Vincent Bayeul is Training Manager at Trimble. Since 2016, he has been putting his skills and know-how at the service of his team, as well as the company's customers. Interview with a technology enthusiast who was afraid of missing the BIM train.
At the age of 34, Vincent Bayeul admits it himself: he has "done quite a bit of traveling". Before joining Trimble in June 2016, he began his career in a design office. " My job was to design networks in buildings, mainly heating, air conditioning and drainage". One thing led to another, and he rose through the ranks to become an activity manager.
But it was at this point that the BIM revolution began to take hold. Passionate about new technologies, Vincent quickly realized that his company had to jump on the bandwagon to stay in the race. "I pushed my boss at the time to buy BIM software, and the choice fell on Trimble. But in my business at the time, I wasn't using them. It was then that the young man realized that if he ever wanted to get back into the business, he needed to understand how this software worked to stay at the cutting edge of industry knowledge.
An arrival as a trainer at Trimble
So, in 2016, Vincent Bayeul decided to change companies, and his choice fell on Trimble, which develops the BIM software that fascinates him and recruits at its Lyon offices. " When I joined Trimble, I was just a trainer," he sums up. "For three months, I was trained in Trimble Nova and Tekla Structures. And at the end of that period, I gave my first training session on my own!"
For a curious man like Vincent, the challenge wasn't all that difficult. Today, he's in charge of training at Trimble. "I plan training courses, suggest dates and look after the training programs, which have to be developed and kept up to date. I also manage the team of trainers", he sums up. A career that allows him to "meet new people" and "exchange ideas with specialists from all fields".
An experience full of twists and turns
From Trimble's takeover of Stabiplan in 2018, which necessitated the integration of Stabicad's training teams alongside those of Trimble, to the COVID-19 crisis, which necessitated a complete overhaul of training methods from 2020 onwards, Vincent Bayeul has witnessed many small revolutions since he joined the company. But the Training Manager remains positive and enthusiastic about a job he still enjoys.
A former design office technician, like most of the members of his team, he appreciates being able to keep in touch with his former world. "When I was a trainer, I used to give demos to prospective customers. What I've always found interesting about this exercise is that, being technicians ourselves, we end up talking about technology and forget that we have something to sell! It always made me laugh. I was very happy when we reached that level, because for me, it meant that the demo had worked very well."
"A tool is no substitute for experience"
These days, Vincent and his colleagues have to convince a number of prospects who are perplexed by the benefits of BIM. For him, there's a generational gap to be bridged. "The older members of the profession aren't necessarily resistant, but they're a bit sceptical. They think we're going to totally transform their working methods. Younger people, on the other hand, are keen to handle new technologies.
Vincent clearly falls into this second category. " I've always seen BIM as the future of the profession, and I'm not wrong," he says. "I don't think you have to limit yourself to 3D models to understand the benefits of BIM. I always take the example of reservations in execution plans. When I did them in my previous job, it was manual, on 2D plans. I could make 300 reservations, it took me hours, and the risk of error was there. With a tool like Nova, everything is virtually automatic. What used to take half a day now takes a few minutes, and there's less risk of error
However, the trainer believes that BIM software will not make the know-how of industry professionals disappear. "On the contrary! The problem with these tools is that if you use them without experience, you can quickly make mistakes. You need experience to understand what the software outputs. It's a time-saving tool, but it's no substitute for experience
"The important thing is added value"
When asked how he feels he helps Trimble customers on a daily basis, Vincent Bayeul sums things up simply: "What's important is added value. At the end of the day, we ask ourselves what we've been able to produce. And in this case, with our solutions, it's "What have I been able to produce compared to before?".
The training manager believes that helping customers to learn and master Trimble software is essential if they are to exploit its full potential. " It's the help we give customers that really adds value," he says.
As for the future, Vincent inevitably looks to BIM. "In my previous job, we had Trimble licenses that I didn't use. If I'd known, I'd have taken the time to get trained! If I had to go back to the design world tomorrow, I couldn't go back. It's life-changing, it saves time and it limits mistakes and the associated costs." A testimony from the heart, from a trainer who has never forgotten where he comes from, and that's undoubtedly what makes him so passionate on a daily basis.
