Spie Batignolles Energie digitalizes its subcontracting purchases

Company

A subsidiary of the Spie batignolles group, a global player in the building and public works sector, Spie Batignolles Energie is a full-service operator covering all energy and related services: electrical engineering, HVAC, industrial fluids, railway infrastructure and multi-technical maintenance. The company devotes 60% of its turnover to subcontracting and carries out more than 5,000 projects each year.

Issues

Managing subcontractors is strategic for Spie Batignolles Énergie (SBE), but implementing its projects was both time consuming and risky. SBE was managing its subcontractor community using traditional office tools and lacked visibility on the skills available in its network. The time it took to qualify subcontractors and award assignments was not under control. With a strong telephone culture, the purchasing teams were managing over 4,000 subcontracts and checking over 7,000 legal documents each year using 6 asynchronous tools. The company had high legal risks due to the lack of contractual standardization.

Solutions implemented

Spie Batignolles Energie called on AddWorking toharmonize and digitalize its subcontracting purchases. The company began by building a robust repository to identify the skills available or in short supply in its network and to monitor the compliance of companies. Secondly, SBE digitized contracts, which were then managed manually, and centralized site monitoring information. From now on, SBE formalizes its commercial relations with contracts, allocates worksites and follows up on the delivery of the works on the AddWorking platform. The objective was to secure purchases, as only compliant and pre-qualified subcontractors would be able to sign a contract and be assigned a site. Also, this project met the objectives of productivity and elimination of low value-added tasks for all actors involved: buyers, lawyers and the administrative department.

"We were managing our subcontractors with spreadsheets that were updated on an ad hoc basis. Telephone and field relationships are common in the industry, and these practices were slowing down project turnaround times across SBE. Modernizing subcontracting purchasing practices was necessary to support SBE's growth ambitions. And to do that, we chose the industry specialist."

Hatim El Alami, Purchasing Director, Spie Batignolles Energie