Customer voices: Joaquín Lozano Agramunt: Group CFO, URSA

We spoke with Joaquín Lozano Agramunt: Group CFO, URSA about how URSA is transforming its business to improve profitability and increase agility.

Give us some background on URSA.

As CFO within URSA, the IT team and the IT director report to me. The team is really strong. I have an IT director who always comes with solutions and very seldom with problems, so that makes my job really easy here.

URSA is a manufacturer of insulation materials. We have a very complete portfolio that covers all the insulation needs of houses. We operate in Europe, although we export some of our materials to South America and to a certain extent also to Asia. But we have our manufacturing facilities in Europe. We have 13 of them from Spain to Russia. And we have commercial activities in more than 40 countries. Our biggest country is France. We have 1,700 employees, and we have multiple locations.

What has been driving URSA’s need to transform?

We need to find ways to grow our P&L, and the way to grow comes from increased profitability. Obviously, we need to try to grow our top line in smart ways because our capacity is full. We need to increase productivity, and we need to reduce our cost base in a very agile way that does not sacrifice security and compliance. 

All these business priorities somehow reflect on everything we're doing. When we're talking about profitability, we need to talk about the integration between our production systems and SAP. Both systems need to be fully integrated. At the same time, we need BI [business intelligence] tools that allow us to transfer our pricing approach, our commercial strategy, into actionable activity and data that provide the transparency our teams need. When we're talking about increased sales, we need to have a smart way of improving our top line when we don't have the necessary capacity.

For instance, we are executing initiatives such as the sales force effectiveness program. And for that, we need the BI tools. When we talk about productivity, it's collecting and analyzing data in a structured way. We need KPIs from production available. Robotics allows faster processing of data, but also allows us to automatize highly manual tasks. And, we need collaboration tools. All these things will enable our cost reductions.

This project with DXC Technology has ensured that our IT costs, and all other costs for that matter, experience a reduction when we moved to the cloud. That's allowing us to reduce our cost base and keep our expenses under control while at the same time improving the service to the customers. Meaning, not only the external customers, but also the internal customers.

Next, security and compliance, which is not only a priority for us, but also proved to be a profitability trigger. It is proven that companies that have an enhanced, compliant IT security system actually have better long-term results. All that is achieved by migrating to Azure and implementing collaboration tools like Office 365.

Last but not least, agility. Having the new mantra of software infrastructure as a service, will improve agility and at the same time reduce our cost base.

So a project like the one that we are executing together with DXC is key to everything — not just in terms of collaboration between the people working for URSA, but also in terms of the interaction between the different systems that we have.

Over the next 3 to 5 years, in what direction do you see your industry going?

Digital is becoming a priority in our industry. We need to be more flexible, more dynamic and agile to improve our service. I mentioned initiatives like commercial excellence, sales force effectiveness and the service we provide to them. Concepts like this in the construction industry are more and more important. We really need to slowly adapt to a world, even in the construction business, that is more and more digital. When you talk about digital, you always come up with four pillars:  data, automatization, access and connectivity. So those are the four things that not only our customers demand, but that we also need to have to provide a better service in a more efficient and effective way.

How is DXC supporting your change management initiative?

The change management process is what is basically starting now. When doing that project, obviously having a partner like DXC is core because not only are they reputable and have the expertise, but also they have very structured programs in change management.

We are a brick-and-mortar company, with factories in many different countries and sales in many different locations. And despite all that, we had to adapt to several changes like ownership changes and restructuring processes, which all inevitably forced the company to become more flexible. We had to do all that without the proper tools. Everything was happening with face-to-face meetings, with former infrastructure, and not with the proper collaboration tools. Now, we're involving the people, so they understand there is a different way to do things.

What advice do you have for peers just starting on their transformation journey?

Obviously, you start with the heads of the departments because you need their buy-in. If you don't, the project will not succeed. Next, you need to involve a core team of influencers. That word is very trendy, so you need to pick your own internal influencers that will spread the advantages of this transformational change and process throughout the culture of the company.  You need to find those change champions, those that embrace change. These champions ensure that users who have a bit more resistance know whom to call when they have an issue. These internal change champions are so, so important in this process.

URSA is flexible. They have had to be flexible because of the circumstances. But we are an industry anchored in the past, so implementing these changes takes a bit longer. But, most definitely, we are going to succeed. And having DXC with us is, and is going to be, critical and incredibly helpful.

Before you decide to start a journey, you not only need to select the right partner, which we are sure we did, but you also need to ensure that you have the right people in your own IT. We have an IT director that is very, very experienced in processes, and his team is very committed and very experienced. They, together with DXC, are the ones that are making this a success.

What is the value of having a partner like DXC?

DXC knows us very well and at the same time they have close contact with the technology. When they are working with us, we do not expect them only to execute what we tell them; we expect them to also guide us in the process. This is what we experienced as well.

We expect guidance, not only execution, which we take for granted from DXC, but that guidance is critical. At the same time, we expect flexibility. So, when we realized that in certain points of the process, milestones were not being cleared as fast as we expected, DXC was flexible enough to rearrange resources and ensure that delivery of the project was never at risk.

The third point is support on change management. I was not expecting such a structured approach towards the change management. An expert was coaching our team, ensuring — through a very well-prepared and planned project, that this transformation is embedded into the organization when the process finishes. I had high expectations, but this was even above those very high expectations and the process has just started. So, I'm very confident that it's going to be a big success and as I said, my experience is very, very good.

What is the value of having a partner in Microsoft?

The migration to Azure and the deployment of Office 365. These are the cornerstones of the support they're providing. Because of this, the software and infrastructure as a service, our tools will be kept up to date and current without us needing to keep an eye on that. So obviously we rely on them. Their reputation precedes them. From Microsoft we expect no failure whatsoever. No mistake, a perfect execution and perfect functioning. So far that is meeting our expectations and particularly with the collaboration tools in the platform of Office 365.

How is DXC helping you during the COVID-19 pandemic?

With everyone in many countries locked down, confined in our houses, we have no other option than working remotely. The feedback I'm getting is that some people are collaborating with each other even more than before, which is a lot to say. And this is possible simply because we are using the tools that my IT team, together with DXC, is deploying, without training. My team, my direct reports and I, and even the board of directors are getting more frequent contact than when we were much closer and when we did not have the limitations we have now.

What excites you most about being on this business transformation journey?

One of the mysteries of the IT team is that when you are there, nobody realizes. People realize when you're not there, and then it's already too late. Here, we are going to deploy tools that are visible. So, there's going to be, maybe not a touch, but there's definitely going to be a feel. When this process is over, there will be a lot of internal users feeling very satisfied with the level of service that IT is providing. And I'm excited about that.