Industrialization holds the key to success

The past year or so has seen considerable changes in client demand, in best practices and in the economic model for systems integration projects. For companies hoping to play a leading role on the world’s stage, the response to these changes can be summed up in one word: industrialization.

With 22,000 people employed worldwide and accounting for more than 40 percent of the Group’s revenue, the mission of the Technology Services discipline is to design, develop and implement value-added solutions for its client companies. In 2003, Technology Services set out to overhaul its offerings. Instead of submitting to price pressure, it began to differentiate itself from the competition by putting the accent on creativity, innovation and technical performance; by injecting its technological solutions with more sector content; and by adapting its skills quickly and continuously – all with the aim of becoming a global market leader.

A constant focus on added value
How to offer innovative solutions without incurring undue risk for the client? This is one of the key strategies of the Technology Services discipline. Systems integration, as it is practiced in Capgemini, is open to innovation, is aimed at understanding long- and medium-term technological advances, and at developing a vision for the future of IT. Capgemini can share this vision with its clients, and guide them in making the many choices available in systems architecture, for example, so that their investments bring lasting value.

Not infrequently, innovations can be immediately applicable once they demonstrate measurable benefits to the client and the risks involved have been taken in hand. In 2003, for example, agent technology was used by the discipline at a major German logistics client, which resulted in a doubling of operating income in one of the client’s business lines. Innovation – and its implementation – was also a key component of Capgemini’s success at the UK Department of Inland Revenue.

Industrialization – of production and projects
For nearly two years, Capgemini has given priority to industrializing its production and project management capabilities. Two major advances have made it possible to strengthen this objective. First, is the Group’s Rightshore distributed delivery methodology (which enables a client to choose the ideal combination of on shore, near shore and offshore delivery options). Technology Services has at its disposal a network of specialized delivery centers, on three continents, using identical methods and with the added advantage of international accreditation. Based on the variable characteristics of each project, Capgemini can “distribute” the work among these different centers to deliver the solution faster, at less cost and with total respect for quality standards.

Likewise, as part of its industrialization objectives, the Technology Services discipline has recourse to more than twenty Accelerated Delivery Centers (ADCs) worldwide. Specializing in new technologies, these centers are intended mainly as skill repositories and to encourage the reuse of software components in order to get the work done faster – and therefore at less cost – from one project to the next.