Where business needs ICT a business case How the ICT department of Carglass sees the business as a customer

Stefaan Hermans Operations Director

The ICT department carries out a survey about every 16 months to keep their finger on the pulse. This means asking their users to what extent they would recommend the ICT services to others. The score of 8% delighted users may look significantly lower than the figure for our customers, but in the context of ICT it is quite an achievement. Not convinced? Do the test on your own IT department and keep me informed. That is what Stefaan Hermans says. He has been working for Carglass for more than 20 years now, first as ICT manager for Belgium and Luxembourg and now as Operations Director. As a result he realizes, like no one else, the importance of close cooperation and good relations between business and ICT. Six dimensions to measure maturity of alignment The ICT has to see the business as a customer, adds Stefaan. So it is logical that there is constant interplay between the two and they have to be perfectly aligned to one another. You can evaluate the extent to which you have this alignment using your gut feeling, but we go further. Our starting point is the Luftman model. This allows us to look at the alignment between ICT and the business and see how we can improve it by using a number of statements and questions. The model contains six dimensions for measuring this maturity. First, there is the value measurement: are you using ICT to create competitive advantage or as you just using ICT for basic things such as e-mail? Secondly, there is governance: how does the ICT department deal with projects? How do you decide on priorities? How do you choose the right projects for giving the business added value? Thirdly, you have communication: does the ICT department just talk in cryptic abbreviations and bits and bytes, or does it show emotional intelligence so that the business understands it too? A fourth consideration is scope and architecture. How are you setting up the network and architecture? How do you deal with security, updates or patches? Fifthly, there is partnership: how do you interact with key partners and suppliers, not only externally but internally too? And finally you have skills: what are the criteria for recruiting people? Do you select solely on the basis of their technical knowledge, or do you also take into account communication and leadership skills? Three pillars Stefaan Hermans gave his own interpretation of the model and reduced the six dimensions to these three pillars: product, process and people. Stefaan Hermans: One of the questions that we ask ourselves regarding products is whether we are innovative. Of the innovative projects that Carglass is carrying out today, 90% are focused on a service to the customer. Quite a lot of these

At Carglass, customer satisfaction is a top priority and this isnt just marketing fluff. Each year Carglass carries out more than 23,000 surveys among its customers to assess their satisfaction. Carglass is not just settling for customers who are satisfied; 97% of the people interviewed are at least satisfied. Carglass is aiming for delighted customers, customers who give a score of 9 or 10 to the question of whether they would recommend other people to use Carglass too. The survey shows that 73.8% of those interviewed would do that, which is a very high score. Why are we telling you all this and what is the link with ICT? Simple: the ICT department at Carglass is also aiming for delighted users. They too arent just settling for simple satisfaction.

projects emerge from the ICT department, which comes up with ideas itself. Another question: do we ever evaluate projects after implementation for the accuracy of the business case? If you carry out the same business case with ten people, you are guaranteed seven different outcomes. I have my doubts about purely mathematical business cases and I believe much more in the enthusiasm of people. They make all the difference. At Carglass we have a reporting club to monitor and assess projects, as well as to generate business cases. People from ICT, finance, operations, HR, you name it, continually assess whether the products and services offered by ICT meet the requirements of the business. They keep an eye on the project from start to finish, and even after that. This works! When it comes to processes, you have to ask yourself whether the vision of ICT matches that of the business. You have to measure how the ICT department is perceived, which is what Carglass does through satisfaction surveys. For making decisions regarding priorities, Carglass set up the Bpit team, the business plan implementation team, once again with representatives from each department. In this way, the IT processes are supported across the different departments. After all, each project has an impact on other departments. And so Carglass is placing the ownership on the work floor instead of placing it entirely in the hands of the ICT department. Finally, the human aspect is very important. The IT staff at Carglass are not just selected on the basis of their knowledge. After all, this can always be improved. High emotional intelligence, being good at communication and leadership are skills that are just as important. In addition, people at Carglass attach importance to sharing knowledge and communicating in an open way. To conclude, there is a lot of attention paid to assessment, of the staff and of the management. Carglass: where business needs ICT Stefaan Hermans gave a number of concrete examples of how ICT is vital for the business, from the moment a customer makes an appointment to the moment he drives out of Carglass with his repaired car: People are no longer involved in the online booking for an appointment. Another one: the number plate triggering. If we enter the number plate in our application, all kinds of things happen in the background. There is communication with the insurance company, so that its system does an automatic search in the database for the type of insurance arranged and sends Carglass a reply within three seconds. At the same time, the system automatically produces an insurance claim file at the insurers and provides us with its file number. With our electronic calendar we can see at a glance where we have which competences in our branch network, our database offers a wealth of information, and allows us to measure the effect of radio spots on the number of appointments. But there is more of course. The electronic invoicing goes through the insurance company, is automatically linked to the insurance claim file and Carglass stores all these documents in its electronic archive. The complete supply chain is also automated. The system automatically ensures that the branch manager has the right windscreens and products in stock to complete the work agreed with the customer professionally and by the agreed time. All this is ample proof that IT plays a key role in delivering a wow service to our customers, concludes Stefaan Hermans.

About Carglass
Carglass specializes in repairing and replacing vehicle windscreens and is a part of Belron, which belongs to the DIeteren group. Every three seconds Belron helps a motorist in one of 34 countries worldwide, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In Belgium, Carglass has 41 service centres and 100 service vehicles that come to the customers location, at home or at work. Carglass has agreements with almost all the major insurance companies in Belgium, so that they too can deal with all the relevant procedures. Contact: stefaan.hermans@carglass.be