Digital Transformation: Christian MARGRITA, outsourced CIO, decodes the ongoing revolution in process digitization

" With regard to the electronic invoicing reform, I would advise SMEs to plan ahead by working with expert partners. They will help them structure their data—a requirement of the reform—but above all, integrate it into their IT systems so that they can then use it. "

Christian MARGRITA is an outsourced CIO (Chief Information Officer). His job is evolving as the IT environment changes. We asked him to share his thoughts on the digital transformation currently underway in SMEs, particularly the increasing digitization of processes.

Hello Christian, could you start by introducing yourself?

Christian MARGRITA: For 30 years, I have been involved in implementing software (ERP), technological, and organizational solutions to meet business needs. As a project manager and then outsourced CIO, I have worked in contexts of growth and structuring of the IT department, as well as in the context of crises and restructuring.

Throughout my career, I have evolved to gain a 360° view of my profession: technical expertise, of course, but also customer support. This has led me to work in a variety of roles, from production to integration and from infrastructure to operations.

I have held positions in consulting, advisory services, management, sales, business unit leadership, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. I have developed skills in managing complex, cross-functional projects.

Why did you choose to become self-employed?

C.M.: I have an appetite for the concept of customer service and support. So I needed to put that into practice while still being able to choose my own activities and projects. That's why I decided to become self-employed and support companies that need to integrate IT skills.

Many small and medium-sized IT companies today are faced with multiple needs that they cannot meet because they do not have sufficiently powerful IT structures and the human resources to go with them. Company employees may find it difficult to bring together all the building blocks required for the operational management of an IT system: production, infrastructure, and security.

How is your business structured as an outsourced CIO?

C.M.: I work for different companies, performing different tasks depending on their needs. In general, I step in to take over and manage the transition on IT-related issues when the IT department is lacking. Or I provide support in project management, change management, and project leadership.

Digital transformation must have had an impact on your business. How has it evolved?

C.M.: Yes, indeed. First of all, technologies have evolved and continue to evolve, and we continue to adapt. I identify three major topics that have transformed our business: the Internet, mobility and networks, and now artificial intelligence (AI). The Internet has led to a shift from centralized to decentralized, with everyone interconnected. In terms of networks and mobility, we have moved from fixed workstations to devices such as tablets, mobile tools, smartphones, and others. AI will transform certain professions, but few companies have yet integrated these transformations. Software publishers will have to integrate AI developments, that's for sure, or they will disappear.

Beyond technological acceleration, I have observed a major change in the organization of work within the IT department. Whereas IT projects used to be decided by senior management and IT departments, this is no longer the case today. 

 Projects are now decided by business departments, which are driving the digital transformation. The IS (Information System), which used to be in charge of its own master plan, is now at the service of the business units. We have changed the paradigm. The IT department no longer controls its own schedule—I'm exaggerating, of course—but it has less and less latitude over its guidelines.

As soon as new software or new technological building blocks become available, the company's business departments ask us to implement them. 

 Today, all technological building blocks have their own language. Every 18 months, there is a major evolution or a profound change in architecture, systems are impacted and need to be updated...

To reflect this upheaval, CIOs previously had an ERP ¹ system, the IT "backbone" of the company, which they updated according to the publisher's recommendations. Today, users no longer want a centralized ERP system.

They want an urbanized system that meets their needs and is interoperable, i.e., capable of interconnecting with mobility systems, Internet systems, digital dematerialization systems, BI (Business Intelligence) systems, and perhaps AI analysis systems. We have moved from a global system with ERP to a service system. We think first and foremost in terms of usage.

Does this require broader, cross-functional skills?

C.M.: Yes. There are the technical skills at the lower level: everything related to infrastructure, the interconnection layers: middleware and the system, and finally the application layers. Added to this are cross-functional elements, such as the productivity layer, which we call system maintenance, and a cybersecurity layer. Small and medium-sized businesses don't necessarily have all the skills in-house to address all these issues. If senior management considers IT to be strategic, then they call on outsourced experts like me. In addition to IT, there are legal regulations, such as the implementation of the GDPR, which has prompted companies to consult experts on data processing and therefore to instinctively call on outsourced service providers for subjects in which they are not competent.

What is your view on the gradual digitization of processes?

C.M.: We have now reached the point where we are completely paperless. This applies both to incoming flows arriving by mail, email, PDF documents, in an unstructured format, and to all outgoing flows, which largely concern the company's business: quotes, contracts, and invoicing in particular.

The goal of digitization is to speed up processes in order to increase productivity and limit human error, which can sometimes lead to service continuity issues. Finally, digitization enables information traceability. This last point is less often discussed, but it is nonetheless essential. For me, these are the three major benefits of digitization.

How have companies evolved in terms of digitization?

C.M.: I worked for companies that collaborated with public sector organizations and had to digitize their invoices and use the Chorus Pro portal, the shared invoicing solution that was set up for all suppliers (private or public) in the public sphere (state, local authorities, etc.) in order to meet legal requirements for electronic invoicing.

All public companies have therefore adopted this concept of structured, paperless invoicing and have implemented tools for acquiring, managing, and transforming this data, as well as for processing the validation workflow. This has enabled public entities, as well as private companies that work with the public sector, to accelerate their transition to paperless systems.

Another advance is that all of these companies have implemented EDM (electronic document management). Indeed, it is impossible to imagine digitizing an event without storing it. EDM tools allow information to be stored in a structured manner, so that data, tags, and metadata can be used to search for, reprocess, and exploit the information. 

Because it's all well and good to have a stream of important information coming in, which is a huge asset for businesses, but in my opinion, it's underutilized today.

There is another aspect that is slightly more marginal, but which can be mentioned in relation to dematerialization, and that is when a legal document with probative value is sent to a third party, such as a client. Today, it is unthinkable to print a document and send it by mail to obtain a signature!

Electronic signatures have become a common tool. Companies must now integrate this concept of legal document validation into their ERP systems, where very often the document, or digital data, leaves the ERP system and must be validated by a third party.

And then there is AI, which has an impact on digitization. If the company processes incoming data flows, it must also analyze and decode them. The nature of the incoming data must be recognized. Is it a request for a quote? Is it a request for specific documents? Artificial intelligence makes it possible to pre-analyze and categorize the data. 

Once the data has been categorized by type, we will read the essential elements to structure it and check it automatically with its ERP. Which supplier is it from? What is the invoice date? What type of event does it correspond to? This touches on the concept of automatic checking via API checks. ³. Today's technological solutions allow each ERP to control data input, output, reading, and writing using APIs.

In my opinion, these are the major changes that have taken place in recent years in terms of digitization, enabling companies to increase productivity and make intelligent use of incoming information flows.

We are talking about controlling the company's incoming and outgoing flows. The reform of electronic invoicing is a challenge for economic players. Where do they stand today?

 C.M.: The reform is scheduled to come into effect on September¹, 2026. While large corporations have already anticipated this change, most SMEs and mid-sized companies, which operate on a short-term horizon—generally 12 months—have not yet begun this process, which is a mistake.

When it comes to electronic invoicing reform, I would advise SMEs to plan ahead by working with expert partners. These partners will help them structure their data—a requirement under the reform—but more importantly, integrate it into their IT systems so that they can then use it. 

For the government, the goal of this reform is to ensure transparency of cash flows and reduce VAT fraud. For companies, this reform is a major opportunity to accelerate the digitization process. It is not a constraint, but rather a catalyst for digital transformation. SMEs must anticipate digitization and budget for it now, because in five years it will be too late. In any case, the business environment and changes in national, European, and international legislation mean that they no longer really have a choice. They simply need to organize this transition.

Once again, this reform should be seen as an opportunity to store and use data intelligently and thus implement an EDM system. Structuring incoming data is all well and good, but it then needs to be brought to life. Take the example of an invoice. It has a life cycle punctuated by events: verification at the customer's request, deferred payment, reminders, disputes, etc.