Newletter Sept 2020

The Trimble Times

INSIDE THIS We are already in September. We bet some of you have already
ISSUE started counting down to Christmas!

PG. 2 In this newsletter you can read an update from Peter Huysmans and
Lutz Siegert. We also had the honor to interview our CFO, David
A Word From Barnes. Our team in the Spotlight is the Documentation team, and you
can also find out who the winners are of our giveaway!
PG. 5 Happy reading
The Trimble Times Team
Team in the Spotlight
We Need You!
PG. 2
Mail your ideas and information for the newsletter to this email
Interview with David address: [email protected].
Barnes
If you have more general suggestions, for example, an idea to improve
PG. 9 your office space, a great idea for the next meetcentive... you can mail
these to this email address: [email protected].
Work From Home

PG. 10

Winners Trimble Give Away

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Trimble Transport Live

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New Joiners

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September 2020 Trimble Confidential Information | For internal employee use only Page 1 of 11

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A Word From

Dear all, First, stay safe! Your health is the absolute
priority. We can only make positive
I hope you enjoyed some contributions if we stay healthy and avoid
holiday or free time with spreading the virus. Pay attention to your
your family or friends emotional wellbeing also. It is normal that these
during the summer period. extended times of homeworking and uncertainty
First, I would like to thank increases our stress levels.
you for what you have
done already to get Trimble T&L through this Second, stay focused on your duties at Trimble
Covid- 19 situation. Your efforts and T&L. Our customers rely on us for their daily
commitment make all the difference, every day. operations. The transport and logistics sector is
a key sector. Trimble T&L is an important piece
We were able to extend our installed customer in this logistics puzzle.
base during the last few months. Mainly because
our existing customers expanded their fleet. Third, it is in times of crisis that we can make a
They trust us as a stable and reliable partner to lot of difference for our customers. If you have
build their business on. Your commitment and ideas on how to improve our services and
the trust of our customers is the base for the procedures to make our customers happier, do
success of Trimble T&L today and in the future. not hesitate to formulate these ideas and
improvements to me or your manager.
Homeworking will remain the norm for the rest
of 2020. The next months will still be defined by Please, do look after yourselves and your
uncertainty in our personal and business lives. families.
Changing rules and regulations due to Covid-19
will have an impact on you, your family, our Thank you.
business and the general economic situation.
Peter Huysmans
To cope with this unique challenge, stay focused General Manager, Trimble T&L Europe
on 3 priorities:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

For the last 6 months a lot spreading in Germany and there are only
has been revolving around isolated Hotspots. Let us hope that it stays that
the Corona crisis. After a way.
peak in infection figures in
March with about 6,000 daily In addition to social developments, there are
infections and a quiet also trends in the telematics industry that have a
summertime, the infection lasting effect on the market. With about 180
rate is slowly rising again in telematics providers in Germany, it is very
our country. However, with currently approx. difficult for prospects to identify which solutions
2,000 daily infections, it is still relatively slow are the right ones for them. Of course, the big

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The Trimble Times

internationally known brands such as Transics, prospects no longer want to compare and buy
individual products. The customers want us to
Astrata, Vehco, TomTom, the OEMs like solve their problems. Our contacts want to
explain to us how the transport company works
Fleetboard, Rio and others, and of course we as and show us their problems. The people want us
to listen to them, understand their way of
Trimble are still on the market. But there are also working and show them how processes can be
simplified, procedures can be optimized and
a lot of newcomers in our segment who are easily implemented. The customers want to
understand quickly and easily how they can work
pushing more and more into the big fleets. efficiently with our solutions while also saving
money. They also want to see that we don't just
Spedion, Yellowfox, Couplink, NavKonzept are develop new functions but grow with their
requirements. This also means a substantial
just a few names that are barely of international adjustment of the sales history and the work of
the project management.
significance but that have established strong

positions in Germany. What all the new ones

claim for themselves is an integral, uniform

solution for the products of telematics,

tachograph archiving and wages & expenses.

These companies never reach the depth of our

possibilities but give the customers the simplicity

of user guidance. Partnerships with deep

integrations complement innovative Due to the changed market situation, we have

developments. lost some smaller customers, or customers with

It is comparable with the development of the a different way of thinking, but we have also
automotive industry. There is the electric drive,
the LNG engine and many other options besides been able to win some customers with deep
petrol and diesel. New suppliers like Tesla are
becoming strong and integral requirements. The fact that our existing
are forcing VW,
Mercedes and BMW to customers in particular are constantly putting us
rethink. Customers are
simply changing their to the test against
requirements, ideals
and thus their user their requirements
behavior. The people
want full driving also shows how
pleasure which is easy
to drive, easy to operate, protects the nature, quickly the
can do everything, and preferably never has to
go to the garage. If there is something wrong, requirements of the
they want perfect service.
German market are

currently changing.

While only three years ago we were able to show That is why Rob
customers the advantages of the technical Painter's new strategy
possibilities of the CarCube and explain to is absolutely the right
people what great functions we have, the way. One Trimble means the best possible
German market has changed completely in cooperation for all of us, and for our customers
recent months too. Our major customers and and prospects it means combining the strengths
and functionalities of our solutions in the best
possible way, making them easy to use and
creating or evaluating data where it`s needed.

TID, i.e. a uniform login, is just as important as a
one-off creation of driver or vehicle master data,
synchronization between the solutions, to name

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The Trimble Times

just two examples. New possibilities such as German market. Companies like that recognize
document management, the revision of BI further great potential in Europe and will change
reporting, driver coaching, video intelligence and the market in the following years. This is a strong
our documentation portal are once again real incentive for all of us to bundle all our strengths
innovations that set us apart from our under the idea of OneTrimble and to have a
competitors. lasting influence on the changes in the market.

With the functional depth and our possibilities, Corona has also forced us into a new way of
we were able to win Nobilia, the largest kitchen approaching our customers. Although webinars
manufacturer in Europe, against more than 10 and our first virtual online trade fair do not
competitors despite the Corona crisis in recent replace customer visits, they show us how
weeks. 220 CarCubes, which were delivered in important it is to constantly adapt to the
one week and installed by our technicians in 4 situation. So, every crisis also creates new,
weeks was a great job from all of us. Now we are successful opportunities, which our customers
starting to expand to include Solid, Logicway and also reward and lead to a much faster flow of
Trailer Telematics. There are more than 10 test information about new developments.
installations of smaller and larger fleets, which Marketing, project management and sales have
do not belong to our customer base yet. not resigned themselves to Corona, but have
developed new ideas together, which will also
The biggest plus for us in the current projects is have a lasting effect on our future work.
our great team, where everyone helps everyone,
and the customer has the feeling of the best It is great to be part of this constant process of
possible support. The customers do not care, if change and it encourages all of us to emerge
the question is Logicway, Solid or Telematix. strongly from this change.
They notice that we care when he addresses a
problem. For our customers and prospects, we So, thank you to everyone who is working
are "OneTrimble", no matter whether in the tirelessly to live “OneTrimble”.
sales phase, in the rollout phase or even during
operation. Best regards from Germany

Currently, US companies such as Samsara or Lutz Siegert
Verizon are also pushing strongly into the Country Manager, Germany

Team in the Spotlight: Documentation

This time we put the created the Documentation We are responsible for
Documentation team in the Portal, where our customers
spotlight. Sander Derycke can consult all of the documentation, translation,
and Alexandra Carremans documentation online
are responsible for our and communication. Our
Documentation & Training. What does the team do
Together they recently within Trimble? focus is writing customer

documentation such as user

manuals, quick guides,

release notes and

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The Trimble Times

specification sheets. Creating also send out technical compare our situation with
internal documentation is communications to our someone who’s doing testing
also part of the job, a good customers saying that a for example. Of course,
example is the integration product release will take looking at the same four walls
manual used by the project place. Our newsletter is also every day gets tedious after a
managers. part of the communication while so I’m looking forward
and we feel it’s a good way to to seeing everyone again.
Since we are active in many connect people and inform
different countries, most of them about new products, How do you see the future of
our documentation gets events and other news. documentation?
translated into several
languages. We either work What are some of your day- More in an online and
together with a translation to-day activities?
interactive format. We
It depends. When we have an
upcoming release, we must recently released a beta
make sure we sit together
with the development teams version of our documentation
and the product owners to
prepare the translations and portal, so we are working on
release notes. We then use
the release notes to update the first part. It is a complete
our documentation. When
there are no releases shift from PDF to online
planned, we are busy creating
new documentation or we documentation. The portal
work on other projects like
the documentation portal. will allow us to gradually
Each day is different, so it
really is a multifaceted job! transform our existing

How did the Covid-19 crisis documentation and make it
affect your job?
more suitable for an online
The impact on our team is
agency or do the translation minimal. We can perfectly environment: shorter
work from home and apart
ourselves. We are also from our demo cases, we
don’t really need any
responsible for the client and equipment. You can’t

backend software

translations we receive from

the development teams. It is

a completely different way of

translating, but very

interesting and important,

nonetheless.

The last step is internal and explanations, more video
external communication. tutorials, cross-referencing
Before a release, we first between different user
inform our colleagues about manuals and a handy search
the upcoming changes. We option to top it off.

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The Trimble Times

Interview David Barnes

We had the opportunity to interview David in La Hulpe. It is a global provider of water
Barnes, our CFO. He joined Trimble in January infrastructure engineering and design, and
and immediately was confronted with a construction. Then we sold our business to a
challenging time. company called Stantec, which is based in
Canada, but it is now a global business. My last
To start with, can you tell us a little bit about role in Stantec was not in finance, I had
yourself? operational responsibility for all of Stantec’s
businesses outside of North America, so
Okay, I’ll start from everything but the US and Canada.
the beginning. I
grew up and I What does a typical day of a CFO look like?
wanted to be an
engineer. I studied Well, the rhythm of being a CFO varies by the
in university to be quarterly reporting cycle. Once a quarter we
an engineer, but I must communicate with our investors about the
kept destroying health of the company and the days leading up
the oscilloscopes to that, or the weeks I would say, are pretty
in the electrical hectic. It starts with quarterly updates with all
engineer lab and the businesses and then we work hard on
the head of the head of the engineering ensuring all our disclosures, the earnings... all
department told me maybe I should find a the communications... There is a certain art to
different academic path to pursue because I was communicating the health of the company to
harming the budget of the engineering people who do not work here every day. So, that
department. So somehow, I found my way into consumes every day of the week or two before
business. It was kind of by accident. I started as the quarter ends. Otherwise, there is no real
a management consultant and then got into definable pattern. My responsibility is for
finance by way of serving strategic side of ensuring the financial health of the company and
finance. Most of my career has been on global so some days are very much involved in
businesses, I spent relatively little time focused reviewing investments, developing plans...
on US or North American businesses. For a Lately we’ve been doing a lot of scenario
period, I had an office in Mannheim, Germany, I planning because the world is so uncertain, so
worked in head offices for a few years in Hong we’re trying to figure out what the demand
Kong and Shanghai. I know how to say ‘Hello’ and environment and the economic environment
‘Thank you’ in about 20 languages, I think. That might look like and how we as a company can be
is it, only two words, but usually those two get smart. So, one of the things I like about this job
you pretty far. is, other than the quarterly close cycle, there is
really not much of a routine. Every day I work on
What kind of companies did you work for what the needs of the business are. I’ll add that
previously? one of the assignments Rob has given me lately
is to oversee the digital transformation efforts of
Before I came to Trimble, I was with a company the company. To develop common tools and
that was called MWH Global which has an office

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practices so that we can better connect & scale It’s interesting. Because of the global nature of
our digital offerings. I think every day, I have at our business, I think I was able, well, along with
least a meeting or two on that topic. my colleagues, to have insight into Covid before
most of my, particularly American friends. We
You joined Trimble in January of this year, so obviously became aware of very quickly the
that is quite recently. What are your impact in China on our supply chain, in January
impressions of the company so far? And what & February, and I remember telling my
do you think are our greatest strengths? colleagues: “This is going to be global, and it’s
going to be big”.

I’ll talk about the impact on the company and the
impact on me and my role.

How do you think our financial strategy applies How difficult was it for you to take of all of
the Trimble culture & values? these decisions since you were just starting in
this position?
I think our culture is sort of a unique mix of
aggressive ambition, but also humility, and I First thing I’ll tell you is I point to Rob Painter’s
think that is reflected in our financial position. leadership. He set the tone and the tone he set
I’m fortunate to be able to tell you that we are was: “We really don’t know what’s going to
really strong financially, we have economic very happen, we have to be proactive”. I will tell you
low debt levels, we are performing better than that that was an easy vision to embrace. Cutting
our investors thought we were, frankly, we are people’s pay is no fun, it’s an unpleasant task,
performing better than I thought we were as this but what made it work better for me is the way
pandemic took hold. So we are a very strong we did it. The way there was the shared sense of
company, but we’re not careful in the sense that sacrifice, that we did it in a progressive way that
it hampers our ambition. Rob calls it polarities, protected the lowest income people and took
when you have two things that seem opposite the people with the highest pay more, as a way
that coexist, so this sort of conservatism and care of communicating that we’re all sharing in the
combined with ambition to transform the way sacrifice. It’s unpleasant work, but I was happy to
the world works. I think all of that is reflected in do it. What I saw in my community, here in
our financial position. We’re very strong, we Colorado, and I have lots of friends in different
have the ability to invest, but we’re very prudent kinds of work. I saw traumatic suffering: closing
in the way we run the company, so that’s a good of businesses, massive layoffs... and the way we
mix.

What was the impact of Covid-19 on starting in
a new function?

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did it, was to keep the company strong, to keep stronger even post-Covid than they were before.
the maximum number of people employed. That Commercial real estate, office buildings, I think,
was an easy idea to get enthusiastic about. A lot are going to be more depressed. Business travel,
of us worked very long hours to figure out the I predict, will be down. So airlines, hotels and a
details of this. It was hard work, but I was eager lot of the drivers of in-demand for construction
to do it, because I thought we were helping the business, probably will be hampered. I think
company be financially strong and doing it in a we’re going to have to be mindful of the impact
way that reinforced, rather than undercut, the in the end-markets. Generally, I think this
values. acceleration of the adoption of digital
technologies in the industries we serve is only
We quickly had to figure out ‘When would we going to go faster. I think that’s good for Trimble,
undo this’. We were watching, ideally a meeting because if you look at our fundamental business
which takes place between every one to three purpose of transforming the way the world
weeks, but we look at all the leading indicators works, a lot of our customers see the need to
of our business. So, we looked at in-construction transform the way they work, more than they
project starts, backlog of our clients, and all did before the crisis. While there will be
these indicators that tell us ‘How bad is this disruptions long-term, the sustained impact of
going to be’. I’m proud of the speed with which Covid will probably be helpful to Trimble’s
we undid the reductions that we put in the first mission.
place, because the objective was to buy some
insurance, buy some time, keep flexible as a As far as how we run the company, I think we will
company. It was never a permanent fix, it was a travel less for business and use this kind of
temporary fix to this wildly uncertain problem. technology that we have learned how to use,
By no means did I do most of the work on this, that we’ve perfected. We will be more judicious.
but it was something that was easy to get One of the very interesting things that we’ve
passionate about because I thought we were seen is, for instance in the area of trade shows
really helping the company and the people in a and conferences, our colleagues in Brazil serving
strange way. the agriculture business, every year or two they
have a big trade show where they bring in
What do you expect to be the permanent farmers from all over Brazil. In a good year they
impact of Covid-19? will get a 1000 of them to come to this big event,
which is very expensive. This year we did it online
I’ll comment on a few areas. One is our for a fraction of the cost and we had 5 or 6 times
customers and the nature of their business, and the engagement and participation. So, I think we
then I’ll talk about our business. have a lot of new ways that we’ve learned to
engage with our customers and that will be a
Some of the sectors that are the end-users of sustaining change in our business. I think we will
Trimble product are going to be strengthened have a smaller office footprint. We will be more
and some are going to be badly hurt for the very efficient in many ways. But I’m reluctant to make
long term. Anybody involved in e-commerce is too many big predictions, because when you’re
helped, so if you think of our business where we right in the middle of the storm it’s hard to know
serve clients that build warehouses, what the world is going to be like when the storm
datacenters... Those business are likely to be

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is passed. I do think we’re maybe at the end of Final words for Europe:
the beginning or the end of the middle of the What’s unique about Trimble?
storm. The advisors that I consult about when
this health crisis will have passed, tell me that it
will be well into 2021 before we can all feel
comfortable going back to the new normal. This
new world is going to be very different, I’m sure
of that, but how long it will be before the new
normal I think it’s going to be a while.

Have you ever had other experiences in
challenging times such as these?

If you have to focus more on the Thank you for your time David!
transportation sector, what are your
expectations in that area?

Always remember: as One Trimble we've got
this!

Work From Home Kit

We hope you're all enjoying your work from
home kit. Thanks again for your commitment
and hard work to keep us up and running! We
appreciate everything that you do for us!

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Trimble Give Away

We are so happy to
see how all of you
have been engaging
in the Google
Currents community.
Keep up the spirit of
staying connected and sharing thoughts!

We put all contestants in a random name picker
and spun the wheel 5 times.

Congratulations Valerie Saguerre Farvaque, Raul
Zambrana, Christine de Meyer, Korneel Reynaert
and Balendran Murugesan!

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Trimble Transport Live – New Joiners
Germany 2020
are the event on your LinkedIn!

Next virtual fairs:

• France & Wallonie: October 1st
• Netherlands & Flanders: October 29th

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