Partnership Charter

 

Partnerships: the rationale

The growing complexity of information systems, more open but also more heterogeneous, more distributed and built out of numerous components that must be integrated and managed efficiently, robustly and sustainably, the demands of users who do not buy ready-made products but want economical, turnkey solutions, implemented within the agreed deadline, satisfying measurable quality criteria and responding with flexibility to evolving needs, the ever-growing number of parties involved (manufacturers, software companies, consultants, service providers, telecommunications companies, providers of added-value networks, etc.) that must be brought together to deliver the required result at the agreed date and price, in an increasingly competitive, and even cut-throat, environment. All these factors create a context in which no IT service firm, even the leaders, no manufacturer, even the largest, no telecommunications company, even international, can respond on its own to the calls for tender from national, European or global contractors.

We therefore need to join forces to submit the best offer. carry off the contract. and successfully complete the project.

However, the partnership must be a balanced one, in which each party gains and can share the additional benefits :

• A system that is better adapted, more efficient, more rapidly operational for the end customer,
• more tightly controlled development generating a firmer margin for each of the suppliers involved.

GFI Informatique has long been aware of the fundamental impact of this approach and has implemented it successfully.

The Partnership Charter, based on long and successful experience, describes the basic principles for putting in place a genuine partnership, which can take many forms adapted to the realities on the ground.

 

From Management's determination to field action

A partnership is not a life-long relationship for better or for worse, where the happy couple are introduced to each other, commit to eternal fidelity and then "have many children and live happily ever after". It is not enough for two Managing Directors or CEOs to meet for their respective firms to turn into efficient partners overnight. It is, however, crucial that Management should clearly state its intention to build a partnership. In this way the respective teams can concentrate on setting up an initial working relationship that will validate unquestionably the sound basis for seeking such synergies.

While Management cannot create a successful partnership single-handed, it does have the power to oppose it and it must be ensured in each case that the planned partnership is not inappropriate. GFI Informatique's Management considers partnerships to be a strategic priority and can issue a decision very rapidly and appoint a Manager in charge of relations with the potential partner. This Manager will be responsible for examining the exact areas where shared projects can be developed rapidly.

Experience has shown that in all cases, whatever the form of partnership agreed, success depends on a mutual understanding of each partner's commercial strengths in the field. If the Sales Managers are not personally motivated, by individual targets and commission schemes, even the best plans decided from on high will fail and no project will take form to demonstrate the sound basis for the partnership advocated by the respective General Management teams. A first business project is crucial: news of its success will spread quickly throughout the sales networks, creating the right momentum for the partnership to reach its full potential.

GFI Informatique is committed to establishing regular contact with its partners' Sales Networks. After an initial round of formal introductions, contacts develop in the field, alongside joint business projects. Booster meetings are held from time to time, depending on each particular case.

 

Multiple forms for a joint offer

The approach varies according to the type of partnership envisaged (several possibilities can be explored at the same time). The main forms of partnership are:

• Agreements in principle without any commitment in terms of volume,
• Sub-contracting for the needs of a specific customer project,
• Joint-contracting whenever appropriate based on a joint submission in response to a call for tender,
• Reciprocal supply of services,
• Co-investing in a given niche area, such as a software package,
• A capitalistic approach resulting in setting up a joint-venture or business undertaking.

Agreements with no commitment

The first form of partnership is the least restrictive and easiest to put in place. The partners can come to an agreement in principle without a commitment in terms of volume, generally by informal business letter. This confirms their complementary nature and desire to work together, without the need to define precisely quantified objectives.

This type of informal partnership enables the partners to get to know each other better before considering a more formal type of collaboration. It often consists of exchanging marketing information and recommending the other firm in the context of projects where the customer ends up contracting individually with each "partner".

This is an approach that does not demand loyalty or exclusiveness and it is not unknown for one of the "partners", in all good faith of course, to "stretch" the agreement and play in several fields at the same time. GFI Informatique formally undertakes not to take such an attitude once it has committed to working with a single partner on a given project.

Sub-contracting in the context of a specific project

Sub-contracting in the context of a specific customer project implies a formal relationship through a contract under which one of the partners, the project supervisor vis-à-vis the end customer, becomes its sub-contractor's client for the duration of the project. The contract defines the nature and scope of each party's commitments (supply, deadline, price, quality requirements, etc.), obligations and the mode of operation.

Fully committed to Total Quality Management, GFI Informatique knows how to implement this "Client/Supplier" approach both in the role of Project Manager and that of sub-contractor. In both cases it will seek to ensure a balanced, win-win relationship of mutual respect and equal sharing of benefits and risks.

Joint-contracting based on joint response to a call for tender

Whenever the project allows it, GFI Informatique is very willing to join forces with a partner to respond to a call for tender and become joint contractors for the execution, integration and implementation phases.

Joint-contracting partnerships are governed by a formal contract which clearly defines the split of risks and benefits based on each partner's contribution. In terms of partnership ethics, GFI Informatique believes that such an approach requires a certain degree of exclusivity and undertakes not to respond to a same call for tender with two different partners. Conversely, by carefully selecting its contracting partner, GFI Informatique does its best, in each specific case, to put together the team with the best chance of winning the contract and carrying it out successfully.

Co-investing in a given niche area

Co-investment in a given area, such as software, is one of the forms of partnership requiring the biggest commitment. It involves taking calculated risk based on a business plan outlining the conditions of the partnership.

GFI Informatique has developed a four-phase work method that enables Management to take the necessary investment decisions :

The first phase consists of qualifying the project and establishing the intention of both parties to work together.
The second phase outlines the shape of the future cooperation so that both parties can come to an agreement on the principles.
The third phase defines the resources that will be necessary (technical, human, financial etc.), the tasks to be carried out (volume, development, marketing, work schedule, etc.), the organisation (property, contracts, development plan, etc.), the budget (financial analysis, profits, return on investment, etc.), the decision criteria (priorities, alternatives, price, risks, etc.) so that the partners can agree on the solution and sign a letter of intent.
The fourth phase consists in implementing the solution.

Joint-ventures

The capitalistic approach consisting of forming a joint venture is the ultimate and most structured form of partnership.

GFI Informatique applies the above methodology. It assesses the feasibility of the project based on a business plan, the capital required and ownership structure, working capital requirements and the key men that the partners will need to appoint to head the joint venture.

 

GFI Informatique: partnership ethics

A successful partnership requires clear professional conduct, based on five key principles:

• transparency
• expertise
• involvement
• quality
• duration

Transparency implies defining precise and quantified commitments, with the appropriate validation and control system so as to provide each partner with a full view of the operations carried out together. Constant transparency, both during the preparation of the project and its execution, is a guarantee that the partners will share the profits and risks fairly.

Expertise is a fundamental element. It attests to the mutual recognition of the strengths of each partner which, combined, are more than the sum of their parts.

The involvement must be total: each team working on the shared project must be totally in line with the objectives. This involvement concerns each and every level of responsibility within the partner companies, including managers and General Management. Frequent meetings between the respective management teams enables regular monitoring of whether the objectives are being met.

Quality is monitored constantly. Each project carried out under a partnership includes a precise definition of the objectives and expected results. A specific Quality Assurance Plan setting out the rules and organisation principles contained in the General Quality Assurance Manual is drawn up systematically for each project and is used to gauge the satisfaction of all the parties involved in the project, both customers and partners. It is the guarantee of GFI Informatique's steadfast commitment to quality.

Duration: GFI Informatique has a long-standing experience in managing long-term relations with major companies, accompanying change and anticipating structural modifications in order to provide the appropriate technical and economic solutions. The success of a partnership can only be measured over the long term, when the partners regularly choose to renew agreements that were initially precarious and temporary.

 

GFI Informatique: a spirit of partnership

A successful partnership requires relations to be based on five fundamental principles:

• An even balance
• Trust
• A non-exclusive relationship
• A clearly defined and delimited sphere
• A win-win relationship

A balanced relationship aims for equality between partners, based on the idea that each partner needs the other partner or partners in order to attain a common goal. It is also the acknowledgement of a reciprocal customer/supplier potential under which each partner undertakes to offer the other the best terms and conditions for the products and services it markets. At equal quality and price, GFI undertakes to give priority to its partners' services and products.

GFI Informatique considers mutual trust and respect as fundamental principles. These derive from the rules of conduct and ethics that GFI endeavours to apply in all situations.

The non-exclusive nature of the relationship helps preserve the independence of the parties involved. However, "when one GFI Informatique Division bids for a project with a given partner, no other GFI unit may bid for the same project with a rival technology". This is guaranteed by the Executive Committee's mode of operation. It reviews all partnership projects on a weekly basis and can, at any time, take an impartial decision in order to respect its commitments.

A clearly defined and delimited scope allows expertise and investment to be concentrated on it, thus ensuring that customers are satisfied and can benefit from strategic and upgradeable technical solutions, with no danger of running into a dead end. It also ensures clarity, because we can perfectly well be partners in one field while being "rivals" in other fields.

Win-win synergies mean that the benefits generated by the partnership are greater than the sum of each party's contribution and that each partner profits from sharing these benefits.

 

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