An Auspicious Start in Training

The QP Group started its business in France with the founding of QP France in 2000. The subsidiary developed specific expertise in training for purchasing departments. Total was our first customer and has continued to place its trust in us ever since. In 2003, the company signed its first contract to run a worldwide Purchasing Academy for Faurecia, which was followed by many new customers in the area of skills development.

Independence and  Diversification

QP France became independent in 2003 when the French management team took over. Reinvigorated by the move, the company was in a good position to move forward with a brand-new service addressing all major purchasing challenges, from devising strategies to running transformation programs and operational projects. 

An International Consultancy

To support our international development, we recast our name and brand in 2005, becoming Buy.O. An early achievement came in November 2006 when we signed our first cooperation agreement with the University of Beijing Wuzi in China to establish a research center and bachelor's degree program dedicated to purchasing management (the first degree to be recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education). Since 2008, Buy.O has opened two other offices in China—in Shanghai and Tianjin. In 2009 and 2010, we opened Buy.O Benelux in Maastricht and Buy.O Italy in Milan. We have also established strong partnerships in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Expansion into the Public Sector

In response to the radical shifts occurring in public administration, we extended our services to the public sector and signed our first contract with La Poste Group in 2006. We soon began working with a broad array of public sector organizations, from ministries to state-owned companies, local governments and municipalities. In particular, our work providing support to the French Ministry of Defense since 2007 has enabled us to broaden our knowledge of regulatory compliance, outsourcing, private fund initiatives (PFI) and more.

Expansion into Services and Customer Relationships Management

The next key step in our development was the establishment of a new entity to drive external value creation on behalf of customers. Cymbi.O was founded in 2008 to complement our existing business with support services designed to develop organizations’ customer relationships and transform their services.

Ecosystem & Strategic Partnerships

Today Buy.O serves the largest enterprises and public sector organizations at the international level. We’ve succeeded in carving a niche in business ecosystem development and business relationship management that includes our initial procurement activities. Throughout our history, the group has acquired broad knowledge of suppliers, clients and partners. We now focus our business on helping private companies and public sector organizations to derive value from their business ecosystem.