Patrick Ledegang - CFO
The Alwaysbemobile Company mission to be market leader in each segment in which it has a (foot)hold, translates one-to-one into the manner in which the organisation of the central head office is organised. The mission of the internal organisation is twofold: the permanent readiness for doubling the organisation and continuous professionalising, quantity and quality.
The core of the internal organisation is based on the division structure. The five divisions Corporate, Retail, Wholesale, Business and Investments are all companies and participations of The Alwaysbemobile Company. Within each division, an important role rests on the shoulders of the management of the division. With a high degree of independence and supported by the professional technical expertise of the Corporate divisions, they are the factor largely responsible for the success of The Alwaysbemobile Company.
Customer Services and Corporate support
Furthermore an important role is reserved for the Customer Services Center in Antwerp, Belgium. As the internal “backup” for the Sales team of the Business division, the Customer Services Center employees are the persons who ensure that they pave the way with regard to all requests made by lease drivers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Customer Service Center, which handles over 100,000 request per year and a 24-hour Repair service for stranded trucks, is an indispensable link within the order processing process.
The Corporate division consists of six supporting divisions: Technology, Marketing, PR, Finance, Control and Product Management. Apart from the colleagues of the various divisions, franchisees and their employees are facilitated in all fields by the Corporate divisions. Central procurement, development of promotion materials, central invoicing, benchmarking and organising training possibilities as well as quality standards are just a few of the many services organised by the Corporate divisions.
Employees and systems as success factor
In order to be able to maintain a high level of service, The Alwaysbemobile Company personnel strategy is directed at young ambitious professionals with a passion for their profession. In order to continuously develop the expertise of the employees, Alwaysbemobile invests in permanent and extensive internal and external training possibilities for its employees. Moreover The Alwaysbemobile Company head office has been supervisor of trainees for a number of trainees of schools of Secondary and Higher Vocational Education in previous years.
Apart from the best employees, the success of the organisation is determined to a large extent by the capacity and quality of the IT systems. For The Alwaysbemobile Company, technology is one of the critical success factors. In order to permanently guarantee the quality of these systems, The Alwaysbemobile Company acquired its own internet company in Romania (ComKnow SRL) a number of years ago. At ComKnow twenty employees permanently work on the further development of the latest techniques and amongst other all websites of The Alwaysbemobile Company are developed. Continuity, reliability, speed and scalability are core words. Furthermore Profile International, has in the course of 2007 entered into a joint venture with the Dutch IT service IT=it. This joint venture, HomITel BV, was established in order to ensure integral management, hosting and all helpdesk activities for all employees at the head office and at the branch offices.
PROAX 4.0
The centre of all systems is the ERP system PROAX 4.0. PROAX is based on the Microsoft Dynamics package Axapta of which at the end of 2007, the most recent update was commissioned. The package is characterised by a quick and trouble-free interface with all standards systems of customers and organisations. Within the system, employees, franchisees as well as customers continuously have personalised reports and real-time information. In the course of 2008, all entrepreneurs will start to make use of PROAX, with which the communication between the central organisation and associated franchisees is automated to the maximum.
The strength of Franchise
The various The Alwaysbemobile Company franchise formulas prove to exactly meet the customers’ requirements. The unique combination of the technical expertise of the central head office guarantees efficiency and professionalism. The pure entrepreneurship of the autonomous companies at the over 200 branches in the Netherlands and Belgium, guarantee a constant involvement and commitment to the customer and his / her mobility. Hyper specialisation is the standard, centrally as well as locally.
By means of its franchise formulas The Alwaysbemobile Company succeeds in gaining the best of two worlds. This without resulting in contradicting interests and proven by means of the impressive growth of the number of associated companies. From the continuous flow of new applications, only the companies are selected which have proven their quality in the past and which can guarantee craftsmanship and entrepreneurship.
Without a doubt Good Franchising is the most complex form of entrepreneurship, however for companies who know how to find a balance in the relationship central uniformity versus local entrepreneurship, this will result in the most powerful type of entrepreneurship. The Alwaysbemobile Company has been very successful with this formula, and has developed into the most successful franchise formula in the automotive industry during the past twenty years.
The core of the internal organisation is formed by the division structure. All companies and participations, being part of The Alwaysbemobile Company, are grouped in the five divisions Corporate, Retail, Wholesale, Business and Investments. Within each division, an important role is attributed to the management of the division. With a high level of independency and supported by technical expertise of the Corporate divisions, they are the major determining factors, decisive for the success of The Alwaysbemobile Company.
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