Supporting the New PM At BEA Sensors: A Success Story

This article explores the perspective of one of Prosource’s clients. We spoke with Pierre-Yves Granatorowicz, Head of PMO at BEA Sensors, an innovative company in the field of automation – based in Liège, Belgium.

WHAT IS THE AMBITION OF BEA?

“We want to contribute to a safe automated world, creating peace of mind for everyone everywhere. More precisely, we design and produce state-of-the-art opening and safety sensors for pedestrian and industrial doors. Even if you do not always notice them, BEA’s products are part of everybody’s daily life!”

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AND THE ROLE OF THE PMO?

“In this technology-based business, innovation is key! At BEA we aim for product leadership, broad differentiation and unremitting innovation which requires continuous development of new products and technologies. This makes us a highly ‘projected organization’, although we are still very traditionally functionally organized. With the implementation of the PMO, we want to create a transversal link across the different departments to manage product development to aim for a smooth and structured go-to-market.

We focus on flows and processes, standardization, and governance. At the same time, we engage in operational aspects, with day-to-day project management and building the project portfolio.”

SO YOUR DEPARTMENT IS AT THE CORE OF THE BUSINESS?

“The PMO is an independent department (reporting to the CFO) and it is a driving force to ensure projects are aligned with strategic objectives and correct focus and priorities are set. We aim to create a framework that enables continuous innovation and growth. Therefore, we look at resource demand, project governance, making sure project methodology and tools are in place and properly used and we continuously look at improving processes.”

AND WHERE DID PROSOURCE COME INTO PLAY IN ALL OF THIS?

“Prosource initially helped us with the set-up of the PMO methodology and governance model through a senior consultancy agreement. Once this work was done, we needed to build a team with different roles and profiles.

After the recruitment of some of these initial roles, we heard of the opportunity to onboard a junior consultant as part of Prosource’s Young Potential Program. At BEA we firmly believe in the development of young talent, so this sounded like a great opportunity for a partnership. The junior consultant helps with specific tasks which need time and focus, such as process and procedure development and documentation and applying the Business Process Model and Notation standard.”

WHAT IS THE STRONG POINT OF THE PROSOURCE CONSULTANT?

Pierre-Yves answers this question with a smile in his voice.

“His strong point can at the same time be a little bit of a challenge. In fact, as a young professional, he is very enthusiastic, energetic, and proactive. Just what we need! Yet sometimes we have to set boundaries to enable him to focus on those tasks where he can have the biggest added value. He is analytically strong, smart, structured, and eager to learn and contribute.

WHAT MAKES PROSOURCE A GOOD MATCH FOR YOUR COMPANY?

“What we have in common with Prosource is that we both have a get-things-done mentality. Be proactive, not reactive. They understand our needs, and they understand what drives us: teamwork and mutual respect.”

AND WHAT MAKES BEA SENSORS A GOOD MATCH FOR A PROJECT MANAGER?

“As a high-technology innovator, our development projects are complex. In other companies, project management can be something rather generic, whereas at BEA you truly need to dive into the technology. This is very nourishing and helps you acquire skills that you might not easily gain elsewhere. It also makes the work interesting, and it enables people to evolve.

At BEA we truly believe that it is our people who make the difference, and you can sense that in our culture and overall work atmosphere here in Liège. We are colleagues who interact professionally, and at the same time, we are friends who value the social aspects of work. We have plenty of social events, even a daily one, where the whole company comes together for the morning coffee break. It makes communication throughout the hierarchy easy and straightforward.

When you work at BEA, you’re part of a fast-growing technological company in a pleasant working environment in which we pay attention to a sensible work-life balance.”

We hope that you enjoyed reading the conversation that we had with Pierre-Yves. We think it is an interesting customer testimonial of a fruitful cooperation!

There’s much more to explore! Discover our other insights or the inspiring stories of the people of Prosource.

Read about our in-depth look at the SCRUM framework, or dig deeper into key interpersonal leadership skills for project management success.

Or read about the experience of Gert Leroy, Business Change Management Consultant at Colruyt Group via Prosource and how he introduced Agile in a non-agile context. Or perhaps the experience of Yves Pintens, IT Infra Project Manager, and learn more about what drives them and their passion for Project Management.