Chapter 4 - The Olivetti chapter 1985 – 2005 or a bit more than 20 years of my life

Olivetti – Wang Global – Getronics

Olivetti: a story of innovation and growth

Olivetti was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti.

Established to manufacture typewriters, over the years Olivetti has undergone a series of transformations, displaying an impressive ability to adapt to continuous change in technology and on the information and communication markets.

Olivetti has moved successfully from mechanics to electronics, from office products to computers, IT systems and services and telecommunications.

Industry observers in Italy and worldwide have always admired Olivetti for its distinctive corporate style: a style based on technological excellence, innovation, quality and design, a strong focus on the market, as well as a keen interest in culture and the arts, attention to social issues and a commitment to continuous improvement in relations with employees and the territory.

At its peak in the 1970s, the company had 73,283 workers worldwide.

In other words, Olivetti successfully combines technology and culture, efficiency and social responsibility, innovation and design.

In 1978 Carlo De Benedetti bought a stake in the company and took over its management. The completion of the conversion to electronics, a stronger focus on new product development and a financial recovery achieved through a recapitalisation program and improved management efficiency put Olivetti on a solid footing for a new cycle of growth.

During the 1980s, Olivetti stepped up its growth with international acquisitions, agreements and alliances, as well as a number of venture capital operations. A key alliance was formed with the American company AT&T at the end of 1983.

With its move into information technology, Olivetti introduced a succession of systems lines and also expanded into the IT services business. Its solutions were based on the principle of standard open systems - a policy that was subsequently adopted by all the top players in the international IT arena.

Palazzo Uffici 1 (PU1) in Ivrea (Italy), head office of Olivetti SpA

I was drawn to a role advertised in Olivetti that met my ambitions for career progression. I applied and got the Service Manager position in Olivetti Belgium.

On the day I had my third interview where I had to present to the interview panel how I would run a service organization, as usual I arrived early and met Raf VerEecke who was the right-hand man of the Service Director and someone who later became a good friend.

To prepare for all eventualities, as I thought, I’d prepared my presentation in Flemish, French and English. When I asked Raf what the preferred language was, he told me very cool Italian ….

For a couple of minutes I was speechless as I didn’t speak one word of Italian at that time.

When the interviewing panel entered the room, I met Rene Piat (Service Director), Eric VanderElst (Sales Director at that time and Managing Director later), Walter Jaspers (HR Director) and thankfully they all spoke French and I felt more comfortable.

The presentation and interview went extremely well and I got the job!

When I started my boss, Rene Piat, told me “I will give you only two objectives; a revenue and profit figure for your region, all the rest is up to you”. With these words I embarked on my next chapter.

I was responsible for the operational and financial results of the after sales support region in the north of Belgium, the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg, being responsible for a team of 30 people.

My colleague Andre Billiet was running the other part of the Flanders, Oost and West Vlaanderen.

While the role was not without its challenges, in 5 years I was able to increase both the revenue and profit of the region:

Revenue: From 80 million BF (1985) to 176 million BF (1991)

Profit: From 41 million BF (1985) to 105 million BF (1991)

In undertaking this role the main tasks and responsibilities included:

• Managed SLA and contractual service delivery. To ensure successful delivery as agreed and perceived by the customer. Met with customers regularly to discuss Service Delivery, SLA and contractual issues. • Managed service delivery staff. To ensure sufficient and adequately trained and experienced resources were available to meet the contractual requirements and customer expectations. • Monitored service delivery and service delivery targets. To ensure that contractual obligations were met and customers were happy with the service provided. My two big wins that brought immense satisfaction were Makro and Anhyp Bank in Antwerpen. I will always remember how I signed the Anhyp contract in a pub on the back of a beer coaster with Jan Floren – Anhyp’s IT Network Manager then.

Due to our massive growth, we needed more space and we built a new office location of 1500m2 in Aartselaar. My office was 60m2 and the biggest I had in my career.

The Olivetti hardware sales people at that time had their incentives for selling hardware/ software/products, so they were not very interested in selling service contracts.

So to increase revenue and profit figures I started looking for alternative revenue sources and was the first organization in Belgium to sell TPM (Third Party Maintenance) contracts successfully, together with Marc Malfroidt – Third Party Manager.

During my time with Olivetti I had two Renault 25, a Safrane and two Rovers (620 and 75) as company cars.

Renault 25, my preferred company car at Olivetti

Earlier I spoke about the importance of company values and the people you work with. Olivetti was more than this; Olivetti was also a family and the best company I ever worked for.

I loved working for Olivetti.

However, I always wanted to own my own company, over the years I had 3 attempts, of which the last one was very successful.

While at Olivetti, something was niggling in the back of my mind encouraging me to start my own business. Over time, this feeling grew stronger and I decided to pay more attention to the opportunities it could present. That entrepreneurial spirit was definitely still alive and growing in me and wanted out.

With a small group of likeminded people we explored the options available and opted to start a mobile training company.

In those days, IT training was in very high demand, with few suppliers operating in that market space. We thought we had identified a sure fire winner. The idea was to fit out a bus as a training room and go to companies delivering the courses on-site.

The bright idea was stopped in its tracks as we started realizing the massive investment required to get the venture off the ground and as we didn’t have access to the necessary funds the idea was taken no further. Our idea wasn’t a bad one as can be seen by the number of product supplier who to this day use a bus to take their product demonstrations to company premises as part of their sales promotions.

In the meantime, my boss Rene moved to a new position in France and was replaced by Bernard Marchant. In 1991 I was asked by Bernard to set up a focused Sales Team within the Service Division.

I did accept that challenge and as Sales Manager delivered the following:

• Started up a sales department within the Managed Services line of business.

Identified the market trends and customer service requirements. • Promoted (internally and externally), developing and obtaining new service business (e.g. Facilities Management and Outsourcing). • Defined the offer and sales strategies of services. • Proposed new service offering and plans for the evolution of the current offer. • Provided periodic updates of sales forecasts; monitored the negotiations in progress and the results obtained.

• Sales Management. Direct manager of all national services sales staff. • Managed team of 10 account managers. Under my guidance we expanded the business greatly from a low new business revenue (startup position) to a positive level twenty times higher:

• Total revenue 2.100 million BF

• Increased the new service business revenue from 30 million BF (1991) to 564 million (1996).

During that period my biggest success story was the CERA Bank in Leuven.

During my twenty years with Olivetti, I attended a lot of company training courses, too many to list. However, a few of them are worthy of mention here:

• Eric Krauthammer – Sales Management Training and Time Management Training. I still remember the statement that “in life you don’t have time, you make time”. • TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Manager for Distributed Computing - Gartner Group • Solution Selling - Eurosem Olivetti was the best company I ever worked for, it was more than a company, it was a family. Maybe that is why I gave it twenty years of my life and regretted none of them. Olivetti people that influenced my career are Camillo Olivetti, for founding Olivetti in 1908, his son Adriano for his human approach and whose entrepreneurial activity thrived on the idea that profit should be reinvested for the benefits of the whole society. Also, Carlo de Benedetti who in 1978 became CEO of Olivetti, where he remained until his resignation in 1996. As president of Olivetti, appointed in 1983, he quickly reorganized the company, switching its focus from mechanical typewriters to computers. I had no intention of leaving Olivetti, but at the same time I wanted to make my dreams come true.

So, I did the two at the same time, another reason why I was not often home with my family.

DI ORO

On a side note, I still had the ambition of starting my own company and eventually did. At the age of 30, I signed a contract with SAIER, a German replica car builder and Alexander Saier was also famous racer. SAIER was building buggies and replicas of the Lamborghini Countach and BMW M1. Alex Saier and I made a deal that my company, Di Oro, was the exclusive dealer for Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) and Spain. Firstly, I wanted to call the company Diamond, but Mitsubishi had already taken out a patent on that name for their service division. So in the end I went for Di Oro as the company name, which is from “gold” in Italian.

Of course, in the longer term my plan was to build our own cars. The first model planned was based on the Minerva, The Goddess of Automobile, and a legendary Belgian car. Minerva was in the early 20th century a Belgian motorcycle, bicycle and car brand that had kings and movie stars among its clients. It was founded in 1897. Minerva was the Belgium equivalent of Rolls-Royce and was used by a lot of Royal Families.

The entrepreneur in me wrote a letter to the King of Belgium, who was King Boudewijn the 1st at that time asking for his support. He (or probably one of his staff) replied stating that my idea was tremendous, he unfortunately could not be directly involved with his status as the king. I kept that letter for many years as a treasured possession.

It was a legal requirement that we had to get the cars certified as being road worthy in Belgium and although they were TUV certified in German, we had to go through the crash tests. We had to deliver up to three cars of each model to be smashed into a wall.

I couldn’t reconcile myself to do that as the thought of destroying three cars broke my heart and I sold my company.

Down but not out it was time to identify the next chapter in my life.

It has been a long time coming, but Wang Laboratories Inc has finally signed an agreement with Ing C Olivetti SpA to merge with the Italian company’s Olsy systems and services division, making a $3.6bn network and desktop services company. It becomes number four worldwide and instantly joins the hallowed ranks of the Fortune 500.

Wang Laboratories has agreed to buy Olivetti S.p.A. information technology unit in a $390 million deal that will make the Italian company Wangs largest shareholder with an 18.6 per cent stake, the two companies said Monday. The combined business will generate over $3.6 billion in annual revenues and employ 20,000. Under the agreement, Wang will buy from Olivetti 100 per cent of the Olsy Group in exchange for 8.75 million stock equivalents, 5 million stock appreciation rights, cash of $70 million and an earn out of $56 million payable in 2000.

About Wang Global - February 16, 1999

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, Wang Global is a leading international networked technology services and solutions company providing a comprehensive range of information technology services for today’s network-centric business environments. With annualized revenues of approximately $3.6 billion, Wang Global designs, installs, operates and maintains global computing and telecommunications networks for some of the world’s largest multinational companies. Services include systems architecture design, installation, warranty, help desk, maintenance, software support, and management of enterprise networks to the desktop.

Wang Global integration services provide business solutions primarily for the banking industry as well as defense and civilian government agencies. Wang Global employs approximately 20,000 professionals and has subsidiaries and affiliates in over 40 countries.

In 1998 Wang took over Olivetti Services and Solutions and we became Wang Global.

The geographical match was perfect, Olivetti very strong in Europe and Wang in the USA.

The cultural fit was more challenging, Olivetti the spaghetti Italiano with few rules and Wang the American way with a lot of processes and procedures.

I had the advantage of having worked in both cultures and seen both the good and bad aspects of both approaches.

Wang’s European headquarters was in London and soon after the takeover in 1998 I joined the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) team as Marketing and Business Development Manager EMEA for NDOS (Network and Desktop Outsourcing Services).

In taking this role I found myself responsible for the budget and results of the Managed Services business throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa, both in financial as well as in operational and quality /customer satisfaction terms. My main objective was to help the

countries grow new services business through the implementation of a series of specific business development programs.

• My Mission: ◦ Contribute to the achievement of MS financial goals through the consolidation of our service revenues and sustainability of our margins. ◦ Service Business Development: Help countries grow profitable “new services” business by defining and running with them a series of focused service business programs. ◦ Service offer promotion and evolution: Promoted our service offering by supporting effective country sales and delivery implementation. Contributed to our offer evolution and competitiveness. ◦ Marketing: Organising and running seminars, Road Shows, open-days. As I didn’t want to sit at a desk in the European HQ in London, I started travelling to all the different subsidiaries (mainly Europe) to help the local BD organizations win new business. I supported them by talking with their customers and prospects, delivering presentations, answering tenders and writing bids. Every week in another country and waking up in the morning asking myself: where am I?

Getronics buys Wang Global

Services firm Wang Global says it has agreed to be bought by Dutch computer services firm Getronics for about $2 billion.

Combined, the companies will have revenues of about $6.9 billion, 33,000 employees, and operations in more than 44 countries.

Getronics NV last week said it has completed its previously announced purchase of Wang Global.

The Amsterdam-based company has obtained stocks and stock warrants representing just over 90 per cent of Wang Global’s outstanding common shares, the company said in a statement.

Getronics, which does three-quarters of its business in the Netherlands and Belgium, last month offered to buy all of Wang Global’s outstanding shares for $US29.95 each, or a total purchase price of about $2 billion.

Getronics, whose main business is systems integration and consulting, has sought to buy an international services company for some time. Ironically, it had previously considered buying OlsySpA - the services arm of the Italian company Olivetti SpA - but Wang Global signed a deal to acquire Olsy last year.

Wang Global will be renamed Getronics throughout Northern and Central Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific, the company said, while in North America the company will be known as GetronicsWang. In Italy, the company will be known as GetronicsOlivetti, reflecting Wang Global’s acquisition of Olsy.

Getronics

Getronics is one of the world’s leading providers of vendor independent solutions and services to professional users of ICT. Through consulting, integrating, implementing and managing Infrastructure Solutions and Business Solutions.

With 33,000 employees in 44 countries, we work with many of the world’s largest companies to maximise the value of their technology investment.

We maintain alliances with the leaders in hardware, software and communications technology which gives us access to the latest solutions and helps us plan for your future needs.

At the same time we maintain our independence, giving us the freedom to plan and deploy the right solution for you.

 2003

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 1985  1887

Our Heritage

A €6.9 billion global ICT company, direct presence in over 44 countries and 33,000 employeesfocused on end to end solutions Building Futures, Creation of a global brand, a global offer and a global company

- Getronics acquires Wang Global & achieves Worldwide coverage

TM

- Wang acquires Olsy, Olivetti Solutions and Services arm and becomes Wang Global

Grupo Cp - Getronicsacquires GrupoCP, expansion into Spain & Latin America

- Listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange - Groeneveld Van der Poll & Co becomes Groenpol

Through NetWorkPlace, Getronics can ensure that your ICT infrastructure will enable you to achieve your business goals, however ambitious they may be.

Getronics’ headquarters is in Amsterdam, with regional head offices in Boston, Singapore and Washington DC. Getronics’ shares are traded on Euronext Amsterdam (‘GTN’).

Probably Wang overdid themselves with the acquisition of Olivetti and a year later a Dutch company Getronics took over Wang Global.

A lot of Olivetti people we’re worried about the marriage with Wang, but in my opinion the Getronics acquisition was much more challenging.

Getronics was a big and successful company in the Netherlands, but was lacking the experience of doing business on an international level.

The headquarters were in Amsterdam and I moved from a European position to a Global one, resulting in twice as much travel including the Americas now.

The challenges of this new role included:

◦ Global Business Development responsible for Outsourcing. ◦ Designed and implemented the worldwide Getronics Outsourcing Structured

Approach (GOSA). ◦ Development, launch, implementation and achievement of an Outsourcing sales and delivery methodology: GOSA Getronics Outsourcing Structured Approach ◦ GOSA training: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France,

Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the

USA took part in a ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop in Amsterdam where they learned how to prospect, bid, contract and deliver outsourcing deals using the

GOSA framework.

◦ Country activities: sales and presales support (presentations, bid and proposals) ◦ Responsible for international outsourcing bids. ◦ Enhanced revenue through increased sales. ◦ Managed several successful complex outsourcing bids with very tight deadlines, involving greater than 120 countries, for major outsourcing accounts. To get more standardization between the different geographies and 3 very different ways of working (Olivetti, Wang, Getronics) I came up with GOSA the Getronics Outsourcing Structured Approach.

People in all the parts of the world liked the methodology, because it gave them a consistent structure how to approach Outsourcing opportunities from pre-sales cycle till the delivery stage. After I left, Getronics continued with this methodology. Enhanced it and aligned it with the ITIL principles.

Still today after all these years when I talk to ex-colleagues, they are still using this methodology. That gives me a very warm feeling!

Main Roles Sales Process Phase Description

GOSA – Getronics Outsourcing Structured Approach

Account Management

Offer Consultancy

Business Consultancy Project/Interim Management

Service Management

Commercial Due Diligence Delivery Transition On-going

Make aware Client Pain & Reason Visualize & Sell Solution Accurate quantification & “ AS IS “ agreement with customer From “As Is” to “To Be”

SMIT Manage & Maintain Client’s ICT

Sales & Delivery Tool Kit Marketing

Pre-Sales

Sales

Cost of Sales Deep Understanding

Baseline set-up

Final Contract Project Initiation

Execution

Hand Over Manage and Maintain

Continuous Improvement Implement agreed Improvement proposals

Invoice of DD Invoice of Transition

Invoice of Delivery

Invoice of Improvement

I remain proud to this day that I was instrumental in the development of a methodology on how to bid, win, implement and deliver outsourcing deals in a structured way, at an international level and involving multiple countries around the world.

Training wise, I achieved the Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management (ITIL) - ISEB (Information Systems Examinations Board).

One of the main wins then, was Shell which was achieved by following the methodology.

GETRONICS WINS PARTNERSHIP TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN GLOBAL ICT INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SHELL

• New common operating and support environment will provide a new ICT infrastructure capability for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group worldwide • Contract worth initially approx. €75 million • 90,000 workstations, 1,000 locations, over 135 countries

Shell Services International (SSI), the IT-services arm of the global energy company, has awarded Getronics a multi-million Euro partnership to create and maintain a common unified desktop computer and server environment across the worldwide operations of the Royal Dutch /Shell Group (Shell). Shell’s Global Infrastructure (GI) project covers 90,000 workstations at over 1,000 sites in over 135 countries. Shell’s IT-infrastructure is one of the broadest in the world. Getronics has been

contracted to install the new common environment and provide the necessary maintenance and support. The three-year contract is worth initially approx. €75 million.

The services provided for Shell are those included in Getronics’ recently launched NetWorkPlace - a comprehensive portfolio of services to support the ICT infrastructure of any organisation.

In addition, Getronics will supply Cisco products to enable the upgrade of the network to the standard and future requirements of the global infrastructure.

“Shell will be breaking new ground with this GI project. We are the first major company to undertake a full migration of this technical depth and global breadth,” said Harry Roels, Managing Director of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies. “By implementing a Group infrastructure, standardised throughout the world, we are taking a critical next step in preparing our organisation to compete successfully in the future. It will improve the stability and performance of our desktop computing and telecommunications systems while lowering the Group’s total cost of ownership. The result will be a platform that enables better ways of doing business globally.”

An initiative of this scale requires an excellent interface between the client and supplier as well as high quality processes. Getronics and SSI have paid particular attention to the effective coordination of their complementary resources in the preparation for this work. SSI will use its in depth knowledge of how best to apply technology to its parent company’s business while Getronics offers its global reach and experience in delivery and support.

“We are very proud to have been awarded this exciting contract to deliver global services on behalf of Shell, to enable it to execute its business development more rapidly,” said Cees van Luijk, President and CEO of Getronics. “Shell has been one of our major clients for the past 30 years and this engagement demonstrates the strength of our relationship. It is based upon their confidence with Getronics and it demonstrates our position in the market as a major, vendor independent supplier of global services.”

After a successful implementation of the methodology in Europe and USA, the next target was APAC (Asia Pacific).

So my journey took me in 2002 to Sydney as Sales Strategy Manager Australia, more challenging than the previous markets.

At that time my 3 kids have moved out of the house and started their own families. Also I was single at that moment, so the decision to move to the other side of the world was easy.

I had built up a massive network of connections in my previous area but I didn’t know anybody in Australia and it took me a while starting from scratch to build those kind of relationships down under, but never the less succeeded again.

I started by visiting and meeting the existing customers and did cold calling with new prospects. And off course met a lot of people outside business hours for drinks and diners. So my contacts where expanding rapidly, especially when you meet a new person, he introduces you to another one and so on. Later when I worked for Thales and got into the ITS Australia organization, my network connections grew rocket fast.

When I arrived the local Getronics people kept their distance as they thought I was the HQ guy coming to check on them. Once they realized I came to help them win new business and with wins like Energy Australia (Provision of Integrated Desktop Services) it changed 180 degrees.

Sales Strategy Manager Australia 2002 – 2005

◦ Design and implement the Opportunity Management Process, based on GOSA but now for all available services and focused on the sales stage within Getronics

Australia.

◦ Lead the sales force through strategic advice in order to acquire new outsourcing customers.

◦ Building and aligning the services offer with local market requirements. ◦ Transforming latent opportunities into active opportunities by stimulating interest, defining customer pains and critical business issues, and creating the vision of a Getronics-based solution.

◦ Successful negotiations with EDS to sign an Asia Pacific Master Services partner agreement with Getronics. ◦ Responsible for the performance and management of the sales support team and for maximising the business opportunities available to achieve the financial, contractual, technical and administrative targets. ◦ Developed and implemented the bid management process in order to achieve optimal use of internal resources and best match with sales and services needs and requirements. ◦ Responsible for the bids and proposal process and the National Sales Support team.

◦ Responsible for building and aligning the NDOS offer with market requirements, and the Getronics global offer. Ensured the sales team has the “tool kit” they required to confidently present the NDOS offer at CxO level. ◦ Worked closely with the delivery team to ensure our capability matched our offer, and identified improvements where required. ◦ Designed the solution of qualified accounts, building the account specific offer, and assisted with the closing of the opportunity. ◦ Project managed the entire bid process and resources of opportunities that have been qualified and passed through the bid/no bid review.

During my time with Getronics I was instrumental in winning many major new customers including Energy Australia, FaCS, Tabcorp, DITR and EDS.

My company car in Australia was a Holden Special Vehicle HSV Grange.

In the past 20 years I have had the following private cars: Renault 15, Matra Simca Bagheera, Mercedes 280 CE, Volkswagen Buggy, BMW M1, Lamborghini Countach, Jaguar XJ6, Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, Daimler Double Six, and Jaguar XJ8 Supercharger.

One of my preferred ones the Daimler Double Six

In 2005 I received the Effective Leadership Award, an award I was pleased to receive but recognize the contribution the other team members made in my receiving the award for which I am grateful.

I had already made my decision not to go back to Belgium after my expat period was over so I opted to stay in Australia, in 2006 I left Getronics/Wang Global/Olivetti after a bit more than 20 very happy years.