“Saving time, money and responsiveness are the terms used by Benoit AUMARD, Quality Director at UTI Group, to describe VSActivity and its impact within the group.”
Benoit AUMARD – Quality Director, UTI Group
Can you tell us about UTI Group?
UTI Group is a listed IT services company, ISO 9001 version 2015 certified, with a CSR approach assessed annually by the EcoVadis organization.
Founded in 1986, it specializes in consulting and engineering in the fields of banking, finance, insurance, industry and services.
The company has 3 sites: Paris (Levallois Perret), Lyon and Strasbourg (Schiltigheim).
And could you please define your role within UTI Group?
As Quality Director, I’m in charge of the Group’s ISO 9001 quality system. I’m also in charge of CSR and the information system. This ranges from the maintenance of IT products to network cables.
Why did UTI Group decide to implement a business ERP in Saas mode?
Some of the company’s executives in charge of the information system and management tools were likely to retire in the medium to long term.
It was therefore necessary to find a solution to upgrade the 7 management tools developed in-house, which dated back to the 90s and were beginning to run out of steam.
We opted for a turnkey solution rather than redeveloping an in-house solution.
Why did you choose VSA at UTI Group?
After a market study, VSA was the tool that stood out from the crowd, thanks to its well-structured approach, its dual On Premise and SaaS offering, and the responsiveness of its sales department.
VSA was able to absorb all data from different sources and centralize it in a single container.
UTI is listed on a highly regulated market, subject to specific standards and certain verifications that are much more stringent than those of our competitors. It was therefore essential, particularly for the invoicing process, to have a tool that was in line with all the obligations imposed on us by French regulations.
What fears did you have about implementing ERP in your company?
Management’s main fear was that they wouldn’t be able to invoice after the start-up. That’s why we’ve already started implementing the software in the regions.
How did the VSA integration process go, and how did you get on with our teams?
We were able to invoice from the very first month, and were very well looked after by Guillaume and your team.
A great deal of upstream work was carried out with the Veryswing teams before VSA was implemented at UTI Group. This includes preparation for data transfer, a study of requirements for specific developments, and training and support sessions to assist teams.
We started up in two phases, first in the two provincial entities, then in Paris. The aim was to be able to perfectly time the use of the system in the provinces, to ensure that it would work properly from the outset in Paris, which accounts for almost 80% of UTI Group’s business.
At the outset, UTI Group wanted to move to an on-premise mode, but the management team realized that the management and maintenance of the information system needed to be simplified, thereby reducing the considerable costs involved. The SaaS mode offered better met these expectations.
What results have you seen after more than 2 years of using VSA?
We’ve been able to stop using the 7 tools, which makes administrative tasks faster, especially with invoices. Now we can edit all invoices at once. The data generated by VSA speeds up reporting. As a little anecdote, management often says “the data that is true is the VSA data”.
Three words could sum up the benefits: saving time, money and responsiveness.
This year, we have begun the dematerialization of mission orders, which can now be accessed from VSA. On the one hand, in terms of paper savings, it’s a real plus, and on the other, we save 1/2 day’s work on pay slips, as well as on postage.
To give you another example, as part of our quality standard, we have to assess employee satisfaction. We used to send them a paper questionnaire by post, which they returned in the same way. Suffice it to say that the return rate was low.
The questionnaire is now sent out via the activity report progress map, and we have increased the return rate from 30% to 95%.
Another point: for sales representatives on the road, having access to information in real time is more practical. They can send a CV online, for example. We have a better response rate.
Overall, everyone knows where the information is, and we’ve really felt this in our processes.
What do you like best about VSA?
One of VSA’s real strengths is its responsive support. Sometimes we have quite sensitive tickets. For example, on an invoice to be sent to a customer, or on subjects that can quickly become complicated and for which we need help quickly, for which support is ultra-reactive. I remember I made a ticket on a Friday at 5pm and I didn’t think I’d hear back for a while. Incidentally, I got a response 30 minutes later with a solution to my problem.
Then there’s the amount of data, its speed and the fact that it’s complete.
Would you recommend VSA?
Yes
