Enabling Decisions - Number 2

Enabling decisions A magazine about finance and technology by inlumi Research Hub

REVEALING EFFICIENCY AND UNLOCKING VALUE

Why are you telling me this?

with data and process mining

Extended Planning & Analytics

The importance of communication in the face of change

Demystifying xP&A

Number 2 August 2022

Foreword

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Omer Cander

Founder & Editor Executive Principal, inlumi omer.cander@inlumi.com

Ashley Chapman

iRH Sponsor CEO, inlumi ashley.chapman@inlumi.com

Welcome to the second edition of Enabling Decisions by inlumi Research Hub (iRH). In this issue, we carefully selected and wrote about topics that are current and relevant to finance.

The cover story talks to a main challenge that companies are facing with regards to process inefficiencies and how to defeat them. We believe with the right tools and structures in place, these hurdles can be overcome easily, and more importantly, in a sustainable way.

Our aim in this edition was to challenge our own thinking by picking a diverse set of topics, from artificial intelligence to ESG to equality, in order to address common issues within the finance function. Therefore, we worked hard, researched and hopefully are able to bring some of our insights gained through our numerous engagements that we conduct with our clients.

We are proud to be able present you Enabling Decisions issue number two. We hope you enjoy reading the articles and find them useful as much as we did writing them.

As a business we are growing and maturing. We hope this edition of Enabling Decisions is a reflection of both. There are many important topics to read about and with plenty of competing priorities in our busy lives, so we must select the choices for our attention with care.

With this edition we wanted go a bit deeper into some bigger topics we believe are thought-provoking and important.

During COP26, the urgency of the climate emergency was finally agreed with a clear message: there is a lot to do and the time is now. ESG is now part of our work vocabulary and tackling it is no small task for most organisations – us included.

AI is exciting. There is a lot of value it will deliver, but what are some of the impacts we should be considering? In this edition, we ask if AI will contribute to or complicate the goals of gender equality.

Process mining and process intelligence represent new areas where technology can help ease bottlenecks and create efficiencies. We explore how this works and how quickly it can be done.

All our articles are curated and researched carefully by the team and they are written on a volunteer basis. I think I love this fact the most. I feel proud for them and excited that they have the chance to share their views and their work in this way.

Contents

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4 Revealing efficiency and unlocking value with data and process mining

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Why are you telling me this?

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Making the right decisions with sustainable finance

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The emergence and importance of crossfunctional roles

The importance of communication in the face of change

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Demystifying xP&A: Extended Planning & Analytics

to break down siloes

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How to avoid the 3 big digital transformation pitfalls

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AI and gender (in)equality

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Interview

Agile and Waterfall: Two distinct but valuable project methodologies

Does motivation + engagement = employee retention?

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REVEALING EFFICIENCY AND UNLOCKING VALUE WITH DATA AND PROCESS MINING

In a world where imitation is increasingly achievable, the margins for an organisation to gain competitive advantage are decreasing. As such, organisations are using modern technologies and analytical tools to find opportunities for reducing costs and creating value. Some of the most popular methods to do so are data and process mining.

By Holly Oxborrow

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Have you ever noticed that some offers pop up at just the right time? Or that the next show suggested by your streaming service is just the sort of thing you fancy? These are not just coincidences but are partially a result of data mining. This is what Capital One used to start tailoring the timing of their offers to individual customers, which grossly increased their rate of acceptance and return on marketing spend. It’s a similar tool that Netflix uses to track what you’ve watched, searched, or even hovered on for a while, to make suggestions for your next TV binge.1 These data mining tools take vast amounts of raw data and by tracing patterns, transform them not just into useful information but applicable and actionable knowledge.

Process mining is the less glamorous, yet just as vital, cousin of data mining that involves mining the data from processes to enable companies to identify and eliminate bottlenecks and create efficiencies. It may not be as wellknown, but it’s the tool that could be part of making sure your deliveries get to you as soon as possible from the moment you order.2 Before looking in depth at process mining, we will focus on its basis in data.

Data mining

Data mining is built on the foundations of classical statistical methods in combination with big data and algorithms. Big data has three defining properties – the 3 V’s – velocity, variety, and volume.3 Failing to appreciate any of these would limit the ability of a business to truly understand their data and to future proof it.

Velocity relates to the speed of data processing. Data can become outdated very quickly and it is therefore vital to always be working with the most relevant data. Accessing data quickly will be a priority for businesses going forward.

Volume is related to the amount of data being processed. With the advent of the Internet

of Things and an increasing number of everyday interactions taking place online, the ability to record data has grown almost exponentially. The difficulty – and main objective – of data mining is to harness this data and turn seemingly irrelevant data points into quantifiable solutions.

Variety of data is as it sounds, the different types of data being recorded. For example, twenty years ago, the only way a retailer could track its customers would be purchases at the till and perhaps a postal subscription to a catalogue.

Whereas now, a retailer can follow a customer through in-store shopping, online, an app and interaction on social media. These different data types can be combined and manipulated to build a more accurate image of who a customer is and, with forecasting or predictive analytics, what a customer wants.

Using new technology and big data, new methods have been discovered to slice and dice data in ways that are constantly developing in terms of the insights they can provide. There are an endless number of ways to analyse data in data mining, however some of the most important are detailed below:4 r Association: This method looks at correlations between two datasets and is sometimes known as relational analysis. Often used in marketing to analyse consumer behaviour, for example to figure out the likelihood that someone who buys eggs would also buy milk. r Classification: This method classifies a subject into a certain subset, using patterns of data over time. For example, a bank could classify a person by their likelihood of defaulting on a mortgage – low, medium, or high. r Clustering Analysis: Clustering is like classification, but the difference lies in the method of separating data into groups.

Classification is based on training and test sets to spot trends, whereas clustering is based on similarities between datasets, for example separating university applicants based on the

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region where they live. r Prediction: This is a combination of other data mining methods used to predict data trends.

One method is regression analysis which can be used to set a relationship between independent and dependent variables. r Pattern Tracking: By analysing trends in data, it makes it easier to spot patterns in behaviour and build insights out of this. For example, a luxury department store having higher sales of luxury goods in the run up to Chinese New Year, or sales by American customers flatlining in the run up to Black Friday as they wait for deals to emerge. r Decision Trees: Decision trees take simple questions about some data and break it down step by step into a flow chart. It is technically another form of classification, the difference being that decision trees are based on a static set of decisions whereas classification is more dynamic. r Outlier Analysis: Testing anomalies can be useful in many different functions to detect outliers such as credit card fraud or a freak weather event. This is called outlier analysis and spots an element in the data that doesn’t fit with the rest of the dataset. r Neural network: A neural network is essentially based on mapping the relationship between inputs and outputs and is a basis for many more complex statistical analytical methods.

Process mining

Process mining is like data mining in that it takes a set of data and produces an overall view of an organisation. However, the focus of process mining is to give a view of the processes an organisation has and to extract data from them to give a real-time view into how processes run.

This triggers the opportunity to create process efficiencies that may have not been visible from an unconnected viewpoint. The benefit is not only

cost savings but value creation. It is a technology that can take your typical workflow steps, maybe created in Microsoft Visio, and bring it to life to create significant insights into your business. The process mining tools sit on top of existing systems so there’s no need for a grand transformation process to get going, so long as the integrations to the system are implemented correctly.

There are three types of process mining,5 according to the expert Wil van der Aalst, an academic who has executed much study in the field. r Discovery: This type of process mining is considered a first base. No previous process model would exist, and event data captured in the event log would inform any process model created. r Conformance: As it sounds, conformance checks whether the processes in place match with the process model as it is designed. The tools in this case are comparing to an existing process model and spotting any differences. r Enhancement: Enhancement process mining is what you might imagine most process mining to be, using additional information, such as task mining and checks such as those in the conformance type, to highlight bottlenecks and inefficiencies and improve these, thus optimising an existing process model.

Many companies get stuck either spending too much time analysing their current processes or skipping straight to the ‘to-be’ process without understanding where they currently stand. Both issues have a significant impact on the ability to create value in process management. Skipping to the to-be process without understanding the current position could result in expensive updates that do not create process improvements, merely changes.

Focussing too much on the current process could be costly and time wasting, with process improvements potentially out of date by the time they are implemented.6 Process mining addresses both issues by

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Advanced process mining tools not only identify the inefficiencies but highlight which need to be improved and when. Thus, prioritising the greatest issues and showcasing the costs and benefits involved and efforts required to resolve. using up-to-date transactional process data that can be analysed accurately and quickly to identify gaps and defects in processes. For every piece of work that is done, a log is created which is analysed against other logs collected. Performance against the average is calculated and any inefficiencies or areas that take up a particularly long amount of time are called out. Something to note about the advent of process mining is that for it to be effective, processes must be measurable, which can be harder with more manual processes.

However, task mining7 is another form of process mining where the data from manual tasks such as opening documents or sending emails is also collected. This can be a benefit when an organisation may have some areas that don’t have the latest systems but still want to measure the strengths or flaws in their processes.

Enabling a greater depth of study, process

mining builds on the event data captured to reveal steps that could be missing from the previous assumed process, the ‘happy path’ .8 By breaking down each step in a process into granular detail, the exact bottlenecks and inefficiencies can be recognised and improved quickly. Advanced process mining tools not only identify the inefficiencies but highlight which need to be improved and when. Thus, prioritising the greatest issues and showcasing the costs and benefits involved and efforts required to resolve.

Process mining in the market

Given the developments in process mining it will not come as a surprise that many companies are investing heavily into the development of software that can scrape processes and data from existing machines better than their competitors. Recent forecasts show that the process mining software

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Companies must be aware of how to store their own and their customers’ data in a way that is safe and secure. market will grow to be worth $10.4Bn in 2028, up from $0.42Bn in 20209. This predicted explosion in market growth is based on the rise of AI and focus on digital transformations. However, there is one clear leader in this market and that is Celonis. Gartner recognised Celonis as one of the best process mining software providers for the last four years in a row.10 They were one of the first companies to break into this market and have expanded to a 60% share of the US market.

Other strong competitors in the market are Fluxicon in Europe and UiPath in the USA. As this field grows other strong competitors will come to market and these tools will become more readily available. Red Hat, an open-source technology company, IBM and Celonis have recently partnered to release a managed service version of the Celonis tool on their Amazon Web Services cloud, with plans to release on other public clouds in future.11 Thus, being able to reach and work for a much larger number of companies.

Room for improvement

Both data and process mining have limitations which centre around the data involved, the greatest of which is data quality, especially when considering the sheer scale of some organisations and the multitude of different systems and data types that they use. A process mining tool that sits

parallel to these systems will have to take all the different data types and find ways to match or map them to each other to identify patterns. As process mining tools are still establishing themselves, there could be gaps between expectation and performance in this area.

Further to that is the question of data storage, both the space and cost of physical storage on servers and data privacy. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the UK, and similar laws around the world, there are clear rules on what can and cannot be stored. However, the lines are blurred in some cases and the rules are changing often. Companies must be aware of how to store their own and their customers’ data in a way that is safe and secure.

Real-life examples

As stated earlier, the value in data mining lies not only in seeing the patterns in data based on past or current behaviour but building on this to predict the future. Expanding on classic analytical methods used in statistics and forecasting, predictive analytics can create accurate insights into the future of customer behaviour. Whilst data mining uses algorithms to gain insights into data patterns, predictive analytics uses patterns of data with machine learning. The two methods of analysing data and patterns are similar but work

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Whilst process mining may sound like something that is specific to the finance department, it most definitely is not. together to help companies find value from their history and into their future.

Automation and process mining improvements often go hand in hand, which is logical when you consider that although automation, particularly robot process automation (RPA), is popular now, organisations must ensure that they are automating the appropriate elements of their business, at the right time and in the right order. Process mining can be used as a precursor and a follow-up to automation to ensure that the correct processes are automated and ensure that they are performing to a high standard once implemented. Advances in this area will create opportunities for value creation and achieving competitive advantage.

Whilst process mining may sound like something that is specific to the finance department, it most definitely is not. Its benefits can be seen across departments and industries.

The following are some examples from Celonis’ own user experiences: r Rational used Celonis’ process mining technology to eliminate 120,000 manual processes and drastically reduce the time in their sales cycle12 r Uber made $20m in efficiency gains by improving the time spent handling cases r Zalando used Celonis to improve their

procurement process r L’Oréal have maximised capacity in their orderto-cash process, thus increasing their touchless order rate by 800%13

What does this mean for the finance function?

In the future, the role of the finance team will shift ever closer to the business, becoming a stronger business partner to the other functions. Data and process mining can and will be used as a tool to strengthen the relationship with the business to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for automation. If the systems used by the company are compatible, they could help with supply chain management, procurement, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and many other areas. Within the finance function itself, data and process mining can be used to create better forecasts and inform better financial decisions. Applied alongside automation and digitisation, the potential for value creation and constant improvement are seemingly endless. As these technologies develop, so will the opportunities for creating value and gaining ever-deeper insights into how an organisation runs, from end to end. 

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References 1. Petersen, R. (2016). 20 companies do data mining and make their business better. [online] BarnRaisers, LLC. Available at: https:// barnraisersllc.com/2016/11/07/companies-datamining-business-better/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2022].

2. Price, M. (2021). The Order To Cash Process (O2C) - and Ways To Improve This. [online] Corcentric.

Available at: https://www.corcentric.com/blog/ the-order-to-cash-process-o2c-and-ways-toimprove-this/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2022].

3. “Big Data: The 3 Vs Explained,” Big Data LDN, April 12, 2019, https://bigdataldn.com/ intelligence/big-data-the-3-vs-explained/.

4. “Data mining methods | Top 8 Types of Data Mining Methods with Examples.” EDUCBA, May 6, 2019, https://www.educba.com/data-miningmethods/.

5. “What is process mining?” www.ibm.com, n.d., https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/processmining.

6. Thomas H. Davenport and Andrew Spanyi, “What Process Mining Is, and Why Companies Should Do It,” Harvard Business Review, April 23, 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/04/what-process-mining-isand-why-companies-should-do-it.

7. “What is Process Mining?|Celonis Execution Management System,” Celonis, n.d., https://www. celonis.com/process-mining/what-is-processmining/.

8. UiPath Inc, “What is Process Mining – RPA and Process Mining | UiPath,” www.uipath.com, accessed December 2, 2021, https://www.uipath.

com/rpa/what-is-process-mining

9. “Process Mining Software Market Size,

10.

11.

12.

13.

Growth | Global Report, 2028,” www. fortunebusinessinsights.com/process-miningsoftware-market-104792.

Isabel Horvath, “Gartner Recognises Celonis in the 4th Annual 2021 Gartner Market Guide for Process Mining,” www.businesswire.com, November 30, 2021, https://www.businesswire.com/news/ home/20211130005926/en/Gartner-RecognisesCelonis-in-the-4th-Annual-2021-Gartner-MarketGuide-for-Process-Mining.

Mike Vizard, “Red Hat, IBM Deliver Managed Process Mining Service on OpenShit,” Container Journal, November 30, 2021, https:// containerjournal.com/features/red-hat-ibmdeliver-managed-process-mining-service-onopenshift/. ”How RATIONAL Serves a Better Customer Experience and Drives Automation in Order-ToCash,” Celonis, n.d., https://www.celonis.com/ success-stories/rational/. ”Celonis Customers | EMS Success Stories,” Celonis, accessed December 2, 2021, https://www. celonis.com/customers/#stories.

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WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS? THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN THE FACE OF CHANGE

By Lauren Hargreaves

Let’s start with something we all know: people dislike change. While it’s easy enough to say ‘change is good’ from an outsider perspective, when it comes to actually implementing a change ourselves we suddenly feel differently. This is because change takes two things that are very difficult to part with: time and effort.

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In the constantly evolving world we live in, change is imminent. If you aren’t evolving and improving, you fall behind. This is especially true in the world of business. On the more extreme scale, there’s Netflix. Netflix started out as a DVD rental company in 1997 and, only 10 years later, started its first streaming service. This involved a fundamental change in their business strategy that I’m sure not everyone was excited about. But what do you know… it paid off! In Q2 of 2021, Netflix boasted over 209 million paid memberships, with a revenue figure of $7.3 billion. Not bad for a company that started out renting DVDs for 50 cents a pop.1 In most cases, change isn’t that extreme.

Change might involve a new office location, organisational restructuring, or, for something a little bit closer to home, implementing a new software. For multinational companies in particular, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software is a vital part of the finance function. As the world continues to evolve and technology continues to improve, the capabilities of modern day EPM software would probably seem astounding to those working a mere 20 years ago. With the continuous rapid advancements of technology, outdated systems become redundant very quickly and it’s simply a case of keeping up (in this case evolving with new technology) or falling behind. It’s no wonder so many large organisations are looking to update existing or implement new EPM software.

Often when it comes to implementing change, it’s the ‘people’ bit that will determine whether the change is considered a success or a failure. What would be the point of having a wonderful new system with limitless capabilities if nobody is motivated to use it? In the words of James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, ‘Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.’ So how do we overcome this perceived barrier to change? It’s actually quite simple. We communicate.

What is meant by communication in the context of business?

The exchange of information within the workplace can be referred to as internal communication.

This includes both formal and informal communication using any variety of channels (e.g. meetings, chats, intranet sites, videos, newsletters, etc). Having all the communication channels in the world won’t necessarily result in success, though. One needs to communicate the right message, at the right time, using the right communication channel. Communicate too little and nobody knows what’s going on. Communicate too much and nobody knows what takes priority.

Communicate unclearly and people are left confused and frustrated. A fine balance is needed to get it right and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Why should we communicate about the upcoming change?

To help answer this question, a survey was launched which asked working professionals about how their company communicates when implementing a change and their response to it.

Although this list is not definitive, based on the feedback received the following are keys reasons why communication is important: r Nobody likes to be caught off-guard: Of respondents who have a bad connotation of change, 100% were caught off-guard by a change. r People are more likely to accept a change if they feel involved and informed: 71% of respondents agreed to this statement. r Employees value frequent communication: 91% of respondents stated that they receive regular communication from their company, with only 29% saying their company communicates too much. r It allows for two-way communication which plays a pivotal role in the project’s success: 100% of respondents value two-way communication.

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Transparency in communication breeds a culture of acceptance and innovation.

Transparency in communication breeds a culture of acceptance and innovation. If employees know what’s happening and are given an opportunity to be engaged, involved and to provide feedback, they are more likely to have positive connotations of change and be supportive of such change.

Another way of explaining the ‘why’ is to look at Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance which was published in 1957. This looks at how an inconsistency between a person’s beliefs and actions results in a feeling of emotional stress or discomfort (i.e. dissonance).2 In the context of organisational change, this highlights the importance of rallying stakeholder support and getting them to believe in the change. By communicating regularly and with transparency, we are more likely to tie a stakeholder’s beliefs to their actions, and prevent cognitive dissonance from setting in.

Where to begin?

1. The 5Ws This might look similar to the 5W1H of the Kaizen methodology3, but instead of being a problem-solving approach, the 5Ws here (one of which is different to Kaizen) act as a useful framework for communicating so that it’s easier for people to understand and consume what you’re trying to tell them. When

a change is being implemented there’s a lot of new information and details for employees to digest so keeping the change messaging simple and understandable goes a long way in helping employees to understand and accept the change. The 5Ws are five key questions that need to be answered: What – what is changing?

Why – why do we need it to change?

When – when is this change taking place (i.e. the timeline)?

Who – who will be impacted by the change?

WIFM – what’s in it for me?

2. A stakeholder matrix Preparing a stakeholder matrix is another key element that would be useful drawing up at the beginning of a project. A stakeholder matrix sets out the stakeholders that are impacted by the change, their role in the organisation, their level of interest and level of influence, and how they will be impacted (for example, with implementing an EPM system, which module they will be impacted by). Other useful fields to include are the function the stakeholders sit in and the division/country they work in.

Having a stakeholder matrix helps identify the target audience of your change management communication and who needs attention at what point in the project. Somebody in Human Resources won’t have any interest in

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the intricacies of intercompany reconciliations, however they will be interested in how people’s roles are changing.

3. A visible, influential sponsor Having a well-respected voice of authority who visibly sponsors and helps reinforce the strategic need for the change. Of the respondents who were aware of and agreed with the benefits of the change in the survey that was conducted, 100% said the change messaging came from senior management.

This doesn’t mean this person needs to spend time every day on the project. It doesn’t even mean they need to spend time every week on it!

It simply means that small, focussed efforts can go a long way in getting stakeholder onboard.

A simple example is attending a user meeting where they reiterate the benefits of change and thank everyone for their participation.

r Form a change agency ‘A what?’ I hear you say. A change agency can be briefly described as a group of influential stakeholders who play a key role in communicating about the change to their colleagues and in facilitating that all important feedback we spoke of earlier. The structured feedback loop provides a concise view of this.

This highlights the importance of two-way communication when implementing change – communicate and be communicated to.

Not everyone can be a change agent though.

This select group of people need to be advocates of the change, have a level of influence and popularity amongst their colleagues, have time to dedicate to change agent activities and have a desire to help others.

Communication in action

When looking at communication in action, it’s important to consider that the way that people like to be communicated to is also changing because of how we live our personal lives. We’ve gone from thousands of words in a newspaper to 140 characters in a Tweet. A study published by Microsoft in 2015 revealed that people generally have an attention span of eight seconds.4 This means that the way in which we communicate to stakeholders should be carefully considered.

Communication in action might therefore include the following approaches: r Use different channels There are a wide variety of communication channels available, especially online, that can be used to communicate with stakeholder. In our survey, we saw that the top five communication channels people liked to be communicated with via are email, meetings, Teams/Slack, newsletters, and broadcasts (e.g. videos). Each of these channels is different and offers something unique in terms of the user-experience.

Figure: A structured feedback loop

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r Have a communication plan and a dedicated Change/Communications Manager This key role is often given to the project manager or tasked to the already burdened project team. Having a dedicated resource who understand the intricacies of change helps ensure that communication is proactive, insightful piece of the project, and not a reactive response to issues. Communicating a change should be a detailed, mapped out approach which has tasks that correspond to the project timeline and a dedicated person responsible for it. r Make it fun and personable Lightening the mood can be a good way of getting people’s attention and of keeping them coming back for more. A study performed by the Accountancy Age5 found that, on average, the British employee will work 34 hours and 26

minutes a week (that’s 1 795 hours a year and 84 365 hours over the course of a lifetime) which excludes eight hours of overtime per month.

For many, more time is spent at work than this (accountants in practice averaging 42.09 hours a week). Given that so much of our lives are spent at work, we might as well enjoy it, right? r Listen Effective communication isn’t only about imparting information. Listening to stakeholders and getting their feedback is equally important. As already stated, 100% of survey respondents value two-way communication. The benefits of listening and obtaining feedback are twofold: 1. Stakeholders are more likely to support a change initiative if they feel their opinions are sought and valued.

2. It helps improve the final outcome and ensure it’s fit for purpose. If we go

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Once you’re happy with what’s being communicated, repeat it.

Repeat it using different channels. Repeat it using different people. Repeat.

Repeat. Repeat.

back to the EPM example, getting enduser feedback ensures most, if not all, eventualities have been considered. Those implementing a solution won’t know the intricacies of how each entity uses the existing software, so allowing for and encouraging feedback helps gather and facilitate this information.

Constant communication shouldn’t be confused with an information overload, more recently coined ‘infobesity’.6 As the name suggests, infobesity relates to overindulging on information to a point that it’s not good for the ‘consumer’. One needs to ensure that the message communicated is digestible. Why do you think a Ted talk can only last a maximum of 18 minutes? Once you’re happy with what’s being communicated, repeat it. Repeat it using different channels. Repeat it using different people. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. r Be transparent Transparency doesn’t mean telling stakeholders

how much the change initiative costs and revealing sensitive information – not at all! It relates to sharing the most simple of details, such as project timings, delays, and risks to project success. If there are no secrets or grey areas, nobody can be caught off-guard. r Be outcome-minded This means communicating in a focussed, purposeful way. Consider what is being communicated, and why it should be communicated before taking action. This prevents communicating simply for the sake of it, and will increase the likelihood of stakeholders actually engaging and listening when communicated with. r Repeat Repeat the message. Repeat it using different channels. Repeat it using different media.

Repeat it using different people. Repeat. Repeat.

Repeat.

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How do we know if our communication has been effective?

This might seem like an abstract topic to some, I mean ‘how am I meant to measure talking?’.

While it might be more difficult to measure real life interactions, electronic channels provide a way of communicating that is more tangible. Using such channels provides us with an opportunity to measure how engaged employees are, what they respond well to, and to capture feedback more easily.

This information enables the communication approach to be adapted and improved going forward. Nobody reading the newsletter? Why not change the content or format and see if read rates improve. Do video broadcasts have good traction within the business? Why not use these more often.

Nobody reading the intranet site? Perhaps the change agents can be tasked with getting feedback from the target audience as to why.

The following are examples of communications channels that provide useful statistics, and a few statistics they provide: 1. Yammer r Number of active members in your community r Number of posted, read and reacted to messages and movements in these figures across the past 7 or 28 days 2. Newsletters r Via the intranet: • Number of page visits

r Via marketing software, such as HubSpot: • Number of emails sent • Open rate and click rate • Unsubscribe rate 3. Virtual meetings r Number of attendees r Most video conferencing software also allows you to post polls which is a good, quick way to get responses to key questions from stakeholders

Conclusion

The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary describes change as ‘the act or result of something becoming different’. 7 When something is ‘different’, it’s unusual or unfamiliar. It’s something that you haven’t had/done/seen before. It’s uncommon. It’s new.

But think of it this way. What if you’ve heard about this change many times before? If you know what’s going to happen, why it’s happening, when it’s to take place, who it impacts, and how you’ll benefit. What if you’re given relevant information about this change in different channels – some of which you probably prefer to others (but everyone is different, right?)? What if you feel involved in the process and your feedback is heard?

If communication is at the heart of the change management process, how ‘different’ or ‘new’ will this change really be? 

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References 1. Quarterly Earnings (2021). Netflix - Financials Quarterly Earnings [online]. Available at: https:// ir.netflix.net/financials/quarterly- [Accessed 9 December 2021].

2. Suls, J. (2019). Leon Festinger | Biography & Facts [online], Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/LeonFestinger [Accessed 20 January 2022].

3. Mahalik, P. Using the Five W’s and One H Approach To Six Sigma [online], Isixsigma. Available at https:// www.isixsigma.com/implementation/basics/usingfive-ws-and-one-h-approach-six-sigma/ [Accessed 6 June 2022].

4. McSpadden, K. (2015). You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish [online], Time.

Available at: https://time.com/3858309/attentionspans-goldfish/ [Accessed 6 June 2022].

5. Skoulding, L. (2018). How long does the average UK employee spend at work? [online], Accountancy Age. Available at: https://www.accountancyage. com/2018/10/02/how-long-does-the-average-ukemployee-spend-at-work/ [Accessed 9 December 2021].

6. Macmillan English Dictionary (2021). Macmillan Dictionary [online]. Available at: https://www. macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/ infobesity/ [Accessed 9 December 2021].

7. Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries (2019). change_2 noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com [online]. Available at: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ definition/english/change_2 [Accessed 9 December 2021].

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DEMYSTIFYING XP&A EXTENDED PLANNING & ANALYTICS

By Susan Gittings

“The goal of forecasting is not to predict the future but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action in the present.”

– Paul Saffo The discipline of Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting has covered a lot of ground over the past 20+ years, sustaining a steady evolution and maturing into a fully-fledged, crucial element of Management Reporting and Enterprise Performance Management.

This evolution of the Planning process really kicked into action in the early 2000’s as the more progressive organisations looked to tackle their often tedious and expensive annual budgeting process. These organisations looked at technology to bring speed and agility, typically opting for a

‘Best of Breed’ system aimed at the collection and aggregation of departmental budgets.

Next, the evolution journey saw the introduction of the term ‘Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting’ (PB&F) as organisations increased their planning frequency with forecasts, or even rolling forecasts, and the ability to track scenarios.

Further improvements in system functionality and analysis capabilities led to the ascent of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) – now a mature field typically supported by a dedicated FP&A team.

For a few really forward-thinking companies the evolution continued into Integrated Business Planning (IBP) which proposed integrating FP&A processes with cross-functional data sets and processes, for example, workforce or capital planning. Central to IBP is the idea that all

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data is an asset to be exploited to help make critical business decisions, and to do this, the data needs to be connected and analysed. It was, however, at this point when many organisations battled to develop a business case for more spend or were not entirely convinced that further integration was even feasible. The organisations that did try implement IBP, or at least aspects of IBP, often battled with cross-departmental push-back and challenges around disparate data sets. The result – a slowdown in the evolution of Planning and a trend that saw existing best of breed solutions or spreadsheet estates growing in complexity and extended with parallel, often disparate business processes.

So, what exactly is this xP&A which has energised the market into action again?

Fast forward to today and Planning as a discipline is on the move again. The market is indeed buzzing with the relatively new concept of

Extended Planning and Analytics - xP&A – a term coined by Gartner in 2020 to describe the next step in the evolution of Planning.

Gartner defines xP&A as the evolution of planning, combining financial and operational planning on a single composable platform. It “extends” traditional FP&A solutions focused solely on finance into other enterprise planning domains such as workforce, sales, operations, and marketing.1 The premise behind xP&A is for all business functions to benefit from the structure and insights delivered by the financial planning process; and for Finance to benefit from access to data at the level of detail that drives business operations. The intention being a combined, enterprise plan that is more accurate and comprehensive, with increased transparency across the organisation.

The new opportunity of enterprise-wide connected data enables more detailed planning and scrutiny of results. Furthermore, because the plans are not limited to a single data set, there

xP&A

Financial Planning & Analysis The rise of ‘Best of Breed’ solutions

Finance function of the future coinciding with the next- generation platform technology

Trend analysis and extended time horizons

Integrated Business Planning

Finance-owned systems replacing the Budget spreadsheet

Incorporating strategic planning and key operational planning

Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting Scenario analysis and increased planning frequency

Figure: The evolution of Planning

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is the added benefit of improved insights from the end-to-end value chain. This is where FP&A extends to xP&A. This is how finance teams aim to tell businesses what they need to know to take meaningful action and drive results.

Essentially the evolution pause is over, with organisations calling for real alignment between business planning and business execution, driven by several factors, all significant enough to jolt business into action: r A global pandemic and escalating political tensions causing major market uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. r Increased stakeholder pressures due to economic volatility and uncertainty. r Organisational readiness to collaborate more; share resources and redefine historically siloed operating models. r A maturing office of Finance comfortably playing to its strengths: Data governance and

stewardship; storytelling to explain performance in an understandable way; and modelling to identify connections and improvement levers. r Disconnected legacy systems, high levels of manual data gathering and overly complicated processes resulting in the inability to respond to requests for basic business insights.

The significance of these factors and the strength of the call from business to increase alignment between planning and execution is resulting in a remarkable market reaction, more akin to a revolution or a seismic shift than a steady-paced evolution. Gartner predicts that by 2024, 70% of new FP&A projects will become xP&A projects, extending their scope beyond the finance domain into other areas of enterprise planning and analysis.1 But can these market and organisational factors alone explain the very real seismic shift towards xP&A? Given we have certainly seen other significant market pressures in the past, why has

Gartner predicts that by 2024, 70% of new FP&A projects will become xP&A projects, extending their scope beyond the finance domain into other areas of enterprise planning and analysis.

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the pace of change recently intensified? What has fundamentally changed?

To answer these questions, we need to look to the considerable digital innovations and advances that are challenging our basic assumptions about Performance Management solutions.

Technology has been a critical enabler throughout the evolution of the office of Finance and Performance Management. The same is true for FP&A where technology has already significantly reduced planning cycles and increased the value of the process – just think how prominent scenario modelling and statistical forecasting have already become! Today, with the pace of technological advance only accelerating with the likes of platforms; database elasticity; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

(ML), we finally have the solutions ready to support the evolution of the planning processes into xP&A. Having established that the fundamental premise of xP&A is to connect the entire business to finance by combining traditional FP&A with operational planning from across the organisation, we need to broaden our traditional view of planning and analysis - they are no longer just about Finance. We are no longer dealing with the volume of data consistent with a typical finance function, but instead, a significantly greater volume of operational data. Real-time, intelligent, enterprise-wide data is an asset. When used effectively, it provides insights into far more than just cost reductions and revenue analysis. It can expose risks, identify opportunities, challenge operations, call out inefficiencies and steer strategy. The question is, do we have the tools to

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navigate the world of connected data?

Cue the digital platform: Uber’s global platform-driven disruption of the taxi industry is well known, along with Airbnb’s disruption of hospitality and not to mention the ultimate disruptor, Apple with the iPhone. Platforms are everywhere and we would have been naïve to think that the tools within the office of Finance could emerge unscathed by platform-driven disruption.

If we consider that Cloud computing had a part to play in initiating the more recent transformation of the Finance function, then the Platform is set to continue the trend at a disruptive rate of change.

In effect, we have entered an era where no futureproof finance strategy can ignore the transformative power of the Platform.

Although many finance teams still rely on spreadsheets as their key planning tool, nextgeneration Platform solutions are increasingly used to help organisations deal with the data volumes required by xP&A. The platform enables Finance to automate, integrate and transform their planning and reporting processes. It acts as a base to connect enterprise-wide data for consumption by multiple functions from Operations through to Finance.

It is upon this base that the xP&A processes and functionalities are built, with Finance structuring the data and ensuring its alignment to a common data model.

Unified Platforms provide a host of other xP&A benefits, from enhancing consistency and the user experience; introducing workflows that provide visibility of bottlenecks and opportunities for process efficiencies; and creating more collaborative ways of working in multi-stakeholder environments.

xP&A in practice

Whilst it is interesting to understand its roots and what’s driving the demand for xP&A, it’s also key to understand the practicalities of what xP&A aims to achieve: r Unite disjointed departments into an interconnected group working toward a shared strategy and common financial objectives. r A single source of the truth for Finance and Operations to work with the same information at the same time. r Highlight operational inefficiencies and opportunities – think productivity blackspots or areas of waste – ultimately saving money and improving margins in the near to medium term. r Empower CFO’s and their teams to forecast, monitor and analyse the business holistically. r Monitor profitability at the level of detail that identifies reasons for variations. r Link cross-functional operational plans to identify knock-on impacts across the different business functions, for example the effect of disruption to the supply chain; or sales exceeding production; or a sudden drop in demand. r Analyse and optimise the internal value chain.

The business case for xP&A is clear and strengthened with every global crisis or market challenge we face. What’s harder to quantify is the longer-term profit gains that come from smarter decision making and greater responsiveness. Easier to recognise though are the very clear calls for a revolutionary-paced transformation of today’s FP&A processes to deliver more detailed actionable insights.

Are you ready for xP&A? 

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A checklist - Are you ready for a move to xP&A? ƒ Get comfortable with agility: Central to an xP&A strategy is the alignment of granular operational plans with financial forecasting, enabling the benefit of knowing what’s happening across the organisation in real time. Is your organisation structured to act with confidence and course correct on the fly? ƒ Get comfortable with high data volumes: Finance professionals may be surprised at the sheer volume and high frequency of sales and operational data consumed by xP&A. This level of data granularity is what drives insights into the operations of the business. ƒ Deploy the right platform solution: The benefits of xP&A are sound with the operational cost saving opportunities simplifying the business case for investment. But the success of your xP&A strategy is dependent on deploying a flexible, elastic, unified platform with in-built financial intelligence and predictive analytics, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities for your maturing xP&A solution. ƒ Don’t underestimate the Change Management: Is your organisation ready for cross-functional collaboration? Is your finance team ready to act as a partner and trusted advisor to the business? Preparing your organisation for xP&A involves clearly communicating the benefits of the change and how you plan on navigating the journey ahead. This will entail more change management than you expect ƒ Can you afford to stand still? I’s not just about what your competitors are doing to thrive again after the recent market challenges. It is equally important to consider your resilience to withstand another global crisis without the right information to steer your business.

References 1. Gartner. (2020). Innovation Insight for Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A). [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3992338 [Accessed 8 Jul. 2022].

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HOW TO AVOID THE 3 BIG DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PITFALLS

By Omer Cander & Jakub Plachta

With the advances in technology over the last two decades, Finance leaders can now benefit from a powerful set of tools to collect and analyse data, and to report and gain actionable insights about their businesses. That means both one-off and ongoing IT-run costs are increasing, and in its latest report, Gartner forecasts IT spend to grow a further 5% in 2022 alone.1 Based on their 2021 cross-industry analysis, 64% of finance organisations plan to invest in cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP), 57% in advanced data analytics, 45% in data storage, 44% in robotic process automation (RPA), 13% in artificial intelligence (AI) and 3% in blockchain.2 This huge swell of interest in tools to digitise Finance results from the need to get proactive, actionable insights to inform strategy that organisations can now achieve via digital transformation.

Getting this digital transformation right helps generate new go-to-market strategies, and creates better understanding of your customers, employees and the markets you operate in. Finance functions also benefit from this as digital technology can start to eliminate the inefficiencies of traditional finance activities and support a better partnership between finance and operational business units.3

Although technology plays a key role in unlocking these potential benefits, the journey is not a straightforward one. Successful digital transformation is much more than just deploying a new digital technology for the business. As consultants, we spend a lot of time helping organisations choose and implement the best-inclass digital platforms and have seen a common set of pitfalls that customers can face in their transformation journey. While there are many factors that can affect these big transformation programmes from methodology to the technology itself, there are three which we see tripping up digital programmes time and again: 1. The existence of vast quantities of data does not mean that it is usable 2. Communication is key, however; not enough by itself without change management practices 3. The organisation’s ability to accept and adopt the change is dependent on its operating model’s readiness

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The existence of vast quantities of data does not mean that it is usable

Over the years organisations realised that gathering data provides them with valuable insights to predict trends and customer behaviour, and overall create a higher performing business. While this is all true, many companies find themselves “drowning in data” and not able to gain necessary insight to improve their business. The rise of big data trends and a continued push for gathering as much data as possible – combined with a slower stand up of strong data governance practices – have created huge data quality issues inside organisations. Data has become incomparable, unstructured, and duplicated with multiple sources. Even with the most advanced analytics tools, it is nearly impossible to gain meaningful insight.

This issue has a direct impact on the quality of digital transformation initiatives. According to Experian4, even though 87% of organisations are aware that data quality is essential for the success of digital transformation projects, 68% of companies still struggle during the transformation project simply because they have poor quality of data. New systems and processes introduced during a digital transformation programme often rely on the source data. Therefore it is critical that source data is meaningful and of high quality in order to achieve the intended value of the programme.

What can be done to mitigate the risk of data impact on digital transformation?

Gartner states that poor data quality is responsible for an average of $15 million per year in losses per organisation. As environments become increasingly complex and multi-layered, the loss is likely to worsen. More severe data quality issues – and consequently, losses – will be inevitably faced by organisations with multiple business units and operations in several geographic regions, and with many customers, employees, suppliers and products.

Recently IBM discovered that in the US alone, businesses lose $3.1 trillion annually due to poor

data quality.5 Despite the potential risks to their businesses, companies usually are reactive rather than proactive in recognising data issues. Before embarking on a digital transformation journey, organisations should launch an investigation into their data landscapes and identify if there are any key challenges. Organisations should understand the business needs and priorities regarding data.

By asking the question “Do we have reliable data to achieve our objectives?” companies can quickly realise whether they have the right information model and KPIs to support business goals and objectives.

Gartner issued their Enterprise Information Management Maturity Model6, to showcase the various stages of data or information model maturity. Organisations can use this framework as a starting point to work out which stage they are currently in, and implement measures such as a data governance strategy to improve their data landscape – as a result, improving the positioning on the maturity matrix.

Business change

Data availability & quality

Digital transformation

Target Operating Model

Figure: The three main aspects of digital transformation

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Communication is key, however; not enough by itself without change management practices

When most people think about digital transformation, they usually think about new technologies, new processes and automation – but it’s easy to forget how critical the people aspect of digital transformation is. As consultants, we sometimes see that even if the new technologies are implemented successfully, end-user adoption can be extremely low without a proper change management strategy in place.

According to a study conducted by McKinsey7, companies with effective change management capabilities were able to achieve 143% return on investment (ROI) in comparison to 35% ROI achieved by the companies with poor change management practices. The change management challenge is being accentuated by the current trend of remote and hybrid working as the adoption of change can be significantly harder to achieve with an online audience. We have seen time and again that having a strong emphasis on change management embedded in the culture of the organisation can drastically improve the results of a digital transformation.

How can effective change management enable digital transformation?

Change must be driven from the inside of the organisation, championed by its leadership and believed in by its teams. It is important that companies understand how change happens in their organisation – who do people listen to, and what influences people to act differently? By building a network of internal change agents seeded across your business, you can start to drive and then maintain the momentum of the people change in your digital transformation initiative. These capabilities should be set up at an early stage in the transformation, demonstrating the company’s commitment to putting people first and guiding them throughout the transformation programme.

The organisations’ ability to accept and adopt the change is dependent on its operating model’s readiness The third pitfall that many organisations fall into is failing to consider how to embed and sustain the new digital processes and tools. Key to this is reinforcing the adoption of new practices through ensuring the readiness of the operating model, by which we mean the governance and organisational aspects of processes, data, people and technology.

Putting in place the right governance over the new digital technologies, processes and data is vital to protect them from deteriorating quality or users seeking to revert back to Excel, and to future-proof them by enabling mechanisms for controlled, impact-assessed changes.

This governance typically takes the form of setting up Global Process Ownership, data stewardship and single points of accountability for solution ownership. These owners then require governance processes to mandate how any deviations from the designed processes, systems or data models can be agreed upon.

The early warning signs of a potential need to focus on operating model readiness is usually seen early on during the project discovery or design phase and they might include: r No clear go-to person for data-related queries r Late change requests to the processes that impact the design and later implementation of technology r Over-dependence on key project resources r Difficulty in hiring or identifying business-asusual resources r Unclear transition-to-business-as-usual plan It is critical in a transformation project to create a governance structure that will prevent the likes of the above. In addition to governance, there are often opportunities to release capacity or enhance capabilities of the organisation supporting the processes, either in Finance or the IT support team.

When creating the business case for change, take a moment to evaluate the potential impact of

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the new processes and tools on ways of working.

If there are potential benefits, consider how the delivery or support organisation might need to change to release that capacity. Additionally, a collaborative approach where the business functions, finance function and project team work together on the journey with clear roles and responsibilities – and back filling where necessary – will help identify potential opportunities for the target operating model, if not designed prior to the technology implementation.

Although it is easy to see digital transformation projects as technology implementations, there is more to consider to make it a sustainable success. To summarise: start thinking about data very early on, consider what will be needed to improve the data quality, ensure a robust change management approach, and factor in the timely creation of the new operating model.

Getting these three things right should collectively have a massive impact on reducing the risk that your digital technology implementation will be left on the shelf.  References 1. Gartner. (2022). Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 5.1% in 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/pressreleases/2022-01-18-gartner-forecasts-worldwideit-spending-to-grow-five-point-1-percent-in-2022 [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

2. Gartner. (2021). IT Key Metrics Data 2022: Industry Measures — Cross-Industry Analysis. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/ documents/4008973 [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

3. Cui, H. and Webb, C. (2019). Digital Leadership: Leading finance digital transformation. [online] ACCA Global. Available at: https://www.accaglobal.com/ gb/en/professional-insights/technology/digitalleadership.html [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

4. Why tackling data issues is the key to success with digital transformation. (2019). [online] Experian.

Available at: https://www.experian.co.uk/blogs/

latest-thinking/data-insights-and-analytics/digitaltransformation-research-report/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

5. Bansal, M. (2021). Flying Blind: How Bad Data Undermines Business. [online] Forbes.

Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ forbestechcouncil/2021/10/14/flying-blind-howbad-data-undermines-business/?sh=18761aa729e8 [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

6. Data Governance Part II: Maturity Models – A Path to Progress. (2009). [online] NASCIO, p.10.

Available at: https://www.nascio.org/resourcecenter/resources/data-governance-part-ii-maturitymodels-a-path-to-progress/#:~:text=Data%20 governance%20maturity%20models%20 provide,data%2C%20information%20and%20knowledge%20assets. [Accessed 17 Aug. 2022].

7. LaClair, J. and P. Rao, R. (2002). Helping employees embrace change. [online] McKinsey. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/ people-and-organizational-performance/ourinsights/helping-employees-embrace-change.

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AI AND GENDER (IN)EQUALITY

By Kristin Nerman & Kaitlin van Baarle

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm. Enabling machines to simulate intelligent human behaviour, AI unleashes a world of possibilities for businesses to automate and optimise processes, as well as generating insights for better decisionmaking. Nevertheless, developing this cuttingedge technology relies on historical data generated by humans, and therefore risks reproducing discriminatory practices and harmful stereotypes created by those very humans. How can we ensure that we leverage AI in the right way?

While still an emerging technology, AI is no longer just the subject of science fiction. It is being adopted across industries in the public and private sectors. In Finance, the greatest potential for AI lies in managing unstructured and volatile data.

“Examples include complying with new accounting standards, reviewing expense reports and

processing vendor invoices,” according to Gartner1.

The wide adoption of AI needs to be reconciled with the valid concerns regarding ethics and security. In fact, organisations need the trust of all stakeholders to be able to fully embrace AI. “AI cannot thrive if the business does not trust AI techniques, so organizations need checks and balances to assess and respond to threats and damage and to ensure integrity is embedded into AI,” says Gartner1. How are these checks and balances being put into practice?

We interviewed Sara Larsson from the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, a government organisation that aims to ensure the effective implementation of gender equality policy in Sweden2. Does AI contribute to or complicate the goals of the gender equality policy? In 2021, they launched an initiative together with the AI Sustainability Centre, which offers “an insight

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engine with a unique methodology for screening, assessing, mitigating, auditing and reporting exposure to ethical risk in AI solutions”3. Together, they are developing a tool that companies and the public sector can use to evaluate gender fairness in their AI solutions4.

How does the work of the Swedish Gender Equality Agency relate to AI? We need to consider how systems are contributing to inequality or can contribute to equality when citizens come in contact with the different governmental bodies. This issue has not been touched on before. Around a year ago we started to investigate if there are any other governments in the world that have anything implemented in this area or are doing anything in particular with AI – but there were none.

What we specifically looked for was research covering the relationship between inequality and technical solutions that use AI to automate tasks and decisions. We also wanted to learn what actions need to be taken if these systems do, in fact, contribute to more inequality in society.

At a meeting with the public sector, we raised the possible effects that digitalisation can have on gender equality. Other government agencies also expressed an interest in this topic, especially the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which administers social insurance for financial security in the event of illness or disability, and for families with children.

For a year, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency has collaborated with AI Sustainability Centre, with the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Tax Agency as practical examples in their research.

How is AI being used in the public sector and how might it be contributing to inequality?

A practical use case for AI systems could be to process and examine information about an individual, such as someone who is applying for a sickness benefit. A summary is created by the system based on various documents that are used to determine whether someone qualifies for financial security.

If AI systems are processing documents

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“There is a big risk in bias being built into systems, if we are not conscious of what data is being used, when data should, in fact, represent the truth.”

from doctors or healthcare providers that are often different based on the patient’s gender, then what is the outcome? Doctors’ notes reflect how the patients describe their issues, and women and men that suffer from the same illness describe their issues differently.

From past research, we know that men receive more support over a longer period of time, compared to women applying for support for the same illness. After AI was used in the decisionmaking process, there was a gap in the financial support granted to men versus women, due to the bias in the data. Clearly, the use of AI in this case has great consequences for individuals and perpetuates gender inequality.

There is a big risk in bias being built into systems, if we are not conscious of what data is being used, when data should, in fact, represent the truth.

Some argue that if we remove categories like gender, then AI will automatically be neutral.

However, there are several variables to take into consideration, such as where people with a specific

socioeconomic status live, their level of education, and so on.

Research shows that women, especially from racial and ethnic minorities, are the most discriminated against in Swedish society, for example by age and disability discrimination. The government’s work should always stem from the constitutionally-based principles of the equal value of all people, the rule of law and good service to citizens.

This means that all citizens should have the same experience when interacting with the government and its agencies – no matter your gender, where you live, your level of education, etc.

This is why the government’s use of AI has been so important to us, to ensure that it is leveraged in the right way.

This doesn’t mean that we think AI is a bad thing. On the contrary, AI creates a fantastic opportunity to work more effectively, with positive outcomes such as faster processes, more reliable decision-making, and reducing manual tasks. In this area, we see great potential in AI.

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In this project, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency focuses on AI in the government and how it impacts gender inequality. Do you see a role for the private sector as well?

Government use of AI tends to follow that of the private sector, and this is why we need help from that sector. Most AI systems are created by the private sector, which means that private companies are in control of the development process. But AI systems need to be created with equality in mind before the government even considers using them.

The private sector will be delivering these solutions to the public sector – regions, municipalities, administrative boards and education institutions. There is so much potential for AI to be beneficial in all these areas. But every time it uses datasets related to people to solve a problem for people, then all the aforementioned factors need to be taken into consideration.

Accuracy is usually a measure of quality, but that is not enough. To ensure the system contributes to equality, you must actively consider human rights and fairness. 

References 1. Gartner. (n.d.). What Is Artificial Intelligence (AI). [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/ topics/artificial-intelligence#:~:text=Here%20at%20 Gartner%2C%20we%20define [Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

2. Swedish Gender Equality Agency. (n.d.). About the Swedish Gender Equality Agency. [online] Available at: https://swedishgenderequalityagency.se/aboutthe-swedish-gender-equality-agency [Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

3. anch.ai. (n.d.). Welcome to anch.AI - About us. [online] Available at: https://anch.ai/about-us/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

4. anch.ai. (2021). Welcome to anch.AI - Gender equality in AI applications paves the way to a Swedish welfare model 3.0. [online] Available at: https://anch.ai/blog/gender-equality-in-aiapplications-paves-the-way-to-a-swedish-welfaremodel/ [Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

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MAKING THE RIGHT DECISIONS WITH SUSTAINABLE FINANCE

By Ritesch Malhoe

During the Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, 120 world leaders gathered to discuss the urgency of acting on climate change. It became clear that we have a joint responsibility to address climate change to preserve the planet for future generations, with many countries aiming to reduce their carbon footprint significantly before 2030, and to have zero emissions by 2050. The key messages that came from the conference were clear: there is still a lot of work to do, and the time to act is now.

Sustainability reporting

Sustainability reporting refers to reports published by companies on their non-financial information related to Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) factors.

While such reports will naturally take time and effort to prepare, there are significant benefits to businesses including sustainability reporting as part of their annual report. Businesses will gain valuable insights into their own sustainability performance and be able to use such information to make informed strategic and risk-related decisions.

In addition to this, more investors are considering

ESG information in their investment decisions.

Research conducted by PwC in 2021, which involved 325 global investors, saw that 79% of investors look at the way that a company manages ESG risks and opportunities as a key consideration in their investment decision.1 This information enables investors to align their investments, based on their own values and goals.

Other benefits of sustainability reporting include: r Improving the company’s reputation amongst investors and employees; r Avoiding potential financial repercussions by being aware of the environmental footprint of their activities, and allowing them to anticipate potential risks in the future; r Being more in demand with investors or employees looking to invest in sustainable companies.

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New legislation changes related to sustainability reporting

Legislation surrounding sustainability reporting is set to become stricter in the coming years. While there is not one global, standardised sustainability reporting framework, unions/regions have introduced new directives or adopted existing directives that their member states need to comply with.

In the European Union, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) was implemented in 2017. This directive did not make it mandatory to report on ESG data but highlighted the rules on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies. The European Commission is due to replace NFRD with the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The CSRD will make it mandatory for companies to report on ESG as part

of their annual, auditable report. The purpose of the CSRD is to have comparable, quality data and transparency regarding the environmental and social impacts of companies.2 In the United Kingdom, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was officially introduced earlier this year. The focus of the TCFD is to report on an organisation’s impact on the global climate. By making climate-related disclosures more consistent and comparable, the TCFD aims to empower companies to make better strategic and risk-related decisions.3 TCFD recommendations are not only being implemented in the UK – Switzerland, New Zealand and Hong Kong are set to incorporate these climate-related disclosures as part of their disclosure requirements over the next few years.4 A summary of the key features of these directives can be found below:

Directive Who

What (Scope)

When

CSDR

•

In 2024 covering FY2023

All listed companies with over 500 employees or large companies who comply with 2 out of 3 criteria: • 250 employees • 40 million in Revenue • Balance sheet total of 20 million *Approximately 49 000 companies within the EU will be subject to the directive *Listed SME’s have +3 years (2026) to be compliant with the new directive.

TCFD

•

•

•

Listed companies with 500+ employees (i.e., all companies who must provide an annual non-financial information statement) Alternative Investment Market (AIM) companies based in the UK with 500 or more employees LLPs (Limited Liability Partnership) and non-listed companies with 500+ employees and a turnover of +£500m

*More than 1300 organisations will be obliged to disclose climate-related financial information in the first instance.

• • • •

Environmental protection Social responsibility Human rights Anti-corruption Diversity on board level

11 disclosure recommendations across 4 areas: 1. Governance 2. Strategy 3. Risk Management 4. Metrics and targets Encourages businesses to perform climate-related scenario analysis.

*Draft of reporting requirement is expected around Q2 - 2022

From 6 April 20225

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“We are after all, the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth. If working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet.

Surely working together, we are powerful enough to save it.”

Sir David Attenborough at COP26, Nov 20216

The practical implication of sustainability reporting

Traditionally, the ESG reporting process has been time-consuming and error-prone, with employees having to spend a significant amount of time on manual work. With sustainability information now being included in the audited annual reports of certain businesses, ESG reporting will need a reliable, repeatable process that provides data which is accurate, consistent and auditable.

One such approach to gather and report this information is to use an ‘Intelligence Performance Management’ (IPM) solution. An IPM solution works on a unified platform with an underlying multidimensional data model. While IPM solutions are commonly used for complex Finance related processes (Consolidation and Close, Planning and Budgeting), they can be leveraged to support ESG reporting.

How can an IPM solution be used for ESG reporting?

Within an IPM solution, various data sources can be used (either through a direct integration

or a manual load) which are combined within a place referred to as ‘the Cube’. Users can retrieve and model data within the cube, based on the dimensional model which can be customised to fit a company’s ESG requirements. This enhances reporting capabilities and allows data to be extracted from a single source of truth.

Sustainability reporting requirements can be embedded, and a specific chart of accounts can be built to align with the ESG reporting requirements. Additionally, IPM solutions also contain pre-built calculations enabling automated unit of measure conversions (e.g. from gallons to liters). It contains a full audit trail and process management that will allow auditors to have transparency and clarity on the origin of the data during the audit process. This results in faster audits and a simpler and clearer process.

Companies who are already leveraging the power of an IPM solution for the financial consolidations or planning processes will have the added benefit of having a single system for financial and sustainability reporting, allowing for data interchange and faster deployment times.

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Benefits of using IPM for sustainability reporting r r r r r r r r r r r r

Standard repeatable process Scenario analysis Tailored ESG workflow Automation capabilities Auditability Security and validations KPI or target measurement Unit of measurement conversion supported Extensive reporting capabilities Combining data from various sources Data export capabilities Scalable

Conclusion

With ambitious emission targets set by countries globally, sustainability reporting is here to stay, and we can expect the legislation surrounding sustainability reporting to expand in the coming years.

As a result, there is an increased need for companies to obtain accurate, reliable and auditable ESG data for reporting purposes and using an IPM solution for sustainability reporting is worth consideration. This choice can reduce the sustainability reporting burden significantly, increase transparency in terms of data origin and calculations. Analysing ESG data can increase a company’s capability to make “sustainable” decisions, mitigate risks and seize opportunities.

Companies that succeed in delivering transparent ESG information will have an edge in business. Positive ESG results can help to add more value to your brand and help to attract and retain eco-conscious employees and green investors.

If we collectively act on our responsibility in delivering accurate and transparent data fast, we can help enable executives to accelerate towards a clean and sustainable future for the next generations to come. 

References 1. K. Miller, 2021, ‘Companies failing to act on ESG issues risk losing investors, finds new PwC survey’, PwC, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021/pwc-esg-investorsurvey-2021.html (accessed 24 June 2022) 2. D. Duarte, S. Matias, 2022, ‘From the NFRD to the CSRD: long story short’, IFLR, https://www.iflr. com/article/2a647e1ubbp4gen3p7lz5/from-thenfrd-to-the-csrd-long-story-short (Accessed 20 June 2022) 3. ‘TCFD Recommendations’, TCFD Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, https:// www.fsb-tcfd.org/recommendations/#corerecommendations (accessed 27 June 2022) 4. C. Shaw, T. Maria, 2021, ‘TCFD Status Report 2021 – what you need to know’, Deloitte, https://www2. deloitte.com/uk/en/blog/auditandassurance/2021/ tcfd-status-report-2021-what-you-need-to-know. html (accessed 27 June 2022) 5. ‘UK to enshrine mandatory climate disclosures for largest companies in law’, 2021, gov.uk, https:// www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-enshrinemandatory-climate-disclosures-for-largestcompanies-in-law (accessed 14 June 2022) 6. ABC, (2022). ‘David Attenborough addresses world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow’ [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/202111-02/david-attenborough-speech-at-cop26glasgow/100586992?utm_campaign=abc_news_ web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_ shared&utm_source=abc_news_web [accessed on 28 June 2022]

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THE EMERGENCE AND IMPORTANCE OF CROSSFUNCTIONAL PARTNERS

By Ruxandra Cotumbeanu

Nowadays we hear more and more about crossfunctional partners or cross-functional teams in our business environment. While cross-functional teams have always existed in all industries, where people with different skills and knowledge have contributed to the success of a project, there is now a real increase in the cross-functional partners.

This cross-functional partner is taking over the role of a cross-functional team, and in some cases leading these teams to success.

Let’s start by looking at what a crossfunctional partner really is. A cross-functional partner is a person that contributes to a project from a neutral perspective, but who has the experience and knowledge of the areas involved or affected by that project. This person may be for example an analyst who started to work in the HR department, later supporting the marketing team, then the sales organisation, then moving to IT in a data quality team, after which they took over a role within the finance team, and finally ended up as a cross-functional partner for a transformation programme where sales, marketing, IT, HR and finance departments are directly involved and affected. This person is someone who built the necessary skills not by following the classic career path from junior to senior, but as a consequence of horizontal professional growth; taking opportunities, understanding the gaps and challenges faced in each area as an insider, while working in the different functions of an

organisation.

Historically, people with cross-functional skills were more likely to be found in consulting companies which aim to be more flexible and provide a wider range of skills with fewer people.

However, we now see an increased amount of people with cross-functional skills in other organisations, and more often within the finance teams.

On the other hand, we may deal with a cross-functional team that has an individual representing each skill.

Cross-functional teams vs. people with cross-functional skills

By being part of transformational programs for different organisations over time, we have seen how the two cross-functional capabilities contribute to the success of a project.

Firstly, building a cross-functional team that brings together people with different skillsets has the benefit of more productive brainstorming sessions, early onboarding for future change, and being aware of any particularities of the areas that are related to the project.

The second situation is when the transformational project is led by a crossfunctional partner. This situation is seen increasingly often, as cross-functional partners are becoming successful in this role. Cross-

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functional partners often have experience with different industries, companies, and functions.

This means they are better able to communicate to their colleagues as they understand their issues, empathise with concerns, and see the benefits of new ways of working. This is of great help when it comes to change management, when putting in place a solution that should work well for everyone.

Due to the hybrid nature of a crossfunctional partner’s experience, they will add more value than a cross-functional team in areas such as metrics and KPI analysis, measuring the performance of the business, and determining how to better set strategic objectives so that targets can be met when conflicting situations arise.

A cross-functional partner will monitor the

objectives across all the areas involved or affected by the project, while a cross-functional team will focus on individual objectives which can affect the performance of the team as a whole.

According to a study cited in the Harvard Business Review1, “nearly 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional. They fail on at least three of five criteria: 1.) meeting a planned budget; 2.) staying on schedule; 3.) adhering to specifications; 4.) meeting customer expectations; and/or 5.) maintaining alignment with the company’s corporate goals. Cross-functional teams often fail because the organisation lacks a systemic approach. Teams are hurt by unclear governance, by a lack of accountability, by goals that lack specificity, and by organisations’ failure to prioritise the success of cross-functional projects.”

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Why are cross-functional partners important and why should companies grow and value them?

Having cross-functional partners allows companies to access people who can easily adapt to changes, can take over other roles, collaborate in a more harmonic way with the other departments, and — through diversity in experience — be more innovative. However, one of the most important benefits of cross-functional partners is their ability to raise concerns and identify risks impacting other parts of the organisation that may not be directly involved at a certain time. Their knowledge allows them to help shorten the time taken to solve issues and understand problems. Cross-functional partners also help minimise the risks that can arise from lack of trust, poor communication, and cultural and personality differences, in addition to misaligned goals and priorities among the people in a crossfunctional team.

There are many good arguments for companies to invest in developing cross-functional talent. Growing cross-functional skills allows employees to cover multiple roles and facilitate their movement from one role to another. Encouraging and enabling people to move from one area to the other will also offer new career opportunities for people looking for a change in environment where vertical growth is slower or less dynamic.

A perhaps underestimated benefit of crossfunctional partners is the value they can bring to mentoring others. On the more obvious side, cross-functional partners can support the growth of people in different functions, which is a more efficient mentoring approach. However, crossfunctional partners also add value to younger

employees who might be uncertain of what they want to do in the future, or experienced employees looking to move within the business. Due to the varied nature of their experience, cross-functional partners are better placed to support these individuals based on personal rather than perceived experience.

What can go wrong without cross-functional partners?

I once worked on a very small project for a mediumsized company. This project was supposed to be completed in five weeks but that became twelve, because the project coordinators were focused on getting things done their way instead of collaborating with others. Two parts of the project were misaligned and had no one to bring them together. For both leaders and teams, things were perfectly coordinated and aligned, but they were missing the bigger picture — someone who knew both sides of the story.

This story is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. It is what often happens when a cross-functional lead is missing. Over and over we see projects being pulled in different directions by different people. Imagine a global organisation dealing with thousands of people and processes in a project with no cross-functional partners, resulting in extremely significant costs.

Is it worth it?  References 1. Tabrizi B, 2015, ‘Harvard Business Review,’ https:// hbr.org/. Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/06/75of-cross-functional-teams-are-dysfunctional

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AGILE AND WATERFALL: TWO DISTINCT BUT VALUABLE PROJECT METHODOLOGIES

By Micaela Rei

As consultants who drive optimisation and digitalisation, our solutions always look different since they are customised for a particular client.

Nevertheless, applying a specific methodology will allow you to steer the project as smoothly as possible to ensure you meet the project goals within a specific timeline and budget. Agile and Waterfall are two very distinct —but valuable — methodologies that should be chosen depending on different priorities, teams, resources, and customer needs.

requires discipline and self-direction.1 Having the team drive the direction of the project means that the project is more susceptible to change. As the team encounters various roadblocks, the way forward will change accordingly. This methodology requires the team to set short-term goals and share progress along the way. The feedback received along the way is then incorporated into the project timeline, hence the fitting name of the Agile approach.

The Agile approach

The Waterfall approach

Agility is fundamental to solving a problem. The Agile method is grounded in flexibility, change management and continuous feedback.

This approach to a project will rely heavily on the team working on different phases of the project simultaneously. The team of consultants drives the direction as opposed to following a concrete plan set out by the project manager. The result is a motivated and productive team that

In contrast, the Waterfall approach clearly defines the sequence of execution and requires one phase of the project to be completed before the next phase can begin.

This approach requires the project manager to establish goals, outcomes and the project phases from the beginning.1 For the Waterfall method to work effectively, the team must establish project requirements early on as well as have a clear

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objective in mind. This methodology ensures that all parties involved are clear about the scope and deliverables of the project. Thus a big chunk of time is spent planning and gathering requirements.

The Waterfall approach is structured and sequential with little flexibility.2 It was this rigidity that brought rise to the Agile approach. However, the advantages and disadvantages of each method need to be considered to decipher the best way forward for a particular project at a particular time.

Project planning

The Waterfall approach places a lot of emphasis on the planning phase. This is usually a lengthy and methodical process that requires alignment and sign-off from the client. Instead of focusing on the problem and solution at hand, the team may be swamped with reports and documentation brought on by an extensive planning stage.

The sequential nature of this methodology means that once a phase is completed it may be difficult and costly to revisit a previous stage. At the same time, progress is easier to measure as the full scope of work is known in advance.3 Agile teams do not follow such a rigid project plan. Rather, they circle back regularly with feedback loops. Therefore, an Agile team’s project plan remains fluid and susceptible to change, allowing the flexibility to change project directions and potentially identify new opportunities along the way.

Equally, Agile may leave the team aimless with little to no structure to their daily tasks.

Waterfall planning works well for predictable and recurring processes. However, the inability to adjust to external factors may leave the team in the dust of their competitors.

Client involvement

During the lifecycle of a Waterfall-type project, the user does not interact with, nor give feedback until the system has been fully built. The disadvantage, then, is that important issues with the product

design go undiscovered until the project goes live.

However, the lack of customer presence may also be seen as an advantage as the team is not left dependent on the client during the build process.3 On the other hand, the Agile approach is client-facing and has regular feedback sessions during the lifecycle of the project. This approach allows the team to deliver regular output and a series of wins over time.2 The advantage is that the team builds valuable connections and relationships across roles which allows for effective communication and promotes collaboration between the client and team.

Due to the regular feedback cycles, an Agile approach fosters visibility and accountability. The disadvantage that comes with high levels of client involvement is that the interdependency between client and team may hamper the team’s productivity.

Furthermore, the client may not be interested or have the time to participate.3 Waterfall teams, in contrast, have clearly defined dependencies and potential blockers.

Team

A team that follows the Waterfall approach requires less coordination as the extensive planning process clearly defines timelines and tasks that need to be completed. An Agile team is a bit more flexible and therefore more focused on value delivery than meeting deadlines.

Agile team members may not always be on the same page, as deliverables are not a requirement to progress to the next project phase.1 Furthermore, work may get lost as people join or leave the project. Although the Waterfall method may result in a better coordinated team, the team may feel demotivated as they are limited to the initial plan that was set in the very beginning and are not able to use as much initiative as an Agile team would.

As the team develops the system they may identify opportunities — an agile team acts on these but a Waterfall team must ignore them as they would probably fall outside of the scope. Agile teams may

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be more productive as they are regularly presenting to the client. On the same token, this may cause the team to get things done in a hurry instead of delivering quality work.

Which method to choose?

When considering which methodology to use for a particular project, it is a good idea to think about the project according to the categories mentioned above. If the project budget and timeline is fixed with a clear objective, the Waterfall approach would be better suited. The Agile method would work well if the client requires more features within a shorter period, and if there exists some flexibility in the project scope.

It is also quite common for project teams to combine the two methodologies for the most customised and optimal solution. No project looks the same, hence the importance of analysing the

different factors at play and thinking through how best to deal with them.  References 1. Hoory, L. and Bottorff, C. (2021). Agile vs. Waterfall: Which Project Management Methodology Should I Use? [online] Forbes Advisor. Available at: https://www. forbes.com/advisor/business/agile-vs-waterfallmethodology/ [Accessed 12 Jul. 2022].

2. Radigan, D. (n.d.). Project management with agile principles. [online] Atlassian. Available at: https:// www.atlassian.com/agile/project-management/ project-management-intro [Accessed 12 Jul. 2022].

3. Lotz, M. (2018). Waterfall vs. Agile: Which Methodology is Right for Your Project? [online] Segue Technologies.

Available at: https://www.seguetech.com/waterfallvs-agile-methodology/ [Accessed 12 Jul. 2022].

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DOES MOTIVATION + ENGAGEMENT = EMPLOYEE RETENTION?

By Lavinia Negoita

A quick search on Google and you are overwhelmed with the number of articles written about how to motivate and engage your employees. These strategies can form the backbone of company culture – trusting, transparent, people-focused – but can also refer to various perks like private healthcare, team-building, and even breakfast every Friday morning. But one thing is for sure: in today’s digital work environment in which candidates drive the recruitment process, the cost of replacing a top performer who is unhappy is significantly higher than listening to their needs.

Motivation can be defined in multiple ways, but simply put, it represents a person’s willingness to put in effort and energy to achieve certain goals. Motivating employees is key to a company’s success and creating a better work environment with a positive atmosphere. There are multiple theories which have shaped the way we engage and inspire teams.1 In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced his theory of the hierarchy of needs in his paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his book Motivation

and Personality. His theory suggests that people are motivated to fulfil their basic needs before moving on to more advanced needs. If we were to consider the work environment, the psychological needs are related to having a safe environment, a mental health-friendly policy, having breaks when needed and, of course, looking after the employees and offering them support in their career development.

Each workplace is made up of a mix of people, backgrounds, cultures, interests, skills, experience – the list is endless. As the modern workplace evolves and as the nature of today’s work changes, we need to understand how people’s minds work and how they react to the work environment, and identify the differences between the engagement levels of employees to better support them.

Daniel Pink, in his best seller Drive1 from 2010, examines a different and more modern approach to employee motivation, more suited for the company’s needs. The three aspects – or gifts for employees, we might say – he analyses are: r Autonomy – the ability of employees to exert control on some aspects of their work; for

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example, what to work on or when to work. r Mastery – the possibility to improve, and receive space and support for continuous growth r Purpose – help employees connect to higher goals, people and values to unlock the motivation, and get them engaged.

Employee engagement can be described as the level of commitment and connection an employee has towards their organisation. For obvious reasons, this is a critical factor in the success of every company – talent is retained, customer loyalty is fostered and the organisation is prosperous.2 When we distinguish between employees, we can usually break them down into the actively engaged, enthusiastic ones and the employees who do the bare minimum, don’t engage in social events and tend to have a fixed mindset. If we separate these behaviours, it would look like this:2 Engaged behaviours

Disengaged behaviours

Optimistic

Pessimistic

Team-oriented

Self-centred

Goes above and beyond

High absenteeism

Solution-oriented

Negative attitude

Selfless

Egocentric

Shows a passion for learning

Focuses on monetary worth

Passes along credit but accepts blame

Accepts credit but passes along blame

Research shows there are factors like effective training, employee motivation, workplace environment, structures, systems and processes that can affect individual performance positively or negatively.3 Employees who are motivated work hard and are loyal to their organisations, and employees who self-improve and attend trainings

will perform better. The work environment must therefore encourage interaction to enable employees to share ideas and exchange knowledge.

Did the pandemic have any impact on how employees look at their companies, work-life balance, and productivity? According to Gartner, many companies have considered integrating remote working to cater to a shift in employee expectations.4 If companies want to attract talent now and in the future, they need to integrate these expectations when developing the company culture.

According to the EY’s Work Reimagined Survey,5 which surveyed 16,000 employees across 16 countries and 23 industries, 54% would prefer to have flexible working hours. Also, 9 out of 10 employees would want to be able to choose where and when they work.

Employees expectations have shifted; people are rethinking where, how and why they work. There is a new level of flexibility required from both parties – the employees and the employers. The pot is much bigger now, as opportunities have opened globally. Remote working and work-from-home opportunities are top job requirements, as more experienced employees become aware that mental health is key – there’s a shift from living to work to working to live.6 On the other hand, while the new generation of entry-level employees enjoy flexible work, they miss the in-person interactions that are so important to building a connection with colleagues and customers.

While flexibility of the employer seems to be the number one criteria for employee retention, it cannot act alone. We still need to keep people engaged, motivated to perform, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance even when they are working remotely. Other factors that need to be considered are access to training and development opportunities, and various benefits with an emphasis on mental health, diversity, equity and inclusion – to name a few.

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As the modern workplace evolves and as the nature of today’s work changes, we need to understand how people’s minds work and how they react to the work environment.

Given all the above, dear employer, what is your employee value proposition? What is the unique benefits package an employee receives for the skills, knowledge and experience they bring to your company? Bear in mind, this is part of the culture you want to build and the reason your employees feel pride and motivation to work.7 So what would you, as an employer, be prepared to offer to engage and motivate the 21st century employee? And what do you, the employee, value in today’s modern work setup?  References 1. Thomson, I. (2020). Maslow, Herzberg and Pink’s Motivational Theories in the Workplace. [online] www. sodexoengage.com. Available at: https://www. sodexoengage.com/blog/rewards-recognition/ maslow-herzberg-and-pinks-theories-in-theworkplace.

2. SHRM (2019). Developing and Sustaining Employee Engagement. [online] SHRM. Available at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/ tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/ sustainingemployeeengagement.aspx.

3. BUKHUNI, NAMUSONGE, MAKOKHA (2019).

Effect Of Motivation Practices On Employee Performance In Public Secondary Schools In

4.

5.

6.

7.

Kenya. [online] BUKHUNI, NAMUSONGE, MAKOKHA. Available at: https://www.ijssit.com/ main/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Effect-OfMotivation-Practices-On-Employee-PerformanceIn-Public-Secondary-Schools-In-Kenya.pdf Baker, M. (2021). 9 Future of Work Trends PostCOVID-19. [online] Gartner. Available at: https:// www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/9-futureof-work-trends-post-covid-19. www.ey.com. (2021). More than half of employees globally would quit their jobs if not provided postpandemic flexibility, EY survey finds. [online] Available at: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/news/2021/05/ more-than-half-of-employees-globally-wouldquit-their-jobs-if-not-provided-post-pandemicflexibility-ey-survey-finds.

HOOLE. (2022). COVID-19 and the Big Quit: Keys to Employee Retention. [online] HOOLE. Available at: https://www.ecovis.com/global/covid-19-and-thebig-quit-keys-to-employee-retention/ [Accessed 27 Jun. 2022].

Page, M. (2019). Create a great employee value proposition | Michael Page UK. [online] Michael Page. Available at: https://www.michaelpage. co.uk/advice/management-advice/attractionand-recruitment/create-great-employee-valueproposition.

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Meet the team

Holly Oxborrow is a consultant at inlumi and joined in 2020. Prior to this Holly worked in commercial and group finance at International retail companies where she gained her CIMA qualification. Before that Holly studied and worked in the USA where she developed her love of food and exploring. Now she spends her time doing reformer Pilates, socialising, and playing with her Labrador puppy, Clyde!

Lauren Hargreaves joined inlumi as an Advisory Consultant at the beginning of 2021.

Lauren has a degree in Management Accounting and over seven years’ experience in finance and technology. Since moving to London in 2019, she has been working in Finance technology transformation programmes, focussing on stakeholder management and change management within the finance/accounting space. In her spare time Lauren enjoys being outdoors, preferably with her dog.

Susan Gittings, Consulting Director for the inlumi Benelux region, has 20 years’ experience in technology-driven finance and business transformations. Crossing a wide industry range, Susan spent many years leading complex change programmes, including Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A.) Over the last few years, Susan has specifically focused on helping clients in the revolution of FP&A to xP&A – Extended Planning and Analytics, with a proven track record and experience in xP&A change programmes.

Omer Cander, a principal at inlumi, is the editor of Enabling Decisions and the global OneStream community lead for inlumi. He has 15 years of experience in helping customers towards achieving Finance Function effectiveness through financial and digital transformation. He is a keen singer and tries to sing at every occasion his dog, Muriel, allows him.

Jakub Plachta is a Senior Consultant at inlumi focusing on the EPM implementations and finance transformation programmes. Jakub’s area of expertise is mainly in the Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting area, working closely with the FP&A teams to help streamline their processes and operations by implementing latest cloud-based technologies.

Kristin Nerman joined inlumi in 2021 as a Demand Generation Manager. She has been working with Marketing in the EPM world for the past 5 years. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in the mountains skiing, traveling or playing football.

Meet the team Kaitlin van Baarle joined the marketing team at inlumi in 2017. After completing her Master’s degree in Anthropology, she took on various marketing & communications roles before joining inlumi on the cusp of a merger, which saw the new inlumi brand arise.

With content creation as her main focus, she works to spread the message about inlumi.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, going for walks, photography, travel, and going to concerts.

Ritesch Malhoe is a functional consultant at inlumi. From gathering requirements from clients, to giving presentations, developing solutions within cloud applications to giving training and guiding the User Acceptance Tests — his role as a consultant is dynamic.

Ritesch has over 3 years of experience in consulting and over 6 years of experience in Finance reporting roles. In his spare time he loves to be with his two daughters, doing sports (running, cycling or bootcamp), reading, or listening to a good podcast.

Ruxandra Cotumbeanu is a Managing Consultant at inlumi. With her Master’s Degree in Project management, she specialises in EPM implementations and helped customers around the world succeed in their finance transformation programs. Outside of work she is interested in arts and nature, loves being outdoors with friends and family, exploring new places and cooking with her 3 children.

Micaela Rei is a Consultant with inlumi in the Johannesburg office. After completing her Economics honours, she joined the team to support the expansion of the Digital Finance Strategy practice, focusing on Financial Planning and Analysis implementations in OneStream. She supports the team with EPM insights alongside her implementation work.

Lavinia Negoita is a Managing Consultant at inlumi, specialised in EPM software implementations. For the past 10 years she has helped customers successfully implement finance transformation projects across the globe, from health services to insurance companies. To disconnect from work, Lavinia enjoys cooking, gardening and long nature walks.

Patrick Kgarea is a consultant at inlumi with a core focus on EPM implementations.

In his previous life before he saw the light, Patrick was an Internal auditor. When not working, he spends time as a self-proclaimed movie critic, ice cream dates with the niece and nephew and occasionally when back in his home province, a taxi driver on Saturdays.

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About inlumi inlumi is a global team of over 200 specialists in digital transformation for the office of the CFO – advisory, technology implementation and managed operations. We are one of a handful of companies that truly understand technologyenabled change and the impact it can have.

With our combined finance, technology and change expertise, we help our customers to perform at their best by enabling them to understand their data, deliver it where and when it is needed most, and make decisions.

Enabling Decisions is a magazine by inlumi Research Hub. Founder & Editor Omer Cander Team Lead Lavinia Negoita Issue Lead Lauren Hargreaves Editing & Design Kaitlin van Baarle inlumi CEO and iRH Sponsor Ashley Chapman Writers & Reviewers Holly Oxborrow Lauren Hargreaves Susan Gittings Omer Cander Jakub Plachta Kristin Nerman Kaitlin van Baarle Ritesch Malhoe Ruxandra Cotumbeanu Micaela Rei Lavinia Negoita Patrick Kgarea inlumi www.inlumi.com enablingdecisions@inlumi.com Headquarters: Parijsboulevard 143 C 3541 CS Utrecht The Netherlands