Isabelle Bellessort 0:00:04.1: 

We are just the last presentation before you get a bit of fresh air and a drink. Okay, yes, indeed we are embarking on the journey of IBP with Anaplan. First, a few words about Etex. Etex is a privately owned Belgium company, international, operating in the lightweight constructions like [?Heine 0:00:37.5] explained. It's made up of four divisions, five now, a small one. We are doing plasterboard, so that is one of our biggest divisions. We're doing fiber cement where it all started in Belgium in [unclear word 0:00:52.3] for slates, for corrugated sheets you will find on agricultural buildings, our facet products. We've also got smaller divisions, but very active and growing on fire protection, and pacifier protection products in the Etex industry. We made an acquisition a few years ago with URSA, which is now an insulation division, and we have a small division that is doing modular building, where it is really fascinating, it's very interesting.  

Isabelle Bellessort 0:01:26.5: 

We are a four billion euros company, 13,000 people across the Group. We are present in multiple countries and continents, less in the States, and here the divisions that are squared are the exteriors division, the fiber cement because they are the ones who are accelerating the journey. Yes, indeed, the story of Etex has been through acquisitions, and one probably important point for us to take into account is the fact that it was really local strong entities. A few years ago our CEO, previous CEO, decided to embark on a journey of building one industrial company, that's where the brand Etex in 2019 became more known, the one that we want to operate under. This slide is to talk about the journey that led to this discussion with Anaplan because, before doing anything, it's about making sure we've got the right leadership in the function, the right people, then think about the process, then there's growing and get a tool. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:02:40.6: 

Really, the journey started at Etex's supply chain in 2019. There was no supply chain function. You would find the first leader somewhere among the manufacturing or finance team, and minus four, but the CEO at the time had really a vision of building a strong group, industrial group, and bringing the supply chain to the table, so the role I am was created to build that function together. The idea was that supply chain would be the one who holds the mirror between sales and our operations team, and that's the journey we did embark on. Over the years, what we have done, and we've used COVID, we've used the shortages of material, we've used the unfortunate situation of the war in Ukraine where we have a factory over there in Bakhmut, which no longer exists, and also afterwards the inflation, and all those topics in supply chain to surf the wave and accelerate building the functions. To navigate through this, Etex needed to have strong supply chain leaders, so we put one in every division, needed to have more robust processes, so first, we needed to design those processes, what are they going to be, so we needed to have a center of excellence in supply chain, so we built one. Again, it's part of that team for planning, but also a shoulder to cash and logistics, and also our partners in IT.  

Isabelle Bellessort 0:04:12.0: 

I think Ewan DeCosta is here, here is our business partner for our supply chain in IT, we are doing the same. We are ramping up in supply chain knowledge as well. We embarked on that journey. We put KPIs in place. We put a national process in place, we had done, and we put it during COVID, which factory do we keep open? Which factory do we run? Because building materials were really having a great time during COVID, unfortunately for what's happening in the rest of the world, and we accelerated the journey here to be in a situation where a year ago we already had the people in place, a much better idea on the process we wanted to run, and the foundations in place. We have now, as well, a new CEO, which is much more focused on performance, and that's why we also need to accelerate our journey, so the timing was perfect. We also needed to get cash, much more cash, which needed better tools as well to do that because we are running it on Excel. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:05:22.6: 

To do this kind of transformation, you need a burning platform. The burning platform for us was this situation, so we needed one version of the truth, I've heard it many times. We had multiple spreadsheets. We had misalignment between finance targets, sales targets, and manufacturing targets. We were always reacting, never anticipating, and by the time we were making a decision, three months/four months had run, the market had decided for us. Our decision-making is what you've heard in the previous presentations: long, inaccurate and really having an impact on our people because, by the time they were putting the data together, no time to analyze, decisions needed to be made, but the market had already moved on. That really was our burning platform in order to drive this transformation journey and decide, what do we do with our processes, and with the tools. This is where I'm going to hand over to Fabien who is going to explain to us how we went to get the right partners too, implementation partners for our maturity at Etex. Thank you. 

Fabien Piret 0:06:37.4: 

So, you can see already on this slide what Ryan explained in the introduction, so you see that naturally, we moved to Anaplan, but this is coming. We had, as Isabelle said, a target, an end-to-end planning process that was designed, and that was partially implemented, so we had most of the organization in place, but then we had really to do more, do small incremental improvement, but really leverage the full value of the process. We were looking at increase much further the cost functional alignment because, in our IBP process, we really consider all the functions, the key functions of the company as a stakeholder of the process, but there was a problem of alignment, it was working like a silo. We have also, very importantly, the need to link the business and the operating plan, so we have strategy objectives, how do we execute that, or do we implement that? How does it align with the operating plan? Then we said, 'Okay, we need to increase the business agility,' it is exactly what Isabelle explained to you about all the volatility that we have around us. 

Fabien Piret 0:08:11.6: 

That's why, for instance, if you look at our process on the right, we said, 'Okay, we will go for an IBP process, but there is also a part of it that is the sales and operation execution where we target the mid-term planning at a much more detailed level,' and that's where we really want to be able to be much more agile and work by exception with others, and much more automation in the process so that our planners can focus really on all the specific events. Finally, to drive continuous improvement, and for that it's very difficult to drive continuous improvement if all the planning is in spreadsheets because we know that, if it's a spreadsheet, most of the time it means that it's in the head of someone in the company, and you don't really have data. Without the data, it's really hard to lead a continuous improvement. That's what we said at that time, now it's time for having a real planning tool, an advent planning system, and that's why we went to RFQ for a big project of implementing an advent planning system. 

Fabien Piret 0:09:29.3: 

It was part of the one Etex to have one system for all the divisions because the process that I told now when we designed it, we realized that, in fact, the process was really similar in all the divisions, so we had one process, end-to-end planning process for the three main divisions that were in the scope. We went to RFQ. You see that is very recent. As Ryan said, we are a new customer of Anaplan, so last year we spent most of the year on this RFQ. For each phase of the RFQ, we had a good takeaway. Here, I will focus really on the winner's selection part, which is the last one where we have some key points and learnings. First, what we really wanted to have is to have a best fit between the partner that we would have in this journey, so for us, of course, it was the transformation partner, so the system integrator, but also the APS system. This was, for us, something very important that we consider. Then, in the Etex people survey, we saw that most of our collaborators, they were really putting a lot of stress on the management of the change in the company, so from the beginning we thought okay, this is something that we need to manage very well because, otherwise, we will struggle. Also, that we wanted to be challenged in our journey because the maturity of Etex in planning is what it is or was what it was, and we really wanted someone that would challenge us and guide us. 

Fabien Piret 0:11:15.5: 

Finally, what we did, and which is maybe a bit specific, is that we really decided the system and the partner together. It was a decision. It's not that one was decided before the other. We decided them together, and our two partners, Anaplan and Bluecrux, okay. Some learnings about this winning selection. Well, first, is that it's about think louder, so what does it mean is that when you are in this RFQ, at certain moments you are so focused on the details of some functionalities, on some specific criteria that you had identified for the selection, that you forget to think a bit louder and really keep in mind who you are. Are you a company with mega plans or a lot of small plans? What's your system landscape? Do you do a lot of mergers of acquisitions and those kinds of things? That's something that we thought okay, we have to be careful with that. Also, what is your targeted maturity level? It's very important to know where you want to go at the end, even if you will not go there in one step, of course, but you need to understand what is really important for your company. 

Fabien Piret 0:12:35.6: 

Finally, yes, the 'VUCA world is the normal'. What I mean by that, at the time you do RFQ, you maybe have some business issues, so you might think about the process or a system that will fix those issues, and at the time you will start the project maybe the business will be completely different, so the demand that was very high will be very low, the programs that you have to fix are completely different, so it means that at the time of this RFQ you need really to think about, okay, what could happen, and not be too focused on the current state of the business. The other one is about the 'Point solution versus the highly flexible solution', so it has been already explained here, but we really experimented with that. It was, I think, one of the key points for us to go for more like a points solution or a highly flexible solution, knowing that we didn't have a very high maturity, okay, or users. It means that we were more in favor of a highly flexible solution, but with the risk that we don't have the maturity to manage that one. In fact, it's Bluecrux who brought the solution, and we then started with them with a template, and then, from there, we built an Etex core model. 

Fabien Piret 0:14:01.2: 

So, about the project itself and the benefits. Well, of course, we had a business case. We had to demonstrate that there was a return on investment, so we used a quite classical approach, of course, a good IBP process, it's going to impact our EBITDA or the revenue or the cost, and the inventory. The EBITDA, it will be current, the inventory, it will be a one-off for that, so we look at the benchmark that we provided by all the partners, and finally, we built our business case. The percentage that you see here is just an estimation. We were much more conservative because we don't go directly from where we are to the maturity that we target in a few years, we go step-by-step, but that gives you an idea of how we managed the calculation of the value. Now, what we do, is we will measure that we deliver this value and that we do with different metrics. Then you saw the value in euros, but now let's talk about really the value creation a bit larger than just euro. In fact, when we started the project, I would say that we were more like with a business or IT implementation. Even if in the mind, I think, for some of us, it was that we were doing a transformation, but in reality the way we were addressing that was really more like adjustment of the process, implementing the end-to-end process, and implementing the system. 

Fabien Piret 0:15:51.1: 

Then, during the RFQ and talking with Bluecrux, we realized that, in fact, we had really to go to a transformation and that's something also we got as feedback from all the stakeholders when we were working on the buy-in inside Etex. Okay, they say, 'Yes, but it's huge stuff what you want to do,' so we realized that we really had to go to a transformation, so there was a moment where we say, 'Okay, now we need to introduce the project in a completely different way,' and today still struggling. A lot of people say, 'Oh, they are thinking about an IT implementation,' but it's not because I tell you - and this is really what we live every day - the value that you will have in the system, it can be three times more if you really address this transformation the right way. When we say transformation and value creation, it's, of course, the change management. As I told you, for us it was very important, so there is a big part of the project that is about change management, okay? Then it's about the culture. In fact, the transformation that is happening and what I am observing is that we become more and more data-driven, so it will come.  

Fabien Piret 0:17:05.9: 

It's not yet really the case because we have plenty of spreadsheets, but you really see that now that you have really those connected data in Anaplan that we'll be able to be much more data-driven, and also that we - I believe we are not yet there, but this is what I observe - that we will be much more customer-focused because we are making the link between really commercial. We have our sharing system so you have commercial that are updating the sharing system with opportunities and now, for the first time, they see how it's going to be connected with the production with the commitment that we can do to the customer for the delivery with the chase of the [unclear words 0:17:47.8], so we have the end-to-end chain. About the engagement, here also we are working on alignment cross-functional. We see that we have very good engagement of the team. I was, this morning, at the first demand planning training, okay? I was there. All the participants, they were smiling, they were happy; happy to have, now finally, what they were dreaming of for years, and we will see that you have a lot of energy, so now we need to deliver, of course, but it's also part of this value creation.  

Fabien Piret 0:18:23.1: 

Organization design. Well, you can have an implementation where you say from the beginning you want to change your organization, it might be part of the benefits that you expect that you streamline your organization, or you say no, that's not the main reason, but at the end, whatever you want to do, you will end up with some organization design because they're all out there, but they won't be exactly the same. You have new needs, and because you are much more efficient that will change. Finally, we are building a center of excellence. We have a center of excellence for the process on the business side, so the business process owner and the business process manager. In fact, it's my team for the planning. We are learning about Anaplan, but we are building also all the competencies in the IT department for Anaplan and the model builder. For us, the future is also that we will implement with the support of Bluecrux, the Anaplan for us. I will let you finish, yes. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:19:37.8: 

I think I understood what happened. I think the timer has been reset halfway through because I think, when I started, it looks like I'd already been speaking for six minutes, so sorry about that if we were fast-tracking a little bit, we wanted to be on time. Yes, so maybe while [unclear words 0:19:56.7] came through quite fastly was the journey at Etex to put the right people in the right roles to drive any transformation that it is in planning, it is in logistics, or it is in order to cash. We are really the back of a fag packet operations really. We had pockets of excellence here and there, but we had a long journey, and in planning, we are really getting there, but where probably I can take the opportunity to highlight in the RFB process we run, we got educated a lot as well, I think through meeting with all the great providers that are there. For us, the plan was to find the right combination that works for us based on our maturity or lack of in some case. One point was made earlier on, I think by Heine and your colleagues about already templates because we did not want, with the level of maturity we had, we did not want our people to start from a blank piece of paper. We had it so people don't know what they don't know, and we did not have enough critical mass of people with experience in planning to probably do that. That's where really leveraging both Anaplan and Bluecrux, that combination, was really perfect for us compared to where we were in our maturity journey, but they are also providers there. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:21:21.7: 

We also look here at why we need to do it, our burning platform, what's the business case and so on, which was a bit new at Etex having a business case, so that's the new CEO coming on board because we can have change fatigue. We had a lot of initiatives at Etex, more than the business can absorb, so at some point, we needed to stop, but we also, put it another way, in case we got the pushback, what if we don't do IBP? Sometimes that can be another argument, why do we need, but what happens if we don't do it? For us, obviously, we would have carried on running the business on Excel, so you know the consequences of that. Also, we are an SAP-based company, like Fabien explained, we're using APO and we would have been very, very exposed in a couple of years where APO is no longer supported. We also explained to them, 'Let's do it now. Now is the right time, otherwise, we could be really doing it in panic mode driven more by our colleagues from IT who have been saying to us this platform is no longer supported, what's the alternative?' then we would have rushed through our implementation, so we're very, very happy that is really a win-win, and we're really aligned with our IT business partners. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:22:39.7: 

For our people, the engagements, again I'll run through very quickly, but they suffered a lot. During COVID, many businesses, maybe that was your case, you had to close, you had to stop. We closed for one week and then we realized people were stuck at home refurbishing their houses, this is our product. Actually, we had record years during COVID, so our team have been running flat out for four years now managing during COVID, then the shortages in containers, then shortages in material, and we promised them that they would deserve this kind of tool and process to better run the business, so we owe it to them as well to keep them engaged and motivated, but also to recruit people. We have also implemented DDMRP during this period, and when you recruit someone and you tell them to work with that person that runs your business on the back of a fag packet really with this pencil behind his ear, goes to the warehouse, 'I'm going to need this and that,' the answer is where is my app to order this material? Really, we've done that journey. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:23:51.7: 

We knew, as well, we would not be futureproof if we were not doing it the way we're doing it now. I must say as well, we are now right, like Fabien said, middle of UAT, so the design has happened. We're going live in a few weeks' time. I must say it's been a kind of breath everything is on time. Everything is delivered on time. When we are in team meetings, you don't know who is Bluecrux, or who is Etex. There is really an [unclear word 0:24:22.3] here enabled by the tool as well and a plan. It's really, really a very nice story. They make it look simple, but there is a lot of hard work going on behind that, so I'm really happy for the team. We have already got a pull from of the divisions that says, 'We want to roll it out as fast as possible to the rest.' Really, we've got a new head of divisions, a new sponsor, and he's going to accelerate, so that's really very good news. Like I said, with our IT team as well, what we are seeing is how quickly their learning curve is accelerating, which means for the next rollout they will be much more confident as well about taking us on that journey, so it's really enjoyable to watch at the moment. Of course, we're going to do our lessons learned, and maybe the last point is whetting our appetite with artificial intelligence. 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:25:17.4: 

If we look more into the future, that's also what we will explore, where can it help us in our planning journey? This is what we wanted to share with you today. 

Unknown speaker 0:25:37.1: 

Thank you, Fabien. Thank you, Isabelle. We can move here. Maybe just one question because I know everybody is ready for a break, so it looks like your journey has gone quite smoothly and that there is positive feedback, so it's very nice to hear. Also, I think it's very good that you explained that it's important to think about your maturity, and where you start and where you want to be. I think every customer's journey is different, so this message, I think, I like very much. Now, the one thing, you talked about sales and taking your CRM information, what about finance, how to link your supply chain and the IBP into your financial results and being able to plan scenarios that way? 

Isabelle Bellessort 0:26:17.9: 

Yes, finance is part of this journey, and maybe we've got a colleague sitting here with us. Finance is also looking, themselves, at the future process as well. We know that this would be an enabler for whatever journey they want to do afterwards on the finance planning, but they are already involved, and we should probably let Fabien. 

Fabien Piret 0:26:39.6: 

Yes, so as from the start, as from this first project, we wanted to have finance and valorization of the planning included, so it means that we have the projection of the revenue so that we can compare with the rolling forecast, the budget with our original price. Also, on the supply part, we run scenarios to do a kind of eye-level margin comparison between the scenario and also inventory projection, so we had, indeed, a workshop also with finance to agree. In fact, what was very interesting is that we realized that we really need to have governance about this part, about the data that are considered in those scenarios, and that you have a different country, so it was also an alignment. It is also, again, about connection between. 

Unknown speaker 0:27:27.9: 

That's great because that's, obviously, also where a lot of the value will come from. Anyway, thanks again for this testimony. I know it's not straightforward if you are that early in your process from making a decision in January and now at the point of rolling out, and then already giving a testimony like this, I very much appreciate it. Thank you.