It has been 20 years since Perfact saw the light of day. In 2004, our organisation was founded by Jo Reinders and Frank Bessems (Perfact shareholders in present day). Together we take a moment to look back on 20 years of Perfact.
How did it all start? To answer that, we have to go back to 1987 – the year that Jo and Frank both took their first steps within the world of business. Jo was active in the management and consultancy and was flying all over the world. He had the opportunity to see many organisations ‘from the inside’, to advise on the functioning of the company in question.
In the same year, Frank started an engineering firm that focused mainly on industrial new builds and conversions. He was more on the technical side; think project management, engineering, building plants but also maintenance stops. A golden combination with Jo’s consultancy role, as it later turned out.
Awareness
When you ask Frank about the origins of Perfact, you will find that he (usually) magically conjures up a beer mat. This has to do with the fact that it has exactly enough space to sum up our entire business model. In addition, we can’t deny that a bottle of wine was involved in setting up the concept.
The first years of work experience came in handy when founding Perfact. “Through our years of experience, we were very much aware of what wanted and who we are. We put in a lot of energy and this is how Perfact’s core values came into being. It forms the basis of our organisation,” says Frank.
“We wanted to start an organisation through a new method that was not, as was much the case at the time, about politics and pillarisation,” Jo adds. “That’s not who we are. For that, a number of aspects had to be balanced and in our case that revolved around the ‘people’ within the organisation and the ‘technology’ deployed in the process.”
20 years later, the original standards and values still stand firm. Finance is of course also an important measure in this respect, but not an objective in itself. The overarching goal is much more important: how can we as a group achieve our goals together?
“We wanted to create a world in which the colleagues who work for us feel comfortable,” Frank continues. “That doesn’t mean that you lean back and relax all day, but that you dare to step out of your comfort zone within a safe environment to grow and face challenges. We wanted to create that world, because we believe that is where the magic happens.”
First big project
All the basics were in place and our gentlemen were confident that they had something good in their hands. Now all we needed was a commission. Their first project initially came from Germany. “We went into a business consultancy project there. Completely against the ‘settled order’ of consultancy organisations, the two of us took on this assignment. Convinced of the concept we had in hand, we were the last ones standing and the client chose us. A true victory and a breakthrough of the business concept we wanted to establish,” says Jo.
Eventually, the organisation took more and more shape, and we explored opportunities around secondment in addition to consultancy and project management. This was partly driven by the credit crisis that played up from 2008-2009. “Despite the company achieving good results even during this time, we did face liquidity problems due to delayed payment terms from our clients. We also had to stand as a personal guarantor,” Jo continues. “But we did this because we were confident about the future because of where we stood and where we could still grow towards,” adds Frank.
The credit crunch cleared up and struggled with profits for a few more years. Jo and Frank did eventually decide not to depend on a bank or unfamiliar shareholders. “We want to decide for ourselves whether to take certain risks or not and don’t want to be driven by paying dividends,” Jo indicates. The time of stability was dawning in. “What we do, we do well – whether that’s the question behind the question we ask our (potential) client, the premises we work in, the coffee we offer or the wine we serve in our bar. We are happy with the choices we have made so far and that we are now doing everything in-house. We can be proud of that,” Frank continues.
Proud
There is, of course, more to be proud of. Yet for that, we have to go back to the moment when MH17 crashed in 2014. A crucial moment when it was decided to commission a risk assessment. The conclusion of that study was that Jo and Frank actually posed the greatest risk as day-to-day managers – that is, if something would happen to us, many colleagues and their families would be affected. “That’s when we made the choice to relinquish the operation but remain closely involved in an advisory role,” Frank points out.
Relinquishing the operation was of course an intensive process and did not go without a hitch. An important element in all this was the purchase of the Abshoven headquarters. At first glance, not a rational purchase – for it was a dilapidated monastery. A real ruin, but one with potential. “We rebuilt it in 9 months in-house into the office it is today. In those 9 months, we did keep a connection with the organisation but also let go of the reins a bit already. This gave us the opportunity to check whether the organisation was ready for us to step back from the operation.”
After the first meeting in the new office, it became clear that this was not quite the case. While the organisation had kept going, it was also at a standstill. Or as Jo described it, “if we continue like this, we will be strategically bankrupt”. A nice moment of realisation that there was still work to be done. Coppe Sturmans, our current managing director, joined the company in 2010 as an intern for his graduation project. He eventually stayed on permanently to carry out various projects. In 2018, one of these assignments expired and the opportunity to start working as a director presented itself. To this day, he and the internal team are responsible for the day-to-day operations.
This turned out to be the solution. “Admittedly, even in this journey we occasionally made choices that didn’t quite work out. But along the way, we are very proud of what we have put together. And in particular, the unique group feeling we all bring about together,” Frank indicates.
Future
We can conclude that the concept Jo and Frank came up with 20 years ago still stands as a house. Although several services or methods have been added along the way (e.g. our Academy, Lean Six Sigma and Human Development), the core values remain. “We have laid a solid foundation that can really be built on and grow further into the future. There is so much potential – there are still many opportunities in every region where we operate, especially in Germany. And since a few years we have also been building an expansion North-West Netherlands,” Jo says.
The world around us is changing and it is important to keep responding to it. “Development of our colleagues also remains key in this. However, they are responsible for this themselves; we facilitate and help where necessary by investing. We always say: if you have the right mindset, you can go far,” Jo continues.
In short, over the past 20 years, a good foundation has been laid in terms of organisation, service concept, core values and financial stability. Something that not only Jo and Frank, but all of us can certainly be proud of!
