Hifluence - We Are The Future - Flashback 2015 by Hifluence

INTRODUCTION

Table of contents

05 10 12 14 16 2

WELCOME

CLIENT LIST

COMPANY TIMELINE

OUR GOALS

REPORTING CARD 2015

20 25 39 49 61

AMBASSADORS

ARCHITECTS

MARKETEERS

DATABOARDERS

CRAFTSMEN

INTRODUCTION

73 76 78

EVENTS

PUBLICATIONS

CONTACT

INTRODUCTION

Nick Van Langendonck

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME 2015 was the year I became part of a group of exceptional people that came together to make a difference in today’s digital world. Tired of hearing evangelists recite the same stories over and over again, we decided it was time for a new generation of digital natives and entrepreneurs. Bored by so-called digital experts, popping up like mushrooms all over the consultancy market, we took the whole year to really understand why, what and how we do the things we want to do.

This book is an excellent opportunity to talk about our exciting adventure. It screams the DNA of our company. It shows the world that we travel far beyond traditional boundaries. It captures the Hifluence motto: “We are the future.”

Nick Van Langendonck

Please ignore the buzz around digital disruption and rely on your survival instincts. Digital transformation is mostly a matter of good common sense.

WHERE

BUSINESS & DIGITAL BECOME ONE

What does your organization of the future look like? How do you get there? What role is digital expected to play? Talk to us. We have what it takes to make it happen.

INTRODUCTION

architects

marketeers

craf

tsmen

Hifluence is born from the4 4NATURAL NATURAL FORCES FORCES of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital world: Architects, Marketeers, Databoarders and Craftsmen. Without these fundamental forces, any digital strategy will fall apart and float away.

This is who we are and what we stand for.

INTRODUCTION

CULTURE EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST

THINK BIG

EXCEL TOGETHER

EMBRACE TRUST

Disruptive thinking requires courage and an open mind. Innovation is seeing what others do not,

Collaboration is essential to achieve change. The best ideas are created out of the constructive collision of opinions and visions of people with different backgrounds. However,

Innovation demands a culture of openness and trust. Only then can genuine creativity and true innova-

everybody takes ownership of innovation.

for all and all for one.

anyone can use anything to make things better.

INTRODUCTION 10

THANK YOU. FOR EVERYTHING.

INTRODUCTION

BORN

8 Nov 2014

1st

5 Feb 2015

Apr 2015

May 2015

INTRODUCTION

1st p

Jun 2015

Aug 2015

Oct 2015

Nov 2015

INTRODUCTION

OUR GOALS If you give people freedom, they will reach goals far beyond the imaginable.

BECOMING A FOUNDER

SEARCHING FOR THE BEST

CONNECTING WORLDS

SELF-SUFFICIENT R&D

GENERATING CASHFLOW

INTRODUCTION

REPORTING CARD 2015 A closer look at the objectives for 2015 and our level of growth.

BECOMING A FOUNDER

SEARCHING FOR THE BEST

ive

CONNECTING WORLDS

SELF-SUFFICIENT R&D

GENERATING CASHFLOW

INTRODUCTION

People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

INTRODUCTION

Ambassadors HIFL UENCE TEAM

AMBASSADORS

Laurent

Cindy

Alexander

ARCHITECT

SALES

CRAFTSMAN

Nick

Mathieu

LEAD

ARCHITECT

"Bridging the gap between business and ICT is one of the key success factors of today’s IT projects and Hifluence’s DNA is also made of the willingness to close that gap." #Ilovedata

Michiel

Philippe

Jana

DATABOARDER

CRAFTSMAN

MARKETEER

AMBASSADORS

Yves

Stijn

ARCHITECT

Willi

Steven

Stefano

MARKETEER

DATABOARDER

CRAFTSMAN

Suraya MARKETEER

Koen

DATABOARDER

“Changing the traditional relationship between man and computer will be one of our main challenges in the near future.

ARCHITECTS

MARKETEERS

PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGY

WEB DESIGN & ONLINE MARKETING

“We design your business.”

“We promote your business.”

DATABOARDERS

CRAFTSMEN

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT & DATA SCIENCE

CUSTOM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

“We predict your business.”

“We customize your business.”

We want to . We want customers to look at us and say: because of you we make a difference.

ARCHITECTS -

1. ARCHITECTS

“THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY USING ICT” 26

NO MORE OF THE SAME ICT

THE HOLY-GRAIL ERP PLATFORM DOES NOT EXIST

The days of the big, expensive projects which promise a lot and deliver little are gone. How can ICT pay off within organi-

For more than 20 years, companies have tried to integrate business processes into one system. This proves to be expensive vana of the holistic ERP systems. On the contrary, nowadays, technology platforms are a commodity.

risk and low cost. By speaking the language of the business. By being hands-on and pragmatic. By focusing on increased user-friendliness.

1. ARCHITECTS

STORY 1

Every business has become an information business with technology and data increasingly making the difference. To remain competitive, companies have to look for radical improvements in the way they work. This can be done through smart implementation of digital technology. Digitalization is the talk of the town, but few are actually putting their shoulder to the wheel. This article gives an over-

The difference is not in the type of system, but rather in the philosophy with which it has been set up. We opt decisively for standardisation, automation, integration and data strategy.

ADOPT THE STRATEGY OF FC BAYERN MUNICH? Bring stability in the defense and axis of the in offense. Make sure you have the right player in the right position.

OFFENSE

1. ARCHITECTS

Automation with a focus on low risk, low cost and reliability.

Rotating according to trends, opportunities and creativity. Value-driven, proactive and with a focus on business.

DEFENSE

Business analysts. They know the processes inside out.

Data scientists and pragmatic software developers. They know the technologies inside out.

Make sure you have the right player in the right position.

CREATE AN INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM

PERSONALISE

THE BUSINESS IS THE HERO

These days, most businesses are faced with a complicated ICT landscape with several different systems. Get used to it! The number of touchpoints generating data such as ERP systems, apps, websites, social media, telephone calls will only continue to grow.

Every user in an organisation has different needs. Information ecosystems need to allow for data to be personalised. What’s more, this personalised data should be available in real time. Below is a selection of our portfolio of .

The purpose of ICT in an organisation is to support the business. ICT has to enter into dialogue with the business – listen and connect. ICT has to do much more than it is doing today.

Managing this data stream is crucial in

organizes the vast amount of information that is coming to a trader. Machine learning

ecosystems of business information which collects, exchanges and analyzes all data in real time. Our business architects, data scientist and integration experts operate as closely as possible to the business.

1. ARCHITECTS

l l bler and facilitator of information and three (see next page)

that Omina reduces the complexity of data so that it becomes clear to traders. cial closing process. It Integrates front counting systems in one app.

1. ARCHITECTS

HIFLUENCERS WORK

PLEASURE

ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING 3 SIMPLE KPIs:

Was it a pleasure to work with us? We favour a personal, customer-focused approach. talents who are a pleasure to work with.

SOLVING PROBLEMS To what extent did we solve the problem? This is the basis of everything. Our focus is always on solving the problems of the customer.

COLLABORATION Was it a smooth collaboration? We aim for simplicity. Clear communication, short lines, no unnecessary waiting times, clear decisions, clear prognoses. That is what we stand for.

1. ARCHITECTS

A new model for projects on information technology Many organisations are very fragmented. Sometimes, even between business and ICT is usually even wider. Attempts to improve collaboration frequently result in endless discussions without any action being taken. A common systematic department focuses on achieving its own targets. Incentives should originate from the realisation of a common goal. The focus should be on creating new income and reducing costs. Not on meeting deadlines at the detriment of quality.

STORY 2

IS HIFLUENCE A REINVENTED ORGANIZATION? 32

PRACTICE WHAT YOU

1. ARCHITECTS

success story2

From the perspective of Laurent Delbar.

1. ARCHITECTS

YESTERDAY’S PARADIGM

HOW STANDARDS DE-HUMANIZE

A paradigm is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, axioms and standards around a certain domain. Yesterday’s management paradigm is that bosses are the leaders of a pack.

Standardization and over-rationalization have enabled businesses to plan ahead and create budgets. This is great for the upper management as they have the impression they can control and indicate how and when people should do their jobs. Even though this increases the control over the company and ensures the top keeps tabs on what happens around the company. Too often employees are doing tasks they don’t enjoy, that they are forced to do or worse that they are not capable of doing. The main problem? It doesn’t empower employees.

They lead and inspire the pack and distribute roles among the pack. Depending on the company culture, the people lower on the scale have more liberty to decide how to reach the goals set by the leader. In our current culture, the idea is that we need a brain is completely in control. However, this image of the brain is outdated, nobody acts exclusively upon his mind. People have hearts, emotions and “guts” that sometimes overrule a rational decision from our brain.

The old way of viewing management is still relevant for small and straightforward companies. The more complex a business is, the harder it is to justify a hierarchical pyramid. Laloux.F makes the comparison with our own bodies. Nothing controls our body entirely, it’s a magical coordination of billions of cells that enable us to be humans. There is no cell or molecule that tells the other what to do, our bodies work in harmony for every cell’s best interest.

In the last years a lot of managers decided to resign their position in a traditional company to explore new options and create a more enjoyable management style. Interestingly, these managers came up with ideas that resembled one another even though they never met or discussed their ideas. Laloux.F spent years studying the shift in management paradigm occurring. He came up with 3 important pillars

EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSE

1. ARCHITECTS

INDEPENDENT CONVERGENCE

The employees will dictate where the company needs to go. Don’t let management but employees decide what the company should evolve into.

SELF-ORGANIZATION Let people organise themselves, don’t tell them what to do, employ them so they tell you what you should do.

WHOLENESS This implies that employees can bring their true selves to work, instead of narrow “professional” self.

1. ARCHITECTS

organization? is transformed organization. Everyone is expected to perform at their best, but no one tells anyone how this should be done. Opportunities are handed out to colleagues, not imposed. The fact that employees are expected to be self-organized allows them to be highly connected to the organization. Employees are not only the roots, they are also the branches and leafs of the tree. I am personally convinced that I can make a evident but that is lacking for the majority of people working in large institutions. This also offers opportunities for the company. As we are all free to pursue opportunities that we seek ourselves or that are proposed

to us. We evolve. This freedom allows us to indulge in matters that interests us and ensures we spend our time in a reactive environment. This allows us all to be more creative instead of getting get caught in a rusted stated of mind. We aim at bringing all our colleagues together and allowing them to be free and create new types of products and approaches. This will allow our ambassadors to evolve into a full sized compass for partners that want to explore the limitless possibilities provided by this digital world. (Laurent Delbar)

ATTACHMENT

THINK, MOVE & INNOVATE a implement a systematic and structured process review, rate, approve and execute. In 2015 S enforced its ideation services with a state of the art ideation platform.

MOBILE FIRST In this age of networks and disruption, you need to collaborate and share. As true , Architects have selected Mobilu, Luxembourg start-up of the year in 2014. Together we implement integrated mobile solutions for decision makers confronted by the mass entry of mobile devices into their infrastructures.

We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t build links, we build relationships.

MARKETEERS

ATTACHMENT

The city and port of Antwerp are hosting the world famous “The Tall Ships Races” in 2016. The largest and most beautiful sailing ships in the world start in Antwerp and sail south to the ports of Lisbon, Cadiz and La Coruña. The city of a brand new website for the thousands of TSR fans all over the world. “It was the expertise of the team combined with the dynamism of a young start-up that made us choose for

ATTACHMENT

Onyx Online Learning assists companies with all their online learning activities, regardless of whether this involves the development business strategy, rebrand the company image and train them on how to leverage social media for marketing purposes.

Gumption supports young, independent consulting companies on their way to sustainable growth, with respect for their individuality. That special teamspirit of company website of the group and the create the perfect synergy between the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;n feel and the unique identity of each company member. 41

ATTACHMENT

Triple Living is one of Flanders exclusive digital marketing partnerin a series of websites that match the grandeur of the Triple Living real estate projects themselves.

Key focus for every Triple Living project is (1) ease of use for the visitor and (2) better insights in visitor behavior for Triple Living with continuously evolving data strategies and new analytics reporting.

ATTACHMENT

Logos are a critical aspect of business marketing. As the company’s major graphical representation, a logo anchors a company’s brand and becomes the single most visible manifestation of the company within the target market. The “2-iteration approach” of with guaranteed success.

company branding across all your digital and analog media as in this example for Quinaptis, a specialist in supply chain.

ATTACHMENT

Hitchcock is notorious for having used them. Spielberg has been known to hire armies of artists to create them, and, as marketeers, we use them all the time. Whether we create a new app, website or even a company video, a storyboard is always a fantastic way to get a sense of how an idea will work before development takes place.

Discussing company values with pragmatically minded employees is not that obvious. And yet, all Gumption companies took part in the . Our comic strip about ants in the entrance hall summarizes the quintessence in two square metres. 45

2. MARKETEERS

HOW TO DEVELOP SAP FIORI APPS FROM SCRATCH? 46

In the age of digital transformation, designing SAP Fiori apps is hot. Achieving the best possible outcome requires new skills as well as a new ideation and implementation approach. Be prepared before embarking on this exciting

2. MARKETEERS

STORY 3

challenge, with SAP Fiori experts from TheValueChain and

YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND PROCESSES AS A STARTING POINT

2. MARKETEERS

5D APPROACH TO FIORI

DEFINE

DISCOVER

DESIGN

Describe your Fiori appâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objective, key differentiator, target audience and impact on how you work today.

Discover how to maximize

Create wireframes, visual designs, mock-ups, journey maps. Consult with your users. TheValueChain works in close partnership with usability and web design specialist

tion. Build use case scenarios. Find out if standard Fiori apps can be considered for use. If no, go to step 3.

DEVELOP

DEPLOY

Develop the Fiori app and integrate it with your back-end system.

Deploy your Fiori app but not without thorough unit and integration testing.

DATABOARDERS

3. DATABOARDERS

STORY 4 DATABOARDERS IN ACTION: EXPRESS PARCELÂ AND DOCUMENT SHIPPING

Data market for parcel and document shipping to better plan its activities worldwide by using Omina. The investment was earned back in less then six months.

3. DATABOARDERS

, preventing the courier from purchasing

3. DATABOARDERS

DATABOARDERS IN ACTION: CAR MANUFACTURING 52

One of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading car manufacturers partnered with our databoarders to predict and balance the global demand for cars. The huge investment was earned back in less than a month.

3. DATABOARDERS

STORY 5

3. DATABOARDERS

HOW MACHINE LEARNING SUPPORTS DECISION MAKING

Koen Wijnen

Omina corrects the prediction of the individual analyst or dealer based on the past. “We do not follow blindly what the analyst or the dealer does but compare his statement with what he said in the past. We investigate whether his statement at the time was correct and bring this into account in order to interpret its current fore-cast,“says Koen Wijnen. 54

can

THE RISK OF INNOVATION

The stakes were so high, we could not afford any

. -

3. DATABOARDERS

CONTROLLING

tactical dashboard the management had an accurate picture of how the market would evolve. By limiting the stock in the right places, Omina had paid for itself.

3. DATABOARDERS

One of Luxemburg's most successful hedge the vast amount of information that is coming to their traders. Machine learning is not new in reduce the complexity of data so that it becomes clear to traders.

HOW IT WORKS

STORY 6 STORY

3. DATABOARDERS

OUR GOALS

Koen Wijnen -

DATABOARDERS IN ACTION: HEDGE FUNDS 57

3. DATABOARDERS

4 TIMES OMINA

x -

HIFLUENCE PRESENTS OMINA

h i

is a prescriptive analytics system tailored to exploit business Omina is discovering and offering answers and patterns you did your organization. Visit now:

w w w. o m i n a . b e

3. DATABOARDERS 60

ULTIMATE VISION: OMINA & THE INTERNET OF THINGS

CRAFTSMEN

4. CRAFTSMEN

YOU ARE MY DIGITAL Johan Driessens

CEO Branded.Careers

TRANSLATOR

Recruitment agency Branded.Careers is making the recruiterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job exciting, fun and effective again, giving companies and candidates the opportunity to make optimal use of digital technology.

4. CRAFTSMEN

STORY 7

Hifluence is T

V ,

4. CRAFTSMEN

This is Johan Driessensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s YET YOUR ARE ALSO MY DIGITAL SOUND BOARD YOU ARE MY DIGITAL TRANSLATOR

YOU ARE ALSO MY DIGITAL CONVERTER

We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the entire Branded.Careers team for trusting us with the design and development of the DJOBBY platform. It is indeed a great adventure, partnership and learning experience.

Thank you. For everything. 64

ATTACHMENT

The time Employer Branding was only a thing for the Coca-Colas and the Googles of the world is over! Djobby user experience, designed so anyone can easily create their own employer branding page. Then, personalize them with photos, videos, testimonials and more in just a few minutes. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, employers and job seekers get matched based on culture, persona and job preferences.

Djobby is a unique platform features. Therefore, our craftsmen opted to develop a fully tailor-made solution instead of using an out-of-the-box CMS. The entire application is built on NABU, a custom developed stack with its own event-driven HTTP server and a new web-programming language GLUE that focuses on simplicity. Remarkably, thanks to NABU most of the code ima unique feature in a Java environment!

4. CRAFTSMEN

STORY 8 Alexander Verbruggen

the times. High quality service stands or falls with customizable and well-functioning ICT systems. How accelerate processing time of software development and at the same time improve your quality? approach and combined this move with extreme test automation in GLUE. With spectacular results.

4. CRAFTSMEN

TEST AUTOMATION WITH GLUE MAKES AGILE PICTURE AT RVP COMPLETE Christian Février (RVP Development Manager)

4. CRAFTSMEN

WITH AGILE TO FASTER SOFTWARE RELEASES

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ICT “Legislation is living matter. This often involves ones, such as the large pension reform. With an IT department of 200 people we must make every possible effort to tackle this. Our applications and systems need to support the adjustments without any disruption for customers and employees.”

“Until early 2015, we developed all new software with the waterfall methodology,” adds Christian Fevrier. “If you want to respond quickly to changing conditions and business needs, then this method is a source of frustration. Analysts, developers and testers work in separate teams. The strict project phasing makes quick releases impossible. A release cycle lasted an average of two to six months. “ “RVP, therefore, decided to switch to an agile approach. Thanks to this approach we now release every 4 to 6 weeks. Agile makes us predictable. We are much closer to the expanded roadmap.”

If you want to release faster, you should also test faster, without compromising quality.

4. CRAFTSMEN

WHY GLUE?

(Fabrice Devroye)

“If you want to release faster, you should also test faster, without compromising quality,” said development coordinator Fabrice Devroye. “In a complex environment regression tests parts of the application should continue to work correctly. Therefore, we had to adjust our approach to testing.”

“In our market research, we saw some excellent test platforms from industry leaders,” says Christian Fevrier. “But we were immediately charmed by GLUE because it is a test automation platform that enables analysts, developers and testers write test scenarios with complex logic and regression tests in an easy and consistent way.”

“New users learn quickly how to get started. Developers quickly write a script to release a piece of code for testing. Simplicity t , we write more tests than before, with less effort. The quality of the end result skyrockets which is great for the end user.”

4. CRAFTSMEN

that what we do really works. “With GLUE we automated our testing procedures. We used to test intensively, but our manual approach never covered the full scope. Now it does. Every night we test 95% of our application. “The testing backlog generally remains small. If required, we can easily get extra people on board because GLUE is so easy. Everyone can help

Thanks to the GLUE reports, we can now compare the quality of development and testing between different projects or teams as well. “GLUE is an open source product and therefore there is no license costs,” concludes Christian Fevrier. “But ask me for the main advantage,

HIFLUENCE PRESENTS GLUE

How do you accelerate the lead time of software development and improve the quality at the same time? Switch to an agile approach combined with automated test procedures based on GLUE for spectacular results. GLUE completes the agile development picture. Visit now:

w w w. g l u e v e r s e . b e

The digitalization of our society has an impact on everyone. So why is it that experts speak in a jargon that 95% of the people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand? We say no more! We bring digital content in a way our children and grandmothers understand it as well. We bring digital content to the mass.

Hifluence. CLINIC

(between Antwerp and Brussels). We invite inspiring speakers from diverse backgrounds with fascinating how to make the world of business a better place.

EVENTS

apr

jan

feb

Agfa Group and President of Belgium CIO and EuroCIO forum, inspired the crowd with leadership advise in the digital transformation. David Lachetta, founder of Mobilu, explained why Mobility is the ideal trigger to start your digital transformation journey.

Business Process Mining, is it ready for business? er shared their experiences in improving business processes with the use of business process mining tools.

mar

clinic was also our kick-off party. We debated on the hype that Digital Transformation was becoming and presented our vision and approach on the matter.

The digital leader, the digital doer and the digital entrepreneur.

may -

Self-made robotics” & “How the google search engine works (SEO)? ing expert, took us on a journey down the rabbit hole that we know as “Google”. Alexander Verbruggen, technical genius and inventor of GLUE, explained us how robots will take over the world. Watch the robot video here.

Goodbye email, hello collaboration. important survival skills in the evolution of mankind. Today, it’s a pity that many people forgot how to founder. In return, Philippe Weymans, data strategist, and his team tested Asana collaboration platform for a month. He shared the pros and cons.

jun

SAP, disrupter or disruptee?

04 that S4 Hana is the winning strategy for SAP. Jan Vautmans, SAP BI goeroe, back this up with some impressive Hana business cases.

EVENTS

SEP

Cracking the innovation code: world tour.

OCT

tion code” world tour is a must-see art & innovation exhibition. Several digital creatives explain how they search for innovation and present some incredible results. This show has one hell of

today, will no longer exist. In October ment which is constantly changing and technologies radically change operation models. We will aim to provide

applies to IT testing, graveyards, recruitment and many more domains.

cial people on the transformation jour-

departments are going through.

NOV

How to fund a start-up? One of the most frequent questions asked by entrepreneurs is “How do ness?” With many new ways to raise to understand what type of funding to choose. Fortunatly, we have several different funding stakeholders each representing their added value at our

DEC

Le Gumtion: The party One of the most frequent questions asked by entrepreneurs is “How do ness?” With many new ways to raise to understand what type of funding to choose. Fortunatly, we have several different funding stakeholders each representing their added value

PUBLICATIONS

we only do digital.' Our marketing team took this opportunity to showcase how a simple add can contain such a strong message using the contradiction between old school and new school media to highlight our expertise. The positive reactions were overwhelming.

PUBLICATIONS

The city of Antwerp received the prestigious Global Startup Nations Award for Entrepreneurship in 2015. HLN, the biggest newspaper in Flanders covered this story and protagonist start-ups. Especially the work of our Databoard team caught their attention. The fact that we use data science and analytics techniques to predict the future of markets and businesses is quite innovative.

CONTACT Are you facing a transformation challenge? Would you like to exchange ideas about the future of your business sector? Do you have a question or a request for you like to know more about the have a great digital idea that you want to share with us?

CONTACT

Satenrozen 10, 2550 Kontich +32 3 84 32 900

THANK YOU!