Herve Thermique Chooses Determine Procurement Solution

The leading global energy services company will implement Determine’s Procurement solution for its ability to adapt to its unique organizational model to offer visibility, efficiency and flexibility

Carmel, IN, November 15, 2016 – Determine, Inc. (NASDAQ: DTRM), a leading global provider of SaaS Source to Pay and Enterprise Contract Lifecycle Management (ECLM) solutions, including cloud-based strategic sourcing, supplier management, contract management and procure-to-pay solutions, has been selected by Hervé Thermique, a subsidiary of Groupe Hervé, to improve its operational efficiency while offering flexibility and independence to local teams.

Since 1972, family-owned Hervé Thermique, with operations in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Morocco, and some 3,000 employees, has offered products and services in the fields of energy, industry, and digital technology. The company’s distinguishing feature is its unique organizational structure, based on units of 10-15 people led by a manager-motivator, whose primary role is to encourage, coordinate and support his or her team.

Non-production procurement, reflective of Groupe Hervé’s organizational policy

Until recently, non-production procurement (10% of Groupe Hervé’s purchasing) has been managed primarily centrally. “Our previous organization led to a lot of back and forth between requestors, managers and local procurement managers,” explains Christophe Arnould, Procurement Manager for Hervé Thermique.

Under the group’s “open” more decentralized approach, the goal was twofold:

• First, to provide employees with a standardized procurement platform, like an internal e-commerce website, allowing them to independently and responsibly select the tools they need;
• Second, to offer the purchasing department a detailed analysis of expenditures, allowing them to negotiate prices and also add and remove suppliers on the panel by family, based on experiences of the local purchasing teams.

“We hope to capitalize on the experiences of our local subsidiaries in order to develop best practices, which we can apply to other subsidiaries. Closely delegating procurement needs while maintaining an overall business viewpoint guarantees efficiency,” adds Mr. Arnould.

The choice of Determine’s Procurement solution was based on its modularity, technology and proximity to our business

The human dimension was paramount in Groupe Hervé’s decision. “Discussions, expertise and listening skills among Determine teams are among the main reasons why we chose Determine. Our companies are similar in that regard,” said Mr. Arnould.

The choice of Determine was also a technological decision: the Procurement solution is part of the company’s leading Cloud Platform, which offers turnkey modular business applications that can adapt to Groupe Hervé’s organizational model. The same is true for interfaces, as the Determine Cloud Platform easily integrates with more than a dozen “home-grown” systems.

“Users, workflows and entire hierarchies with countries, subsidiaries and units of 10-15 people managed within our internal systems all communicate with Determine. In the opposite direction, Determine sends orders to our systems,” explains Mr. Arnould.

The current project scope focuses on our eProcurement solutions including Catalog Management, including hosted as well as punch-out catalogs (Fiducial, Manutan, MB Industrie, etc.).

“We are excited to announce Hervé Thermique will leverage our Determine Procurement solutions to improve its overall operational efficiency, while delivering the flexibility and independence required for their local teams,” said Patrick Stakenas, President and CEO of Determine. “Determine is changing the way our customers source, contract and buy goods and services through our innovative and market-changing Cloud Platform, including some of the most highly complex industries like energy services. Determine’s UI/UX and a unified master database makes it possible for Hervé Thermique to achieve new levels of efficiency by improving user experience and workflows, creating synergy for their 3000+ employees across multiple locations throughout Western Europe and North Africa.”