Infortive Transition, at the heart of digital transformation

Article published in the September 2023 issue of Polytechnique magazine "La Jaune et la Rouge".

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"Having been an interim CIO 20 times, I can quickly diagnose a customer's IT department," says Pierre Fauquenot, co-founder of Infortive Transition, France's leading interim IT management firm.

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This pure player relies on its community of CIOs/Transition CTOs to keep in step with companies' operational needs.

Pierre Fauquenot and Hervé Bébin, pioneers of IT Transition Management, have carried out numerous assignments as Transition CIOs. They have often observed the gap between the IT Department and the ever-changing business sectors, with their growing digital needs.

They have also measured the extent to which briefing is decisive in this technological field for defining the profile and choosing the right candidate to carry out the transition assignment. Drawing on their experience, in 2019 they created Infortive Transition, the first interim management firm specializing in IT in France. Changes in the behavior of consumers, employees and companies have forced systems to evolve significantly. In addition, the health crisis has imposed an unprecedented tempo of digital transformation on companies. However, many companies are still severely constrained by the rigidity of their information systems, and weighed down by their "technical debt" (a concept coined by Ward Cunningham in 1992).

When it comes to adapting your IT department or information system, using an interim manager who has already carried out this type of assignment is an effective solution, providing security and speed of execution.

We delegate well what we know well

Today, Infortive Transition is the leader in the French IT transition management market, and boasts a large talent pool. Infortive Transition has also created and leads a community of interim CIOs/CTOs who are helping to advance the CIO profession (creation of a CIO training course, production of white papers, podcasts, best practices, etc.) by sharing their experiences.

Indeed, the number of field missions carried out across Europe by members of the Infortive Community has enabled us to draw up and update skills standards for the IT professions.

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"When a customer tells us about a problem, we quickly understand the managerial, technological and sectoral context... We've often encountered or experienced this type of situation. And because we delegate well what we know well, we are able to accurately target the Interim Manager best suited to carry out the assignment and deliver the expected result", explains Hervé Bébin.

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On assignment, Infortive Transition interim managers can obtain support from the Community.

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"When you call on an Infortive Transition interim manager, you're actually calling on 'dozens of brains' to study and solve your problems," adds Hajar Zine Eddine, Managing Director of Infortive Transition.

The managerial and human dimension is inseparable from the technical challenge

Unlike a consultant, an interim manager is first and foremost an operational person who has to carry out his assignment from A to B. He acts without a career plan, totally focused on the result to be delivered. The IT interim manager will quickly take on board the technical and human situation, and assess the realistic compromises that can be made. Even if the crisis is serious or the transformation stakes are high, he won't have the resources or the time to start from scratch: he'll have to build on what already exists. His challenge will be to modify the behavior and environment of the IT Department to align it with the objectives set, by introducing a new organization, new rules of the game, regaining control of projects, motivating his team... to align an Information System with the company's strategy, the managerial and human dimension is inseparable from the technical challenge.

In France, CIOs often come from technical rather than business backgrounds, and talk more about technology than value creation. Infortive Transition's raison d'être is to "detect and shape CIOs adapted to today's business".

The challenge is to train them in the issues and challenges facing companies, and to ensure that IT demonstrates its ability to reconcile business and technology. From a cost center, it becomes a source of value creation.

Leadership, the essential skill for today's CIOs

At the end of 2022, Infortive Transition and the Infortive Community of transitional CIOs/CTOs launched the first continuing education course dedicated to CIOs and future CIOs, in partnership with CentraleSupélec Exed.

"We, the CIO Fixers, have modeled the skills of a CIO adapted to today's increasingly digital enterprise," Pierre Fauquenot tells us.
"The CIO's key skill is leadership, and his or her dynamic with the Codir! The training is highly operational and dense: our choice was the transmission of experience from peer to peer with 21 CIOs who live this profession day by day and bring a model role to the participants".

By investing in R&D resources to structure, create and animate multiple formats(community, training, think tank...), Infortive Transition helps IT interim managers, and the profession in general, to progress.

The Infortive Community's experience in aligning IT and corporate strategy

Interim management has long been associated with crisis management. It is now an essential tool for developing and improving corporate performance.

Infortive Transition's experts combine economic, environmental and human factors to target the right manager to deliver the expected results. Transition managers draw on the experience of the Infortive Community to ensure the alignment of IT and strategy that will guarantee success for the company.

The IT Department has become one of the key players in corporate strategy, alongside senior management. Today, Infortive Transition works primarily with the management teams of small and medium-sized companies and large organizations. In addition to traditional IT department activities, Infortive also works in all areas of the information system (finance, HRIS, digital marketing, supply chain, etc.).

Listen to our podcast series "Transitional CIOs in crisis management".

Listen to interviews with Transitional CIOs/CTOs from the Infortive Community, France's leading community of Transitional CIOs/CTOs, to find out how Transitional CIOs respond to the challenges they face.

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