Meet Thomas, Vice President IT Hardware

December 10, 2019 / One of our greatest achievements is to value our employees and to foster a culture of personal development. Thomas started as a strategic sourcer almost at the beginning of BuyIn and is now Vice-President for the Hardware category.

Who are you?

Thomas: My name is Thomas, I am a Global Category Leader and Vice-President IT, in charge of the Hardware products.

Can you tell us more about your start at BuyIn?

Thomas: I started as a Strategic Sourcer 8 years ago in the Devices business. I then became Team lead and was promoted Global Category Leader 2 years ago.

How did it happen?

Thomas: BuyIn helped me evolve throughout the years. I came here because I wanted to be part of an international team and work in a challenging environment. I have to say that I found everything I was looking for!

What makes BuyIn so special for you?

Thomas: There are very few small structures that are as international as BuyIn. Here you can find more than 30 different nationalities working together. We operate for both Orange and Deutsche Telekom at the same time which also gives you two complementary angles on each activity. Last but least, we are leading big projects with great impact for our shareholders and clients.

Can you tell us more about your current projects?

Thomas: Within the IT Hardware, we take care of Office IT equipment (such as laptops, notebook or printing services) as well as Servers and Storage solutions (used by Orange and Deutsche Telekom to implement Cloud or Network infrastructures). The more services and operations Orange and DT shift to the cloud, the more they need our support!

Can you describe how your teams are organized?

Thomas: My teams fall into three competence centers that cover our three categories: Office IT, Servers and Storage. One of our strengths is the huge amount of data and price points we have centralized and that we are able to use as benchmarks for all our negotiations. We drive the definition and execution of global category strategy from the demand collection to the contract closing.

What are your team’s challenges now?

Thomas: Our job is to maintain the competition as open as possible on the three lines of business in order to maintain prices in line with the investment capabilities of our customers. Diversifying our supply sources is strategic for us and the current tension on the global trade between USA and China is unfortunately not helping. As Deutsche Telekom and Orange are also turning into more agile working mode, we also need to adjust the pace of our sourcing activities in order to secure best competitive landscape while meeting the deadlines of our stakeholders.

How does your team work together?

Thomas: We are a very decentralized yet coordinated team thanks to Skype or tele-presence meetings. Having teams in France and Germany with numerous different nationalities gives an international and intercultural aspect to my daily work.

Is there anything specific you particularly enjoy at BuyIn?

Thomas: BuyIn organizes once a year an All Employee Meeting where everyone from all the offices gather to network and learn from each other. For me it’s very unique. This year I was leading a barcamp, which is a workshop for around 20 colleagues on specific topics suggested by employees. My topic was how to foster curiosity in daily work and it was great to be able to share such an experience with others.

How would you like to conclude?

Thomas: I would end by saying that the recognition of our added value from our clients is one of the best rewards. Every year we conduct a so-called Customer Satisfaction Index and we reached an all-time high in 2019. This keeps us motivated in what we do.

RELATED