While most of us would like a “month en Provence”, Nicolas Aidoud has packed up his wife and two boys to spend a life in “Shidonni” (Sydney) as the relatively new CEO of Capgemini Australia and New Zealand.
“My wife, kids and I love it here. The lifestyle is fantastic, I can swim and bike ride to keep fit – we are here to stay,” he beams.
In case you don’t know Capgemini is one of the world’s largest - consulting, technology and outsourcing services companies with over 190,000 employees in over 40 countries. It was founded in 1967 in Grenoble France by Serge Kampf, and its current chairman and CEO Paul Hermelin has led the group since 2001. Aidoud says the stability of the Paris stock exchange listed company attracted him back in 2000 and it has never ceased to engage and offer opportunities.
Aidoud wanted to give iTWire readers an update on their innovative graduate program and to make some observations on the Australian market – after all, it is new to him.
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Australia is a very big market – perhaps fifth or sixth in the world for IT services – bigger than France!
It is characterised by early adoption of the cloud, digitalisation and digital transformation, and very much focused on customer experience (CX) especially in banking and finance, retail and government.
As such you will find all the big players in this market – KPMG, EY, PwC, Accenture. IBM, Deloitte, - and most of the India-based pure players. We like to say we are French, we are perhaps more visionary and offer a true full-service capability – from concept to execution.
Each market we work in is different, and some of that reflects the maturity of the market. In Australia, we see customer-centric transformation driving the change in some large enterprises while in India for example, it is volume led, and the US wants value from its legacy infrastructure.
The difference in doing business here is perhaps a more personal one. Clients want to take the time to get to you know you and develop a strong, long-term relationship. It is much more about relationships and trust than in many countries where the “pitch” is the pitch.
Here the pitch is just the start – more of a proof of concept that we can do the job. In France, for example, the pitch is what you win or lose on. It takes much longer here to get a decision, but that means that there is a lot of due diligence done.
Let’s simply put it down to your Anglo-Saxon origins. First gain trust – Aussies want to know who they are dealing with “Mate.”
One of the things that we see more of in Australia is aligning IT with the line of business (LOB), and that collaboration is essential to drive the innovation agenda. Australia is also looking for practical approaches to adopting cloud-based platforms for business success with most large enterprises moving to that space, especially in today’s fast-paced digital world.
We spoke about talent and growth, especially with the recent shortlisting of Capgemini and Accenture for the Department of Human Services integration contract for its A$1.5 billion Centrelink payment system replacement.
We have 190,000 staff worldwide, and we can draw on that talent leveraging our Rightshore worldwide delivery model to bring together our best talent from the right balance of onshore, nearshore and offshore to service that scale of contract. Capgemini has the significant strength of more than 16,300 skilled professionals providing more than 1,300 clients worldwide with services for SAP solutions, the software that the government has chosen.
The value of innovation and the value of change comes from and through our people. Our graduate recruitment program gives us the ability to select the best and bring them up through the ranks. Our retention rate is very high reflecting a good corporate culture.
Graduate program
“The graduate program is to bring new generations on and help them by creating multiple experiences very quickly outside what they would normally expect.” Capgemini is more than a workplace – it’s an organisation of opportunity, innovation, and collaboration. The program has multiple intakes each year, and this time we took 35 on to receive on-the-job training and to learn how to assist clients to transform their business to improve performance and competitive position through the effective and innovative use of technology.
He says that passion and challenge are the two key motivators and the new generation of graduates are hungry to work on real clients and make a real difference.
Aidoud says that any consulting firm risks lack of talent and a lack of staff fluidity, but Capgemini can address that by its very scope and size. “Australia has a very low staff turnover, and as we continue to grow, we are recruiting for about 300 more staff by the end of 2017.”
His key closing points
“We want to be at the beginning of the conversation.” Too many companies issue tender documents that too narrowly define the scope – we think we can add more value up front by working as partners to the business – being the company’s IT conscience.
“Capgemini is French – no denying that we bring the digital spirit of Europe to the table.” It has chosen to invest very heavily in Australia, and Australia is at the heart of our Asia Pacific strategy for the Group. We bring a depth of expertise and innovation capabilities through our Applied Innovation Exchange in Melbourne combined with our Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) to enable rapid innovation and by solving complex business challenges for our clients.
We are the bridge between technology and business, primarily because with our strong consulting capabilities and understanding of legacy systems, legacy software, we are well poised to drive intelligent and innovative use of technology in an agile, quick to market approach for the business.
