addition to that, a loss
of wayfinding markers relative to the issuing of regulatory
accounting and financial filings…
LS: Clearly, we found ourselves in a true crisis situation. We had
to carry out an incomplete construction site audit while
needing to keep running a copy of the system in the context
of a legal action against the previous integrator.
How did you come to select FiveForty°?
CT: By a tender process divided in two main components.
The first one, very urgent, oriented on the FY close out.
The other, encompassing developments of a more in-depth IT
remediation nature.
“the teams were traumatized”
What made the difference?
LS: From a technical standpoint, FiveForty°s responses were
of a level well above those of the other providers consulting firms.
The understanding of our business, the very operational
character of the solutions and the CFO competencies of
Catherine Guibert made the difference when everything was
very undefined or otherwise very vertical. It was like day and
night, FiveForty° won right away the buy-in battle of the teams.
Who, it must be stated, were traumatized!
Immediately, their consultant got into the configuration
settings and brought up the right answers. That changed
everything. Furthermore, even if the FiveForty° consultants
know how to steer a digital transformation from A to Z, their
other vocation, is to make sure their customers regain their
trust of the ERP tool. And they proved it.
CT: Our teams greatly appreciated the fact that the FiveForty°
consultants know what it means to have deadlines and to deal
with corporate auditors. All that reassured us and was
confirmed later on.
Audit in November 2020, launch in January 2021… After three months, what balance can you draw?
CT: A little bit of regret on the writing phase of the audit report.
It could have been more incisive on the causes of the critical
situation in which we were. FiveForty° then concentrated on
how to get us out of the rut and go forward with the
appropriate solutions. That, of course, was also what we were
after. And that gave us optimism.
LS: Today, the IT and finance teams report that everything is
going well. This collaboration allowed us to close out FY 2020
starting at the end of December to produce financial
statements during January. And that was far from a sure thing,
at the end of the year, not having anything to show in front of
the auditors and a new governance.
Anything to improve in the relationship?
CT: In respect to project leadership, I have no qualms. We are
never put before the fait accompli in case of any delays. We are
notified, it’s comforting. Just a small item: we were supposed to
have real-time expensing follow-up in Power BI, but I have been
told our IT project leader was about to receive it, updated and
very design ;)
“we gained in control”
What do you appreciate the most with them?
CT: We have reached together an excellent level of reciprocal
trust and control. Our team has gained proficiency on the tools.
It formulates better its requests. Moreover, Azure DevOps, the
project management tool that FiveForty° shares with us is very
fluid. And when we work with the same tools, we gain even
more in terms of control.
If you had to recommend FiveForty°?
LS: It would be without question. I would bring to the forefront
their technical expertise, their seriousness and reliability. There’s
one more thing: they sure know how to give confidence to the
users.
CT: Their approach has like an extra touch of soul. And then
their marketing is genius. Over here, we absolutely love their
staggered postcards. About their feel for the customer, it’s also
something that’s very appreciated. It’s normal when someone
takes care to ask if we are doing alright. On their website, the
home page tells us this is an IT consulting firm with a little plus.
This is a message we have received loud and clear, 5 over 5!
