The IT Transformation of Groupe Rocher: Outsourcing the Retail Information System

Outsourcing the IS: A Direct Impact on Revenue

“IT Retail encompasses all the IT infrastructure that enables a store to operate,” explains Stéphane Maillet. Every incident has immediate consequences: a malfunction in the point-of-sale system, for example, directly impacts revenue. “In our field, most business processes are classified as critical by the organization,” he adds.

“Whether it’s point-of-sale systems, loyalty programs, or store supply chains, our teams require extremely high availability, rapid communication and intervention capabilities (SLAs), efficient management of our software vendors and integrators, and the ability to secure peak sales periods like Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Black Friday,” Maillet continues.

Ambitious Goals

In this context, Groupe Rocher’s key challenges included maintaining high-quality service for internal business units, industrializing support processes, and managing an increasing number of international clients.

“Until now, we operated Retail applications with a dedicated team managed internally and primarily composed of contracted resources. While it worked, we were reaching our limits, particularly in serving international markets across multiple time zones (Asia, America) and managing on-call duties,” Maillet explains. “Our goal was to provide 24/7 support, regardless of the country.”

This transformation is a major step for Groupe Rocher. In the medium term, the group aims to extend these services to other domains beyond Retail.

Finally, Groupe Rocher seeks to optimize its economic model by integrating Off or Near Shore operations and streamlining processes.

A “Natural” Partnership

For Groupe Rocher, outsourcing the IS felt more like a partnership than a subcontracting agreement. “Our group made the strategic choice to surround itself with preferred partners capable of co-creating service centers across all IT domains, with IT support being the cornerstone,” Maillet explains.

“We’ve been in contact with VISEO for several years and share a common vision for the direction we want to take and potential expansions: a broader application scope beyond Retail and support for Build as well as Run.”

A Support System Aligned with Retail Processes

The new partnership began by breaking down silos and providing support organized by business processes rather than IT applications, focusing on 10 critical processes.

To achieve this, a multidisciplinary team was assembled, leveraging VISEO’s talent pools in Morocco and the Philippines, two regions known for their highly qualified profiles. The team underwent tailored training through the VISEO Retail Academy.

A Smooth Transition

The transformation journey, planned over 12 months, was methodical. “We implemented a gradual transition, organized in phases. This approach secured the operation and delivered value incrementally,” says Maillet.

Another area of focus was documentation. “Shifting from an internal organization, where some knowledge was implicit and undocumented, to an external setup required meticulous documentation to prevent knowledge loss, ensure resilience, and facilitate onboarding of new teams.”

A “One Team” Collaboration

To foster team spirit and trust in sharing confidential information, Groupe Rocher emphasized human relationships. “From the beginning, we placed great importance on bridging the gap between VISEO’s team in Morocco and Rocher’s team in Brittany. This involved organizing regular visits,” says Maillet. “The VISEO team visited our historic headquarters in La Gacilly to immerse themselves in the brand’s culture, meet our teams, and experience the stores. Conversely, Rocher’s team visited Casablanca to understand the work environment and local culture. It’s truly a ‘One Team’ collaboration: if something succeeds, it’s a shared success; if there’s a problem, it’s our mutual problem.”

People: The Driving Force of Success

“The key takeaway for me is the partnership approach implemented by Groupe Rocher,” says Maillet. “From the pre-sales phase, both sides embraced co-construction. Over the course of 10 months, we iteratively improved the framework, enriching it with ideas in an open and agile manner to develop a tailored solution together.”

This Retail IS outsourcing project has allowed Groupe Rocher to optimize costs for the scope covered. The initiative also strengthened collaboration between internal and external teams, creating synergies that enabled more efficient and harmonious process management. While productivity gains and service quality are still being evaluated, the results so far are encouraging, highlighting a fruitful collaboration without any loss of control over the system.