Over the last decades, ICT matters have grown in importance through BESIX Group as data and technological processes play increasingly crucial roles in our sector. To keep pace with rapid technological advancements, we need to implement a flexible future-proof architecture supported by modular platforms, enable data accessibility, and protect systems through advanced cybersecurity.
For this reason, several decisions have been made.
- Werner Godaert, currently Infrastructure Manager at BESIX Group ICT, has been appointed Head of Group ICT. His appointment is effective as from January 1st, 2022. As Head of Group ICT, Werner will report to Hans Beerlandt, Head of Finance. As such, his scope covers all the ICT activities of the group. The ICT responsibles of the various entities will therefore report functionally to him.
In his role, Werner will work with his ICT peers in the group, with various stakeholders in the operations, and the BESIX Group management team to help create the connections between business, operations, infrastructure, and digital efficiency that our group needs to achieve. With more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, Werner brings his extensive knowledge of the full IT ecosystem, combined with an innovative and collaborative leadership approach. He will help marry technology solutions with strategic business outcomes. - Next to this appointment, an ICT Steering Committee will be setup, under the leadership of Werner, with executive leaders representing the business and the operations. This Steering Committee will provide strategic direction for ICT-related projects, establish the Group’s ICT priorities, allocate resources, and set up a governance framework to support these projects and initiatives. A specific communication will happen once the Steering Committee has been established.
- Four areas of priorities for the short and mid-term have been identified and agreed upon by the Executive Committee of BESIX Group. These four priorities will be reflected in the new ICT organisation:
- Base Services, led by Steven Verstraeten
- Applications Development & Business Intelligence, led by Jon Harford
- Service Delivery, led by Bernard Linotte
- Enterprise Resource Planning & Operations, led by Frédéric Schoenaers
Base Services will focus on the roll-out of a common ICT environment across BESIX SA/NV and Regional & Specialized Entities in Belgium. This common environment will allow for standard processes (f.i. same wifi and network access across locations, same licenses, generalised single-sign on, etc.), simplified and seamless collaboration (eg. generalisation of Microsoft 365 and OneDrive), hence boosting operational efficiencies and strengthening IT security.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Werner and the ICT team for the outstanding work achieved during the past months, enabling BESIX Group to recover significantly from a major cyber incident.
Hans Beerlandt
Head of Finance
BESIX Group