
Alain HUI BON HOA
Chief Operating Officer | Scaling Complex Technology Businesses through Operations, Services & Product-Market Fit
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92120 Montrouge, France
Mobilité : Île-de-France
Freelance, ouvert au CDI
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Introduction
I help organisations deploy and scale customer-centric deeptech and AI solutions. Across roles in France, Japan, Germany and the US, I've seen the same pattern: technology is ready and the vision is ambitious — but customers hesitate, Sales struggle to articulate value, and Operations find it hard to adapt. The real challenge is not the breakthrough itself, but understanding where it creates real customer value, how users experience it, and how to align the organisation so it can scale. My career has been built around that moment where technology meets organisational and market reality. It unfolds across two key phases: ① 16 years at General Electric in B2B services, progressing from eBusiness Consultant to Director of Operations, and then Director of Innovation and Strategic Projects ② 11 years in Aldebaran, Softbank Robotics and United Robotics Group, pioneers in humanoid and service robotics, holding global leadership roles in Services, Product, Business Development, Transformation, COO and Deputy GM Through these years, I've led key cross-functional initiatives and guided teams through product-market fit, scale-ups, international expansions and deployments of pioneer AI and robotics solutions (25,000 humanoid robots). My motivation: shaping technologies that genuinely uplift people - reducing friction, simplifying work, improving interactions, and creating tangible, emotionally meaningful value.
Expérience de travail
United Robotics Group
janv. 2021 - Présent
5 ans 10 mois
Paris, France
URG France Chief Operating Officer & Deputy General Manager
janv. 2024 - Présent
2 ans 10 mois
Paris, France
– Co-lead with the BD Director the the french subsidiary of 25 employees, covering global Marketing, and distribution and services over Southern Europe (~3 M€ revenue) – Manage URGF SW R&D and Services – Drive URGF Finance and HR – Support the business development strategy – Missions: – Transfer the Accounting and Payrolls functions from URG shared services to an external service provider, and take over the management of Finance and HR – Redefine the Southern Europe services organisation and processes, and adapt the system workflows accordingly, following the sudden termination of a centralised Services team in Germany – Redefine the URGF SW development roadmap to create competitive advantages for the Southern Europe market – Support the Business development strategy – Results: – Remotivated the URGF team and created a great positive momentum thanks to frequent communication and first commercial successes – Delivered the 2024 financial targets – Successfully transferred the Payroll and Accounting processes to an external service provider in 2 months, with 0 delay or gap in the processes – Re-engineered the Support processes, systems and organisation in 1 month, redistributing scopes and responsibilities, with full continuity of service for customers – Redefined the SW R&D roadmap, opening ~300k€ sales opportunities and unique competitive positioning – Identified key partners and markets for the new set of autonomous cleaning robots
VP Business Development - Service Robots for Public Life Environments
janv. 2022 - janv. 2024
2 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
– Lead the Business Development for the Hospitality, Retail, Healthcare and Education markets over EMEA (9M€ revenue) – Coordinate the global Business Development strategy on Education – Define the growth strategy, including the Go to Market, distribution and techno partnerships and Product requirements – Missions (Education): – Reassess the market opportunities, re-engage with historical distributors, develop sales by at least 10% annually – Develop the vision and business case for the development of a new humanoid robot – Missions (Other markets): – Prospect and validate the target market segments for the newly introduced service robots – Develop the distribution network to multiply sales – Coordinate the market development actions with the Global Marketing team : events, digital campaigns, ... – Results: – Increased Education market revenue by 38% in 2024 vs 2023, through target market refocus, specific solution development and price increase – Initiated a global 3 year global growth strategy on secondary schools – Pitched and obtained investment approval from the URG Comex for the development of a new humanoid robot – Achieved agressive launch targets of doubling Service robots sales every quarter from Sept 2023 to June '2024
Transformation Leader
janv. 2021 - janv. 2022
1 an 1 mois
Paris, France
– Member of the URG Senior Leadership Team – In charge of URG cross-company strategic initiatives – Missions: – Prepare the market launch of a new service robot coordinating with R&D, distribution and financing services over 3 different URG companies – Transfer the humanoid robots aftersales services from Aldebaran to United Robotics Group GmbH, overlooking the services agreement, knowledge transfer and systems setup – Results: – Organised and led weekly project reviews to align R&D with market needs – Identified key initial target markets, coordinated early POCs, and initiated marketing battle cards – Coordinated the development of the outright sales and Robot as a Service offerings, from a combination of cost estimates and competitive positionning – Smoothly transferred the humanoid robots aftersales services from Aldebaran in France to URG GmbH in Germany, starting with a 50 repair/month rate
SoftBank Robotics Europe
janv. 2016 - janv. 2021
5 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
VP- Chief Services Officer, Product Market Fit Leader & Compliance Officer
janv. 2019 - janv. 2021
2 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
– Management of 6 Directors + a team of 15 Project Managers and Product Managers – Fonctional management of the global Services organisation of 100+ employees – In charge of the Compliance processes and the Compliance Committee – Missions: – Establish the product governance to transform the product development approach from techno-push to value-based – Organise the collaboration between the R&D in France and the regional markets to clarify ROI, and obtain buy-in from all parties on the product roadmap – Resolve compliance claims, in particular interpersonal conflicts – Results: – Initiated mixed business/R&D development project teams, with integrated project plans and shared profit targets – Deployed a systematic value analysis of development opportunities, and agile market validation of developments – Identified challenges to humanoid robot short-term profitability, and pivoted on an alternative product strategy on service robots
Vice President - Chief Services Officer and Product Office Leader
janv. 2016 - janv. 2019
3 ans 1 mois
Paris Area, France
– Management of 5 Directors + a mixed FR/JP Product Office team – Functional management of the global Services organisation of 100+ employees – Missions: – Define and implement a program to bring dramatic product quality improvements, short- and mid-term, aligning the R&D in France and the regional markets – Lead the US launch program for Operations – Influence R&D to ensure the Design to Serve – Innovate to keep improving Services productivity and customer satisfaction – Results: – Successfully built and led a mixed FR/JP Product team to coordinate across R&D and business stakeholders worldwide – Led a large scale product robustification program, reducing the failure rate by 75% in 2 years – Redefined the continuous improvement processes with the CTOs for in time releases. Tripled the release frequency for faster time to market – Led a US/FR/JP project team to prepare Operations for the US launch within 9 months, including org, processes and systems for online sales, Sales Admin, Supply Chain and Services – Launched a cross-functional Customer Centricity initiative – Created a Services Engineering team working along the R&D teams – Delivered innovative support Services, such as a cloud-based automated proactive maintenance, reducing costs, customer perceived failure, and winning key customer deals
Chief Services Officer
ALDEBARAN
janv. 2014 - janv. 2016
2 ans 1 mois
Paris Area, France
– Member of the Executive Committee – Functional management of the global Services organisation of 100+ employees in France, Japan, US and China – Missions: – Set up and manage the global Services organisation, in particular creation from scratch of the Services team in Japan as the primary market – Negotiate and finalise all service contracts with Softbank Group, as the master distributor for Japan – Define in anticipation and dynamically readjust a Services budget planning model, despite the unknown related to the new robot – Implement customer satisfaction, activity and cost control KPIs – Industrialise all the Services processes to enable fast ramp-up and productivity – Results: – Organised the global governance through KPIs, cost planning and tracking, and regular team/1-1 meetings – Increased the global Services organisation from 40 to 100+. Developed the Japan team x4 in 12 months, – Developed a high spirit and engaged Services team, recognized in the company. Employee Turnover 1/3 of company average – Industrialised the services and slashed costs by 75% in 2 years through lean processes, SOPs, aftersales tools, repair outsourcing – Structured the Spare Part logistics and reduced procurement issues by 70%
Innovation and Strategic Project Director
GE Capital France
janv. 2009 - janv. 2014
5 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
– Member of the Senior Leadership Team – X-functional coordination of the Fleet Services business – Identification and management of strategic projects and innovation initiatives – Missions: – Drive Strategic projects – Coordinate the Fleet Services teams cross- functionally – Identify and lead disruptive innovations across the 3 entities – Champion the global GE HealthAhead initiative to create a culture of health in GE Capital France – Results: – Led the relaunch of the Fleet Services business: stabilised processes, managed the project deck, organised monthly All Employee communications. – Consistently achieved Net Income targets, ranked #2 at "Best Customer Service of the Year" survey in 2011 – Reengineered the profitability approach, enabling a 8M€ impact in 3 year – Turned a runoff of 3,000 Fleet non-strategic customers into earnings opportunity by developing a strategic partnership and transferring the customer portfolio – Initiated disruptive innovation projects, eg reinvent EEF customer relationship using Design Thinking – Obtained top score in GE Capital first certification in the GE HealthAhead program
Operations and Modernisation Leader for Fleet Services
GE Capital Solutions
janv. 2007 - janv. 2009
2 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
– Member of the Senior Leadership Team, in charge of 80 employees – In charge of the Driver Services Operations for 120,000 vehicles – Missions: – Modernisation of the overall customer service processes (Sales Admin and Operations) leveraging automation tools at GE Equipment Finance – Improve Operations market share, profitability and customer satisfaction – Results: – Defined and initiated a customer service modernisation program targeting 20% productivity over 3 years – Automated the quotation processes to enable client online quotation – Digitised and automated the work approvals and invoice processing
Operations Director
GE Fleet Services France
janv. 2003 - janv. 2007
4 ans 1 mois
Paris, France
– Member of the Senior Leadership Team, in charge of 70 employees – P&L responsibility for the Driver services (250M€ revenue), including Maintenance, Accident Management and Replacement Vehicles – Coordination and control over 1000+ certified service partners – Missions: – Implement cost and customer satisfaction KPIs – Review and improve the organisation and processes – Redefine the services scope to improve revenues and profitability – Support key sales deals by sharing confidence on Operations and its ability to develop custom impactful services – Results: – Insourced Accident Management and Implemented a customer centric vision and improvement program, focusing on Drivers mobility : reduced complaints by 70%, improved productivity by 40% – Introduced new services: increased service margins by 15%, achieved service penetration 30% above market – Closed and implemented the French Ministry of Defence fleet outsourcing program: € 450M revenue over 6 years, 20 000 vehicles, largest outsourcing deal in the Fleet Leasing industry – Boosted team spirit: Raised employee satisfaction 80%, ranked 7th in '06 Best Place to Work survey and 5th in '07 – Decisive in the company turnover and growth acceleration (from -5% to +10%)
Integration Program Manager
GE European Equipment Management
janv. 2002 - janv. 2003
1 an 1 mois
– In charge of the Integration for the Technical Services scope within the 5 person Integration project team, reporting to the European Integration Leader – Weekly progress reports to the GE EEM CEO – Missions: – Audit the processes and organisations – Identify and implement synergies and best practices across companies and countries – Results: – Deployed cost control KPIs at european level across all 3 companies – Centralised the OEM warranty claims processes – Centralised and outsourced the supplier invoice processing – Deployed a single European system for TIP
European Project Manager - Six Sigma Black Belt
GE Global Exchange Services
janv. 2001 - janv. 2002
1 an 1 mois
– Drive improvement projects in GXS Professional Services, reporting to the GXS Europe Professional Services leader – Deploy the GE group wide transformation of 6 sigma-based process design and improvement – Missions: – Lead strategic improvement projects – Deploy the Six Sigma culture by coaching green belt six sigma projects – Results: – Facilitated OKR definition, and KPIs dashboard implementation across the Professional Services organisation – Led a Six Sigma Black Belt project accelerating the ebusiness rollout process by 20% – Coached 30 Six Sigma Green Belt projects
E-business Consultant Europe
GE Global Exchange Services (GXS)
janv. 1999 - janv. 2001
2 ans 1 mois
– Part of a 4 specialist European ebusiness team, combining strong ebusiness, Six Sigma and industry expertise – Missions: – Sell and conduct e-business opportunity studies at Leadership Board level – Provide process analysis, solution design, assessment of the organisation and financial impacts – Results: – Created e-business consulting packages, sold and led them in Middle East, UK, France, Belgium, .. with 90%+ customer satisfaction rate – Genetated implementation projects worth 1+ million € for GE GXS
Presales Consultant
GE Information Services
janv. 1998 - janv. 1999
1 an 1 mois
– Support Sales team on complex solutions selling – Once deal signed, be the technical bridge between the customer and the implementation team – Missions: – Solution expert on system integration and EDI outsourcing solutions – Ease the customer understanding of the solution – Accurate need analysis and development of functional specifications to ensure margin over the quotation
EDI Consultant
EDI Consultant
janv. 1997 - janv. 1998
1 an 1 mois
– Management of the Automotive EDI community in France (€ 4 million turnover) – Missions: – Technical contact point for the largest EDI Customer Account (Peugeot) – Organisation of Product and service evolution, deployment programs and support – GXS Representative at the french Automotive EDI Standards standardisation association (Gallia) – Results: – Expanded the Peugeot EDI community to 3rd tier supplier thanks to innovative solutions – Expanded automotive EDI revenues by 10%
Formation
MBA / PhD in Al / Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm)
Master of Business Administration, Business
Collège des Ingénieurs
Master of Business Administration, MBA
Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm)
Mathematics & Computer Science
Université Paris VII
PhD, Computer Science - Artificial intelligence (AI)
Licences et certifications
Lean Six Sigma, Green Belt Certified
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