iObeya: One Platform for all Visual Management Practices

A good visual management system enables better and faster decision-making and problem solving. It is powered by collaborative practices (such as meetings, rituals or events) and encourages individuals’ interactions to make the system work smoothly. Visual Management is not just visual collaboration; it also encompasses a management system that enables the continuous delivery of value throughout a company by connecting teams and aligning everyone on vision, values, goals and behaviors.

By visualizing the work throughout an entire system, a company can increase trust and transparency, improve collaboration and have the ability to respond quickly to real needs. This system also radically increases business performance and agility with great decision-making.

Visual management has been successfully leveraged by businesses all over the world. In the 1990s, Toyota introduced the Obeya (“big room” in Japanese) while developing, manufacturing and introducing the Prius car model. The use of Obeya has been a great success among large organizations for programs where communication and collaboration cross-functionally and hierarchically were key. Usually an Obeya contains charts, graphs, visual information and cues representing vision, objectives, KPIs, plans, actions and bottlenecks to enable teams to see together, know together and act together. This facilitates better decision-making and also encourages acts of leadership and learning at every level, as it makes progress and problems transparent.

More recently, scaling Agile in large and complex organizations has accelerated the need for Visual Management frameworks addressing more holistic contexts with program, roadmap and retrospective boards for portfolio management. Today, Digital Visual Management is an ATAWAD (Any Time, Any Where, Any Device) combination of immersive and intuitive software and interactive hardware devices. And it becomes more and more vital as the world of work evolves into a hybrid one consisting of both co-located and remote/distributed teams.

One of the biggest names in Visual Management is France-based iObeya located in Massy outside of Paris. Although iObeya originated from a services company specializing in tailor-made and innovative applications to an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), the company has expanded its platform’s capabilities to support Agile^@Scale, Lean, Industry 4.0, and Digital Workspace. The company was initially designed for French automobile manufacturer Stellantis (Peugeot Citroën and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) to support the digital transformation of their Lean initiatives.

Today, iObeya has more than 500 multinational customers worldwide and 500,000 daily users. It is the only ISO27001-certified Enterprise Visual Management platform that enables organizations to deploy their Enterprise Visual Management System for strategic transformation and cultural change on-premise and/or on dedicated cloud. It is a digital multisite solution that enables global teams to practice Visual Management while keeping the collective intelligence and the “human-centric” aspects of such practices.

Much more than a digital whiteboard, iObeya’s unique team-based approach and collaboration features for Lean & Agile companies increase productivity, boosts creativity and facilitates decision-making. Clients can deploy their Enterprise Visual Management System for Lean Enterprise, Industry 4.0 and Agile^@Scale. The all-in-one ISO27001 certified platform, can help accelerate cultural change and boost business performance and agility.

Despite its strong association with technology, iObeya is a human-centric company, built on strong human values. The mission, spearheaded by Cyril Daloz (Founder and CEO of iObeya), has been to democratize a new way of managing. The company has truly built a space with an intense emotional group dynamic and a sandbox for management innovation.

The Road Ahead

Expanding upon its French roots, iObeya is constantly expanding its reach and its teams around the globe. In 2020, the company raised $17 million from Red River West, Atlantic Bridge Capital, and Fortino Capital Partners. The funding has been dedicated to both advancing the development of the platform and accelerating the company’s expansion into the United States.

In 2021, iObeya opened five new regional offices including New York, Singapore, London, Hamburg, and Rotterdam. These new offices join the company’s Paris headquarters and existing offices in Seattle and Tunis. The new offices will aid in iObeya’s global expansion goals, including supporting 500 global organizations around the world. Last year alone, the company added nearly 80 enterprise customers from both the Fortune 500 and CAC 40 as demand for Visual Management software skyrocketed during the pandemic. The result has seen iObeya’s global revenue grow by 70% year-over-year.

The company now plans to grow its global headcount by at least 35% in 2022 to support nearly one million users around the world. “iObeya hopes to shape the business landscape, especially as industries adapt to a post-pandemic environment, by helping enterprises accelerate their Lean, Agile and Industry 4.0 transformations,”

said Cyril Daloz, Founder and CEO.

iObeya’s New York office will drive adoption among U.S. east coast enterprises including those in manufacturing, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and energy, while the U.S. west coast headquarters in Seattle will look to strengthen iObeya’s foothold among U.S. west coast enterprises, especially those in the technology sector. Growth remains the main focus for the company as it plans to use its Singapore and Asian offices to grow operations across a variety of industry verticals, particularly manufacturing and technology.

About the Leader

Cyril Daloz, Founder and CEO

Like most successful CEOs, Cyril is a forward thinker who believes that success comes from the people who contribute to an organization, as well as to great product-market fit. From day one, he has endeavored to transmit the core values of transparency, trust, and equity, sharing both the hardships and glory throughout the organization. From Product Development to Marketing, from Sales to Administrative and Support team. Cyril is also an avid athlete who skis, runs, swims, bikes, and pretty much does anything that involves the outdoors.

“The all-in-one ISO27001 certified platform, can help accelerate cultural change and boost business performance and agility.”