Information Systems Architect, what does it mean in concrete terms? What expertise and skills are essential to perform such a role? Building systems is certainly the job of Tommy Grandguillotte, Information Systems (IS) Architect at Océane Consulting Data Management, a Digital Services Company (ESN) integrator and Pure Player publisher for Dematerialization & Digitalization. But for him, it is above all a « passion », a « pleasure ». This naturally « curious » person, « always on the lookout for new developments and innovations », explains to us the ins and outs of his expertise and describes in the process a market in constant evolution where technological watch is essential to stay in the race.
How long have you been with Océane Consulting Data Management and what is your role within the company?
Tommy Grandguillotte - I arrived in 2014 as an Information Systems Architect. This is a transversal position within the Technical Department that revolves around several axes. My main mission is to intervene in support of projects in design or implementation phases.
Expertise plays an important role in my daily work: project scoping, technical services, emergency missions …
I also intervene in the pre-sales phase by participating in responses to calls for tenders and public contracts. Monitoring and following up on R&D in my areas of expertise are of course an integral part of my activities.
Finally, I am a specialist in connectors that we publish to equip the integration of our partners' solutions. These connectors are software bricks that will enable solutions and software to work together and communicate automatically and transparently in order to bring business value while avoiding users from performing "technical" tasks such as data entry or file importing. We have a broad range of high-performance connectors, especially with Nuxeo solutions.
Could you briefly review your professional background? How does one develop expertise like yours?
TG - I chose to study computer science out of passion. I started my career in Telecommunications (Orange, SFR) within the management IS department (contracts, customers…), then in networks. I subsequently joined Océane Consulting Data Management. The technical foundation of the Telecommunications sector is common with our activities and that helped me.
I am passionate about my profession and very curious about everything related to computer science. Building systems is certainly my profession but it is above all a passion, a pleasure. I keep an eye out for new developments and innovations; this curiosity is certainly at the source of my expertise which has only developed over time.
What are your areas of expertise and fields of preference?
TG - System design is my core business with everything that flows from it: solution definition (pre-sales, project kickoff), software architecture (elegant and robust solutions), IS architecture (reliable and fluid communication between various applications), UX (customer and user experience), automation and dematerialization, always keeping business value in mind.
What are the major challenges your clients face and what types of missions and projects do you work on?
TG - We face complex issues in integrating solutions or capabilities into information systems. For example, we intervened for the Compagnie des Vétérinaires in a process to automate and dematerialize their documents. Volume is also a recurring issue. Recently, we worked for Manche Numérique, a joint syndicate attached to the Département de la Manche. Our mission involved taking into account their document volume and finding the best solutions to prepare for future volume growth. Complex and difficult search for certain documents is a very frequent issue for our clients in terms of Electronic Document Management (EDM). Targeting and easily retrieving a document are key challenges in EDM. We are focused on constantly improving user experience. The objective is to facilitate search through functional and easy-to-use tools and solutions.
How does a technical audit proceed with a prospective client? Can you describe this key step for us?
TG - Often clients contact us because the addition of features over the years has created complexity that has become problematic. We then conduct a 4-5 day audit to sort through all of this. Several stages mark a technical audit: understanding the context and initial expectations, defining the key stakeholders to meet within the client company or structure, deepening understanding of the issue or issues with these key stakeholders to understand how the system is supposed to work, defining the target, defining the gap between the objective to be achieved and the dysfunctions present, proposing actions and interventions.
It is truly essential not to underestimate understanding the system to clearly grasp the client's request. I would like to emphasize that it is essential to meet end users in addition to managers and decision-makers in the client structure. These latter do not always, or rarely, have the same usage of the features of the existing IT system. It is necessary to consult a broad panel of users, from all departments, to understand everyone's expectations and better understand the dysfunctions present and thus the gaps between what is individually expected and what is provided by the existing system.
When it comes to auditing the resolution of a technical issue, our role is notably to go beyond the solutions envisioned by the client. We must precisely define the ideal target and determine the gap between the target and the technical or operational problem detected.
In the background, two questions must be present in our minds during a technical audit. What does the existing system do and what is it capable of doing today? What do we want it to do and what should it be capable of doing tomorrow?
You mention going beyond the solutions envisioned by the client? Can you elaborate on this point?
TG - The concept of gap is at the center of this idea. This is where our advisory dimension is crucial to explain and enhance the client's vision. This is our added value. Let's take the example of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which governs the processing of personal data in the European Union territory. Some clients have taken on this unavoidable subject in a haphazard and incomplete manner. GDPR requires legitimate and proportionate data collection, which means collecting only the data necessary for the activity. This regulation also requires securing this data and not retaining it beyond a predefined period. Many clients thought that encrypting their data could be sufficient to meet these requirements and protect personal data. However, encryption only partially meets GDPR requirements. This is where we must advise our clients; this is our entire added value.
Do you see yourself as an evangelist in your profession and in your area of expertise?
TG - It is not for me to judge, but I strive daily to disseminate best practices among our clients and internally. Internally, this notably means working on best practices in terms of traceability and project management. If someone has to take over a project, it must be anticipated and it must be possible at any time.
How do you manage technological watch?
TG - I conduct ongoing monitoring of new developments, evolutions, and technologies in general. The next step is to "bench" relevant solutions for our activities, assess their value, and measure the opportunity to use them in the context of this or that client project. Technological watch is necessarily essential in a role like ours.
What do you like about OCDM? How do you explain the seniority of some of your colleagues?
TG - Conviviality and freedom of action are two strong points. This freedom of action requires in return great autonomy and a proactive approach to the subjects entrusted to us. I also appreciate that topics are not compartmentalized. We approach projects horizontally, which allows for a global and interactive approach. Ultimately, we implement custom-made solutions, so we cannot be compartmentalized.
In what cases do clients or prospects call on Océane Consulting DM for one-off missions?
TG - One-off support missions generally fall into either resolving a given problem or assisting in choosing a technical solution.
Often, our partners such as Nuxeo or Bonitasoft call on us for one of their clients. We are certainly specialists in the solutions of these historical partners, but our expertise and technological watch enable us to move towards other solutions that might prove more suitable and more effective in certain cases.
What is the average duration of one-off missions and what are their stakes?
TG - The average duration of a one-off support mission is 10 to 15 days (audit, solution selection). For projects related to problem-solving, it is more variable and depends on the size of the problem or problems. The stake of one-off missions very often consists in helping a company faced with a technical difficulty.
Short-term missions frequently serve as entry points for developing longer-term collaborations.
Q - How would you describe the pre-sales phase?
TG - Several steps constitute the pre-sales phase which is essential and determines the subsequent operations and actions to be undertaken: in-depth study of the need and constraints, questioning the requested solutions where appropriate, definition of a solution or solutions, definition of resources and schedule, and finally reporting back to the requester.
How is your profession evolving in recent years? How are you evolving?
TG - The issue of data sensitivity is increasingly present; it is not new but our clients are increasingly affected. Two subjects related to this issue are recurring: security and compliance with legal developments (GDPR, RGS…). Continuous monitoring and "self-training" enable us to follow market developments and technological evolutions and be as close as possible to our clients' issues. Everything is moving very fast, everything is evolving very quickly in our fields. When we graduate from school, what we learned there is already almost obsolete!
Q - How do you select the partner solutions privileged by OC? And how do you proceed to convince a client on the choice of one solution over another?
TG - Technological watch, R&D, and our field experience naturally guide us towards these partner solutions because they effectively respond to our clients' requests.
I'm not really sure we seek to convince a client on the choice of a solution. We rather demonstrate how it meets their expectations and how it is evolutionary and thus relatively sustainable. Explaining and making the solutions we propose accessible is part of our mission. To do this, we use several tools to be as clear as possible, optimize our arguments, and fully share our choices with the client: project feedback (REX), benchmark testing on key feature points, and also the POC (Proof Of Concept). The POC is very interesting because it allows testing a solution on a defined scope to prove the technical feasibility and technical advantages of the recommended solution. It is a custom-made demonstration that illustrates our explanations. Pedagogy and the sharing of our knowledge are at the heart of our profession; this is what makes it exciting!
