Revolutionizing HR Planning at Piazza Italia through IoT

Piazza Italia is a leading Italian company in the multi-channel fashion retail sector. Founded in 1993, the company has over 350 stores and employs more than 1,800 people. The company has increased its presence in Italy, both directly and through franchising, and has extended its development into international markets. The company's management wanted to introduce significant innovations within the HR department to transform the approach of the various teams of the group. They wanted to shift from simply performing tasks to setting challenging objectives and a strategic vision capable of coping with even the most sudden changes.

Piazza Italia, a leading Italian multi-channel fashion retail enterprise, was facing challenges in its HR department. The company wanted to transform its approach from merely performing tasks to setting challenging objectives and a strategic vision capable of adapting to sudden market changes. The company was operating in a volatile market that often required swift changes to short-term strategies. The traditional KPIs used by the company were mostly focused on internal processes with little orientation towards business results and growth. The completion of goals was defined by accomplishing a set of actions or tasks within a time frame, which did not offer substantial strategic value. From a commercial perspective, Piazza Italia needed to control two large cost items: the cost of sales and the cost of labor. Traditional budgeting tools integrated with payroll and attendance tracking software were found to be inadequate for the company's needs.

To address these challenges, Piazza Italia chose Board’s Intelligent Planning Platform. The company collaborated with K.Group to define the path and construct an intelligent information system. The solution included an HR Planning & Analysis solution based on applications dedicated to measuring, planning, and communicating. The HR Dashboard, built with the Board Intelligent Planning Platform, allowed users to monitor and analyze the total cost of the workforce and overtime and adopt the MBO (Management by Objectives) model. Staff planning was undertaken through personnel budgeting and an FTE plan for each Business Unit. The HR Budgeting & Consolidation process built in Board determined a specific workflow that started with a financial plan and established budget choices dedicated to the Human Resources area for each Business Unit. The company also used Board to improve communication with the stakeholders of Piazza Italia’s teams and effectively involve the departments outside the HR area.

• The implementation of Board’s Intelligent Planning Platform brought significant benefits to Piazza Italia. The company achieved a greater horizontality of management processes, involving organizational participation across the entire HR network. The intuitive and user-friendly Board applications, fed by quality information based on data validation from dedicated payroll software, simplified the Financial Budgeting and Forecasting processes. The company can now evaluate different business scenarios, including the effects of or impacts on overall performance with Board. The HR Planning solution fully embeds in an Enterprise Performance Management’s approach. The use of Board also improved communication with the stakeholders of Piazza Italia’s teams and effectively involved the departments outside the HR area.

• Greater flexibility and speedier responses to market changes

• Improved control of two large cost items: the cost of sales and the cost of labor

• Simplified Financial Budgeting and Forecasting processes