Conclusion helps Heijmans achieve its mission: 'Better, smarter, sustainable'

Heijmans, a publicly listed construction firm with more than 4,500 employees, has been at the heart of society since 1923. 'We create a healthy living environment; we build amenities for people to work and live in, and we create smart infrastructure for mobility and energy,' CIO Hendrik-Jan Smaal explains. 'As such, our activities are closely intertwined with the sustainability agenda. Take water management, heat protection, the housing market, and carbon emissions, for example, as well as social cohesion and nature inclusivity. Heijmans' mission is to add something instead of taking something away. In other words: we want to leave the environments we operate in in a better place than we found them.' 

The Heijmans mission is neatly encapsulated in its 'Better, smarter, sustainable' motto. One way it is pursuing this mission is by using systems in the built environment to generate data. These types of systems not only have the potential to make the construction process itself smarter, they can also open up new digital services in the field of home automation or sensor technology. Even so, this type of innovation can only be achieved with strong foundations in place in terms of IT facilities.

'Together with physical technology, digital technology is helping us tackle the challenges of our times. And that's exactly why we need to be able to rely on a solid IT environment. It takes data to facilitate the digital transformation,' Smaal posits. 'When “Better, smarter, sustainable” is what you're aiming for, the technical performance of your IT services is not all that matters when it comes to IT facilities: they also need to add genuine value. That latter aspect is expressed by the degree to which they contribute to the objectives of our business, and of our employees. In this type of scenario, having access to specific feedback from end users is essential — something we have been implementing more and more in recent times. To help us improve our IT facilities, our IT organization needs to work together closely with colleagues in the various parts of our business who are much closer to the ground.'  

Eighteen months ago, Heijmans' contract with its previous IT service provider came to an end. As a result, the company found itself having to deal with the transition of its IT services from its previous IT service provider to the new one — Conclusion — right in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The task ahead was formidable: it involved transferring the management of 4,500 IT workstations based on Windows 10 and Office 365, including the entire service desk and all aspects of on-site support; device management/deployment based on Autopilot and InTune; the management of the backroom server landscape, and the management and continued development of various cloud services based on Microsoft Azure. 'The transfer of all these elements presented significant change, putting extra pressure on our IT organization and the service provider. Even so, user satisfaction showed no signs of falling during or after the transition,' according to Smaal.  

Heijmans had been using myBrand, one of the Conclusion labels, for services in the field of ERP (management, maintenance, hosting, low-code and other development for SAP and in OutSystems) for some time already. For these services and others, Heijmans wanted to take the next step in measuring the experience of its end users, so it could start work on making improvements based on the results. Peter Verboort, ERP manager at Heijmans, tells us more about this approach: 'Eighteen months ago, we started bringing together IT specialists, and colleagues from the different parts of our business with the aim of accelerating improvements in our IT facilities.

As part of this, we are currently looking at five different domains: project preparation and management, service and maintenance, HR and timekeeping, finance and control, and commerce and procurement. We had been gauging the end user experience for some time already, albeit mainly in the workplace: how are you getting on with your hardware, how easily can you access your files, or how quickly are you getting the support you need from our service desk? Now, however, we have started asking more specific questions about how we enable our colleagues to do their job, and we try to phrase our questions in a way that aligns with their individual experience.

How easy is it to convert a calculation into an operational budget? How easy is it to report back on the work you did to resolve a fault? How easy is it to log your contact with clients? We're not asking these questions to obtain some kind of school report grade; instead, we're asking them because we want to roll up our sleeves and improve things.’  

The best suggestions for improvement come direct from the source: employees on the ground. Heijmans employs more than 4,500 people, so it often feels like IT is several degrees of separation away from the places where the company's projects are being completed. What's more, IT end users at Heijmans cannot simply be lumped together in a single category.

When it comes to workstations, for example, what's required at a building site where an office block is rising out of the ground or a project in which a stretch of motorway is being widened is completely different from what's required within an office environment. Smaal explains: 'The main thing Heijmans needs is flexible infrastructure. IT systems don't just need to function properly; they need to be quick to assemble, and they need to work at just the right time.

To name just one simple example: work can only really start at a building site with a site office once working connections are available, in the form of a radio relay, for example, or a 5G or fibreglass connection — a connection that is to be arranged by our suppliers. Elsewhere, an iPad Mini is probably the best solution for someone working on an aerial platform, for example. That's because it can easily be slid into the pocket of an employee’s overalls using just one hand, so that the employee has both hands free to carry on working.

What's more, we don't want to lag behind in this area compared with what people are using at home. And as that requires a certain degree of flexibility from your IT service provider, a contract should never be regarded as a straitjacket. Let's put it this way: I've not really needed to take a proper look at the SLA so far.' 

'Once systems are in place to measure user satisfaction and once we start acting on the feedback provided, employees will be able to focus more easily on how to make our processes and products smarter and more sustainable. Developing smarter processes is one element of our digital strategy, and as part of that, Heijmans intends to start using a digital twin', Small explains. 'Everything we build will have a digital counterpart and vice versa. The concept of a digital twin will enable us to develop remote services, for example, or make it possible to order materials or parts directly from a digital environment.'  

'The digital transformation — finding new business and revenue models, in other words — is an issue that's intrinsic to our business as far as we are concerned. It's someone's job at our company to lose sleep over it, so to speak. And it's then up to us to help them with what's needed in terms of technology: design, deployment, scalability, and management. And that requires close collaboration in which the expertise brought to the table by Heijmans, Conclusion, and other market actors complements one another.' 

According to Hendrik-Jan Smaal: ​'In Conclusion, we have found what we believe we need to accelerate in these times of digitalization. After all, the digital culture of tomorrow is one of co-creation. To help build and maintain digital propositions (DevOps), seeing roles such as data and software specialists appear in our operational flows alongside the more familiar sight of carpenters and bricklayers will become the new normal. In this context, we were looking for an experienced Dutch partner to help us lift our IT services to the next level, with a corporate culture that suited us. With Conclusion, we expect we've found a match in all of these fields. The successful transition during the coronavirus crisis demonstrates that together, we are able to find creative solutions in evolving circumstances. As such, we have complete confidence in the fact that this collaboration is just the start of a successful, long-term partnership.' 

Once a good idea has come to the fore, a service provider needs to be able to scale it up or accelerate it. And that's only possible when you work together across all disciplines. As Smaal sees it: 'Conclusion has shown that is has genuine ambition when it comes to innovation — including through its acquisition strategy. Its portfolio contains a host of businesses we would love to work with on our projects.’ 

Verboort has also noticed that the partners are working together more and more intensively: 'The different teams on which our business and IT staff are collaborating to achieve continuity and innovation to also contain people from myBrand. These teams set their own priorities, before allocating the work that needs to be done between them. In doing so, it's becoming less and less clear which “club” people belong to.'  

Heijmans is a publicly listed company based in Rosmalen (NL) that combines activities in real estate, construction, engineering, and infrastructure. Creating a healthy living environment is Heijmans' priority. This ambition is translated into three cornerstones: 'Better, smarter, sustainable'. In achieving these goals, Heijmans employs safe working methods and adds value to the places in which it operates. The company employs more than 4,500 people, achieved a turnover of 1.75 billion euros in 2020, and holds certifications including ISO 14001 and 9001. Heijmans has translated its ambitious strategy into several concrete objectives, including becoming the number one construction firm and ensuring its operations are carbon-neutral from 2023 onwards.