Interview with Javier Alonso, CEO of LOYIC together with
David García Morelli.
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Javier Alonso maintains that LOYIC is, above all, about the people who work there: “This is why we must take care of them and provide them with everything we have at our disposal, so they are able to develop professionally and personally”
LOYIC comes from the union between REM Solutions and 3AFyC, two companies that already excelled in their own right, who decided to join forces and become the leading consultancy firm implementing SAP solutions for the management of real estate assets (SAP RE-FX).
Looking back, Javier emphasises one lesson among the many he has learnt over the past 20 years: “With willingness, hard work and perseverance, and with a determination to do things well, sooner or later the market will acknowledge you.” Looking to the future, the CEO of LOYIC sees himself at the forefront of a company which is “dynamic, flexible, with a pleasant, modern, international work environment which encourages collaborative work and creativity from its staff. With a strong vocation for service and aligned with our clients’ objectives”.
The best way to ensure his wishes come true, is for him and the other CEO of LOYIC, David García Morelli, to keep the excitement of the first day alive. “After so many years, we are still passionate about our profession”, he says.
QUESTION. You led REM Solutions, a successful project in the implementation of SAP RE, with a spectacular growth and an important client portfolio. What encouraged you to join forces with David García Morelli of 3AFyC? How did LOYIC come about?
ANSWER. Even though 3AFyC and REM Solutions were two different ‘commercial brands’, they were essentially one company. The underlying philosophy in both cases was that, using our extensive knowledge accumulated through the years while carrying out asset management and leasing projects with multiple clients, best practices could be offered in the implementation of SAP Real Estate projects as a base module and in the other the solutions that complement it. Both David and I shared a vocation for customer service, as well as an obsession with quality and doing things right, so it made no sense to continue with two commercial brands. The logical path was to propose a merger, to create a stronger brand and company to help develop this philosophy.
Q. The aim is to become the leading SAP consultancy for the management of real estate assets. Are you clear about the path you will follow to achieve it?
A. I hope this doesn’t sound pretentious, but even though there is still a long way to go, I believe that being the consultancy performing the best SAP implementations for the management of real estate assets is an objective that has already been achieved. Now we need to set more ambitious goals. Our path is based on a flat, transversal organisation, that on the one hand tries to keep up to date with SAP solutions and other partners specialised in real estate asset management, (we have, for example, been present in the last seven International SAP Conferences for Real Estate Management, which are held annually in different European cities: Prague, Lisbon, Berlin, Budapest, etc.), and on the other, throughout the organisation shares and disseminates knowledge and lessons learned. We encourage continuous and constant training and the development of the people who make up our team.
Q. You have been leading projects for almost two decades now. Looking back, what would you say was the most important lesson you have learned during this time?
A. More than 18 years have gone by since we both carried out the first implementations in 2001, to the variety of projects we are doing today. On a personal level, I would say that the most important lesson I have learned is that with willingness, hard work and perseverance, and with a determination to do things well, sooner or later the market will acknowledge you and appreciate what your services can bring. The growth and acceptance that LOYIC currently has is the result of a lot of work, initially from its founders and later from all the people who have joined this project. Today more than ever, I believe that LOYIC is about the people who work there. We must take care of them and provide them with everything we have at our disposal so that they are able to develop professionally and personally.
Q. What type of company do you want LOYIC to be?
A. A dynamic, flexible company, with a pleasant, modern, international work environment which encourages collaborative work and creativity from its staff. With a strong vocation for service and aligned with our clients’ objectives. And with regards to which services to offer, in the first place we want to be specialists and master all the technological solutions covering the business processes in the management of corporate, commercial and residential Real Estate.
Q. Which compliment do you most like to hear from clients? Why?
A. The best compliment is that our clients continue to trust us and that they like to have us around them. That means they think we add value to their organisations.
Q. What are the most significant transformations that companies experience after LOYIC’s implementation of SAP RE-FX for wealth management? How does life change for them?
A. [Laughs] I’m not sure about changing lives, we would have to ask them about that... I believe that what the clients are guaranteed is that the implementations are carried out from a position of security and confidence that we gain through being genuine experts in the module. Also, that after so many years we are still passionate about what we do, and we are still at the top of our game. If they are used to that with other implementations then I guess we’re not changing lives, but we are giving them peace of mind at least, as well as the assurance that they are in good hands.
Q. As you have already pointed out, you place great importance on people at LOYIC, on the ‘human factor’. You uphold that it is one of the organisation’s most valuable assets, and that if the person is satisfied, he or she works better, improves his or her performance, contributes ideas and is involved in the project. But what do you do at LOYIC to take care of this human factor?
A. LOYIC’s value comes from the people who make up the company. How do we take care of them? We provide them with everything we have at our disposal so that they can develop professionally and personally. This involves having a direct relationship with all of them, understanding, on our part, that each one is different and that their circumstances are also different. We try to listen to them, to understand them, to appreciate that work well done doesn’t depend on them being there, it is about achieving goals. We try to look at each person’s abilities so we can place them in the area best suited for them to be able to contribute and develop themselves further.
Q. In your opinion, what are the particular qualities of the other CEO of the company, David García Morelli?
A. If we look back, David started this project on his own and now there are 80 of us. You have to have many qualities to achieve something like that. David’s analytical capability is what stands out, his ability to synthesise and know how to focus on the really relevant points. Also, the way he is drawn to the technical and technological components of our work. This gives him a great strategic vision of where to take the company. And what’s more, we complement each other very well!