Alfonso Berriel, GeneXus Consulting's Commercial Manager
said, "we are working together with GLM S.A. to install the product GLM
Utilities at Gaseba Natural, as well as working on some important projects for
this market at regional level."
In August 2003, Michel Houssemenne, Gaseba Natural's
President and General Manager, started working for the Gaz de France subsidiary
in Uruguay and developed a change in strategy due to the arrival of natural gas,
aiming at improving customer service. The strategy involved an upgrade of the
information systems, and the need to adopt a robust and agile solution that
enabled changes and accommodated the company's requirements. Gaseba Natural's
president was also very strict with deadlines: "Twelve months for implementation
was too much, we had to make it in less than six months." Eng. Houssemenne chose
the solution offered by GeneXus Consulting and GLM. They started working in May,
and they have already implemented the Administration and Human Resources
modules, and are ready to implement the Commercial one.
Marcelo Linari, GLM's Vice-President, points out that
participating in the K2B program is a competitive advantage compared with the
rest of the solution suppliers for the utilities sector, as they can strengthen
this synergy by using a network of distributors to commercialize the product in
the rest of Latin America in the short term, and in the rest of the world in the
future. K2B is an association that enables clients to have an excellent quality
product, developed using the latest technology, and with specialized support for
its implementation.
GLM S.A. is a company dedicated to the development of IT
solutions and has ISO 9001-2000 certification for software design, development
and implementation. It currently has more than 30 clients in the utilities
sector in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.
The following is an interview to Eng. Michel Houssemenne,
President and General Manager of the Gaz de France subsidiary in
Uruguay:
Why did Gaseba decide to change their IT
solution?
I came on board a year ago, and
in my diagnosis of the company's situation I considered it important to
implement some changes, mainly to accompany the arrival of natural gas and also
to improve customer services. I noticed that the information system we had did
not offer global consistency and didn't allow to make some analysis, so I
decided to change the system in three key areas: management, human resources,
and commercial. Thus, I did market research, and compared and created an IT
project within the strategic plan for the company.
What did you take into account when selecting the
information solution?
When I evaluated
the different tools in the market I looked for a robust, agile solution, which
already worked in other companies, and that enabled changes and could adapt to
our requirements. I didn't want something that would force us to work as it was
planned in the solution. I had personal experiences in which the information
solution had oriented the organization, so I wanted to avoid that. In addition,
having a local company close to us was also a crucial factor. To always depend
on people who are abroad is not an advantage for the country. When I learned
that there was a Uruguayan tool, developed by local people, known worldwide and
recommended by IBM, and I found that the functioning was quite intuitive and the
tool could be adapted and modified, I became very interested. But I had to
convince the shareholders, which was not an easy task.
How did you convince them?
The arguments to convince them were nearness and
price. Regarding the technical aspects of the final solution, I think they all
offer similar functionalities. The difference lies in the way things can be
changed. If we want to adapt something, if we want to make it our own tool, it's
much simpler and easier with GeneXus than with the other products. So I made the
decision, and I'll let the facts judge my choice. Besides, I don't want to just
buy a tool: Gaseba is a Uruguayan company, with Uruguayan tools and Uruguayan
suppliers.
How were you able to have modules working in just
a few months?
I was very strict about
deadlines, because my objective is always to implement changes as quickly as
possible. Initially I set my goals at three months, and in five months we were
able to have everything, and that's an advantage. All others offered deadlines
close to 12 months. Success means having at least what we had before, while
adding functionalities without major changes to our internal procedures. We're
now working in the commercial module, which is the heart of our activity and the
one with most visibility to our clients. I want everything to continue working
in the most efficient way possible from the first day of implementation. The
most important thing to me is that this project establishes a partnership with a
Uruguayan company and a reference point, for GeneXus as well as Gaseba.