‘It is now much quicker and easier to integrate new companies.’

Keeping pace with an ever-evolving market environment represents a significant challenge for companies today. Being able to adapt quickly is no longer optional – it’s a necessity. To stay successful, companies have to be technologically savvy and maintain an agile and innovative mindset. Embracing the challenges of digitisation is often an important success factor. Eraneos Group is one of the companies that has faced up to and prepared for this reality.

Two factors are essential in this regard: resilience in the face of uncertainty and continued responsiveness to change. Eraneos relies on agility and innovative solutions to emerge stronger from crises. Digital transformation is a central part of this strategy. The main challenge, however, lies in implementing technological solutions while, at the same time, changing the mindset of the employees. The focus here is on redesigning and digitising internal processes; for example, introducing a paperless workflow to make documents accessible to employees across the different countries.

Over the past few years, Eraneos Group has experienced a period of dynamic growth following a number of mergers and acquisitions. Given the many different locations in multiple countries, the Group’s internal IT systems were in need of harmonisation and standardisation. This effort also includes rehosting Windows servers and on-premises applications, selective modernisation to cloud-native technologies and the phasing out of servers that are no longer required. The company quickly selected Swisscom as its preferred partner to bring the project to fruition. Not only did Swisscom have the size and experience required to complete the project, but Eraneos also recognised Swisscom’s expertise and broad positioning and realised from the outset that the undertaking was beyond the capacity of its own limited in-house resources.

Prior to its partnership with Swisscom, the company had been using agile elements to do business in a comparatively agile manner (doing agile), but was not yet pursuing an agile mindset (being agile). Its IT employees dealt with internal issues of all sizes, with little time to spare for strategic projects. Outsourcing would give the company’s in-house IT department a clear structure and positioning focused on its core competencies. The changes went beyond purely technological aspects – they influenced the perception and role of IT within the entire corporate structure.

This outsourcing marked the beginning of a promising journey that drove internal transformation.

When initiating this groundbreaking project, Eraneos Group set itself clear and ambitious goals to meet the changing demands of the modern business world. The company’s primary goal was to create a standardised, efficient IT platform that would permit seamless working throughout the group, across all locations worldwide. To achieve this, Azure CSP and Microsoft 365 were both implemented as part of a comprehensive IT outsourcing in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Germany. The goal was to strengthen collaboration, improve data communication and lay the foundation for future growth. For Switzerland, Swisscom would also assume responsibility for managing the entire infrastructure for the employees and the service desk.

During the implementation of the project, however, Eraneos Group faced a number of challenges. The rapid growth of the company, in particular, had resulted in extremely heterogeneous IT structures and processes within the organisation. One significant challenge therefore lay in harmonising these diverse elements to create a homogeneous whole. In addition, digitisation not only required technological adjustments, but also a fundamental change in the mindset of the employees. It was important to prepare the workforce for the transformation to ensure that they appreciated and accepted the benefits and added value of the project. In this complex dynamic, the close collaboration with Swisscom was key to successfully realising the set goals. Urs Gürber, Group CIO, stresses the importance of a consistent approach: ‘It is only to be expected for employees to baulk at such a major transformation. People like to stick with the old, familiar methods.’ Eraneos was no exception. To manage this phase quickly, it was crucial to stay on track, keeping the end goal in sight at all times. Employees were thus able to see the many benefits of the new system and, after three months, any initial concerns were soon banished.

The improved collaboration has had a big impact on day-to-day business. For partner Kirsten Buffo de Jong, the common platform has proved indispensable in facilitating collaboration between the group’s worldwide locations and a major advantage for the business. It has represented a quantum leap for Eraneos Group’s consulting services. Swisscom’s security services, in particular – including cybersecurity – are considered essential game changers for the business. Not only do they offer comprehensive security controls, but they also provide a robust foundation for protecting sensitive data. These measures enable Eraneos to manage security risks proactively and thus strengthen the trust of customers and partners. The sound security infrastructure has optimised internal operations, and provides a firm basis for future growth and successful digital projects.

Further business growth is facilitated by a plug-and-play approach. Being able to swiftly integrate companies and get them up and running as quickly as possible is invaluable. The transformation has enabled the IT team to focus more on tactical strategic issues and create additional value for the business. The transformation of the company’s IT infrastructure thus became a successful milestone, not only in terms of improving collaboration, but also for driving sustainable business growth. The trust, flexibility and solution focus encountered in the partnership with Swisscom led to expectations not merely being achieved, but surpassed, bringing success across the board.