ITI’s offer has become much more diverse over the past 30 years. The company talks about the importance of optimizing its processes to drive growth.
Previously operating as ProContact, ITI was founded 30 years ago and initially focused on computer manufacturing and repairs. But the company evolved over the years and it now offers a range of services and solutions covering everything from IT consulting to infrastructure.
Its mandate is to help medium- and large-size businesses from both the public and private industries get the technologies they need to grow. Today, ITI employs roughly 350 people, mainly in Quebec City and Laval, but also in other Canadian cities.
In 2018, ITI welcomed new shareholders in a bid to accelerate growth and propel the company to the forefront of the Quebec industry. After completing a full rebranding, ITI set its sights on a cross-Canada expansion. To make this possible, the company actively sought ideas on how to optimize its operations in order to work more efficiently and gain a foothold in new markets.
“Our company is already known for having a great team that offers sound expertise while maintaining close relationships with customers. So our next challenge was to make our operations more efficient so that we could maintain our growth capacity,” said Steve Morin, ITI’s Vice-President, Partnerships and Business Strategies.
Improving efficiency to support growth
ITI’s shareholders knew they needed to improve operational performance with solutions that were both sustainable and profitable. Recognizing that the company didn’t have the in-house capabilities required to improve their processes, they turned to our experts for help.
ITI’s main objectives were to:
- Optimize processes across all practices to streamline the company’s operations;
- Reduce file volumes and manual data entry to increase productivity;
- Update its IT systems and connect them to the newly developed processes to help the company achieve its goals.
The first step was to gain a solid understanding of ITI’s operational processes so that we could determine where there were opportunities to optimize. Then, based on the findings of this initial exercise, the company wanted to identify a high-performance management software ecosystem that would facilitate the journey for their employees and customers.
Our team worked jointly with ITI staff to map all of the company’s major processes. This gave us an overview and helped us understand how one team’s actions impacted other teams. This step is always very enlightening. Our work took place over four months in early 2020. We held workshops with employees to challenge current procedures, identify best practices and come up with the best possible solutions for the company. Ultimately, we generated more than 150 solutions, including quick-wins and ideas to implement over the medium and long terms.
Concrete solutions for improving productivity
“By October 2020, just five months after receiving the recommendations, we had already implemented 80% of the proposed solutions. The remaining actions—those slated for implementation over the medium and long terms—are dependent on management software that’s still being installed. Once it’s up and running, they may be re-evaluated,” explained Steve Morin.
From September 2020 to spring 2021, we helped ITI’s team define the organization’s needs and choose the right integrated management programs to boost their efficiency and productivity. The software package that was retained is more than just a standard system; it can support several different applications to meet diverse needs, such as sales force management, project management and corporate function management.
Our optimization team includes people who specialize in IT, finance, change management and lean management. They work together to find ways to streamline procedures, optimize workflows and improve productivity overall.
“I don’t think we would have been able to achieve all this on our own. We made a commitment and the team from Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, with their attentiveness and expertise, kept us on track and on schedule. Improving processes is something that takes a lot of discipline. Letting them take the lead allowed us to take a step back, just like we do with our clients for their technology projects,” said Steve Morin.
In addition to coming up with optimized solutions, the collaboration led to an unexpected result for ITI: they came away with a continuous improvement culture. The exercise helped the company’s leadership team realize just how important it is to review procedures on a regular basis. As a result, they’ve set up a process for managing complaints and suggesting improvements.
Any company can optimize its operations. What’s the key to success? Decision-makers who believe that it’s possible and are willing to invest the time that it takes to make it happen.
09 Nov 2021 | Written by :
Olivier-Don Truong is a management consulting expert at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.
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Here at Grant Thornton, we’re close to mid-market businesses internationally. Around the world our member firms support mid-market companies across all sectors, from retail to manufacturing.
This gives us considerable insight into how the mid-market is feeling about the changing risks and opportunities it faces. Every year we deepen this understanding through our International Business Report (IBR), the longest running survey of mid-market attitudes, including views on sustainability.
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Vincent Cartier is an Advisory Services expert at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. Contact him today.
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