GrandVision Spain CEO: “If you want my signature, send the contract via Complete Control”

Learn how the leading global optical retailer gained better contract management. Hint: It only took a piece of software and what may have been the world’s fastest change management.

GrandVision is a leading global optical retailer with more than 7,200+ stores in 40+ countries worldwide and a growing online presence. Their stores operate under well-known local retail brands, some of which have a history of more than 100 years. 

Global presence means GrandVision has a world of contracts. Fortunately, they now have the right spectacles to gain a combination of the great overview and the ability to get a sharp eagle’s view into each contract across the globe.

It hasn’t always been that way, admits David José Kouyoumdjian, Internal Audit Manager at GrandVision.

“The way we handled our contracts before didn’t reflect neither the ambition of our company nor the professionalism of our finance team. We used Excel and internal shared services to manage our contracts.”

“There was only the secretary who oversaw the spreadsheet file. We had no procedures to ensure centralization of contracts we had in different business units and geographies. Of course, it was practically impossible to keep all contracts updated.”

So, David knew that something had to be done in order to improve contract management.

“A key driver has been the internal audit along with compliance demands from our headquarters. To help fulfill both demands, the software is helpful for the finance team. For example, it is very useful to aggregate and split contracts on business units and geographies. And the automatic alerts for each contract reminds us when it is time for the quarterly audit.”

“With House of Control, we’ve found a new and better way to manage contracts. It starts at the top of the organization: Our CEO has made it clear that if we want his signature on a contract, it must be sent to him for digital signature via the Complete Control platform.”

“How did the organization respond to your new approach to contract management?”

“The first impression among some colleagues was “oh no, not another system”. That changed very fast, when we started talking about the importance of sound contract management. And they were all aboard when we got a common understanding of the vast amount of contract data – and the complexity and risk it poses to our company. Contract management software is simply a prerequisite to gain the necessary overview, and it helps me classify contracts according to risk.”

David was pleased with the onboarding process:

“House of Control’s customer success manager was helpful speeding up our process of entering contracts. Not long after on-boarding we got the contract control we were looking for, and the need to invest time for software training was minimal.”

GrandVision has since expanded the use of the Complete Control software to manage store rentals.

“We have rental agreements on stores in the countries where we operate. Having a contract management software makes it much easier for us to follow up each agreement, including updating historic data. The director for store rentals was looking for a new tool, and I showed him how Complete Control works. This is exactly what we need. If something happens to me and someone else should see the contracts, the information would still be there – complete and updated.”