“Using Abraxio is so simple that it becomes almost playful.”

A^1st efficiency issue, but one that the implementation of Abraxio is completely solving, is the scattering of data and the time wasted finding the right information or aggregating data from different sources. How much energy is wasted having to search randomly in emails, in files on our network or even on the drive, for a supplier’s support number just because your usual contact isn’t there…

Another subject close to my heart, and in some ways related to the previous one, is the desire to strengthen the collaborative approach of the IT department. If you don’t encourage your whole team to get involved in a single platform, everyone will tend – and this is quite natural – to manage their projects with their own tools, methodology and preferred suppliers, which generates a lot of unnecessary consolidation work. But it shouldn’t be up to the CIO to adapt to everyone else’s way of doing things, making it difficult to keep abreast of everything and ensure that information is properly shared.

A final point that many CIOs certainly share: IT functions don’t always get good press – when things don’t work out, it’s inevitably for us – and we’re rarely good natural communicators. Making better use of what we do on a day-to-day basis, and the services and value we bring to the company, is a strong objective that requires a real cultural change. A tool like Abraxio helps us to do just that, because it helps us to communicate better.

Initially, I wanted to manage the entire financial dimension of the IT department in a single solution, and throw out the old Excel files! I was seduced by the platform, which brings together all the pillars of a classic IT department, and I totally agreed with its approach, which centralizes and combines IT department budget tracking, project management and supplier management.

Before integrating Abraxio, we were using our ERP’s budgeting tool with restitutions in Business Object, and we had developed an adhoc tool for tracking our projects, but it clearly didn’t have the same depth. Abraxio’s functional coverage is very good and will continue to grow.

Abraxio is always open and up-to-date. It has become my daily assistant, and is becoming more so every day.

For example, this year I’ve gone a lot faster in preparing my N+1 budget forecast. No more Excel files in which you have to struggle to draw up formulas linked to percentage increases. In just one click, I was able to easily renew my entire run budget and allocations, and as I was starting from a very detailed existing budget, I was able to prepare my new budget with more finesse and precision than before.

All my managers and project leaders have access to Abraxio. In the last quarter of 2021, we started tracking our project portfolio. Even though we haven’t had much time to get used to it yet, I’ve received some excellent initial feedback. After the big initialization phase – with 80 ongoing projects to structure – the portfolio view is perfect, with very simple groupings. I’ve started activity reviews with my 6 managers, and it’s now up to each of them to bring their projects to life, or to create new ones to plan, document and enrich as they go along.

I’ve noticed that project reviews are much simpler, more relevant and more constructive than they used to be: we can quickly move on to projects where the weather’s fine, and dwell on those that require more discussion or questioning, because they’re behind schedule for example.

I’ve also completely optimized our supplier tracking and contract management: having alerts about upcoming deadlines or renewals right from the welcome dashboard is really very useful.

In 2022, I’m going to start drawing up my new 2023-2025 master plan, and Abraxio is going to be a great help. I’m going to go out and meet the businesses within our various entities, all over the country, to capture and identify their needs. Rather than doing it the old-fashioned way, in drives then consolidated in tables, I’m going to use Abraxio to put together this ^1st “macro” shopping list of all projects.

The project data sheets will enable me to frame the requests of my business contacts at a very early stage (specifying the context, the stakes, scoring according to the areas of value for the company). This is a natural way of initiating the arbitration process when it comes to looking at what fits with our company’s strategic plan.

I’m also going to write down some “purely ISD” infra-structural subjects that deserve to be identified as part of this new master plan.

In the very near future, I’ll also be opening a Management access to Abraxio, which will enable our management team to consult the progress of budgets and projects on a regular basis.

Abraxio makes my day-to-day life so much easier. I can really see the difference compared to before.

The^1st advantage is that youalways have quickly and easily accessible, centralized information, which you only have to enter once. Let me give you an example? Identifying the top 3 of our suppliers with their associated sales: previously, this was a tedious calculation that I had to do by hand. Now I can do it automatically, with the added precision of budget forecasts and consumption. With Abraxio, I don’t need any more macros to create pivot tables.

Another significant point is the ergonomics and ease of use, whether you’re entering an invoice, renewing a contract or starting a new project. Everyday use of Abraxio is so simple it’s almost playful. Everything is easily integrated, entered and updated in 2 clicks, and then lives on effortlessly as you go along. This vision of a highly accomplished user experience is widely shared within the team, whether by my assistant or, for example, by one of my managers, who noted how easy it was to create a new project and appreciated the ergonomic input, with very little data required to get started. This is a really important point, because when you impose a tool, its ease of use is key to its appropriation.

And lastly, if I have to pick just three, it’s the ability to effortlessly reconcile project budgets with the management budget, and this ability to make the monitoring of project commitments highly visual and legible. This gives an immediate picture of the real amount spent on the build, and of the progress of investments, and is extremely valuable information that I previously lacked visibility on.

A final word in conclusion?

Abraxio’s future looks very positive to me! Looking at the roadmap, there are still some very good things to come. These regular product evolutions, combined with the availability and quality of exchanges with the Abraxio team, are really very much appreciated.