Business without boundaries

Martijn Niessen is proud to show us around the facilities of Global Systems & Software (GSS) in Nijmegen. This past September, Martijn and his team hosted a party for the inauguration of a brand-new warehouse that turned former office areas into engineering workspaces, which doubled the square footage of their technical facilities. The warehouse extension followed the expansion of the GSS office space last year. These changes were made to improve GSS’ customer service efficiency and to boost the comfort of the warehouse team. After all, this is where all the global activities originate. The opening of the new building is the latest step in the company’s journey. But we can be sure that there will be many more to follow.

Describe the market situation at the time you founded GSS. What motivated you to found the company?

Martijn: “Back in 2007, the global deployment of IT equipment was driven on a local-to-local model by hardware OEMs like HP, DellEMC, Cisco etc. This model required clients to order equipment locally in each country. In countries where the OEM had no direct presence, a local reseller would support the client. This model has some downsides for multinational companies as it leads to variations in configurations of hardware. This leads in turn to more complex manageability and less control of the standards of IT infrastructure. Additionally, it also requires purchasing and service delivery staff in each country to facilitate the procurement and deployment.

We realized that clients were looking for ways to centralize corporate IT and its mandate, as well as their procurement to enable standardization throughout their global IT infrastructure. We acknowledged these challenges and utilized our knowledge of global IT logistics and started expanding our global partner base to be able to facilitate onsite professional services. Our solutions provided multinationals with a headache-free process by assisting them with the maintenance of a standardized and centralized global IT environment that meets the highest standards.”

I noticed all the services offered by GSS have the world ‘Global’ in it, why is this? Also, does you job require you to travel often?

Martijn: “In the early years of GSS I traveled the world. Back then, this was essential in order to build a reliable and trustworthy network of partners around the globe. Building these relationships were imperative so we could find partners that could deliver the ‘last mile’ of our hardware components, solutions and services. For those who don’t know, the last mile consists of all the nitty gritty facets that are involved in the last stages of implementation.

I would visit partners in Southeast Asia and Australia within 10 days. Then, I would make a pit stop at home and would continue my business journey in the US. This was a very intense period for GSS and certainly also for me. But it was during those years that we built strong relationships with OEMs such as HP Inc., HPE and Cisco. Today, I still have to travel from time-to-time, but less often than before. It is very interesting that you mentioned the world ‘global’ being in all the names of our services (Global Deployment, Global Professional Services and Global Maintenance). This is because it reflects our vast global network and lets our clients know that we can help them with deployment, professional services and maintenance in any conceivable location on earth.”

GSS has grown exponentially in the last 13 years. Could you explain what’s the key to GSS ’growth?

Martijn: “In recent years the importance of IT infrastructure has tremendously increased. As a company we have to be ‘always on’ and there is no room for latency or bad performance. Users and customers expect smooth operations, swift transactions and reliable connections. A good user or customer experience is very important, so, many companies are looking for ways to improve their IT environment. In doing so, they encounter several challenges such as lacking flexibility and agility in their IT infrastructure which in turn may have greater consequences on security, compliance and risk management. New technologies have emerged very fast, like the Internet of Things, big data and cloud-based applications. It’s increasingly challenging for existing IT departments to cope with new developments because they have their hands full managing IT infrastructure like servers, data centers, networks, etc.

GSS aims to assist IT departments by providing a variety of solutions to ease the day-to-day burdens related to IT infrastructure and supports its clients with their efforts related to the centralization and standardization of global IT. We elaborate more on this topic in our recently published white paper Security and manageability by standardization in global IT infrastructure. The implementation of standardization and centralization can create a huge positive impact in the manageability of IT infrastructure. If implemented, IT staff is able to spend more time on business innovation and creating added value to their company. Currently, we are working together with the big OEMs which helps us provide our customers with high quality IT resources. We combine the OEMs products with an excellent knowledge of international logistic processes and a global service partner network.

Although our business strategy is definitely a factor in our success and growth, if I had to pinpoint a “key” per se, it would be our people and the maintenance of our corporate DNA. We at GSS are known for our ‘can do’ mentality. No matter what the challenge or the issue is, we find a solution. It is truly amazing how everyone at GSS shares the same values when it comes to customer service.”

GSS focuses on providing clients with IT infrastructure. Is the cloud posing any risk for GSS’ business?

Martijn: “On the contrary. The cloud is nothing more than a large group of servers and virtual servers connected in data centers, hosting applications or development platforms for organizations. So, there will always be a need for hardware appliances somewhere, and the existing hardware either needs to be repaired or replaced. And that’s where we come in. We have several services that support every step of the IT lifecycle, like buying obsolete equipment and reselling it to different segments in the IT market, data destruction, and sustainable recycling. Every market forecast, for the coming years, expects an explosive data growth. Additionally, the introduction of 5G will only add to the demand for hardware. This means bigger requirements regarding performance, connectivity and hardware power, for the hardware industry.”  

As previously mentioned, you mainly attribute GSS’ growth and success to its people and the maintenance of the corporate DNA. Can you expand more on how you built GSS’ corporate DNA?

Martijn: “It all starts with trying to keep in touch with all my colleagues. I make an effort to get to know every new employee and my door is always open. It is striking to see that all our people possess the same corporate DNA. However, this did not happen by chance. Every time we add a new team member, we search for certain personalities and attitude traits. We look for people that complement the existing team, that think outside the box, that are focused on finding solutions for customers, that are agile and have a great attitude! Our customers expect us to take over their complex IT challenges and that requires a specific kind of entrepreneurship; like the one I had when GSS started. To safeguard our corporate culture, I listen to my colleagues. You could call me a micro manager when it comes to the wellbeing of our people and our culture. I am very much aware that the success of our entire operation is built and strongly relies on our people.”

How do you find candidates that “tick” all the requirements you previously listed? 

Martijn: “We strongly believe that the best candidate for a position can come from anywhere in the world and that’s why we don’t limit ourselves to only look for candidates in a certain geographical location. Having a diversity of people that bring different ideas and different cultural backgrounds is what has made GSS the dynamic place it is today. I’m proud to say that within our 70+ employees at our HQ in Nijmegen, we have 19 different nationalities coming from 5 continents. We are continuously looking for new talent which keeps us young and adds to our foundation.”

Martijn, thank you for sharing with me insights about GSS. My last question is, what do you think the future holds for GSS?

Martijn: “I expect the company to keep growing and creating more solutions for our clients. In the past we have worked very hard to build strong relationships with our clients and our partners which have opened the door to the development of future endeavors. This industry is consistently moving, which is what I like the most about it. We are always being challenged to stay on top and up-to-date on global business trends and technological developments.”

Martijn Niessen mentioned an interesting GSS whitepaper ‘Security and manageability by standardization in global IT infrastructure’. It is free for download at https://www.gsens.nl/standardization-centralization-global-it/