THE BLOG

Nice: Avencod, a Company Adapted to the Digital Age

Interview with Laurent Delannoy, co-founder and president of Avencod, a specialized company in the IT sector based in the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis.

With a raison d’être that integrates social impact and performance, Avencod employs people with disabilities or who are neuro-atypical and offers a wide range of digital services.

The company, which already collaborates with large enterprises, now aims to extend its positive impact to SMEs, PMIs, and ETIs in the region.

Can you tell us about the history of Avencod?

Avencod was founded in 2016 in Nice by Laurence Vandergue and myself. We aimed to make a positive impact on issues of diversity and inclusion in the IT sector.

We are a specialized digital services company offering programming, testing, accessibility auditing, and data qualification services for artificial intelligence.

What sets Avencod apart is that we work with both autistic and non-autistic individuals, thus creating a rich diversity within our team.

Currently, we have 26 employees, 21 of whom are based in Nice and 5 in Marseille.

Today, our ambition is to become a well-known and recognized consulting firm. Among our clients are major names like Amadeus, Airbus Helicopters, Thalès Alenia Space, Dassault 3DS, CMA CGM, Alstom, and Naval Group.

What are the specifics of your offer?

The main specificity of Avencod lies in our social and technological model, making our offer unique and attractive to our clients.

Firstly, the quality of our services and deliverables is unanimously recognized by our IT sector clients.

Secondly, we have a significant impact in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). When a company collaborates with Avencod, it actualizes its CSR values by promoting employment for people with disabilities or who are neuro-atypical.

Financially, our specialized company model allows businesses to deduct part of their obligation to employ disabled workers. This represents a significant financial advantage while also enhancing their positive impact on their ecosystem.

Moreover, we are an alternative to offshoring, thus ensuring data security by keeping it within French territory.

Lastly, our very concrete goal is to facilitate the hiring of our employees by our clients. After a period of 18 to 24 months of collaboration, we want our clients to have the option to hire someone who is already familiar with their company and teams. This represents a considerable advantage for companies, especially in a context of talent shortage in the tech sector.

You are based in Nice. What are the advantages of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis for your company?

From the beginning of our entrepreneurial journey, we were welcomed at the Innovation Hub of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis (formerly CEEI NCA), which supported us for six years. Last year, we moved into our own premises, still located in the Var plain at the heart of the Nice Meridia urban technopole.

This location offers numerous advantages. We are ten minutes from the airport, and the tramway stops right in front of our premises, which is very convenient for the people with disabilities with whom we work. The area is developing rapidly and offers all the necessary comforts for the smooth running of a company.

The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis offers an extremely favorable ecosystem for our development. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed with marked interest in our innovative and social project as it aligned with the metropolis’s values of supporting people with disabilities.

Subsequently, we received considerable support in terms of communication and promotion. The Metropolis helped us integrate into professional networks and meet people who have contributed to our growth.

What are your development projects?

Our development objectives are multiple and aligned with a long-term vision. We aim to expand our impact in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We already have a significant impact in this area and wish to strengthen it by collaborating with companies that share our values.

Thus, our strategy is now to focus on SMEs, PMIs, and ETIs in the region. We are completely open to collaborating with these types of companies.

A particularly interesting aspect is our interest in cybersecurity. We plan to integrate this field into our services in the future. This could open doors to new collaborations, especially given the number of companies in the region that are active in this sector.

Finally, we have recently launched a data qualification service, which is in the commercialization phase. This new service adds to our already rich and diversified portfolio.

Website: https://avencod.fr/