On the 16th, 17th, and 18th of April, 2019, several members of the Proxyclick team will be in Paris for the 5th annual Trade Fair for the Workplace and Non-Production Purchasing hosted by Le Salon des Achats Environnement de travail.
Happily, there's an official hashtag of #SAET2019 for the upcoming conference. So for the sake of brevity, we'll use that for the remainder of this blog.
The event focuses on thought leadership around workplace strategy and procurement. It's set to challenge and inspire leaders in their native work environments—to take into consideration the human impact of all this constant innovation we're bombarded with.
SAET2019 promises to be more impressive than last year's event. And it certainly seems so judging from their schedule of events.
The 3-day conference is sure to bring up some game-changing questions, and there are a handful we'd definitely like to see discussed. We'll share them here and hopefully get some answers next week:
Q1: How can supplier relations and user experience come together to create real value through this digital transformation?
The opening ceremony itself boasts a panel of heavy hitters in their respective fields.
Namely, pictured above from left to right:
- Gilbers Blaise, President of l'ARSEG and Director of Work Environment at SNCF
- Franck Douau, President of l'ACA, and Deputy Director Gener Services at LVMH
- Emmanuel Deparis, Director of Work Environment at AXA France
They'll be tackling the grey area in business where indirect procurement (i.e. goods and services required to run your business such as IT services, office supplies, and furniture) meets the work environment.
Q2: How can you, as a business, reduce your carbon footprint?
Among the roster of speakers at this year's event is Samuel Begon, Deputy Director of Establishment at Safran.
He'll be sharing the stage with representation the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, will be raising awareness around corporate social responsibility.
One area that businesses can make a difference is in the way they use and output energy.
In fact, studies show that energy use is drastically reduced by moving to "the cloud."
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
As the act of buying changes, organizations are becoming more aware of their potential contribution towards environmental sustainability.
Our team at Proxyclick strongly believes that moving to cloud-based technologies is a mighty step towards corporate social responsibility in energy use.
Q3. Is the open office workspace "working" and will the shift towards it continue?
Businesses must take note of the long-term effects—the "myths and realities—of the shift to open work spaces.
Flexibility, mobility, and better collaboration have been touted as benefits of the open space floorplans. The question as to whether this is a fad or "here to stay, is still up for debate.
It's come up every year from our own roundtable of experts on top workplace trends.
Open floorplan at Chez Proxyclick (HQ: Belgium)
Among the subject matter experts addressing this topic at SAET2019 will be Marion Toison Flichy, Director of Workplace Strategy at Haworth France.
In addition, there will be fact-based findings and feedback shared by companies who have adopted this strategy for years.
We're definitely curious to hear what this panel has to say!
Q4: What can we do to improve the customer journey and interaction between people and their digital tools?
Proxyclick will also have something to say at SAET2019 this year.
Our very own CEO and Founder, Gregory Blondeau, will be getting "phygital" on the Day 2 of the event.
Phygital = Physical + Digital
He'll be joined on stage by Vincent Tondeur of UCB and Rémi Planchon of Securitas Accueil.
Not only will they dive into the subject of the "integrated visitor experience," but they'll also discuss a number of topics related to the future of the corporate reception:
- Leaving lasting impressions and promoting brand recognition
- Automating tasks to achieve operational efficiency
- Strengthening security and compliance
If you happen to be there on Day 2 then please be sure to throw some questions at them!
Q5: Does better eating lead to better working?
We kid you not, but one of the keynotes being delivered at SAET2019 this year is entitled "The importance of food."
This is definitely a subject that Team Proxyclick happens to be passionate about!
Sustenance is considered an "indirect purchase" fueling productivity in the workplace, so it only makes sense that food and catering shares the spotlight at SAET2019.
After all, a huge part of the change management we see all around us directly impacts health and happiness at work.
What to expect at SAET2019?
The five questions we've shared in this blog only scratch the surface of what's to be covered at the conference.
There will be full days of expert panels and keynote speakers delivering insights on the trends of today, and foresight into what tomorrow looks like.
We believe that keeping these questions in mind will help set the tone for the event. But we hope that they'll also also stir up some conversations around your own workplace like they do at ours!