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The new era of visual management for lean
iObeya is a unique Enterprise Visual Management platform, named after the Japanese word Oobeya, meaning ‘big room’, that forms part of a ‘Lean’ transformation strategy. The solution was developed by KAP IT, a French IT Services company and has seen impressive growth since its launch three years ago, as Philip Yorke reports.
iObeya was created in 2011 as a digital solution that significantly enhances Visual Management practices as part of a Lean transformation strategy. This unique, innovative software was born out of close collaboration between KAP IT, a French IT Services company, and the IT management team at PSA Peugeot Citroën in France.
Just three years after its commercial launch in 2012, iObeya is accompanying the ‘Lean’ journeys of some of the world’s most prestigious companies, including Volvo, Renault, Plastic Omnium, SKF, Hutchinson, ABB, Airbus, Alstom, Siemens and GSK. Many more leading multinationals have adopted iObeya to meet their strategic collaboration needs. Today there are more than 30,000 users who meet daily in 3,500 virtual Oobeyas across 40 countries worldwide. The company has told Industry Europe that it predicts continuous growth of more than 50 per cent year-on-year for the next three years.
Multi-site Visual Management becomes a reality
“We were invited to see one of PSA’s Visual Management meeting rooms where the walls were covered in sticky notes representing key visual indicators used to track each project’s status. As for many large companies, this information is of great strategic importance, but impos-
sible to share with staff who cannot physically be present in the same room”, explained Cyril Daloz, CEO of KAP IT and founder of iObeya. iObeya is an innovative enterprise platform which offers secure, virtual meeting rooms. Regardless of their location, teams can now meet and collaborate in these rooms that are available 24/7. This new digital solution enables team members worldwide to participate efficiently in their meetings, interacting in real time on visual boards, creating, moving and modifying sticky notes and other visual elements. Participants experience the meeting just as if they were gathered together in a stand-up meeting in their project room. Scalable, secure and accessible anytime and anywhere
One of the key principles of corporate Visual Management is to dedicate one Oobeya meeting room to a specific project, department or program. However, it is often impractical and expensive to provide sufficient wall space for such activities, as well as to travel daily or weekly to participate in such meetings. By virtualising meeting rooms, iObeya solves these space-constraint and cost-effectiveness issues directly.
In addition, the platform is totally secure and easy to access from any device, including computers, tablets and large format interactive
displays (LFIDs). Being a web-based solution also means users have no software to install, and IT departments have no clients or applications to maintain on individual devices. They simply need access to a web browser, a user name and a password to enter their virtual meeting rooms, regardless of location or the device being used.
The introduction of the iObeya Enterprise Visual Management platform by KAP IT represents a quantum leap in Visual Management for Lean and other Agile Management practices, as testified by Frederic Durka, PSA Peugeot Citroën’s IT project manager. “PSA Peugeot Citroën needed to solve security issues, as some meetings involve confidential company topics and a physical room can easily be photographed. Moreover, the lack of available wall space and meeting rooms meant we were limited in the number of projects we could manage using Visual Management.”
iObeya offers a unique, lifelike and immersive user experience for a seamless transition to Digital Visual Management. It is the first enterprise application designed for LFIDs. When associated with these big interactive surfaces, iObeya offers a realistic ‘stand-up sticky note meeting’ user experience, leading to immediate user adoption without disruption to the daily routines and rituals of teams.
For each virtual board, the meeting leader chooses the same recognisable tools needed, whether they be sticky notes, pens, rolls, stickers, graphs and more. The preparation and animation of meetings becomes much more efficient. It is much simpler to move, change the colour, stack or filter sticky notes with iObeya, than with traditional paper-based visual indicators on physical boards. Moreover, there is no need to create and distribute additional reports, as teams only need to share boards with their respective managers, to provide the latest up-to-date status on their projects. Overall, meeting time is reduced drastically, sometimes by more than 50 per cent, thanks to the new iObeya solution.
Customers have also realised great benefits in the use of iObeya for other types of sticky note meeting, for example in brainstorming sessions. It enables the gathering, consolidation, priorisation and sharing of new ideas in real time and with participants across the globe.
Exponential international growth
During the last 12 months, the use of iObeya has seen exponential growth worldwide, with sales more than doubling. Today, more than 100 large companies have adopted iObeya, with more than 60 per cent of them being located beyond the French home territory. The company is now considering the evangelization and development of a sales network abroad: “we are very proud of the fact that the solution has received a very warm welcome in Japan, the homeland of Oobeya and Lean (c.f. Toyota Production System). Our sights are also firmly set on conquering the North American market in 2015” concludes Cyril Daloz. n
For further details of the unique iObeya Enterprise Visual Management platform visit: www.iObeya.com
