Women in Position: successful project at international company mateco

An international rollout full of dynamics

The collaboration between mateco and Conclusion MBS is a story of many successes. At the rental company—which has over 140 locations worldwide—one agenda item has taken center stage recently: creating synergy in processes across all branches.

To achieve this, the Q.One platform is being rolled out in each country, with Microsoft Dynamics 365 at its core. Conclusion MBS has been supporting these rollouts for years, with Olga and Claudia involved for quite some time. Recently, Cynthia and Ana joined the team as well.

A solid foundation

Each rollout is based on a central solution: the “golden template.” Consultant Olga explains:
“This is a standard solution we’ve built over the years. Not perfect from the start, but improved step by step by learning from previous implementations. And by staying true to what you believe in. If you stand by what works and believe in your approach, it all comes together in success.”

Still, every rollout is a puzzle. Even though the golden template often fits well, real-world situations sometimes require smart adjustments. Each country has its own legal regulations, and each branch has unique processes and technical challenges. “That makes it complex,” says Ana, team lead for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations at MBS. “You need to understand not just the software, but also how all other systems work and how to migrate data intelligently.”

Experience Leads to Success

Olga continues: “The success of our most recent project lies in the experience we’ve gained. This rollout went smoothly thanks to lessons from earlier implementations. We continuously improve ourselves, partly by sharing best practices.”

Although Claudia, Olga, Cynthia, and Ana work as one project team, each is involved in implementing the system within a different mateco workstream. Consultant Claudia focuses on the service stream, responsible for rolling out the platform for processes around maintenance, inspections, and machine transport. Olga focuses on the financial stream. Cynthia joined later as a consultant in the same stream and implemented ExFlow, a tool that fully automates the processing and approval of purchase invoices. Ana worked on data migration—a crucial step to ensure the new system lands well in each country.

The power of collaboration

With each new implementation, knowledge grew. But beyond expertise, the team’s strength lies in close collaboration—with the client and with each other.
“We actively reach out to each other when we hit a roadblock,” says Olga. Ana adds:
“It’s great to have colleagues who truly understand what you’re going through. Sometimes just brainstorming together helps.”

This collaborative approach also proved valuable in the partnership with mateco.
“These past years have been marked by the importance of transparency,” says Claudia. “There’s a lot of coordination needed with the client and between streams. That requires initiative, thinking along, and searching for solutions together. The effort we put into that has paid off, as we now benefit from smoother rollouts thanks to that strong collaboration.”

A women’s team in a man’s world – or not?

Although the four colleagues worked with plenty of male counterparts at mateco, the Conclusion MBS project team was entirely female. That stands out in the IT world, which some still label as male-dominated. But is that really the case? Absolutely not, say these four professionals. “Yes, sometimes IT teams are mostly male,” says Olga. “But so much has changed in recent years. You see more and more women excelling in this field.”

One of those women is Cynthia, who recently made the switch to IT. It felt like a leap into the unknown.
“IT sounded big and intangible. Where do you even start?” she says. “But by just doing it, you discover how many opportunities there are. And it really helps to have strong colleagues around you. Women who stand by their expertise—that really inspired me.”

Women in Position – and with vision

Even though the team believes IT is just as much a women’s world and prefers to focus on their work rather than their gender, they know there’s still progress to be made. That’s why they value Conclusion’s initiative “Women in Position,” launched in collaboration with FC Utrecht.

Ana: “Women are capable of much more than they sometimes think. I recognize that feeling of not being enough. But you are. And it’s so important to believe in yourself and pursue your ambitions. It’s great that Conclusion is highlighting this—visibility makes a difference.” Cynthia: “Yep, seeing successful women helps. It gives you confidence: if they can do it, so can I.”

Dare to choose IT

To women who are unsure about a career in IT, the team has a clear message: “Gender, age—it doesn’t matter. If you want something, go for it,” says Claudia. Olga adds: “Believe in yourself. Even if you’re not heard right away or face setbacks, stand by your vision and don’t give up.”

Feeling inspired?
Women in IT have been here for a long time—and they’re making a difference, today and tomorrow. Want to make an impact too? Check out the vacancies at Conclusion!