Arquivo
Friesland Foods selects Cezanne Software for global succession planning and talent management
London, UK – May 2007
Friesland Foods boasts a history of over 125 years and is a multinational company that develops, produces and sells natural, nutritional and high-quality dairy products, fruit–based drinks and ingredients.
Friesland Foods offers a wide range of products in over 100 countries and employs over 15,300 employees across its divisions globally. To support the growth and future of the company and its employees, Friesland Foods has made succession planning and talent management a top priority. The Corporate HR department has recently selected Cezanne Connect Succession and Career software to enable it to better track and manage a global talent pool of senior executives.
Improve visibility
A key objective for the company was to provide better support for board level reporting and discussions related to succession planning and leadership development.
Elsbeth Janmaat, Manager of Management Development in the Corporate Human Resources team at Friesland Foods explained: "We had a lot of information, but it was held in several different sources. This made it difficult to use and complex to update. Also, having disparate sources meant the data was fragmented, so we couldn’t see the complete picture."
All data and reports for management reviews were collated manually using Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. Updating this information was time-consuming and, as a result, the data was often incomplete and inaccurate, frequently remaining in people’s heads, rather than being documented.
Matching needs
The company recognised that it needed a system to help it manage this data, and to support more effective talent-related decisions across the business. They evaluated several different solutions for talent and succession management, and found that Cezanne’s product most closely matched their needs.
"Cezanne’s software was specifically built to support succession planning and management – that is its core and so it was ideal for us. I also felt that Cezanne understood exactly what my role is and what I require from an HR planning tool".
“Also, Cezanne is already an established supplier of talent management software in The Netherlands. They work with many of the leading companies, such as Philips International, Royal Ahold, Mittal Steel and ING Group. We were able to meet with Cezanne’s customers and this further confirmed our decision to select Cezanne as the right one,” said Janmaat.
Developing talent
Traditionally many organisations look at the roles in the company and then find personnel to fit them. For Friesland Foods, it’s also important to look at the skills and aspirations of their key people, so they can offer them roles that motivate and develop their people at the same time as benefiting the business. Cezanne’s Succession & Career software allows them to do this.
Using Cezanne’s planning tool, the HR team is able to record information about both people and positions, and look at them side by side, so that career and succession plans can be aligned with the ambitions of employees as well as the needs of the business.
The Corporate HR team is also using the software for management development reviews and to carry out competency analysis (strengths and weaknesses) and performance reviews.
Succession & Career is being used initially only for key senior managers and high flyers, but the Corporate HR department plans to roll it out on a wider basis over time.
Enterprise wide deployment
Cezanne’s software is web-based, which means it can be easily and cost-effectively deployed enterprise wide, providing secure access to a central database of information through a standard web browser.
“For us, one of the key benefits in selecting Cezanne is that they are an international company, like us, so understand our issues. 60% of our employees are based outside the Netherlands, and so the web self-service option to update personal information and the ability to extend the use of the software across the organisation are major benefits,” explained Janmaat.
Initially, Friesland Foods anticipated that it would only have users in the Corporate HR team, but since implementing the software has quickly realised the benefits that it brings and plans to extend its use across the company.
The company is planning to roll out the self-service option, so that managers and other key people across the business will be able to update their own information. This will help to improve the accuracy of data, as well as reduce the administrative burden on corporate HR.
Business benefits
In addition to the advance reporting available in the system, Freisland Foods has also implemented Cezanne Software’s advanced organisation charting tool, HRCharter. This allows them to graphically map talent data, such as succession plans, so that it is easier to identify potential issues, including succession blockages or over nominated candidates.
“I am now much better equipped to provide information that can support planning for future business changes in the next 5 -10 years, should we enter new markets or grow by acquisition. With accurate information I am more able to answer questions about how we might meet such changes by highlighting gaps in our talent or succession plans and potential risks so that management can decide how to address them,” concludes Janmaat.
