Simac continues to expand its footprint in retail. This fills the brand-new CEO Maartje van Schagen with pride, especially for her own employees. “They know it's all about one thing: the retailer's business.”
Once again, a prestigious retailer has partnered with Simac. In the forthcoming years, Detailresult, the company behind supermarket brands Dirk and DekaMarkt, will outsource much of its IT operations to the IT service provider based in Veldhoven. This agreement brings joy to Maartje van Schagen, CEO at Simac. “What I've noticed is that our existing footprint works like a snowball effect. The fact that we already support so many retailers in the IT realm instills confidence in new retailers. They view this as proof of our capability to uphold our promises. Consequently, we can innovate and standardize more, which means we can make an even greater contribution in this market."
Pride
The new agreement makes Maartje proud. Proud of Simac's prominent position in the retail sector. Proud of the self-developed tools such as the Simac Remote Management Suite (SRMS) that elevates the efficiency and sustainability of retail operations to a higher level.
“But above all, I am proud of our people who live and breathe retail and understand the sector so well. And who remain so modest at the same time, because they know that retail revolves around one thing: the business.”
Maartje emphasizes that an IT service provider sometimes does thankless work. As long as the IT runs smoothly, no one makes a sound. But when IT causes problems, the dissatisfaction is loudly and clearly expressed. “The position of our people is not always easy. That's inherent in our job. Yet our staff continue to devote themselves to retailers with all their commitment. I greatly appreciate and admire that.”
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Maartje is also proud of the development that Simac is undergoing. She is referring to the shop of the future and the innovations in the field of products and services.
“Consider the development around Xperience Level Agreements (XLA's). Simac is an IT service provider that is active locally, that is actually next to the employees in the stores, head offices and distribution centers. By making our people's involvement in those stores measurable, we can steer even more actively. We can have all SLA's in green, but it's about doing that little bit extra so that our customers have a top experience. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case everywhere, but that is what we are working on. I call on all our customers to continue to give feedback and to ring our bell if they do not experience top service.”}
Customer at 1
Since October 1, Maartje has been the new CEO of Simac. She has taken over from her father Eric van Schagen. “This confirms that we are and remain a family business,” Maartje explains. “We all know that many retailers are experiencing difficult times. We also feel this pressure within Simac and see costs rising. But because we are a family business with a long-term vision, we don't have to pinch pennies but can continue to invest. And so we can continue to put the customer first.”
