30 years, 10 years, with a healthy dose of LLD

It's not an April fool's joke

April^1st was a big day. The departure of a colleague of 10 years and a friend of 30 years.

Laurent DEBBAUT, our mentor in Project Management, and particularly in Information Systems, leaves the company for new adventures. Our first retiree. It's a strange event for us. Now I won't be able to grumble about the burden of social security contributions. Knowing that he's retired, I know that part of it will go into his pocket, and in a very useful way.

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Top development quality!

30 years! I've known Laurent for 30 years. I first met him at Europcar Lease, one of the pioneers of the leasing industry (bought out in 2000 by ARVAL , if memory serves). Quite a joker for an application development manager! Always the right pun. But above all, he was an outstanding manager. His teams always had a smile on their faces, and frankly, they even laughed a lot. But make no mistake, the deliverables were top-notch and the deadlines were met. I remember that he delivered Europcar Lease's new IS , named LOCATRIX (there was something of a Gallic atmosphere in the company at the time, with a highly developed sense of dining and partying) to the day. After all, we're talking about a 10,000 man-day project. And as for the quality of the "dev", it's gold thread! The CEO (the late Jean-Pierre Van HANDENHOVE) had asked him if the program could last 5 years without any problems. It would last 20 years! And the best part was its scalability.

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Scalability as a raison d'être

As the boss was himself a former CIO, he encouraged all sales staff to ask customers about their needs in terms of IT solutions, desktop publishing and dashboards. So we'd come back to the office with a bag full of ideas. We'd go up to Laurent and say "I think I've sold something we don't have". He'd grumble a bit, and then the next day he'd come into our office with a mischievous look on his face: "I think I've found a solution for your customer".

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A long time in the leasing business

And then we went to see if the grass next door was greener. Laurent with a publisher, then with other rental companies. I worked for another rental company, then for an SS2I as they called it back then (I'm forgetting a few). Then we met up again along the way. And finally Laurent joined iDeMa in 2014.

CMMSMedia Broadcasting, Banking and Structured Finance, Leasing, Aeronautics, Automotive, Training, Data, Collaborative Platforms, were our sectors of activity for tailor-made application development for key accounts. We had a great time, as the projects were so exciting, while at the same time leaving plenty of room for joie de vivre.

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2021 birth of anylease

And then, in 2021, with a nod to Pascal Courtois of Yooze Business Solutions - a forerunner in long-term motorcycle leasing- the whole team and I embarked on the creation of anylease, a new SaaS solution for the development of leasing activities (LLD, LMD, LOA) and financing for all car, motorcycle, bike, boat and professional equipment products....

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Frankly, we haven't seen the time fly by. But seeing Laurent retire feels like a menhir falling on your head. But the story isn't completely over. He remains a technical expert, and will continue to accompany us in his new activities as a dashing young retiree.

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See you soon Laurent.

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