Culture rejuvenation at Barco

Last year, Barco stepped into the software as a service (SaaS) business model, where its has introduced a subscription based model for its technology solutions like weConnect and Overture.

This transition has forced the company to go for a complete makeover of its culture. The technology company, that specialises in digital projection and imaging, has decided to rejuvenate its culture so as to align it with its new business model. So, it is actually a global cultural rejuvenation that Barco is currently undergoing— a process that began early this year and is still in progress.

This shift in the culture is an inclusive process where top leaders started the change and inputs were taken from all levels and geographical locations. The Company is organising storytelling sessions and workshops globally to explain the new elements of Barco’s culture.

Jayati Roy, director HR, Barco India, explains that the Company came up with some 40 ingredients for the new culture that they were planning to implement, while brainstorming on which ones will or will not work with the new business strategies.

“Moving on from a hardware- based company to a software solutions one, has made us implement a culture change and align with the strategies of the new business model,” says Roy.

Following the discussion and focus group sessions locally and globally, Barco came up with five critical elements of the new culture, which it calls the ‘culture building blocks’:

We think with the customer – This implies working with internal and external customers of the Company in every function, by focussing on who the customers are and what they want.

We team up to win globally – Everybody at this MNC is on the same page— from the global teams at the headquarters, to the local teams. Every process in the company works the same way, irrespective of location.

We look for the better way – This is about moving on from traditional ways of business and management to adopting new methods of working.

We own our results – Each one is accountable and responsible for the work and its outcome.

We care, we grow – Working at Barco is all about caring for each other and ensuring that each one in the company experiences individual success and grow with the company.

The Company is communicating these elements of the new culture to the entire organisation, through various storytelling sessions and workshops.

“We have culture champions in the company who are conducting these workshops all across the organisation, globally,” mentions Roy.

“Moving on from a hardware- based company to a software solutions one, has made us implement a culture change and align with the strategies of the new business model”

Talking to HRKatha, Roy explained that this shift will bring a major change in the people-management practices of the Company.

The talent acquisition process will go through a transformation. The training and induction processes may also be majorly overhauled.

As the transformation is still in progress, the Company is not ready to reveal much about the key changes that will happen.

Moving to a SaaS-based model may require a different set of talents altogether. Generally, SaaS-based setups require people with cloud-computing skills, programming skills and system-operating skills.

According to Roy, the Company is presently in the process of implementing the culture building blocks in every function of the organisation. It will take about two years for the complete changeover to take effect.