Turning insight into action: How Lyreco built a daily discipline of journey management

At Beyond the Map 2025, Global Customer Experience Manager Aude Jacquemin took the stage to share how Lyreco, one of Europe’s largest workplace solutions providers, has been reshaping the way customer experience drives business value across 25 countries.

She opened her session titled “From Mapping to Managing: Putting Journeys at the Center of Decision-Making,” by addressing the elephant in the room:  “We’ve all heard it: ‘Journey management doesn’t work for us.’ And honestly? I agree. But not for the reason you think.”

For Lyreco, the problem wasn’t the concept of mapping. The issue was fragmentation, inconsistency, and the absence of a shared system for decision-making. “We still think in terms of business features versus IT systems,” said Jacquemin. “And the big missing piece in this puzzle is the customer.”

The problem with mapping

Like many companies, Lyreco began by mapping journeys. But those maps quickly multiplied. “So many files, so many formats, each team had its own version, its own way to send it,” Aude Jacquemin recounted. “And when it came time to decide, you have endless debates.” 

The consequence was predictable, as she explained: “You have no clear prioritization, a loss of wasted energy, and sometimes programs that fizzle out before having any impact.” The problem wasn’t the journey maps themselves; it was the absence of a real practice behind them. Mapping existed, but the discipline did not.

From project to process

For Lyreco, the breakthrough came when they started thinking about journeys differently. “Journey management is not a deliverable but a current, daily discipline,” said Aude Jacquemin. “It’s a common language that can reconnect IT, business, and the customer.”

With this mindset, Lyreco rebuilt its approach around a single, universal journey framework — simple, visual, and tied to OKRs, KPIs, and clear definitions of success. “It’s easy for everyone to understand,” she emphasized. “It’s one shared framework, visible to all.”

But the framework itself wasn’t a cure-all; the real shift came from ownership. Rather than mandating solutions from headquarters, Lyreco empowered each country to activate the framework locally. “The group sets the framework, but the countries drive all of the actions,” Aude Jacquemin explained. “This avoids the copy-and-paste trap and ensures better adoption.”

With shared ownership came slow but steady cultural change. “Initially, each department prefers to maintain control: ‘It’s my scope, my habits, I’m the expert.’ But when we put the customer journey at the center, discussions shift from a defensive reflex to a collaborative one,” Aude Jacquemin shared. “Teams no longer think, ‘It’s your CX tool,’ but instead ask, ‘How do we get together? How can I contribute?”

Real-world proof

Aude Jacquemin illustrated the power of this new operating model with a concrete example: customer onboarding. At first, teams approached the issue purely as a tooling problem — adding fields, fixing bugs, adjusting screens. None of it worked. “Still so many customer care tickets, still confusion, still a high abandonment rate,” she said.

Today, Lyreco reframe the onboarding as a journey moment rather than a system workflow, the right solution became obvious. “We suggested to change the approach, to simplify, to present it differently, to reduce customer effort,”. 

A new rhythm: quarterly journey performance reviews

To embed this work into the organization, Lyreco introduced quarterly journey performance reviews that consolidated insights and action plans.
The difference was immediate and unmistakable. “It’s no longer a pile of data. Now it’s a decision-making ritual,” said Aude Jacquemin. This body is being built with the contributing countries.

These reviews created transparency, rhythm, and shared accountability. After individual training and coaching, participation becomes more obvious. “That commitment is the best proof that it’s a real change,” she reiterated. 

Overcoming obstacles, one step at a time

The presentation ended with a frank assessment of what real transformation demands. “I heard many things like ‘You arrived too early,’ ‘You’re going too fast,’ ‘We’re not Google.’ These obstacles are inevitable,” Aude Jacquemin admitted. She countered with an approach grounded in patience and evidence, “Change must be lived step by step, and proven by tangible results.”

Journey management succeeds only when it stops being a project and becomes a practice: a shared language, an evidence-based system, and a cultural rhythm grounded in real customer experience.

“We started small, only 4 people. Now we have 80 contributors trained across multiple countries. 5 countries are Ok to be contributors as Pilots to refine best practices.
It’s a discipline. And it gives the company more speed and confidence in every decision,” she enthused. With that shift, journey management at Lyreco moved from aspiration to a daily discipline that now shapes how the business delivers real value.

Aude Jacquemin closed by reminding practitioners, leaders, and budding journey managers that the future of this discipline will be built through shared frameworks, consistent rituals, and organizations willing to take the next step: “Let’s collaborate beyond the map.”