Pentalog Orléans, the head of a regional multinational company

At a time when Pentalog is planning on relocating to a new headquarters and actually buying it, a lot of questions come to mind on the role that Orléans plays within the group. I should mention right from the start that the reason we need a new location is that we are expanding and that our offices in the technology park, which were too large 10 years ago, no longer allow us to increase our staff. The extremely high growth that we are registering (10th consecutive year) and our software production model determine us to more and more IT project directors, financial specialists, marketing teams, legal advisers in business law, consultants… In short, if at first we needed to transform our existing teams, we need to develop them once again. There are 26 proficient managers working in Orléans, and all of them speak at least two languages. They implement and manage complex services which are developed and sold throughout Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Romania, Moldova), but also in the Middle East (Israel) and Asia. Orléans employees collectively own 90% of the group capital and almost 50% of them are shareholders. This is an agile and innovative group of people who have a perfect understanding of the challenges of globalization. Pentalog Orléans is somehow at the top of the group’s added value chain. Considering our current rate of success (our growth varied between 32 and 65% during the years of economic crisis), our Orléans staff should probably double over the next 3 to 5 years. As a reminder, the group currently employs 650 people throughout the world and its total workforce should exceed 1,000 employees in 2013.Let us not forget the role played by Pentalabbs, the group’s private incubator and innovation laboratory, which already assists two companies in Orléans. They will already achieve a substantial growth and sales figure this year. The companies in question are Easyflyer and PeopleCentric France. Overall, the incubator has contributed to the development of three companies in France and four in Europe. It is currently trying to draw at least one more start-up to Orléans.This small group working at Pentalog Orléans consists of approximately 30 people who manage together a global activity amounting to 20-25 million euros in 2011.Our future headquarters, if it remains in Orléans (the amount of time we spend in Paris and the striking lack of airports in our vicinity sometimes makes us consider moving to the Île-de-France region), should allow us to:- Assume the transition from our SME status towards that of an intermediate-sized IT company which exports high-level industrialized services- Promote the brand image and the company know-how throughout the world- Draw to Orléans the best employees, regardless of where they may come from, and offering them a rewarding working environment. In fact, the people we will be recruiting in France are going to be of an increasingly high level.- Promote the image of Pentalabbs as well, and the future growth of the incubator. Let us all hope that we will succeed in defining this local project that we are fond of and we will avoid the disappointment we felt a few years ago, which would risk undermining our desire to stay in this region that we love.