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To mark the 15th anniversary of Exquando, Gate.31 went to Wavre, in Walloon Brabant, for an exclusive meeting with Marc Ansoult, Founder and CEO of Exquando.
Located on the first floor of a small building, Exquando's neighbour (and client) is the pharmaceutical giant GSK. But here, the welcome is more of a family affair. As soon as we arrived, we were warmly greeted by ‘Oscar’, the house dog and company mascot. The tone is set. Welcome to Exquando!
Exquando is a Belgian company specialising in the document management of projects and organizations. It aims to be independent of software publishers.
Can you briefly describe Exquando's business?
We are very active in the management of technical documentation for large companies that are developing their infrastructures. We work, for example, for GSK, UCB, Elia, Imec, Fluxys, etc. Within these companies, our contacts are mainly engineering directors and project managers. We also work for construction companies such as BESIX and design offices such as Sweco and RealDev. We also have a presence abroad, including in Guinea with Equans!
With the experience we've acquired, we've extended our skills and now also work for SMEs, local authorities and intermunicipal organizations, where we take on all types of document management projects.
At the same time, we are also active in the field of archiving. In consortium with other companies in the sector, we look after the archives of the European Institutions.
In what context and at what stage does Exquando come into play?
The constant flow of technological innovation is disrupting the established ways of managing information within organizations. Employees adapt as best they can to all these innovations, until one day a threshold is crossed and someone rings the bell.
That's when the Exquando team steps in to rethink the way we collaborate, communicate and manage documents.
And since we're talking about collaboration, the Exquando team makes sure to broaden the discussion by inviting all the parties involved in the information system!
How do you see your evolution so far?
The evolution we've had so far is above all that of a team, of all the people who have shared the Exquando adventure over these first 15 years.
As far as I'm concerned, I recently decided to change my role within the company, moving from that of expert to that of coach. I now let my teams manage projects and customer relations.
In commercial terms, Exquando has been and still is a success. Once again this year, we have achieved double-digit growth. This bodes well for the future!
Can you name some of the success stories that have marked these first 15 years?
One of our greatest successes is certainly the fact that our first customer is still with us, as are our first two employees. This shows that we know how to build long-term relationships of trust with our customers and our employees.
On another note, I'd mention our recent ISO 9001 certification. Far from being a restrictive process, we implemented it as a way of empowering ourselves and driving continuous improvement. And this strengthens our confidence in the future of the company.
What are the new challenges facing Exquando in the coming years?
Like many other SMEs, our first challenge is to recruit, train and retain talent! To this end, we have set up an in-house Academy, because the expertise Exquando needs isn't (always) taught in schools...
Another challenge is, of course, the advent of generative AI, which is shaking up the document management business. Many organizations have set up data management and governance teams thinking that document chaos was an insoluble problem. Today, with generative AI facilitating the extraction of information and the automatic classification of documents, things have changed. It's an exciting challenge and a new page is turning for our teams!
Thanks to AI, we will be able to make the most of the ‘digital bulk’ accumulated on file servers over the last 30 years.
What can we wish Exquando in the coming years?
At Exquando, we've brought together a team of men and women with a wide range of profiles and backgrounds. This diversity is and must remain our wealth, our DNA! Our dearest wish is to develop this team while preserving our values.
Secondly, we need to develop our skills and adapt to new technologies - as we've just mentioned - to better satisfy our customers and remain THE reference in document management.
