Digital companies and social responsibility: Outscale, a committed player
A serial cloud entrepreneur of conviction
Laurent Seror, President of Outscale, is a serial entrepreneur. In 1997, he founded Agarik Ingénieurs Associés, a company specializing in Internet infrastructure and hosting. After successfully raising funds in 2001, he expanded the company to become the French market leader in mission-critical web hosting. After being acquired by Bull in 2006, he joined Dassault Systèmes in 2010 as Director of Cloud Computing Strategy, in charge of the infrastructures on which SaaS (Software as a service), PaaS (Platform as a service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offerings are based. At the end of 2010, with the company’s blessing and support, he set out on his own to develop a new offering: the TINA OS Cloud Orchestrator.
Based on this innovative operating system, Outscale’s technology provides enterprises with an automated, scalable Cloud, to support their most complex IT projects, with maximum availability and security. Cloud TINA OS manages and automates Cloud resources: computing, storage and networking. This ensures the power and availability of cloud resources in real time, as well as data security. What’s more, this infrastructure can be automated via APIs. The Outscale solution is compatible with Amazon EC2™*, simplifying deployments and interoperability. With the same interoperability in mind, this IaaS is based on Cisco UCS solutions. It also integrates Intel processors and offers optimal storage volumes. Companies benefit from an ISO 27001-2013-certified cloud solution, with maximum quality, security and availability.
The company’s commercial development began in France at the end of 2010. International expansion continued apace, with Boston and Hong Kong opening up in 2012. Emancipation from Dassault Systèmes began in 2014, with the company opening up to new customers (start-ups, consulting firms and ESNs, etc.). In 2015, 2,000 corporate customers enabled Outscale to generate sales of 15 M USD, with a very positive outlook, estimated at between 18 and 19 M USD for 2016.
The company’s growth has been built on “industrialized” organization and planning. Long-term strategy is drawn up jointly with long-standing partner Dassault Systèmes, through dedicated strategic committees. Another of Outscale’s strengths is its strong belief in the need to keep all or part of the Data produced on European soil, if not on national soil. According to Laurent Seror, it is essential to keep this source of wealth creation accessible and available. In this way, the conditions are ripe for sustaining innovation in our country and in Europe, in the service of job creation and decent working conditions.
The social and societal commitment of a company director
Once the story of Outscale has been told, Laurent Seror’s entrepreneurial figure takes on a clearer profile. Although financial gains remain essential, he places innovation and the quest for excellence at the forefront. He is guided by the need to give meaning to his actions. In this way, it contributes to the emergence of a strong and prosperous innovation economy. In this way, Outscale positions itself as a corporate citizen. Laurent Seror has always refused to move abroad, despite interesting proposals and tax considerations. In addition to the imperative of innovation, he is very concerned about job creation in France. To the best of its ability, Outscale contributes to the education and training of new generations, with a constant concern for integration and diversity. In its own way, Outscale is committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR). This concept of CSR extends beyond intra-company social relations to society, the economy and the environment. As part of the national body, companies must assume their responsibilities, particularly in terms of integration and the fight against discrimination. This is the case for Outscale.
More than just postures, a real company-wide approach
Outscale quickly adopted a true CSR approach. The company has set up an annual assessment based on a CSR audit/barometer, including quantified improvement targets.
This approach translates into concrete commitments, particularly with regard to wage differentials and gender equality. Outscale’s human resources department has observed that pay differentials can take root automatically and insidiously at the recruitment stage. Indeed, in addition to career paths and salaries that may be different and already differentiated, at the time of hiring, men tend to demand higher salaries. Outscale’s proactive policy therefore consists in compensating for this state of affairs through regularizations and increases after the fact, in order to restore equality. The company is also justifiably proud of the fact that it has recruited and promoted women to strategic positions beyond traditional support functions. Indeed, at Outscale, the strategic positions of R&D Director, Quality Director and Engineer are now held by women.
However, beyond recruitment and a proactive policy, the challenges of diversity are also cultural. Laurent Seror has clearly understood that it is essential to act upstream, at school and from an early age. The challenge is to ensure that young girls are attracted to scientific and technical fields, where they are still in the minority. For Laurent Seror, “Nothing is irremediable. There are no gender determinants that would push girls into literary or administrative fields. The rate of feminization of jobs in the digital sector, in South Korea or India, is proof of this. The success of this global diversity approach, in the long term, will be a decisive factor in the success of Outscale and digital companies as a whole.