Introduce yourself, tell us about your background and what led you to join TVH Consulting?
After my studies, I started my career at Sage as a trading consultant (purchasing/sales/stock/production). I worked as a consultant for three years, and over time, I gained experience, gradually moving to positions as a senior consultant, and later as an expert.
My job led me to take on very varied assignments, sometimes working at one client in the morning and another in the afternoon. I particularly remember a significant assignment where we stayed at a client’s site until 3 a.m. to recalculate the entire stock FIFO stack.
Subsequently, I joined GFI (which became Inetum) where I spent eight years. I started there as a functional expert, still in the field of trading. Over time, I moved to a project manager position, then to project director, where I managed large-scale projects, sometimes valued at several million euros and also engaged in pre-sales projects with ERPs like Microsoft or SAP.
After these eight years, I felt I had covered everything in the Sage ecosystem and felt the need to take on new challenges, which is when I seized the opportunity to join TVH Consulting. I had the chance to lead projects on Microsoft. It was a new challenge for me, as I was unfamiliar with both the tool and the Microsoft ecosystem. However, I was determined to meet this challenge.
During my first project at TVH Consulting, I was able to bring real added value thanks to the skills I’d acquired in my previous position, even though I didn’t have prior knowledge of the tool. Since then, I have mainly focused on managing projects related to Microsoft.
Can you describe your role and responsibilities?
As a Project Director, my role is to oversee the implementation of information systems and also to represent TVH Consulting to the client, uphold the commitments TVH Consulting has regarding service quality and client satisfaction.
My role also includes ensuring compliance with deadlines and the budget planned for each project. I am in charge of coordinating the project team, guiding them, sharing best practices, and supporting them to offer the best possible service to our clients.
What does a typical day/week look like as a project director?
One of the things I appreciate most about this job is that there is no typical week. I don’t like routine and doing the same thing every day, which is why this job is so captivating. Apart from project committee and leadership meetings, which are staples for every project, we constantly face new challenges and different issues. This is what makes each day and week unique and stimulating in the role of project director.
What essential skills must a project director possess to succeed in this role?
First, flexibility is paramount, as you need to be able to adapt to changes. Also, being able to manage priorities during a project and having an overall vision.
The ability to motivate teams is an essential skill. Additionally, communication plays a major role. We must be able to manage conflicts and guide the client, ensuring smooth and effective communication throughout the project.
How do you understand the client’s business challenges and take them into account in your approach?
Throughout my career, I’ve learned that it is essential to speak business with the client, no matter the role you have on the project. This approach facilitates communication and mutual understanding. I often compare it to meeting someone who speaks Chinese and speaking to them in French. The ability to speak business is fundamental, as it enables you to spot the client’s concerns and fears from the start, which promotes better management of these issues and helps build client trust. The key is to detect concerns and issues by discussing business aspects with the client, understanding their past experiences. Once this information is gathered, you can reassure the client and support them more effectively.
For example, on one of our projects, we identified that their main weakness was the lack of availability of their teams. I was able to reassure the client by highlighting our own availability and proposing solutions to address this gap.
With another client, we found that the client had a negative experience in the past and was therefore seeking more transparency. We responded by providing them complete visibility and sharing all necessary information.
The fundamental idea is to identify from the beginning the factors that can reassure the client, which greatly facilitates the project’s progress.
As a Project Director, can you share tips on task planning and organization to ensure the project runs smoothly from start to finish? Also, on budget management and how you handle communication with the Client?
One of the key pieces of advice for planning is to anticipate from the launch phase. It’s essential to provide the client with maximum visibility on the project’s progress. This visibility is twofold: it benefits both the client and your own team. This means planning each step in advance after the project launch, whether it’s the framing or design phase. Thinking about the next phase as soon as you are in a current phase allows for constant visibility for the consultants and to provide it to the client who can also pass it on to their teams.
Regarding communication, total transparency is the key. It is crucial to share a clear budget status with the client every week, along with a projection of upcoming expenses (Remaining Work Management). The client should be able to see how their budget is managed week by week and anticipate what will happen in the weeks to come.
What does TVH Consulting represent for you?
TVH Consulting has enormous growth potential with many opportunities to exploit.
I particularly appreciate the flexibility I have here, which allows me to work my way, fully express myself, and apply my skills without hindrance.
TVH Consulting is a company that aspires to evolve and is actively committed to changing mindsets. It’s an environment that fosters personal and professional growth, while encouraging innovation and initiative-taking.
