Dear customers, colleagues and friends
It is almost a year since my last communication with our customer base. I write to you now in 2018 with some important news of changes here at Endress+Hauser.
A change in management
In April of this year I will be moving to the Endress+Hauser head office in Reinach, Switzerland to take up the position of Corporate Director Sales Excellence. After just more than 10 years as the Managing Director of the operation here in South Africa I have been asked to head up the “Sales Excellence” project and team for our global operation.
This is of course a very exciting opportunity for me, and also for our organization here in South Africa. In this 10 year period we have built up an incredibly strong team of leaders and robust processes. I am the fourth Managing Director in the 38 year history of Endress+Hauser in South Africa and in these 38 years, while we have remained the market leader for process instrumentation in the region, we have built an organization of more than 120 people, we have achieved a BBBEE rating of Level 4, we have assisted more than 200 instrument technicians and engineers to complete their training, and we have employed more than 1/3rd of them. Now is the time for a new person to take Endress+Hauser South Africa to the next level.
I of course am extremely pleased to be staying in the Endress+Hauser organization. This incredible company has become my home. Our vision is; “we are a successful family company. In laboratory and process automation, customers around the world trust our products, solutions and services to improve their processes, and thus their products, sustainably”. This is a vision that I believe in. My years of working in the Southern African region, in a successful Endress+Hauser organization, has put me in a place where I believe we can take our global message to every corner of this world. I hope to take a good portion of our South African culture, friendliness and commitment to succeed along for the ride.
In the years that I have been in this role I have made many good friends and business partners – I hope you will keep in touch through LinkedIn or other media. Certainly I still have family and friends in South Africa and I look forward to coming back when I get the opportunity.
Digital Workplace
I would also like to introduce you to the Digital Workplace. Over the next 3 weeks Endress+Hauser will be upgrading our IT platform to offer you our customer a much closer and more seamless interface to us. Changing to a complete Microsoft Platform we will implement projects such as “Skype for
Business”. This will enable you to engage in online chatter with your Endress+Hauser counterpart. You will be able to see who is in the office, to exchange drawings, documents or photos all online. “OneDrive” means that we will be able to share files with you – whether project datasheets or instrument user documentation, files can be downloaded as and when you need them without large email attachments.
I will not tell you more – you will see the difference soon.
On the 15th of February we will go-live with the new Endress.com. From Endress.com you our customers will be able to create your own user environment. You will be able to configure products, create favorites, look for pricing and even request a quotation. With the correct set-up you will be able to place orders, but this depends on your processes – we are enabled to make it happen.
Finally – I wish you all the very best. Perhaps we have turned the corner in South Africa, it certainly feels that way. Our Endress+Hauser team, here and around the world, is ready to support you.
Regards
Rob MacKenzie
