With the introduction of the Microsoft Power Platform, Cordes & Graefe KG, the holding company of the GC Group, has reached an important strategic milestone. The aim was to create a group-wide, standardized, and scalable platform for the holding company of more than 100 owner-managed family businesses. As wholesalers, the partner companies cover the entire spectrum of building services, including sanitary, heating, air conditioning/ventilation, electrical, roofing, installation, civil engineering, and industrial technology.
A key driver of this decision was the historically evolved, highly fragmented IT landscape. Over many years, numerous individual solutions and manual processes had become established without a secure central control system. This resulted in numerous process and system disruptions, high maintenance costs, and increased risks to security, compliance, and governance.
The platform solution was primarily intended to ensure IT governance for the wholesale group with more than 20,000 employees in Germany and 14 additional countries, while also enabling faster innovation through improved connectivity.
Establishment of a Center of Excellence (CoE) to manage and strategically align the platform across more than 100 partner companies in 15 countries
Supporting the strategic introduction of the Center of Excellence within the holding company
Coordination and assignment of around 300,000 skilled trade companies to ongoing construction projects
The Arineo team provided us with significant support in our strategic direction. Today, we are much better positioned both technologically and organizationally – with a platform that really propels our company forward. Especially in a decentralized company with over 100 partner companies and activities in 15 countries, the Center of Excellence is key to preventing shadow IT and ensuring a trustworthy, standardized IT landscape.
Alexander Hauser
CIO
Cordes & Graefe KG
At the heart of the GC Group’s introduction of the Power Platform was the need to build a sustainable, scalable Microsoft platform structure, including governance and enablement. In addition, the project should generate concrete added value for various areas of the company.
Together with the Arineo team, a Center of Excellence (CoE) was established to serve as a central management and control unit. Among other things, clear rules were defined for the different environments (such as development, testing, and production), reliable application lifecycle management was introduced, and data loss prevention (DLP) measures were defined.
A dedicated staging environment that precisely mirrored the production environment served as a “dress rehearsal” before the actual go-live. This made it possible to verify that everything worked smoothly.
These measures ensure that new solutions are developed under clear governance guidelines, promote cross-organizational innovation, and ensure transparency and control across country and organizational boundaries – a decisive factor in a holding company with more than 100 partner companies in 15 countries.
A central element of the rollout was the development of a comprehensive white paper that not only accompanied the technical implementation but also served as a strategic and argumentative foundation within the group for central IT. This document also helps management explain the Power Platform internally, anchor change processes, and create a uniform understanding of objectives, roles, and governance. The Arineo team supported the implementation with training, enablement formats, and strategic consulting.
The team’s cooperation was consistently solution-oriented and truly collaborative. They always had an open ear for us, and the Arineo white papers on our projects are strong, fact-based, almost inexhaustible reference works that help us quickly convince people internally.
IT Operations, Competence Center Workplace
Cordes & Graefe KG
The new tradesman database is a real efficiency booster. Our project managers find suitable specialists much faster. The recommendations save significant time and money and also improve cooperation with our partner companies.
Management
NFG Deutschland GmbH
In addition, a wide variety of solutions were developed based on the strategic platform, depending on specific business requirements:
A skilled tradesman database that allows you to systematically manage around 300,000 tradesmen, efficiently assign projects, and recommend suitable experts to construction companies.
An app for calculating LED lighting amortization that helps sales staff quickly estimate potential savings and generate a PDF of the calculation. In this way, added value can be made directly tangible in discussions with customers.
A project database that automatically reads, structures, and provides information on ongoing tenders, trades, and subcontractors for coordination purposes.
The solutions were developed together with the specialist departments and/or partner companies and gradually integrated into the system landscape. The previously fragmented system landscape was transformed into a clear, manageable overall concept that is much easier to manage, more secure, and, above all, future-proof.
Innovate with Low Code! Want an optimal start to your Power Platform project? In our Envisioning Workshop, your team will learn, using an example from your company, how to digitalize processes with the Power Platform – practical and focused on knowledge transfer. The best part is that Microsoft usually covers the workshop costs for you.
Generate more business success with Microsoft Power Platform.
Whether you need more information, are interested in a live demo or just want to talk to our experts, we look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you and your company!
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information
