"The biggest challenge we identify in digitizing management is almost an attitudinal challenge: understanding digitization and committing to the idea that it is necessary for the profitability of your business."
This is one of the reflections that our Managing Director, Germán Fritzsch, shared at the third edition ofVoxel's eProcurement Tech Summit , held on November 18 and 19 in Barcelona. From Gstock we have supported the event as Gold Sponsor one more edition and we attended in person to learn about news and trends in transformation and digital business model, electronic invoicing and digitization of B2B payments, business efficiency and scalability and data management, information and business intelligence in hospitality and catering.
As in previous editions, we took the opportunity to connect with other members of the sector and share with them our vision of profitability-oriented digital management and how we can grow by collaborating together. In addition, we contributed our vision and experience in an interesting round table on why digitalization projects fail, in which Germán shared the stage with Sílvia Lamarca, CFO of Grup Andilana, one of our oldest clients and an example of how to successfully carry out a management digitalization process, and with David Vilà, Sales & Key Account Manager and commercial director at Grupo DINO and Lladopol.
Moderated by Marc Prats, COO of Voxel, the table produced some very interesting reflections and contributions. We share some of them:
"Designing and building a digital ecosystem is like building a puzzle. We have all done one and we know that, when we have loose, isolated pieces, it is sometimes difficult to find the connections and see the whole picture, no matter how much we see the image that appears on the box. The same thing happens with digital tools. The beginning of the construction of the ecosystem is like the beginning of a puzzle in which it is key to have the image of where we want to go clear and present and be able to find the connections that unite isolated pieces and lead us to the goal, which is our own digital ecosystem. For that, the pieces, the tools, must speak the same language, understand each other and integrate with the aim of improving the management of your business. And, in order for them to understand each other, it is essential not to lose heart. When faced with a 5,000-piece puzzle, it may seem endless, but it is not: with planning, commitment and resources, even the most complex puzzle will eventually be completed. Just as with the digitization of management."
German Fritzsch
"If you want your team to jump on the bandwagon, you have to set an example of the effort involved in a digital transformation."
Sílvia Lamarca
"If we don't know where we are and what we want to do, resistance to change increases a thousandfold."
David Vilà
You can see the complete table in the video we share below.
The Summit was attended by experts in digital transformation for Horeca such as Javier Retornano, CEO at Suitech Consultancy & Technology; Jordi Garrido, Academic Director of Executive Education at the International Faculty of Commerce and Digital Economy of the Universitat Ramon Llull; Javier Villanueva, General Manager at Silken Hotels; Raquel Oriol, Project Manager Logistic & CS at Baker & Baker; Emiliano Garayar, Founder and Executive Chairman at GAT; Óscar Palacios, Managing Partner & Chief Business Development officer at Canarian Hospitality; Matthew Morrison, director of B2B business development at Mastercard; and Boris Acuña, head of systems, infrastructure and cybersecurity at Bidfood Spain, among others.
From Jordi's presentation we would like to keep his advice on how to successfully digitize the management of any company in the Horeca Channel.
1. Do not take on digitization projects in a random manner.
2. Determine how the company has to operate using the technology to achieve the planned objectives.
3. Be clear that designing the architecture and data governance is a priority.
4. Assume that before implementing a digital transformation plan you have to look internally at what changes your company needs to address this transformation.
In addition, we share some reflections from the rest of the day, which we hope you find as inspiring as we do:
"A digital transformation plan is a group of digitization projects, united by common objectives and impacting the business model. The speed of digital transformation depends on the budget. All companies have a speed at which they can change. If you exceed it, your change management plan needs to be more ambitious. Find out how fast you can change."
Jordi Garrido
"Security, convenience and traceability are key to the digitization of payments."
Matthew Morrison
"The challenge for any company is not in finding good technology tools, but in integrating them with each other."
Oscar Palacios
"It is key to understand what the customer wants and needs in digitization, to model the data and application structure on which they want to grow."
Javier Retornano
"A digitization process never ends: there will always be a process to improve or a new task to digitize."
Pedro Nágera
The eProcurement Tech Summit is an essential event to learn about trends and developments in the digitization of the value chain in hospitality and hospitality, connect between companies and drive technological innovation together, and to inspire new solutions for the optimization of processes in the value chain. We share the video we have prepared, with some moments of the day.
Thanks, once again, to the entire Voxel team (Xavi Ginesta, Ángel Garrido, Héctor Martín, Anastasia Vasilenko, Pedro Nágera, Marc Mañas and Alberto Pastrano) for organizing this meeting, for the care you put into every detail and for counting on Gstock to continue working together for a real digital future for our sector.