Econocom Group NV

What a frustrating experience trying to visit Econocom, an IT infrastructure management concern with revenues in 2004 of 822 million euros and over 1,700 employees. Staying at the Renaissance Brussels Hotel and looking over several street maps of Brussels I'm plotting with marks on maps the various locations of companies being visited. It turns out the address for Econocom Group is the street right behind the hotel.

The next morning I enter the courtyard area of a large nine-story, red brick apartment complex with retail and office space on the ground floor. The address takes me to a small room and the only way I know this is the right address is because of the name Econocom on a three inch long decal on the door. I see several people inside. This can't possibly be the place. I knock on the door and luckily one of the guys speaks English. I explain who I am and how I mailed a letter of introduction a month ago to CEO & Chairman Jean-Louis Bouchard. at this address. The guy walks me across the courtyard to a small cluster of Econocom offices and though this is the registered office, Bouchard hasn't had an office here for several years. Where did my letter go? Was it forwarded to the other office? Why couldn't someone at the company have sent me a simple email saying my letter was received but the head office is elsewhere?

The new address I'm given is 510 Leuvenstrasse and from the map it looks to be only about three miles away so off I go. I spend an hour looking for the address and guess what? there is a 500 block of Leuvenstrasse but no number 510. Why was I given an incorrect address? What kind of sloppy organization is CEO Bouchard running? Bouchard founded Econocom in 1982 and controls 50% of this publicly-traded company.

Before leaving Brussels I figure out the problem. The address for 510 Leuvenstrasse is in the town of Zaventem (next to the airport) and NOT the Leuvenstrasse in Brussels. Unfortunately for me but maybe fortunately for Econocom my tight schedule prevents checking it out. Then again, if you go to the company's website www.econocom.com and click on their list of worldwide office locations–it shows the address I first went to "Clos du Parnasse 13 A/B" as being the head office of Econocom Group.