About

Tymans Group is all about IT Operations and Risk management.

The two go hand-in-hand. It is all about designing an IT department that performs well and enables the business to

• provide a return to shareholders,
• bring value to clients,
• do this in a respectable way,
• with regard to environmental, social, and governance aspects
• and keeping its employees engaged
• and suppliers committed.

More and more, IT development and operations are the enablers of business, and hence the enablers of profit. Ethics are a big part of this. Ethical behavior toward the people we work with, and toward our clients is primordial. It also automatically translates to doing the right thing toward our shareholders and society at large.

The history

The story starts in 1986 when Gert decides to adopt the adagio that "the freedom of the press belongs to those that own one." It was the beginning of the "desktop publishing" revolution. It was the predecessor to Social Media as we know it in its many forms.

Back then, it meant that you needed to automate every step of the production process yourself. There were no 'Big Five" consultancies that understood this stuff, there were no "Mckinseys", "Accentures" or "Boston Consulting" companies that could help you with this. I needed to figure this all out myself.

The result was that I gathered a number of big clients like KBC (Kredietbank ABB Verzekeringen CERA Bank) in Belgium, the order of Lawyers in Belgium, Gallup Belgium, and even the national commercial TV broadcaster VTM.

This was all great, but by these late 1980's early '90ties we were in an economic downturn. That meant increased payment terms imposed by large companies, between themselves, but also to smaller suppliers like me. Obviously, that leads to a cash crunch at some point.  I had a credit line but decided not to use that to fill the operational cash needs. Maybe that was a mistake. From the perspective of a 23-year-old one though, using his parent's money, it was a prudent use of existing capital. Risk Management 101. 

It showed me that I needed more clients and that sector diversification is important. Risk Management 201.

This next part is a bit longer, bear with me. We paid off any outstanding invoices, and I made the decision that I needed to diversify the client base. Around the corner of my place was Pioneer, a Japanese company specializing in audio equipment. From a very young age, I was interested in Japan, so I made the decision to learn basic Japanese. It would surely help me get to their management, as they were all Japanese nationals.

We're now 1992.  I took evening lessons and via this school, got the opportunity to go to Japan for a few weeks to get a language bath and deepen my cultural understanding of the country. I took them up on their offer of a 2-week language bath in Atami, Shizuoka prefecture, not too far from Tokyo. Obviously, I added on another week of vacation in Kyoto!

During that period, I met my wife-to-be, now married since 1994. That few weeks in Japan turned into 7.5 years in Tokyo working for a number of companies, every time improving their operations, culminating in handling IT operations for the Research division of Salomon Brothers, Nikko Solomon Smith Barney, and Citigroup in Japan. Risk management was never far away either. Running IT operations in Tokyo is a great learning school

We're now talking 1999. I then took the Citigroup Salomon Smith Barney research division through the Y2K transition without missing a beat, before joining them in Manhattan in January 2000. 

From there it was building up the new automated global publishing system within Citigroup, followed by a 3-year position as Head of US Research IT operations at Lehman, and then back again to international development of publishing systems for globally dispersed teams to ensure efficient 24/7 operations.

2008 obviously brought global impact from the US-mortgage-derivatives-started financial crisis. By that time we were already in London, so the step to a cross-border IT Operations position at ING in Amsterdam and Brussels was relatively small. 

The next nine years brought further senior management experience leading high-volume payment systems operations for this commercial bank, overall infra, and IT operations process across the full Belgian bank.

The company today

In 2017, I brought my experience and combined that with 100+ InfoTech analysts and experts. TY's partnership with InfoTech provides you with our own 37+ years of IT operations experience and the combined expertise of former CIOs, CISOs, PMOs, and many more IT leaders. Both Dominik and Keiko joined the company right from the beginning. 

The combo with Infotech gives you better research than anyone else because of our field-driven operational and transformational insights, data-driven frameworks, and ready-to-use consulting deliverables. This is really where our design hits the road. TY offers you IT operations design and analysis services in over 50 IT areas, risk analyses, concept studies, and individual counseling.

With every contract, we tailor the offering to exactly what you need, be that a single person, or a result commitment backed by multiple analysts.

From the very beginning, TY attracted quality clients such as the Belgian government, large insurance, real estate, and healthcare companies. We serve less the medium or small companies. It has to do with the price level we're at, combined with the duration of the typical agreement.

It's also been my belief that SME companies can and should benefit from this expertise and knowledge. Looking at our society, the real core of our combined well-being, our combined economic fabric is made by our local small and medium shops, companies, and enterprises. That is why we offer TY guides at prices affordable to small and medium enterprises. And if wanted, you can combine this with our extra guidance.  

The important part of this is, as an SME, please use this vast body of knowledge. There is a reason that large companies spend so many resources, including people, technology, and money to refine their processes. One of the big qualms of smaller businesses is the disadvantage they have because of their scale. Using our guides and input and help, SMEs can now make use of the same information and processes that give you also the same efficiencies as your larger competitors,

We also obviously have our OaaS — Operations as a Service — consulting model where TY takes care of the operational tasks in your company. This typically involves longer-term engagements. We offer you these in a full and part-time model.

Dominik Kaoru Taeymans joined TY in 2020 (he already did family helper work as early as 2017). He worked on several projects and then a large client recognized his qualities and asked permission to hire him away. What is a dad to do? So since then, he works for this large insurance company. Proud.

If you like our methods and thinking, please get in touch with me via Contact - Tymans Group