• [00:01:04] Introduction and context
• [00:01:12] Presentation of Optimal Computing
• [00:02:07] Application areas of digitization
• [00:02:35] The market and competition
• [00:03:25] What is low-code?
• [00:04:34] Origin of the name Optimal Computing
• [00:05:05] AI and programming
• [00:05:40] Company history
• [00:06:43] Values and management of young talents
• [00:07:36] Advice for young entrepreneurs
• [00:08:25] Why call on PHCom
• [00:09:41] Sales challenges in their sector
• [00:10:51] What to expect from the collaboration?
• [00:11:25] First concrete feedback
• [00:12:05] Three words to describe PHCom
• [00:12:29] Closing of the episode

Stéphane Depaepe: [00:00:12] Hello and welcome to this new episode of the Performance et Harmonie podcast, produced by PHCom in the transforma bxl studio in Brussels, with technical assistance from The Podcast Factory Org.

Nadia Ben Jelloun: [00:00:23] The Performance et Harmonie podcast is intended for marketing and sales managers as well as company executives with commercial responsibilities.

Stéphane Depaepe: [00:00:30] Every month, we share with you good experiences in finding new clients for companies active in business to business.

Nadia Ben Jelloun: [00:00:36] You can find each episode on the PHCom .be website. P.H.C.O.M, and also on all good podcast platforms.

Stéphane Depaepe: [00:00:45] You can support this podcast and increase its visibility by sharing it with as many people as possible via a like, a comment, a share.

Nadia Ben Jelloun: [00:00:52] The answering machine is still active so you can leave us a message, we will reply with great pleasure.

Stéphane Depaepe: [00:00:57] You can also make an appointment directly with Nadia or Stéphane by going to PHCom .be

Nadia Ben Jelloun: [00:01:03] See you soon.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:01:04] Hello Stéphane.

Stephane Pierret: [00:01:04] Hello.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:01:05] How are you?

Stephane Pierret: [00:01:06] Very well, very well.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:01:07] First time here, in a podcast studio?

Stephane Pierret: [00:01:09] Exactly, the first time I'm going to do this kind of podcast.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:01:12] It's going to be fine, it's cool, it's an exchange and today we're going to discuss: Optimal Computing. Tell me a bit, what do you do concretely at Optimal Computing?

Stephane Pierret: [00:01:20] At Optimal Computing we develop software and we do artificial intelligence. And so we mainly deal with digitization services for companies, for small SMEs.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:01:31] When we say digitization, you implement DMs, can we put it that way? Are they systems, programs for companies?

Stephane Pierret: [00:01:37] Indeed, programs, software, so in any company they already have some software, and then there are parts that are missing, which are still paper processes, which are still Excel spreadsheets that are used to do certain things. We intervene to develop software to facilitate the way people can work, to minimize the errors they can make in an Excel file, to minimize the errors they will make in a paper form, to simply share information with everyone in digital format.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:02:07] Is it mainly for human resources or is it for all types of functions in companies?

Stephane Pierret: [00:02:12] No, it can be for any type of function. For example, we've done projects for a company that assembles equipment for the aeronautics industry, which must comply with very strict quality procedures. We did a project for a company that does EPBs, energy audits, and also for a company that manufactures water pumps. So it's a bit for all fields and for all types of companies, let's say small and medium-sized companies.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:02:35] Is there a lot of competition in the market regarding what you do? We hear about digitization often; more and more companies actually have no choice but to digitize. How do you manage that in the face of competition? And above all, what would you say to your biggest competitor?

Stephane Pierret: [00:02:48] There are several ways to do digitization. First, a company looks for a digital solution and finds software that matches 95% of what it's looking for on the market, off the shelf; it takes it, buys it, pays the fee, and that's that. That's one option. A second option is that it needs something specific, and it will ask a developer, or a team of developers, or a service company, to develop the software custom-made. And we intervene as a third option, meaning we use a platform we call "Low-code"; it's a platform we are developing, and it allows us to develop software ten times faster than with the traditional programming approach.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:03:25] That's actually Optimal Computing's specialty, how does that work?

Stephane Pierret: [00:03:27] Exactly. Low-code, what is it actually? It's: rather than creating software in the form of computer programs and tens of thousands of lines of computer code, we have a platform that allows us, using drag-and-drop, to create a graphical interface, or nodes to fetch data or send data back to a database or anywhere in the cloud or on a company's server, without programming, without needing to have the syntactic knowledge of a programming language. And so that allows us to develop an application ten times faster. That's one thing. The other thing is that we can, live with the client, develop the graphical interface they dreamed of for their software. We can do it in a format a bit like PowerPoint, but we create a real interface with existing behaviors, buttons, and so we can very quickly agree with the client on the final outcome of what they will see. This greatly reduces the risk of misunderstanding between the service provider, meaning us, and our client. And once the graphical interface is made, then we work on our side; the work "only then" begins, but we will fetch the data where needed, organize the data, and display the data in the right place, at the right time.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:04:34] Optimal Computing, where does that name come from actually, and what does it mean concretely?

Stephane Pierret: [00:04:38] It's historical. It's because in a previous life, I did numerical optimization, and I applied optimization techniques in the design of jet engines for aeronautics, or car turbos, basically rotating machines like: pumps, compressors, or turbines. And for that, we were already using artificial intelligence techniques called either neural networks, the ancestors of what we know now, or genetic algorithms, which are also artificial intelligence techniques.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:05:05] Artificial intelligence, we hear about it all the time, we can't do without it at Optimal Computing, do you work with artificial intelligence every day?

Stephane Pierret: [00:05:13] Exactly, we work on two levels. We use it in our work for programming because it provides programming assistance; it can provide assistance for drafting a project, a summary, or any other document. And then, we also use it for our clients. That is to say, in our Low-code platform, every time we had to create an artificial intelligence feature for a client, we integrated it into our platform so that it could be very quickly redeployed for another client.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:05:40] Tell me a little bit about the history of this company. How long has it existed, how many of you work at Optimal Computing? How does it go day-to-day at your place?

Stephane Pierret: [00:05:47] The company, I created it in 2008, initially by myself, as a consultant. Then there was a first hire in 2011, if I remember correctly. And then we grew a little, but it was mainly in 2020 that we tackled this idea of developing a low-code platform. Because at that time, we were doing a lot of specific development for companies, but still in the programming format, which led to projects that were quite costly and required significant time. At one point, I told myself, "We can't keep going on like this all the time. We need to find something else to offer companies." And so, the idea of these emerging low-code platforms appeared, and we got started with that. We are a small structure; almost every morning, we have meetings with 2, 3, or the whole group together to define things a bit. I like to see what everyone is going to do during the day. I don't program much anymore; I keep an eye on the code and try to direct things, but I like this agile approach and seeing that every day, or every two days, or every three days, certain things have progressed, we can close off tasks, etc.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:06:43] What are the company's values today?

Stephane Pierret: [00:06:46] We are a small structure; there are five employees at the moment, all under 35 years old. I've even hired several people who have just graduated from university, who have a bachelor's, a master's, or even a doctorate. It's motivating; they also bring new ideas. That's something I like because, in the beginning, you have to supervise them, support them, show them a bit of my experience, and then work together so that everyone contributes their part to build what's needed, to achieve the platform we want and provide the service to the client that we want to provide.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:07:16] That's what's super interesting in companies: all these generations working together. You feel it strongly, it's great, do you really give young people a chance/space?

Stephane Pierret: [00:07:24] Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely. Yes, yes, yes!

Camille de Meeûs: [00:07:26] So it's important for you to hire young people, to coach them, to support them and show them your way of doing things, but also that they show you how they do things and it really becomes complementary.

Stephane Pierret: [00:07:35] Exactly, absolutely. Yes, yes.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:07:36] Digitization, we know, we've understood, there's a lot of competition, it can develop in different ways. But we were just talking about young people, young people who want to start out after their studies, who might want to develop platforms like yours, what would you say to these young people? What advice would you give them?

Stephane Pierret: [00:07:52] The advice I would give them is firstly, to have a dream, to have a dream and a passion for something, a service or a product they would like to develop. That's one thing; you shouldn't count your hours, so you shouldn't stop at those 38 hours; you have to be able to work 60 hours or so to really pursue your dreams and achieve them. And then the third option is perhaps to get yourself surrounded, supervised, by people with experience and by a number of services that exist in the Walloon Region or the Brussels Region, competitiveness clusters, other associations that exist and allow you to integrate into a business ecosystem.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:08:25] You recently called on PHCom, so now we're going to talk a bit more about the commercial role in your company. How is it going currently? How have you been operating for years, since 2008, how does it go before calling in an external partner?

Stephane Pierret: [00:08:38] Let's say I'm the one who does a bit of the work of finding new clients, prospects, and things like that, based on people I've worked with in the past, based on organizations I'm part of, or where the company is registered, like for example we're members of Infopole in the Walloon Region, the Mecatech cluster, Agoria. We establish links with other companies and sometimes that leads to a possible prospect, a possible contact, a possible project. But, as a result, that's not really my job either; I'm more passionate about programming and developing a service for a client, and I'm probably less cut out for that than doing the commercial part or the prospecting part. Hence the idea of contacting a company like PHCom, which was actually recommended to me. I didn't know them; I came to them through a recommendation. Because they, well, we're at the beginning of the project, but I immediately feel that they have the expertise, they know exactly how to go about it. I expect quite a lot from it because: one, I'm going to learn things, how they do it, how I should do it. The second thing, well, is contacts, and I hope it will lead to new clients and new projects.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:09:41] What have you already tried in terms of sales? Are there any failures or successes you could share with us?

Stephane Pierret: [00:09:46] In fact, it's always a challenge because, generally, when you meet a new company, even if they have a need and are interested in what you provide... In fact, generally, the decision-making process to start something always takes six months, even a year, even a year and a half. I sometimes have clients where two years pass between the first contact and the project. Simply because you have to be there at the right time, in the right place, and the need has to be really pressing for the client for them to invest. So, you have to be very patient; that's the characteristic, you have to be very patient, and that's it. You don't decide overnight that you need X new clients in three months; that won't work in software, it doesn't work like that in software! It's really a long-term task, a long-term relationship that you have to build. Trust, because generally the client needs to trust us, because these aren't budgets of 1000, or 2000, or €3,000 where they can say, "If it doesn't work out, well, too bad, I've lost €3,000." Here, we're talking about somewhat larger budgets; before convincing a company to release a budget, there has to be trust, so there have to be references. You have to show that you've already done something similar, or that you have something similar, that can serve as a basis for a new project.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:10:51] What would make you really satisfied with collaborating with us? Is there a very specific expectation? Yes, of course, getting more clients, increasing the number of prospects, potential clients. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Stephane Pierret: [00:11:03] As I was saying, there's already learning quite a few things. Indeed, getting new clients. And then afterwards, why not, if it goes well, maybe we'll embark on a second mission to get more after that. There you go, but let's do the first one first, and we'll see what it leads to!

Camille de Meeûs: [00:11:18] First there's a test phase (Stéphane Pierret: Exactly) and then afterwards you'll see how it goes (Stéphane Pierret: Yes) with the teams and if results are delivered.

Stephane Pierret: [00:11:24] Exactly.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:11:25] Could you already say something about this first week? Have you had any feedback yet? How is the start of the mission currently going?

Stephane Pierret: [00:11:31] Last week's meeting was actually to explain to me a bit how it was going to happen, based on what tools we would be able to use for exchange, the data at PHCom that I had access to, to help select contacts to reach out to, to try to define the targets together. The targets in terms of company size, type of company, people within the companies to contact. That's what last week's meeting was for, and so next week, we're actually going to get more into the concrete details, to see how the first contacts will be made, with which companies, etc.!

Camille de Meeûs: [00:12:05] I know it's the beginning of the mission and we all still need to get to know each other. You, PHCom, your teams, etc. But if you had to define PHCom in three words, what would you say?

Stephane Pierret: [00:12:14] Involved, I would say understanding. You can see they really try to understand our business and our request. Understanding, empathetic, organized. Very organized, you can see there's a well-oiled process or structure behind it to carry out this kind of project.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:12:29] Thank you very much Stéphane for this interview! In any case, I wish you all the best for the future, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that everything goes super well with PHCom, but I have no doubt about that.

Stephane Pierret: [00:12:36] Thank you very much. Thank you.

Camille de Meeûs: [00:12:38] Thank you Stéphane.