Apec Innovates in Challenging Times

Capgemini helped us meet the triple challenge of our strategic OPERA project: mixing the new SAAS technology for our CRM, the new Agile methodology to secure planning and budget, and then the architecture expertise to build up the foundation of our new IT System. A great experience and really good work. Thierry Roche, CIO, Apec

The Situation

Apec (Management Jobs Association) was founded in 1966 to promote openness and efficiency in the management jobs market in France and is now the leading organization in its field. It has 46 centers spread across France and nearly 900 employees, including over 640 recruitment and career management professionals. Apec offers personalized advice and tailor-made solutions for companies and managers. Today, 41,000 companies and 800,000 managers – young graduates, managers in work or seeking jobs – use Apec’s services in its national centers or via its website, which registers over 43.6 million visits a year.

Apec relies heavily on the information system it uses to match candidates to available roles, and develop new offers for its clients. However, Apec’s systems had been developed gradually over time, and making enhancements to them was a slow and costly process. With the employment market entering tough times in France, and demand for roles increasing sharply, the existing platform was no longer equal to the challenges posed by the market.

The Solution

Apec selected Capgemini over competitor organizations as its partner for the development of a new information architecture to support the core back office process. As the backbone of this new system, Capgemini tailored Salesforce web-based CRM software to the needs of Apec’s recruitment consultants.

Collaboration underpinned the project, in which Capgemini Technology Services staff worked in joint teams with Salesforce experts, and used Agile Development techniques to build the systems iteratively, using strategic input from Apec’s leadership team.

Capgemini developed the system over a fourteen-month period. The successful go-live took place in the summer of 2010 and the system is now fully operational.

The Result

Thanks to its CRM components, Apec’s new core system allows it to manage relationships with its customers more proactively. It can now respond to the market quickly with new offers and suitable candidates. The system also enables Apec to leverage social networking channels to communicate in new ways with its customers.