2019 was a year of continuous expansion and innovation for Cegeka. It also marked the first year with Stijn Bijnens at the helm of our family company. I am extremely proud of what we all have achieved under his watch and leadership: 561 million euro in revenue, a growth of 9.7% compared to 2018.
I have always taken pride in our motto: ‘in close cooperation’. It’s a promise to our customers – we’re in this together – and it defines how we work. Our constant ‘verticalization’ – in healthcare, smart cities, smart business, social impact and so on - helps us remain very finely attuned to our customers’ specific challenges and opportunities.
2019 was also the year in which we started the largest acquisition in the 28-year history of Cegeka: KPN Consulting. Completed in April 2020, this acquisition is a giant leap forward, catapulting us to a top 3 position in the Netherlands. I am confident many more adventures are ahead of us, if we keep working together ‘in close cooperation’.
None of this would have been possible without the people that ‘make’ Cegeka every single day: our customers, employees, stakeholders, investors and business partners. It is your entrepreneurship, dedication, perseverance, loyalty and trust that have brought us where we are now. For that, I am humbled and deeply grateful.
André Knaepen
Founder & Chairman of the Board
As I am writing these words – on May 18 – we are still in the middle of a global pandemic. First and foremost a human tragedy, COVID-19 is exacting a heavy toll on health care services and people worldwide. On top of that, the economic global fallout is massive. With every day that passes, it is becoming clear that there will be ‘pre-corona’ and ‘post-corona’. We are, all of us, in uncharted territory.
When I think of the topics that I wanted to address here ‘pre-corona’, I find that most of them still stand. First, the significance of ‘in close cooperation’, the Cegeka tagline. Intensified collaboration, transparent communication, a can-do mentality, business and human empathy: in times like these they make all the difference. There is only one way but through, and we will do this together.
Secondly, I want to address the necessity for companies to become more ‘digitally relevant’ and resilient. In a world full of noise, companies need to create meaningful signals, whatever their business. Third, it is my firm belief that IT can and will solve many of today’s challenges. But I’m also convinced it takes forward-thinking European IT companies - companies with strong local presence and leadership – to make that happen.
Read the entire introductionStijn Bijnens
CEO
One of most important things a successful business does, as our CEO Stijn Bijnens says in the introduction to this report, is to attract the most talented people in the field. Indeed, finding and retaining top talent, is a significant managerial challenge in the famous ‘War for Talent’. At Cegeka, we tackle this challenge on many fronts simultaneously.
In 2019, we have invested considerable effort in collaborative hiring, involving HR as well as employees at all levels of the organization, up to C-level. Selection criteria have been reviewed and rigorized. Today, cultural fit is a conditio sine qua non: candidates must align with our company values and ‘in close cooperation’ way of working. They must sport a healthy can-do mentality and be prepared to upskill. They must take ownership and aim for a spot on the top half of the accountability ladder.
Read the entire textAnik Stalmans
CHRO
As a family-owned IT solutions provider founded on craftmanship, we work in close cooperation with our customers.
We help organizations create frictionless and highly personalized experiences for their, customers, consumers, employees and citizens.
It is our ambition to become the leading European orchestrator of digital business platforms and ecosystems in our focus markets.
Our focus is on solutions that solve business problems and have tangible business impact. They accelerate growth in a way which is seamless and which does not disrupt day-to-day operations.
Our solutions guide organizations towards digital relevance. Organizations nowadays need to master the dynamics of digital engagement and in that way be extremely relevant.
Today, organizations are faced with a myriad of cloud solutions and suppliers, as they move about in a cloud landscape that is complex, tends towards disorder and is hard to navigate.
Customers are in need of guidance to keep an overview, and to make sure that their applications, infrastructure and people are still working together in as smart and efficient a way as possible.
Our focus is firmly on pragmatic or applied innovation, and not on innovation for innovation’s sake. Our aim is always to maximize business impact; in order to do so we often have to bridge the gap between industrialization and innovation.
We de-hype innovation: we start small (but think big) and we focus on results and delivery, both short and long term.
Because we offer a very broad portfolio and have both a wide and deep understanding of technology and trends, we are able to connect the dots and offer the customer a solution that leverages the best of several worlds.
Connections often also means applying the ecosystem/platform thinking and building bridges between companies, partners and business models. The aim of functioning in a hyper connected system is to unlock and exchange value between all the parties involved.
