From workplace management to innovation: end-to-end support for Terumo Europe

The power of outsourcing? Terumo Europe discovered it more than 20 years ago, when the leading manufacturer of medical equipment entrusted the management of its workstations and back-end operations to Cegeka. About four Cegeka experts now work full-time at Terumo Europe’s head office to provide support. So when Terumo Europe recently decided they needed a new collaboration platform, they knew Cegeka could help them realize it.

Quality and innovation are two important values at Terumo. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021, the company does not compromise when it comes to the development and production of the stents, catheters, needles, and other medical equipment for which they are known all over the world. To focus on its core business, Terumo Europe outsources the management of its workplaces. Until 2008, ANE was mainly responsible for their hardware. When Cegeka acquired ANE, the cooperation was gradually increased. ‘Today we provide all kinds of end-to-end services: from technical support, hardware and software management to implementation, innovation and change management,’ says Frank Ballet, Account Executive at Cegeka.

The importance of an onsite team

Kris Geukens, ICT Director of Operations & Security, has noticed a clear evolution in the partnership over the past few years. ‘It’s true that we’ve made certain adjustments to our partnership. For example, I insisted that there would need to be someone from Cegeka working on site, full-time, so someone would always be around in case of questions. That’s key for me, because it’s much easier for consultants to really understand Terumo’s needs when they are on site every day. This is also why I strongly believe in working with local outsourcing partners.’

“It’s much easier for consultants to really understand our needs when they are on site every day. This is also why I strongly believe in working with local outsourcing partners.”

Kris Geukens, ICT director operations & security, Terumo Europe

A successful cooperation based on transparency

‘We have also finetuned several procedures and made new agreements, which has boosted mutual trust,’ Kris continues. ‘If you’ve been working together for years, you start to take many things for granted. But there is always room for improvement when you’re cooperating that closely. And I always try to be transparent about that. The great thing about Cegeka is that they are open to feedback and will actually do something with it. We meet once a month to make plans and talk about what is going well and what should be improved, and we organize service reviews and technical meetings. To bring a little more weight – and knowledge – to those meetings, I have recently expanded our in-house IT team.’

From support to innovation

To go beyond day-to-day management, Terumo Europe and Cegeka also organize strategic and innovation meetings twice a year. ‘During these meetings Cegeka talk about what they are working on in terms of technology and we discuss the possibilities for innovation at Terumo Europe,’ Kris explains. ‘100% transparency from both sides is essential for this to work. If we want Cegeka to be proactive and think along with us, we have to share our vision with them.’

Improved communication and data centralization

In 2019, Terumo Europe launched a workplace innovation project with the help of Cegeka. Together they built a SharePoint collaboration platform for all EMEA employees. ‘We wanted to do something about the excessive amount of emails our employees were processing, and improve communication,’ says Geert Lambrechts, Director of Corporate Communications. ‘We also needed a place where we could centralize all the available information and documents – a collaborative platform, in other words, which would replace our outdated intranet portal.’

‘We immediately knew that Cegeka would be the right fit for the job,’ he continues. ‘They implemented a SharePoint platform that works with the standard functionality as much as possible. Any custom work that was needed was developed in close cooperation, in a very small team. This allowed us to react and adjust quickly. In addition, Cegeka was responsible for change management. For now, Terumo mainly uses the platform to share news stories and information with all EMEA employees. Collaboration tools will be added in the next phase.’

Smooth cloud migration and the start of analytics

The collaboration platform is just one example of Cegeka’s many accomplishments in its cooperation with Terumo. In late 2019, when Terumo Europe decided to transfer its applications from an outdated server to the cloud, Cegeka assisted them with the migration to Microsoft Azure. Recently, the company created a self-service portal for Terumo to streamline support. And they even set up a project around Power BI. Cegeka engineered the solution and provides full technical support and advice, as well as recommendations for its optimization.

Just the right size

‘Terumo Europe and Cegeka have a similar culture, speak the same language, and both believe in a no-nonsense, pragmatic and results-oriented approach. To us, this is crucial, as outsourcing does of course mean giving up some control,’ Kris concludes. ‘Personally, I think Cegeka’s size is an advantage: they are large enough to offer the necessary bandwidth but at the same time small enough to be flexible, to respond to changes quickly and to listen to what we have to say. The result? It’s difficult to express in figures how much return you get from working so closely together. But having a dedicated, professional partner who takes complete care of you is incredibly valuable.’

“Terumo and Cegeka have a similar culture, speak the same language, and both believe in a no-nonsense, pragmatic and results-oriented approach. To us, this is crucial, as outsourcing does of course mean giving up some control.”

Kris Geukens, ICT director operations & security