Advancing The Path To Digital Transformation

The Challenge

An integrated energy/services operator and global leader in digital and industrial transformation, Bouygues Energies & Services employs over 21,000 people across Germany, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland. A big focus for the multinational is on accelerating digital transformation across its own project portfolio and finding new and innovative ways to improve processes.

In the UK, Mohiadin Ahmed is Digital Change Manager in the Facilities Management part of the business, where paper-based processes were hindering an aspiration to become more data-driven. “We look at how we can use technology to aid our transformational journey, which is also about bringing people along on our journey,” he said. “If you show what's in it for them, you're able to achieve a higher level of adoption in a much shorter space of time.”

With this in mind, Mohiadin wanted a digitalization solution that simplified mundane, paper-based processes for employees, while at the same time helping Bouygues become an industry leader in digital transformation, bringing value to customers as well as its people. He was also looking for a supplier that would take time to understand the business and be there if needed. FlowForma Process Automation fulfilled these requirements and more.

The Solution

The decision to go with FlowForma Process Automation was arrived at after workshops explored process pain points and compared various products and services. FlowForma Process Automation emerged as the preferred choice, not least because it took just six hours to build a process that took 24 with Microsoft’s Power Apps. It also ticked an important box for Mohiadin Ahmed because people were comfortable using its simple interface, both from a development and end-user perspective.

Another in-the-field need was also ticked off: it works as well on a smartphone and tablet as laptops and computers, and it can be used offline if necessary, re-syncing when a connection is made, which is important for temporary sites that have poor connectivity.

Among the first processes to be digitalized was stock management, a paper-based procedure where there had been discrepancies and shortages because it was too easy for people to make mistakes. FlowForma Process Automation was used to develop a three-step process: a QR code of a stock item is scanned on a smartphone, the number of items is entered, and the order is submitted. In the background, a form is automatically filled out and alerts are triggered if items are running low and need to be reordered.

Another big success has been an order form for a mobile team that goes from site to site, working on a range of jobs, particularly around gas safety. Previously, a job request would come in as a word document over email. Get an address wrong, or fail to reply, and it could be delayed. Now it’s an automated process where the job specification and the people assigned to it are immediately visible to everyone involved. “Once it’s done, it sends you a beautiful document which has every piece of information, from when the person submitted the order to the moment when it’s approved,” said Ahmed.

The Outcome

One of the strengths of FlowForma Process Automation, according to Mohiadin Ahamed, is that the benefits are far reaching and impact people in different parts of the business with different priorities. From operations all the way up to the board, there’s now an appreciation that digital workflows eliminate excessive paperwork, not just saving time but also money. “We started to do more internal demos and before we knew it we were getting requests coming in,” recalled Mohiadin. “Instead of having to sift through hundreds of pieces of paper, people now have time back to focus on more added-value tasks.”

This points to what may be the biggest benefit of FlowForma Process Automation, the way it feeds the appetite inside Bouygues for digital transformation. A digital process like stock management has delivered greater accuracy, fewer shortages and a better service for Bouygues customers, and its adoption has spread across the business. “The CEO said there were other sites that had the same issue and encouraged me to reach out to them,” said Mohiadin. “Now we're beginning to build a database of the most common items used in the stockroom and reducing the materials that are just sitting on shelves.”

Making it all happen are the fundamental features that initially attracted Mohiadin Ahmed to FlowForma Process Automation. “First and foremost, it’s easy to use and doesn’t require hours of learning and research to build a basic process,” he said. “And changes are quick, it takes two seconds for you to do something within the app. It's been fantastic for us.”

He also values the relationship with FlowForma Process Automation, which was particularly important at the start. “We were able to work with the FlowForma team, see where the pitfalls were in a process and improve it before we digitalized it. We learnt that you never take something directly from paper to a digital platform,” he said. “They held our hand for a little bit, until we got comfortable.”