With more than 30 years of experience in technology and business, Olivier Berrouiguet brings a wealth of knowledge to his role as CEO of Synertrade. An engineer by training with an MBA from HEC, a leading Paris-based business school, Olivier has always been driven by a passion for creating innovative solutions from complex technological components.
"I've always been motivated by creating solutions from different bits of technology in complex situations to make something easier and simple to use and execute," Olivier explains.
This passion, combined with his experience living and working across France, Switzerland, Greece and Nigeria, has shaped Olivier into a leader who thrives on building high-performing teams and tackling challenging situations.
Olivier joined Synertrade as CEO in early 2022, attracted by the challenge of turning the company around: "I like to quote JFK: ‘We choose to go to the moon not because it's easy, but because it's hard.’
"Turning around Synertrade has been a decision motivated by the fact that there were things to do there that seemed not easy but very exciting."
Synertrade, a pioneer in e-procurement solutions for more than two decades, had faced challenges due to an overly service-oriented approach and a lack of product-driven strategy. Olivier's primary task was to restructure the company and refocus on product development.
"We have accelerated that since I took over the company two-and-a-half years ago," Olivier adds. "We restructured it to make it more product-oriented, squeezing the number of change requests from our customers and explaining to them that it was not in their long-term interest."
The transformation process has been demanding, requiring a delicate balance between addressing urgent issues and focusing on important, long-term goals.
"In a turnaround situation, ‘urgent’ tends to be the only thing you can do," Olivier adds.
"The most challenging thing is to dedicate a certain amount of time to important things rather than executing only urgent tasks."
Despite the challenges, Olivier takes pride in the progress made. Feedback has improved significantly, with customers delighted by the company's new direction. Team members have noticed substantial positive changes, with some even returning to the company after witnessing the transformation.
Looking at the broader procurement industry, Olivier sees both challenges and opportunities for Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs). The role has become increasingly complex, with CPOs needing to manage various risks, comply with new regulations and adapt to technological advancements like AI.
"CPOs face a lot of challenges," Olivier says. "Following Covid, the number of things to do and the challenges are really growing fast for CPOs and their teams."
Despite the critical nature of their role, Olivier believes that CPOs often struggle to be recognised as strategic partners within their organisations. He attributes this to several factors, including the perception that buying is a natural skill, a lack of measurable results visible to stakeholders and insufficient IT and digital culture among procurement professionals.
To address these challenges, Olivier believes that the role of CPOs will need to evolve: "CPOs of the future will need to be a lot more understanding of digital and IT.
"They will need to be equipped with and understand more about how to digitalise processes and get the right data in the right place."
As for Synertrade's future, Olivier is focused on seeing the results of the company's turnaround over the next 18 months, as well as the launch of version five of its S2P platform: "We're going to see whether this magic twist is happening.
"We are surrounded by big animals in the market. We’re a bit like David with Goliaths. We can be faster, we have to be smarter."
With his blend of technical expertise, business acumen and leadership skills, Olivier Berrouiguet is well-positioned to guide Synertrade through its transformation and help shape the future of procurement technology.
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