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You arrived in Montreal in August of 2021, at a time when the Covid pandemic was receding but still very much disrupting normal activities. Quite the challenge! Can you tell us a bit more about what led you to take on the role of CEO at that time and how things have gone since?
I’ve been with Generix Group for some time now. You could even say that I grew up with the company—professionally, that is. At every stage I loved what I was doing, truly enjoyed working with my colleagues, and felt at home with the company’s culture. Now, at this stage of my life, it was time for a new challenge.
In my role as Group CFO, I was already deeply involved with the company’s strategy, including our commercial efforts in North America. I knew, for instance, how critical our success in the U.S. was going to be for Generix Group’s capacity to grow. So, when the opportunity presented itself to spearhead the company’s efforts in North America, I just had to jump on it.
Things have been going really well since I’ve arrived, Covid or not, and a lot of that has to do with the quality of the team that was already in place. You see, I really believe that, to succeed, we have to focus on the human element at the core of what we do. And because our North American team is just fantastic, that made it easy for me. I consider myself lucky: I get to rely on people who have deep supply chain expertise and who know our products inside and out. They know what our solutions can do for our clients’ operations, and our engineers are super creative in developing useful new functionalities. It’s exciting!
Of course, we’ve had to deal with the aftermath of all that happened because of the pandemic. Some things have changed. The importance of a resilient and efficient supply chain has immensely grown to the eyes of stakeholders, for instance, and that’s been accelerating the move to digitize and optimize operations. We’re adapting really well: our teams are growing fast and with all the needed agility.
You mentioned the strong strategic importance of Generix Group’s North American business unit. Can you speak a bit more to that?
Before I can answer that question, there’s a thing or two that our readers must understand. You see, our office in Montreal is much more than just a business unit. It’s not crazy to say, in fact, that it’s something like a company within a company.
Generix Group acquired Sologlobe in 2016, a Montreal tech company that had been marketing a great WMS solution for nearly twenty years, the SOLOCHAIN WMS/MES. Since then, Generix Group has continued to develop the WMS in Montreal, a solution that the group only sells in North America. Here, we have an R&D team that’s entirely dedicated to just the one solution, SOLOCHAIN. That’s unique within company.
For one thing, that means that we have all the inhouse resources needed to market a powerful WMS that is finely tailored to the reality of North American supply chain operators. Sure, we may not be anywhere near the size of the mega-vendors listed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. Nevertheless, we have the talent and resources to develop a WMS that ranks at the very top in terms of usability and adaptability.
Strategically, that puts us in a great position.
Soon, that talent and wealth of resources will enable us to market a fully integrated logistics platform around SOLOCHAIN. We have the engineering experience and technical knowledge to leverage the other solutions developed by Generix and adapt them to the North American market. In time, the solutions we will market here will significantly contribute to Generix Group’s growth in North America.
That’s why it’s no exaggeration to say that our Montreal business unit is the cornerstone of Generix Group’s success in the coming years. I want to make the North American business unit a true leader within our group.
Can you tell us what your short-term plan is?
Our main objective in the coming year is to add to our North American product offering.
Generix Group markets close to twenty solutions in Europe and elsewhere in the world, systems and applications that we have not yet fully integrated into our North American offer. We’ve identified the solutions that are relevant to the North American market, those that will give our clients the tools to fully integrate their logistics across their entire supply chain.
Our efforts are mainly focused on the Universe WMS and our multi-enterprise integration & collaboration platform. The Universe WMS, EDI Services and portals are now available in North America—and already a success for us. We’re also working on adapting our eInvoicing application, our TMS, and our platform for collaborative replenishment (GCR). Our teams are working really hard to retool these solutions so that they meet the requirements of North American businesses.
Another objective in 2023 is to improve our visibility.
Being included in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is a great way for us to make ourselves known to prospective clients, but it’s not enough. We may be a niche WMS provider, but that doesn’t mean we should be discrete! Whether it’s our website, our presence at trade shows, or our partnership network, our goal is to “up our game” and make Generix Group a household name in North America.
The thing is—and this is super important: the global WMS market is very, very dynamic these days. Labor shortages are forcing companies to double-down on their efforts to automatize their facilities. Historically companies would digitalize or automatize their supply chain mainly to improve productivity levels. Now, companies are also driven to do so in order to adapt themselves to context of a depleted workforce.
The SOLOCHAIN WMS/MES stands out and is recognized as one of the most user-friendly solutions out there. The market is moving fast, so must we. It’s up to us to accelerate the presence of Generix Group in North America so that we become a reference, a familiar face.
To learn more about how a Warehouse Management System can help your company make the best of seasonal peaks, visit the Generix Group SOLOCHAIN WMS page or download the SOLOCHAIN WMS Product Sheet.
Download our Guide to the Warehouse of the Future.
About Generix Group North America
Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.
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