Thanks to digitization HR company Liantis can do more

Until a few years ago, Liantis was a group of companies, each with its own brand names, organization and management. In 2015 the decision was made to bundle all these activities, with one clear goal: to offer the customer significant added value. “In the space of three years we’ve made that transformation,” says managing director Philip Van Eeckhoute. “By fully interlinking all the companies and services, Liantis now acts as a real ‘travelling companion’ for entrepreneurs.”

Liantis molds and markets itself as an all-around HR service provider, for the entire journey of an entrepreneur. From humble beginnings as a self-employed person. then taking on staff, the development of a HR- and wellbeing policy, tackling risk protection and on to retirement. The offer is available both digitally and via an extensive office network. Liantis manages sixty locations in Belgium.

Coordination of business and IT

Along with the transformation of Liantis as a group, a sweeping digital transformation also took place. “While the digital services of the various affiliates – before the transformation into Liantis – existed neatly side by side, that subdivision was not by any means always in line with the needs of the entrepreneurs,” says CIO Nicolas Van Kerschaver. “Our task was to create digital solutions according to the customer experience and not according to our internal organization.”

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Nicolas: “The existing digital tools had to be interlinked according to a new subdivision.” The move to a multidisciplinary collaboration was necessary and probably the most sweeping change for Liantis. “We’ve traveled a long way, from a portfolio of services to an integrated suite of solutions,” Philip explained. “An employer doesn’t come to us because he is looking for an application for, let’s say, payroll calculation, but because he wants a solution he can use to support his salary policy.”

It is a digital ecosystem in which the entrepreneur, his accountant and Liantis come together on a single platform.

Philip Van Eeckhoute, managing director at Liantis

One digital platform

To also support that strategic transformation with a digital transformation, Liantis developed the digital platform ‘My Liantis’. “There, everything for the entrepreneur comes together in one environment,” said Philip. My Liantis is the result of a digital transformation journey that began five years ago. “At the time we were still wholly separate companies, each with its own history, its own view of IT and its own procedure in the area of IT development,” Nicolas recalled.

Digitization with regard to infrastructure and culture

The integration of the IT visions of those different companies was preceded by thorough preparation. “That involved not just a major investment with regard to architecture,” Nicolas continued. “We also had to focus strongly on processes, applications and culture.” The latter was a very important aspect. In the new Liantis, the former affiliates had to rally behind one common culture.

More involvement in interaction

With this new approach Liantis is responding directly to the changing needs of customers. “It’s no longer the way it was,” said Philip, “when contact was exclusively through the manager of a business. Personnel managers and employees themselves are also involved in the digital interaction between Liantis and their organization now.” Moreover, expectations in that regard continue to increase. Liantis meets that need by, among other things, granting employees of a company easy access to their personal employment file, via apps.

More data, more information

In addition, Liantis provides extra support for the manager. “We offer more information than we did previously,” said Philip, “for the simple reason that today’s technology allows it. We have more sector-specific data, while we offer entrepreneurs easier access to figures for their company.” That allows entrepreneurs to easily assess the information themselves. Using benchmarks, they check how their organization scores relative to the average competitor in the sector.

The customer chooses the channel

Note too, in the digital story, that technology enables a completely new type of interaction between Liantis and partner companies. “That interaction takes place quite differently today than it did three years ago,” said Philip. “Digitization ensures that we communicate with the customer very quickly, efficiently and securely.” At the same time, Liantis understands that not every customer is as quick to be part of the digital story.

The company therefore consciously chooses an approach via different channels. “Customers still come by our offices too,” Philip explained. “And anyone who prefers to use the telephone gets an answer to his questions that way too, of course.”

Digitization and automation save time for our employees, who can then focus even more on actual service provision to the customer.

Nicolas Van Kerschaver, CIO at Liantis

More time for a personalized service

The double transformation – of the service provision within Liantis and the accompanying digitization – has meanwhile yielded a number of advantages. “There is a digital ecosystem in which the entrepreneur, his accountant and Liantis come together on a single platform,” Philip explained. “Through My Liantis the accountant has direct access to certain documents about a business.”

So it’s no longer the way it used to be. Back then, when an accountant needed information, he asked the entrepreneur the question who, in turn, called on Liantis and then forwarded the requested document. In that context, direct digital access to information produces a clear gain in efficiency.

Digitization broadens the outlook of all the employees

Digitization and automation also save time for Liantis’ employees. “The main added value therefore lies in the fact that employees can focus even better on personal service to the customer,” says Nicolas. “In doing that we ultimately make the difference.” It’s then that Liantis achieves the real goal of the whole transformation.

“To arrive at that result we did, indeed, first have to interconnect all the underlying IT. And yes, that required a major effort and we did have quite a bit of trouble. But, at the same time, the whole exercise has also broadened the outlook of our employees, even in IT.”

Liantis’ employees now look at their work in a different way. They also understand that their service provision often extends beyond the formal boundaries of Liantis. “We aren’t a bank, but we make it easy for our customers to also open their bank account through a Liantis partner bank via our digital platforms, when they start up, for example,” said Nicolas.