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May 30, 2022

Maire Tecnimont: becoming a data-driven business through Viva Insights

Maire Tecnimont, a global leader in the natural resources processing sector, is all about using technology to elevate the employee experience. Under the leadership of its visionary CIO, the company has implemented Microsoft’s range of workplace analytics solutions in a bid to empower its people and promote flexible working. One of the first businesses in Europe to do so, Maire Tecnimont is now combining these technologies with data-driven insights and cloud-based solutions to inspire even more innovation across its offices.

Maire Tecnimont

“Maire Tecnimont doesn’t have any assets: our only asset is our people, their knowledge and love of our company.”

Michele Mariella, CIO at Maire Tecnimont, is reflecting on his company’s digital transformation journey and how this has helped to elevate and empower its employees.  

“We strive to give people the opportunity to make the best of technology,” he adds. “That means inspiring them to build their own digital tools, embracing anything from automation to self-reporting.”

It’s a mission that Mariella not only embraces, but is also personally and professionally invested in. 

“I am an engineer by training, but I prefer working with people rather than with systems,” he says. “I think that technology should be used to proper people, rather than hold them back.” 

Over the past five years, Maire Tecnimont has been working to do just that. In collaboration with Microsoft, it has been pioneering the use of workplace analytics and cloud solutions to both empower employees and become a data-driven company. 

The project is having huge ramifications for the wider company – leading to increased flexibility and improved work-life balance, while also helping managers improve use of physical spaces and resources. 

“At the start of my career, technology was seen as a showstopper,” he says. “The idea was that you either knew how to use it or you didn’t. 

“Now, with this project, we’re showing that technology is actually an enabler, and it can really help to create an augmented employee experience.”

Implementing a digital-first vision

Based in Milan but active in 45 countries through 50 companies, Maire Tecnimont is an industrial group operating in the global natural resources processing sector. Strongly committed to industrializing the energy transition, the company focuses on downstream oil and gas plant engineering, as well as providing technological and executive expertise. 

As the employer of some 9,300 people spread all around the world, the company knows that creating a positive working culture is pivotal to driving both business success and employee satisfaction across its network. 

“We think that time is the most valuable resource one can have to live and think better,” says Mariella. “And if you think and live better, you’ll probably work better.” 

Applying this philosophy to the workplace has been a key goal for Maire Tecnimont since 2017, when the company kicked off a digital transformation journey aimed at moving to the cloud and getting a better understanding of employee activity. 

Over the past five years, this has meant implementing Microsoft 365 E5, as well as a range of cloud-based products including SharePoint, Teams, Power Automate, Power Platform, Syntax, Topics, ATP, and more.

“When we started our digital transformation, the goal was to remove knowledge and skills barriers for our people – making using technology as easy as possible,” he comments. 

“Moving to the cloud helped us do just that.”

A company ahead of its time

Alongside its wider digital transformation, Maire Tecnimont launched an initiative specifically aimed at harnessing workplace data and becoming a data-driven company. 

“We wanted to use our data for two purposes: to figure out how we could support and elevate our employees and to prove to management that our digital transformation had been a success,” explains Michele Mariella.

“And when we realized that we couldn’t possibly understand and process all of that data on our own, we became one of the very first users in Italy and Europe of Workplace Analytics.”

Now known as Viva Insights, the solution is Microsoft’s flagship product for employee management. One that Maire Tecnimont considers to be crucial to the success of its operations.

“Not only have we been able to show management that our digital transformation and smart working approach were a correct idea,” he says.

“But we’ve also managed to use it to encourage remote and flexible working – letting each employee operate however they prefer.”

He says that productivity has radically soared since then, with the number of hours spent on putting together engineering documents more than halving in five years – from 57 to 23.

“Our aim is to give people the possibility to choose what they want to do during the working day. On top of that, we want to make sure that our people don’t work too much and make optimal use of their time.

“Viva Insights is a great way of doing it,” he adds.

Redesigning physical spaces with technology

With such large quantities of data and insights at hand, Maire Tecnimont is now using the technology to redesign spaces and simplify work management for both HR and its employees.

“The idea is to continue to become a data-driven company dedicated to the individual employee,” says Mariella. “One great way of doing it is by repurposing the areas that we work in with a post-COVID mindset. All while still promoting and encouraging hybrid working.” 

To this end, the company has created a custom code on Microsoft .Net Framework that allows people to plan their entire day in the office. 

“Using the portal we’ve built, each person planning to come into the office can do things like booking a parking space, picking a desktop or room, and checking their diary,” he explains. 

“But the more we know about how our people work and operate, the more we can use technology to make life easier for them. 

“That includes redesigning our office spaces so that they fit their preferences.”

This doesn’t just mean changing the physical structure of a room, but also making it more sustainable. 

“If we want to elevate the employee even further, we can make sure the place they work is as sustainable as possible,” he adds. “So we’re looking at ways we can use our data to improve air pollution in the office.”

A transformation ten years in the making

What has Michele Mariella’s project meant for the people working at Maire Tecnimont? His colleagues say the initiative has been a game changer for the company. 

“Having already implemented hybrid working for years, we were quite ready to handle it in 2020,” says Ida Arjomand, Senior Manager of Group Brand Marketing and Digital Communication. 

“That helped us feel safe and comfortable with our work, and it also gave us a sense of being ahead of our time: whatever we want to do next, we have the platform and the digital tools in place to do it.”

This is something that Michele Mariella is hoping to encourage more and more as time goes by. “We’ve completely changed our approach to technology in less than ten years,” he says. 

“For so long, people in our office knew that expecting a new IT solution would take months. Now, we can deliver anything they want in two or three weeks.”

Paving the way for behavioral analytics

From top management to the individual employee, everyone at Maire Tecnimont has now embraced Microsoft technology and is using it to drive change.

“We were all a bit skeptical at the beginning, because we didn’t know how to use the technology,” says Claudia Ciccarone, Group Media Relations. “But having Microsoft Teams has really been transformational, especially during the pandemic. 

“It’s helped us not just from an efficiency, work-related perspective but also from a human perspective.”

It’s a cultural shift that has been noted by Mariella too.

“This is the first time in my career where people are coming to me asking me to use the latest technology and ditch the old one,” he says Mariella. “And this is really my purpose in life: people should be happy and enthusiastic to use technology.”

As they plan the next stages of Maire Tecnimont’s digital future, Mariella and his team are now exploring the possibility of further strengthening their solution with employee engagement platform Glint. 

“I’m eager to find out how we can use Glint to bring about sentiment and behavior analysis,” he concludes. “This will be helpful, as currently we’re only measuring people based on what they’re doing on their PC, but we have no idea how they’re feeling. 

“Using this technology, we’ll be able to create an environment where people can express themselves and drive great value.”

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