Herman Noppen
Consultant
"Being surrounded by very motivated colleagues is in itself very motivating."
When and how did you join Capgemini?
"As a civil engineer, I started my career at Massive Lightning Products in Kontich (Antwerp). I was lucky,
because Massive wanted to actively develop young engineers towards management roles. I mainly did shop floor
engineering. Then a huge SAP implementation started at Massive, in which I participated. First as a key user,
but after a while, I became team lead. I worked on this project for two years. And with my newly obtained SAP
profile, the job market became much more interesting and interested!"
"So in 1998, I joined Capgemini. Capgemini was appealing to me because it was a European company that promoted the 'master your own destiny'-idea. I liked that. And I must say, to be successful in this company, you have to be a bit of an entrepreneur. It's not enough to sit around and wait until someone 'offers' you a project. You have to go out there, build your internal network and find the interesting projects yourself."
Is being a consultant a stressful job?
"It is most of the times, but on the other hand, we can always ask for a break. People at Capgemini not only master
their own destiny, they also master their own work life balance. At certain periods in life, we all need to back down
a bit. So we can work in a part-time schedule or even take a break full stop. In my case, I temporary left Capgemini for
18 months and went on mission abroad with 'Doctors Without Borders'. After that mission, I came back and Capgemini immediately
posted me on a new project. Capgemini offers you that kind of possibilities. And senior management never holds that against
you during the roundtables, when promotions are discussed. We have even senior managers who work in a part-time regime. It's
the best way to foster long term relationships."
What are your domains of expertise?
"I am working for the ERP and SAP business for almost 10 years. Since I started here, I have fulfilled many different
roles and participated in many different projects. What I especially like about Capgemini is the fact that we have a
rather 'flat' organization. There aren't many hierarchical levels. And although people have different expertise levels,
we all consider ourselves as consultants. It's just that the more senior consultants help the younger ones to grow in
their fields of expertise and in their consultancy and management skills."
What's your favourite consultancy bit?
"I really like the change management aspects of our job, even in the IT-business. Being an IT-consultant is much
more than programming software. You have to be able to manage the 'people' elements that come with each project.
Not only within the consultancy team, but also towards the end users at the client side. Therefore we focus a lot
on the development of the soft skills of our consultants. 'Expectation management' is another key word that can
make the difference between 'a job well done' and an unhappy client. That requires good communication skills and a
high level of responsibility and commitment. At Capgemini everyone makes sure that these qualities are available at
all times. And I like to support that continuing effort."
Where and when did you go through a real learning experience?
"Winning the last big project bid was very important to me and a major learning experience. Thanks to our dynamism,
we have shown to the client that we were the best team for the job. During eight workshops we have demonstrated to
the client how we would come up with solutions for the challenges ahead. Fighting our way from one workshop to
another asked a lot from the Capgemini bid team members. But we pulled it off and we were extremely happy with
the result. We won the bid procedure. The fact that I was able to play a role in that team and making it stick
together during difficult times, has meant a lot to me. I mainly learned that the fighting spirit at Capgemini
is great and that I have very motivated colleagues. It's a good feeling!"
How do you look at your personal evolution at Capgemini?
"From a knowledge perspective, there has certainly been an evolution. I went from consultant and team lead to
solution architect within different environments: production management, project systems, industry solutions for
utilities and customer relation management. The thing is, if you want to evolve professionally you have to
differentiate yourself. If you show interest in certain domains or projects, chances are high that you end up
doing them. But it takes some effort to get there: follow training courses, seminars, conferences and make sure
that the right people know what you are up to. In the near future, I will probably evolve towards other roles.
And I hope, one day soon, I will take up the project lead of a bigger, fixed price project."