8 February 2021

Rentaload General Manager Interview on Startup.info

Pierre-Luc BARBE, the General Manager of Rentaload, was interviewed by the web media: “startup.info” on the theme of business innovation, in times of covid-19.

Rentaload – Leading load bank rental company in the UK and Europe

rentaload loadbanks

First of all, how did you and your family organize yourselves in this time of COVID-19?

Pierre-Luc BARBE: We tested our ability to reorganize ourselves both by trying to stay safe and healthy but by maintaining human relations and some socialization as much as possible.

Tell us about yourself, your career, how you founded Rentaload.

Pierre-Luc BEARD: With an entrepreneurial mindset, I have always dealt with projects in industry, working in a global environment. Joining Rentaload was a new challenge to develop a new vision for the commissioning of data centers as well as new equipment and new associated services.

How does Rentaload innovate?

Pierre-Luc BEARD: Our modus vivendi is to always bring added value to our customers. Last year alone, we released 8 new products that will help our customers perform tests more efficiently, with more data collected during testing, with more reliable measurements. At Rentaload, we want to convey the best of our expertise to the sector we deal with.

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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your business finances?

Pierre-Luc BARBE: The impact is rather positive because our sector of activity, the CLOUD and Internet media, are developing at a very sustained pace. The very sustained demand requires us to be responsive and flexible.

Have you had to make difficult human resources choices, and what lessons have you learned?

Pierre-Luc BARBE: The lessons learned are to refocus on the local team. The challenge is to transfer the skills from our ‘HQ’ to the dedicated team across all the different countries we operate from UK/Germany/Holland. From a global point of view, as we are limited to travelling, we have to find a new balance between the mobile teams and the skills of our main establishments and the expertise of the local teams.

How has your customer relationship management evolved? Do you use specific tools to be effective?

Pierre-Luc BARBE: All face-to-face events such as trade fairs and networking events are gone, yet they were the best way for us to spread our new vision. We are then forced to reinvent our digital marketing and our communication to rebuild a new management of the customer relationship. This is an ongoing process, too early to have any real conclusions to share!

Have you benefited from government grants and has this helped you keep your business afloat? We received nothing from the British government during this whole period, even though we were unable to work at all for a few weeks. We preferred to spend energy time finding solutions on our own rather than allocating resources to request state subsidiaries.

Your final thoughts?

Pierre-Luc BEARD: Such a period forces us to rethink our commercial approach, our strategy, all human relations both internally and with our customers & suppliers. It’s a huge challenge, very demanding, but so exciting and motivating. In every crisis, there are opportunities, and it is up to us to make these opportunities a reality.

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