Interview with John Frijns, General Manager, and Koen Meuwis, Senior ERP consultant, about 10 years PIKON Belgium NV

1. Interview 10 years PIKON Belgium NV
John Frijns, how do you look back to 10 years PIKON Belgium NV?
John Frijns: As everybody can confirm, we are living in a fast evolving era. Nowadays,
IT-solutions are quickly overtaken and no one can rest on his laurels. Because of this
the last years were not obvious. We have spent much time on the further development
of our services and organization. On the one hand I have to say I underestimated
things like finding the right people and setting up an identifiable brand. On the other
hand, the things we realized as a group, such as the development of new business
areas or successful implementations of exigent customer projects, have given me a
huge stimulus. Our cooperation with PIKON Germany was an important part in this
success. It has created new impulses and perspectives that have brought us to our
current level.
Koen Meuwis, it is sometimes said that consultancy has a large influence on
your life. What is your opinion about this statement?
Koen Meuwis: This statement is definitely true. A consultancy career has a large
influence on both your personal and professional development. It is an exciting and
challenging job, a job that gets the best of you. It’s funny when friends ask me how
long how I can go on with this job because they notice that I do my job with great
devotion. I then answer them that I will carry on with my job as long as I like doing it
and it stays a real challenge for me. It was hard to find the right balance between work
and leisure. A consultancy position demands to be flexible but it also entails that you
have to manage your free time very well. You can say I have evolved in my job
together with PIKON. Let’s call it a “co-development”. Moreover, the knowledge I
acquired at PIKON made me much wiser.
John Frijns, what can the customer expect from a cooperation with PIKON
Belgium NV?
John Frijns: We have a large process experience combined with an extensive SAP
module-based knowledge. We have a young, creative and ambitious team. Since our
foundation we have mainly worked in the chemistry and the pharma industry, but also
in the engineering branch. These are all industry sections that have evolved
intensively, especially on an international level. We have taken part in this evolution by
offering commitment and expertise and by being solution oriented.

2. Koen Meuwis, which particular qualities or characteristics is a consultant at
PIKON expected to have?
Koen Meuwis: This question recurs each time we join job fairs. The last years we have
fixed our attention on this important aspect. I go more deeply into the characteristics of
which I think they are important. An IT consultancy job of course requires that you are
IT minded and can work with various software applications. Furthermore, for a SAP
consultant position at PIKON you also need to be able to think analytically and to have
a feeling of how to approach different problems. To think analytically does not only
imply you should be a system thinker, but also means you should be great at
communication. A good analysis cannot be made without a good communication with
the customer and colleagues. You also need to be a fast-learner, to be able to work
independently and to demonstrate flexibility. In this case, flexibility does not only imply
flexible working hours or a flexible project location, but also to be able to adapt yourself
to the position you are having within the project. An international-minded company that
mainly operates abroad of course cannot be successful without the desired language
knowledge. We consider English as the most important language, but the more
language our consultants speak the better. A PIKON Belgium NV consultant also
needs to be receptive to new and other cultures. This entails that you don’t have an
aversion to traveling. To conclude you also have to be immune to stress to a certain
extent. Some phases during a project may increase your adrenaline. If you possess all
these characteristics, you meet the requirements for what we internally call a
“consultant”.
Koen Meuwis, traveling has always been an important part of your daily life.
Apparently, you are living in Spain and can reach your project locations from
there easily. To what extent has working in an international environment
changed since 1999?
Koen Meuwis: Traveling indeed is an important part to accomplish my role as a
consultant successfully. I had the good fortune that PIKON is flexible towards my
personal situation. That is why it is not hard for me to be flexible towards PIKON.
Nowadays, traveling by air has become more common than 10 years ago.
Furthermore, Spain has very good airport connections, which make it easy for me to
keep my customer appointments. The IT business is already international-minded. I
rarely come in contact with projects without an international composition. You can
even say that companies today operate more internationally than they used to. I notice
that customers also appreciate an extensive knowledge of languages. Moreover, the
modern means of transport make it possible to do some work during the travel. More
and more people are working with a notebook and a cell phone and each airport today
has a WIFI connection. Thanks to improved internet connections and secure
connections we are able to solve the customer’s problems more quickly. A good
example of this is the number of system activities I can execute at home. But parallel
to 10 years ago a consultant still needs to be close by the customer, i.e. the so called
Interview 10 years PIKON Belgium NV Page 2 of 4

3. “personal contact”. It is hard to make good analysis and to optimize the customer’s
systems from a great distance.
John Frijns, are there any changes in the company culture compared to 10 years
ago?
John Frijns: One of the satisfactions to work for a “small” company (about 60
employees) like PIKON is that everybody knows everybody and that you can see how
new recruits develop into promises and finally into stars. Especially the open learning
culture in our company offers a good knowledge exchange and support between the
employees. These dynamics stimulate the atmosphere and individual development.
Furthermore, all PIKON employees exude this openness in the way they act and
operate.
John Frijns, it is known that many companies today save on their IT department
because of the recession. How does PIKON Belgium NV experience this
problem?
John Frijns: At the moment, we are not feeling the huge impact of the recession. We
are used to work with shrinking budgets or customers that demand the best price-
quality relationship. Maybe this has prepared us well for a recession. I think it is a
matter of how we can stay an excess value for companies. We expect potential
customers will be more selective before they join in on a project. However, if an IT
project can provide advantages or cost-savings for a company, I think they won’t pass
on this opportunity. We are specialized in process-optimization. We hope that we can
convince more companies of their potential to save costs.
Interview by Tommy Beckers, Marketing Manager at PIKON Belgium NV
Interview 10 years PIKON Belgium NV Page 3 of 4

4. John Frijns is General Manager and
founder of PIKON Belgium NV.
Next to his management tasks, he still
operates as an SAP consultant. With
more than 20 years of SAP
experience, he has build up an
extensive SAP knowledge with
specialization in the SAP-FI and SAP-
CO modules.
Koen Meuwis is Senior Consultant
at PIKON Belgium NV.
He was the first employee at PIKON
Belgium 10 years ago and has build up
an extensive SAP knowledge with
specialization in the SAP-CO module.
Interview 10 years PIKON Belgium NV Page 4 of 4