Case Study: Lafarge achieves IT-business alignment and major operational savings with HCL

Lafarge - Customer Case Study

Lafarge, the global building‑materials company, faced a fragmented IT landscape that hampered operations: multiple ERP and about seven IBM Maximo templates (and only half the plants using Maximo), heavy spare‑parts inventories (~€650M), and 15 under‑utilized data centers across Europe. New CIO Jean‑Marc Chicco set out to make IT “think like the business” by standardizing key applications (including IBM Maximo), consolidating data centers, and promoting enterprise social collaboration; this case was featured in CIO Straight Talk, sponsored by HCL Technologies.

To resolve these issues Lafarge mandated application standardization, launched a program to roll a common Maximo to some 160 plants, created the Lafarge Online Village collaboration platform, and began consolidating European data centers into a dual‑site Paris configuration. Early results included a prior working‑capital initiative that freed ~€1 billion (spare parts cut from ~€650M to ~€400M), and the data‑center consolidation is projected to reduce operating costs by about 25% within two years; the standardized Maximo rollout and platforms are expected to deliver further operational efficiencies. HCL Technologies’ CIO community helped surface best practices and share the change‑management lessons behind these gains.

Lafarge

Jean-Marc Chicco

CIO