Success Story STIME
From fragmented time-and-materials management to a centralised hub – in 3 months
“We do see cost optimisations since the tool was put in place, and we track them daily. It’s a real impact.”
Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
STIME in a few words
STIME is the Information Systems Department of Groupement Les Mousquetaires, one of Europe’s leading independent retail groups. Founded in 1974, it brings together 860 employees serving 7 brands : Intermarché, Bricomarché, Roady and their families, and 3,100 independent business owners, for a total of 150,000 employees in the group.
The challenge
With a growing number of IT services companies (ESNs) involved, sourcing of time-and-materials services had become more complex: insufficient targeting, partial competitive tendering, and a de facto monopoly that weighed on costs. It was impossible to answer in real time the question: “how many contractors are working for us right now?” In a context of increasing budget restrictions, it was necessary to innovate in purchasing approaches and guarantee equal treatment among all partners.
The solution
After deliberations begun at the end of 2023, STIME selected OBMS in April 2024 and launched the deployment in July. On 1 October 2024, the solution went into production, just three months after kick-off. OBMS is integrated with STIME’s ERPs to automate purchase orders and renewals, and connected to the IT access management and badge system. The solution is customised in STIME’s colours and promoted through strong sponsorship from the executive committee (CODIR).
Christopher Ossola
IT Vendor & Contract Manager
STIME – Groupe Les Mousquetaires
Watch the video testimonial
Christopher Ossola looks back on the deployment of OBMS at STIME: context, key success factors and concrete results.
3
months
of deployment
A project carried out end to end in 3 months
Selection in April 2024, launch in July, go-live on 1 October: STIME ran an exemplary deployment. Three key factors made the difference: strong sponsorship from the CODIR to legitimise the approach, prior validation of purchasing rules to guarantee fairness between partners from the outset, and dedicated communication channels. Customising the solution in STIME’s colours also accelerated adoption by the teams.
“It was a real success as a project, with a few key success factors. The question of data is essential and paramount.”
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
Total visibility on time-and-materials services, at last within reach
Before OBMS, STIME was in the same situation as many large IT departments: impossible to say in real time how many time-and-materials services were active. Today, comprehensive dashboards make it possible to manage the entire partner ecosystem. The integrated reports are used to prepare business reviews with shared KPIs, challenge partners on objective grounds, and constantly check compliance with purchasing rules — both internally and on the ESN side.
“When you ask others how many time-and-materials services they have today, many are unable to say. But today, we have complete visibility with dashboards that let us manage and fine-tune that management.”
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
100%
visibility
on time-and-materials services
↓ costs
tracked
daily
Cost optimisations measured every day
Thanks to dynamic price referencing and transparent competitive tendering among ESNs, STIME has seen costs fall since OBMS went into production. Referencing new partners or revising price grids — which used to take time and manual exchanges — is now done in a few minutes on the platform. As selection is based solely on profile quality and rate, some partners have gradually gained market share at STIME purely on the basis of their performance.
“We have some great success stories of partners who have gradually climbed the ranks at STIME since the tool was put in place. And on the finance side, we see cost optimisations — it’s a real impact.”
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
Christopher Ossola answers
Why did STIME decide to deploy a VMS?
Time-and-materials sourcing had become difficult to control, with a multitude of ESNs and little real competitive tendering. Some partners enjoyed a de facto monopoly, which weighed on costs. In a context of budget restrictions, we had to innovate. The objective was clear: ensure equal treatment among all our partners, gain visibility on our spend, and challenge our price grids in a structured way. The market has also turned, and we now have a much more favourable position as a customer, and OBMS helps us make the most of it.
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
How did the OBMS deployment actually go?
We selected the solution in April 2024 and started work in July. By 1 October, the solution was in production — a result we are proud of. Several elements were key: strong sponsorship from the CODIR so that the approach was well accepted by the teams, upstream validation of our purchasing rules, and dedicated communication channels with a Teams community. We also customised the solution in STIME’s colours, a detail that makes a real difference to internal adoption.
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
Which three features bring you the most value?
First, the centralised management : having a real-time view of all our active time-and-materials services, with dashboards to manage and fine-tune continuously — this is the flagship feature of OBMS. Next, the reports : they allow us to share concrete KPIs during business reviews with our partners and to check that our purchasing rules are respected by everyone. And finally, the dynamic price referencing : what used to take time and manual negotiations is now done in a few minutes on the platform, with measurable cost reductions as a result.
— Christopher Ossola, IT Vendor & Contract Manager, STIME
Is your IT department facing the same challenges?
Find out how OBMS transforms the management of your intellectual services: centralised management, total transparency, cost optimisation.