OpusCapita Journal 2 2014

2/2014 Part of Itella Group

How to turn financial functions into business muscle 16 4 AMBITIOUS GOALS 6 KLONDIKE EFFECT HEATS UP THE SOFTWARE MARKET 8 tom bangemann, the hackett group: NOTHING BEATS AUTOMATION FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

WE❤ happy customers

ClimateCalc CC-000025/FI HÄMEEN KIRJAPAINO OY

441 209 Printed matter Y 2011

OPUSCAPITA Journal passion for financial management / Publisher OpusCapita / Editor in Chief Ulla Kenttä / Editorial team Karoliina Haikonen, Sara Hokkanen, Kimmo Kauranen, Toni Paloheimo, Marketta Tammisto / Editors Communications Agency Effet Oy / Translations Bellcrest Translations / Layout Tiina Lautamäki / Cover photo 123rf / Printed by Hämeen Kirjapaino Oy, Finland, 2014 / ISSN 1458-0012 / Address source OpusCapita customer register / www.opuscapita.com

Financial departments are constantly expected to contribute more to corporate strategy implementation and business development.

OpusCapita’s new cooperation model helps financial departments identify and prioritize how to create the greatest value for business.

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CONTENTS

We help our customers to streamline their finance and accounting processes using automation to improve efficiency, flexibility and business support. Our services and solutions cover the entire field of financial management – from a single process all the way to full business process outsourcing. We provide financial process automation for more than 10,000 customers. We operate in 9 European countries, employing 2,100 professionals.

OpusCapita is part of Itella Group.

4 EDITORIAL: AMBITIOUS GOALS 5 HOT TOPICS 6 ”THAT WAS JUST THE START!” 8 GLOBAL TREND IS NOW FOR HYBRIDS 10 FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING OUTSOURCING HAS REACHED LARGER SMES 12 CUSTOMER STORY: FORTACO 14 WANTED: BETTER VISIBILITY! 16 Turning financial functions into business muscle 17 exporting expertise 20 NEWS AND EVENTS 22 INSIDE STORIES

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Over the long term, automation is the most effective tool for improving the productivity of support services.

2/2014

2/2014 LP TRA RINT EU

MATTER ED

CLIMATE N

IN THIS ISSUE >>

About

Part of Itella Group

HOW TO TURN FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS INTO BUSINESS MUSCLE 16 4 AMBITIOUS GOALS 6 KLONDIKE EFFECT HEATS UP THE SOFTWARE MARKET 8 TOM BANGEMANN, THE HACKETT GROUP: NOTHING BEATS AUTOMATION FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

WANT TO Go DIGITAL? Read the digital edition and get easy access to the EXTRA materials attached at www.opuscapita.com.

opuscapita in toruŃ: exporting expertise

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[ CONTENTS ]

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hot topics >> ambitious goals

Most important reasons for outsourcing

42%

Just like our customers in their own business areas, we at OpusCapita work tirelessly to improve our products and services to meet our customers’ needs.

I’m sure you’ve heard that one before. Worn-out as it may sound, it is the absolute priority for any company interested in its customers’ success.

We have always endeavored to predict our customers’ needs and discover innovative solutions for financial processes, and we have succeeded, too, as our many customer relationships spanning several decades and a user-base covering more than 50 countries both prove.

This year we will boost our creative capacity by focusing on exploring many new innovations and developing automation solutions to improve financial processes. Robotics is one focus area, and I personally believe it will play a major role in financial management in the future. Robotics can even provide the solution for the main obstacle in automation, which is the incompatibility of data systems. At OpusCapita, we have already tested robotics in a general ledger environment and the results have been promising.

Other natural ways to improve our ability to serve are mergers, acquisitions and partnerships. Over the years, we have completed more than 30 corporate acquisitions, which have allowed us to offer you ever better tools to enhance your business. If you know a great supplier providing a service that could complement what OpusCapita has to offer, please drop us a line.

Petri Karjalainen Vice President, Customer Operations, OpusCapita

Earlier this year we announced a new customer oriented corporate culture in which customer satisfaction has been highlighted as the common goal for the entire organization. Today, the Net Promoter Score, which indicates customer satisfaction, is part of the personal remuneration system and personal development discussions of more than one thousand OpusCapita employees. Each day, this new culture takes even firmer root in our operations. We’ve set very ambitious goals for customer satisfaction. We want our customers to be more than satisfied – so satisfied that they are prepared to recommend us to their colleagues.

Most services are still outsourced on an as-is basis

extra

Make sure you read Up and coming market trends of financial management at www.opuscapita.com/trends/

26%

in-depth research on outsourcing in Europe, conducted by EY, confirms that organizations are increasingly more open to outsourcing as a valid means of cost reduction in general. It also confirms that cost is the key driver for first-time outsourcers, while second-time outsourcers are looking for added value in the form of specific expertise and knowledge from the outsourcing supplier.

One result to surprise the researchers was the finding that most services are still outsourced on an as-is basis. A change is coming, though, because it is now clear that without transformational activities, many of the benefits of outsourcing cannot be realized.

Improved focus on core business

24% Reduction in headcount objectives

23%

➞ particularly in Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom

Access to specific knowledge, expertise and tools

Trends in the outsourcing market

36% Cloud computing

23% Combined outsourcing of IT and business processes

Source: Outsourcing in Europe, EY, 2013. An in-depth review of drivers, risks and trends in the European outsourcing market. Survey includes Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Find the informative report (pdf ) www.opuscapita.com/eysurvey/

22% Specific or specialist knowlegde and expertise 21% ➞ Particularly in Germany Big data

Companies want more automation and outsourcing for receivables process The most important improvement goal for companies in their receivables management is to achieve a reduction in the amount of manual input and an increase in the level of automation. About half of all companies in Finland, Sweden and Norway have already outsourced their payment reminder and debt collection functions, and are now turning to outsourcing the management of accounts receivables and invoicing.

84%

suggest a meeting on these topics. Contact petri.karjalainen(at)opuscapita.com

33% Efficiency improvements

Importance of resource/effort objectives, TOP 3 of 11 options

P.s. Interested in new visions for developing financial management? Bring up the subject the next time we meet or

Improvement or reduction in cost level

Minimize the number of overdue invoices

84% Maximize customer satisfaction regarding invoice process

78% Minimize the percentage of bad debts against invoiced revenue

Importance of KPI or end result objectives, TOP 3 of 14 options

77% Minimize the amount of manual work hours in invoicing process

76% Minimize the amount of manual work hours in receivable collection process

72% Minimize the time and effort to place an invoice into debt collection

Source: Accounts receivables study, commissioned by OpusCapita, 2014. More: www.opuscapita.com/moreatm/

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“Acquisitions have always been a natural component of our way of doing business, and how we develop the company.”

Per Åberg, Director of M&A activities at OpusCapita Group

“Every company wants to develop, to grow, to acquire more legs to stand on.

Until now, we’ve mostly seen the big players executing their strategies by mergers and acquisitions. But this has just been the start,” says Per Åberg, Director of M&A activities at OpusCapita Group.

By big players Per Åberg means companies such as Accenture, Wipro, Visma or Arvato, which have all grown from different origins into global operators in BPO services. Just last year, Arvato acquired the Scandinavian collection company Gothia, and added a new piece to its portfolio.

“Now the medium-size players are joining the game, and they all want to find a niche player to strengthen their portfolios.”

The reason for that is the status of the software business itself. Many companies are realizing that their core business line is over-mature and that their products’ life cycle is nearing its end. In other words, the business needs regenerating.

“What happens then? The company must add something to the product or the service to gain an advantage over the competitors. Very likely it is something that has been developed already, which leads to an acquisition or some other business arrangement that suits the company’s strategy.”

“I’m convinced that many such actions will be seen in the next few years.”

FOUR DRIVERS

That was just the start!

The financial software market is constantly in a state of fluctuation, with mergers and acquisitions being reported at an increasing rate. The trend towards consolidation in the BPO market is not showing any sign of slowing. Quite the opposite, in fact. text marketta tammisto • photo sami tirkkonen

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In addition to the globalization that is affecting practically every business trend, Per Åberg identifies four drivers of M&A activities, regardless of the size of the company: “The company wants to grow bigger.

Or the company wants to fulfill a new customer demand. Or the company is losing revenue in some business line and wants to offset the loss.”

For a person like Per Åberg, who actively monitors market developments in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, stock market news makes very interesting reading. Why, for example, does the Lexmark printing house want to buy the ReadSoft scanning house? Could it be because ReadSoft earlier bought the invoicing spe-

cialist, Export Systems? Maybe they see something that will grow in the future….

This takes us to a fourth and very topical driver: capital investors and their need to find a promising target for their money.

KLONDIKE EFFECT It’s been said that there is more cash available on the market than there are good ideas available for capital investors to make more cash on their money.

“This makes them look for new business areas to find something growing that could be combined with an existing, mature business in order to make it more profitable.”

“But the lack of opportunities affects the valuation of companies, and this makes the market overheated right now.”

One factor complicating the situation is the high degree of uncertainty over how the market will develop.

“For ten years now the market has been waiting for a big explosion of e-invoicing. The hype has created what I call a Klondike effect: the e-invoicing business is easy to start, and a great many companies have been established with high hopes of digging out gold. Most of these companies make hardly any money, but they are very highly valued, thanks to the hype.”

M&A CAN GENERATE A GREAT BAND Business consolidation is usually about combining complementary products, services and companies. At the same time, there is another trend going on, in which processes are fragmented and these fragments are managed in different locations and different countries. How do these trends affect the customers?

“When we combine the influence of consolidation, process fragmentation and automation, we service providers can come up with new, flexible, comprehen­ sive solutions. So yes, that is a good development for the customer,” says Per Åberg.

Nevertheless, when the CFO or CIO of a mid-segment company hears that their software supplier or service provider will be acquired, many questions arise.

“If I were in the customer’s shoes, I

would analyze the former actions of the new owner to find out what kind of band our partner will be joining, and then decide whether the band is good or whether we should start looking for a new group,“ says Per Åberg, a guitarist in a heavy metal band in his spare time.

ONE STEP AHEAD Looking back at OpusCapita’s history, we can see a series of acquisitions and mergers that turned a printing business into today’s OpusCapita, a company that provides a comprehensive portfolio of finance process solutions and services.

“Acquisitions have always been a natu­ral component of our way of doing business, and how we develop the company.”

“One thing I’m very proud of is that we’ve always been a step ahead of our customers in predicting what they’ll need next and how the market will develop.”

Unlike the big BPO companies that offer a variety of support services, OpusCapita is strictly focused on its special expertise, financial processes.

“First the customers standardize, then they centralize, then they outsource, using either the versatile BPaaS model (Business Process as a Service) or the traditional outsourcing model. We have products and services ready for every phase of financial process improvement, whenever the customer is ready to take the next step.”

What about OpusCapita’s next step?

“Based on the huge amount of customer data we have, I think we should offer advisory and consultancy services.”

extra

Count the eggs! Four things to consider when your supplier gets acquired. Read Per Åberg’s blog at www.opuscapita.com/4things/

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“Companies still have huge unused potential in the utilization of automation.

Even though the forerunners have already moved on and use integrated service centers, over half of the service centers are less advanced singlefunction in-house solutions,” says Tom Bangemann, The Hackett Group.

Virtual Service Organization Integrated Service Centers Global SSC

Outsourcing

E f f ic ienc y

Local / Regional SSCs

Internal SSCs

De-centralized organizations

O rga ni zati ona l m atu r i t y

Global trend is now for hybrids

We know that over the long term, automation is the most effective tool for improving the productivity of support services. But how do you proceed when the journey to the finish line may take three decades? In this article, Tom Bangemann from The Hackett Group explains the global trends of transformation. On the next page, Christian Scherf from OpusCapita offers the perspective of the middle segment. text marketta tammisto

Source: Tom Bangemann, The Hackett Group

.

>> “All forecasts indicate that the centralization of support services by companies, either in their own service centers or by outsourcing, is a trend that is continuing to grow. Another obvious international trend is that this development is particularly strong in medium-sized companies.”

The Hackett Group’s Tom Bangemann has been monitoring the centralization of support services for more than 15 years with studies and customer consultations.

He has also written books and numerous articles on the subject. A few years ago, a global trade union in the sector awarded him with the title of Thought Leader of the Year.

Bangemann’s job takes him from one country and continent to another. He is based in Frankfurt in Germany. When we carried out this interview he was in Scandinavia, just before that he was in the USA, and in a few weeks later he took a flight to Australia.

“Globalization is a megatrend that will continue whether we like it or not,” he says.

“For decades now, companies have been transferring their production units to the places where there is a market for their products, or places with a cheaper workforce. Support services are following the same business logic and technology is speeding up this development.”

However, we still have some way to go before we reach the finish line. “In Europe, for example, there is a general understanding in dialogue that most support services have been moved far away

SSC & Outsourcing development The service center model was created about 20 years ago and is in use all over the world.

> Germany, France and the UK: Are at the forefront when it comes to service centers. The growth trend continues. > Central Europe: The growth trend continues. > The Nordic countries: Were among the first to utilize automation, but until 2008, service centers were mainly country-specific. There is now a strong trend towards international service centers, offshoring and outsourcing. > Southern Europe: Has not yet woken up to the phenomenon.

Tom Bangemann, The Hackett Group

SSC, BPO, BPaaS… Short explanations on next page.

to Asia and India. However, this is a misconception,” says Tom Bangemann.

“In reality, the total number of service centers in Europe is higher than the number of service centers in Asia, and the majority of new European service centers are set up in the company’s home country.”

Companies also have huge unused potential in the utilization of automation.

Even though the forerunners have already moved on and use integrated service centers, over half of the service centers are less advanced single-function in-house solutions.

Matter of the heart Companies do not centralize their services in their own service center or with a BPO partner just because it is fashionable or popular. Bangemann says it is quite the opposite. Transferring work to a service centre and outsourcing both provoke bad feelings and it is also a difficult decision for the managers.

“A ‘burning platform’ situation is usually needed or one person with a very strong idea about the future of the company. Only then will the organization be ready to start planning the centralization of the services of several countries or their outsourcing.”

Many companies decide to set up a service center in their domicile or a neighboring country, or choose an outsourcing partner that operates close by.

“It is partly a matter of the heart, but there is certainly also the idea that when

SSC is not a goal but one step on the journey towards the nearest thing to perfect automation of support processes.

When it is a question of improving productivity and efficiency, there is no alternative method that would, over the long term, be able to compete with automation.

TOM BANGEMANN, Senior Vice President, Business Transformation, at The Hackett Group

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“Finance and accounting outsourcing has reached larger SMEs” a service is produced in a country with a familiar culture, it is easier to build the essential trust between the service center and the customer.”

SSC or outsourcing?

Many of the companies in the middle segment ponder the choice between service centers and outsourcing.

However, when global developments in this area are considered, companies do not choose between one or the other but decide to go with both.

“According to a recent study of ours, almost all large organizations have a hybrid model for producing support services, known as source mix, in which some services are produced by the company and others are acquired from different outsourcing partners.”

In the future, companies may incorporate niche service producers, which are specialized in certain processes, into their hybrid models and will thus be able to outsource more demanding services and processes.

extra

What will become of service centers as automation progresses?

Read Tom Bangemann’s perspective of the future of service centers at www.opuscapita.com/center/

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Reducing cost and optimizing financial and accounting processes is increasingly on the agenda of CFOs in bigger medium-size companies, and outsourcing and shared services are increasingly being seen as possible silver bullets in the hunt for greater efficiency. For Christian Scherf, Managing Director of OpusCapita GmbH, outsourcing has the edge over its rival, shared services.

Christian Scherf, who is very familiar with the SMEs‘ challenges of improving financial processes, says that outsourcing is a reasonable way to support improvements not only for large companies, but for SMEs as well.

“Until now, a company that employs 60, 70 or 80 people in its finance department, has thought itself to be too small for outsourcing or shared services. But now these attitudes are changing.

Finance and accounting outsourcing has reached larger SMEs. Our SME customers have been employing between 20 and 80 people in accounting.”

The forces that drive outsourcing are usually the costs initially. However, as financial managers look more intensively at outsourcing, other good arguments come into play – for example, the opportunity to automate processes with the outsourcing proChristian Scherf vider’s expertise and modern technologies.

Managing Director, “Although the potential cost savings of OpusCapita GmbH outsourcing are important, we do not see a race to the bottom in terms of prices and quality. The important things for most companies are data security, quality and emotional intelligence.”

extra

Read Christian Scherf’s interview in full and find out more at www.opuscapita.com/outsrc/ In German on www.opuscapita.de

SSC vs. outsourcing for SMEs – TOP 10 reasons to outsource Shared services Objectives

Responsibility of implementing the objectives

Mass of volumes

Outsourcing with OpusCapita

To reduce costs and increase efficiency by standardizing processes, making use of economies of scale and specialization.

An internal department, which has the following issues

An external outsourcing partner, which offers the following benefits

> organizational structures need to be developed

> organizational structures do not need to be developed

> technology must be put in place

> technical requirements are already in place

> staff training required

> specialized personnel at your service

> any ongoing personnel and operational expenses and problems must be dealt with

> scalability and variable costs as a result (change from fixed costs into variable costs) > no problems with HR issues – hiring, personnel fluctuation, holidays/illness, etc.

> human and technical resources and the quality of processes require continuous development

> continuous development of process standardization and automation > transparency of processes > the highest levels of security, data protection and compliance guaranteed

> continuous investments will be required outside the core business

> focus on strategic financial tasks

> company must have critical mass of transaction and process volumes to generate economies of scale

> use of economies of scale: company benefits from the massive transaction volumes provided by the multiple customers of outsourcing centers

> SSC, Shared Services Center

> BPO, Business Process Outsourcing

> BPaaS, Business Process as a Service

> GBS, Global Business Services

A centralized point of service, focused on defined business functions for multiple business units within the company. The delivery may be by internal personnel (captive shared services) or by service providers (outsourced shared services), or some combination of those.

Giving responsibility for one or more processes to a service company that will conduct processes on behalf of the client company in accordance with a commercial contract.

The BPO provider may or may not conduct some of the processes offshore.

A versatile alternative to the traditional outsourcing model as it uses the cloud to deliver business processes. The stan­ dardized nature of BPaaS means that an enterprise can outline a consistent approach to internal processes.

This concept covers all support functions, regardless of whether they are produced in the organizations’ own service centers or outsourced, or whether the location of the service unit is inshore, nearshore or offshore.

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customer story

We can concentrate on business control, analyze the matters behind the numbers and look ahead.

Fortaco

Risto Laaksonen, Group Financial Controller

Fortaco, Europe’s leading contract manufacturer for the engineering industry, outsourced all of its financial management processes to OpusCapita. text aila välikoski photo ©Fortaco group

Fortaco was established in 2012 with the merger of Komas Oy and Ruukki Engineering Oy. In cooperation with OpusCapita, the new group, quickly and in a controlled way, took over the financial processes of two different companies that used different methods to manage their finances.

OpusCapita had supplied financial management services to Komas since 2003. At Ruukki Engineering, financial management services were concentrated in their own service centers.

“OpusCapita took charge of the extensive outsourcing project connected with taking control of Ruukki’s financial processes. At the same time, Ruukki was also implementing a large SAP project, and OpusCapita played a significant role in the testing of this. I was surprised at how successful the very first monthly management reporting was. There was just one small delay and since then we have been on schedule the whole time,” says Risto Laaksonen, Group Financial Controller.

According to Laaksonen, it makes no difference whether the chief accountant is sitting in the next room or somewhere in OpusCapita’s organization, provided that the work carried out is of high quality.

“However, as a whole, service cooperation provides additional benefits. Our partner has guaranteed resources and we

know that the financial statements will be completed and the consolidations will be ready just like that right on schedule in every situation. We can focus even more on our business. ” “We do not need to spend time on the human resources, though taking care of the cooperation with OpusCapita does naturally require some resources.”

Fortaco wants an active financial services partner that develops its services systematically. The service must correspond with that outlined in the service level agreement and OpusCapita must react to problem situations quickly. The quality of the service is monitored together against agreed indicators.

Risto Laaksonen believes that fluent communication is a key factor in the success of the service cooperation.

“We continuously discuss oppor­­­­­tu­ni­ties to boost the efficiency of work with OpusCapita and minor improvements are constantly carried out. We are working on a project to transfer to IFRS financial statements and reporting, possibly at the beginning of 2015, and we have been discussing the measures required with OpusCapita.”

OpusCapita produces Fortaco’s services in international service centers and Fortaco’s financial managers went to learn more about the operations of Opus­ Capita’s service center in Toruń, Poland.

“We wanted to see how our services are produced and meet the team who is looking after our affairs. This type of faceto-face contact is always good for cooperation. It is also especially important for the financial managers of our European sub­sidiaries to meet the experts at OpusCapita and for their cooperation to be smooth.”

About

fortaco

Europe’s leading manufacturing partner for the engineering industry.

The company’s core competencies include welded plate structures for the heavy industry, machining and assembly. Fortaco’s production sites are located in Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland.

In 2013, turnover was approximately EUR 215 million and the company employed about 2,300 people.

> The challenge

Fortaco wanted an active financial services partner to take over, to manage and to develop the financial processes of a new, international engineering group.

>> The solution

OpusCapita is responsible for the Fortaco Group’s purchase and sales invoice processes (sending purchase and sales invoices, accounts payable and receivable), travel expenses management, fixed assets accounting, general ledger services and the Group’s consolidation and reporting service in Finland, Poland and Slovakia, and for payroll accounting services in Finland. The subsidiaries in Estonia and Hungary are also included in the consolidation.

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Big data is not being utilized just yet, but CFO Robert Hernberg is using the younger brother of big data by incorporating predictive analyses and key performance indicators (KPI) in the financial processes.

He uses analyses to monitor, for example, whether the pricing of the leasing vehicles has been successful and how profitable the vehicles are based on their make and model.

“We are at the forefront regarding the use of predictive analytics. I believe that these measures provide us with better visibility to profitability than our competi­ tors,” Robert Hernberg says.

Accurate information guides pricing decisions Easy Km specializes in the leasing and reselling of cars and commercial vehicles. It uses OpusCapita’s Invoice Manager system in its purchase-to-pay process.

WANTED: BETTER VISIBILITY! And not just wanted, but achieved too. The car leasing company Easy Km Ltd, part of ALD Automotive, has turned predictive financial analysis into an important competitive advantage.

It now has better visibility of its profit potential and accurate information for successful pricing. text aila välikoski, marketta tammisto • photo 123rf

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Easy Km’s purchase invoices are mainly related to vehicle maintenance and purchases. Each purchase invoice row needs to be allocated as automatically as possible to a certain leasing agreement and vehicle in the company’s systems. For example, each row in a tire invoice containing hundreds of rows could refer to a separate leasing agreement.

Correct allocation of invoice rows is critically important as this ensures that the analysis data on maintenance profitability is accurate from the start.

“Data produced by OpusCapita enables us to make our pricing competitive and profitable. Our product development is based on our ability to understand our cost structures and being able price special products, such as commercial vehicles, as well.”

The source of this analysis data is the purchase-to-pay process. Here the company uses OpusCapita’s Invoice Manager solution, and this also comprises Opus-

Capita Liquidity, which enables unpaid purchase invoices to be included in cash forecasts.

In solution acquisitions, Robert Hernberg likes to use standard applications as much as possible, as this makes it possible to benefit from the active product development of widely-used systems.

“In the process of updating our ERP system, I investigated whether there was a standard application on the market for the processing of purchase invoices, which would allow us to lift and utilize the vehicle-specific invoice parameters directly from our ERP. OpusCapita was the only company that was able to offer this.”

The company owns and administers a database of leasing agreements for about 8 000 vehicles and sells about 2500 ex-leasing vehicles every year. Turnover in 2013 was EUR 88 million. Easy Km is part of ALD Automotive.

Predictive analysis enables us to analyze and correctly price services.

ROBERT HERNBERG, CFO, Easy Km Ltd

FUNCTIONING OF NEW STRATEGY VERIFIED Robert Hernberg is systematically developing Easy Km’s financial processes.

Defining financial KPIs has been a part of Easy Km and OpusCapita’s cooperation to identify customer value indicators.

Here, Easy Km and OpusCapita have jointly plotted the functions of Easy Km’s purchase-to-pay process and the objectives and indicators set for its financial management. Improvement areas have been identified and put into specific terms in accordance with Easy Km’s strategy. OpusCapita has provided a proposal on how to make systematic progress in process development.

“When it comes to process development, I have always strived for efficiency and productivity, but I think it is equally

important that everyone enjoys their work. The best results are attained when the financial team enjoys what it does.

Therefore we have been through the work processes and drawn up descriptions of them, for example. This enables us to identify any overlaps, to learn from each other, and to create an actual learning organization,” says Robert Hernberg.

“Process development is an inspiring and continuous procedure. OpusCapita has helped us to discover a controlled concept for it, and is an expert partner with whom we can exchange ideas,” says Robert Hernberg.

Easy Km has undergone a major strategic shift over the last couple of years.

The CFO is responsible for verifying the

success of the new strategy put forth by the Board of Directors.

“Process development now allows us to see cost structures clearly, and by making use of the systems, we can quickly form an overall picture of client relationships. The information is up-to-date and reliable, and the predictive analyses support our strategy.”

extra

Why we chose OpusCapita View Robert Hernberg’s short interview and our other videos at www.youtube.com/opuscapita Read the reference story at www.opuscapita.com/easykm/

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OpusCapita’s new cooperation model helps financial departments identify and prioritize how to create the greatest value for business.

Jonna Tolvanen, Financial and Accounting Outsourcing Product Manager at OpusCapita

TURNING FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS INTO BUSINESS muscle There is nothing new in financial departments being constantly expected to contribute more to corporate strategy implementation and business development. But what is new is that there is now a method for doing this that takes into account the individual needs of the company.

The cooperation model created by OpusCapita reveals the unique development opportunities within companies’ financial management. It helps highlight the strategic-level needs and areas that need improvement at both the process and system levels.

The purpose of this new approach, which highlights customer value, is to identify the parts of financial management and the processes that, when developed, will produce the greatest value for the company and will offer the greatest benefits to the company’s strategic business operations. After this, OpusCapita compiles, jointly with the customer, a proposal outlining the alternatives for proceeding, and these will be arranged according to their priority in the value scorecard. OpusCapita will also help to ensure that value indicators and activities are taken forward and that the benefits sought are achieved.

This new cooperation model has been developed and tested with OpusCapita’s customers in different countries.

“The elements that create value vary from one company to another. For example, companies’ business fields, focus areas and strategic priorities all affect how value indicators and activities are weighted in the processes,” says Jonna Tolvanen, Financial and Accounting Outsourcing Product Manager at OpusCapita.

Elements that produce value can be topics that are a part of financial professionals’ everyday lives, such as development measures that have possibly already been considered. These include determining the desired status of the financial management or compiling a long- and short-term roadmap for financial management, and the development of these.

In an uncertain business cycle and as operating environments change, the challenges faced by financial management also change. It must be possible to serve business more accurately, analytically and – in terms of figures – more transparently.

“OpusCapita has solid experience in the financial processes of a large number of companies and the best practices that have been tried and tested in these. We are making our expertise available in order to help our customers. With us, they will also benefit from benchmarking against other companies’ operating models.”

OpusCapita in Toruń, Poland:

Exporting expertise After Nikolas Copernicus, the famous astronomer, and gingerbread, a sweet, honey-based specialty, it looks like the OpusCapita Center will be the next big “export” to come from Toruń. text Krystyna Romanowska • photos Arkadiusz Wojtasiewicz

WE❤ happy customers

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extra

Please view our short video about our commitment to our happy customers at www.youtube.com/opuscapita.

>>

Toruń has just under 200,000 inhabitants and a beautiful old town.

In the town centre a modern office building houses the Toruń branch of OpusCapita. “We have reached a high level of organizational and process advancement,” says Maciej Taberski, the Director of Service Delivery at OpusCapita Center Toruń.

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>>

Making a career: Aneta Jakubowska started as a junior specialist and is now a general ledger manager.

The OpusCapita Center in Toruń offers finance process services to companies in many European countries and is also a great employer of young, ambitious and welleducated people.

OpusCapita has been operating in Poland since 2008, and the OpusCapita Center in Toruń started operations in November 2010 as a result of a merger with a Polish company.

“In less than four years we have grown ten times bigger, and now employ about 400 people in the Torun Center,” says Maciej Taberski, the Director of Service Delivery.

So why did OpusCapita choose Toruń and not Warsaw where many international companies have established their service centers?

“Firstly, we had a customer base here.

Secondly, Toruń is a growing university city which provides us with access to a welleducated workforce. And we seem to be an attractive employer, too, as people like to join us and stay with us.”

“That’s why I am where I am” Brilliant careers are not uncommon at OpusCapita, from junior positions to high managerial ones.

Aneta Jakubowska, 30, started as a junior specialist while she was still a student. After six years, she became the general ledger manager.

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“One strength of this company is that it relies on internal recruitment and offers opportunities in the form of both vertical and horizontal promotions.”

“From the lowest to the highest ranks, people are strongly motivated by their supervisors to develop. That is one of the reasons that I am where I am now,” says Aneta Jakubowska.

A complete novelty in a Warsaw-centric labor market in Poland is that well-educated people leave Warsaw to work for OpusCapita in Toruń.

One such person is Katarzyna ­Wojdyła, 34, a graduate of the internatio­nal relations department in Toruń. After years of working in Warsaw-based corporations she did not hesitate to return to Toruń a few months ago and start working in the area of accounting with a Norwegian client. She speaks fluent English, Norwegian and Swedish.

“What struck me was the intimacy of the company and how helpful and supportive everybody was when I started here. I received a full package of information and training. I was received with warmth.”

“We go beyond the numbers” What attracts people to OpusCapita is the chance to work with different clients and learn various systems. Opus Capita in Torun offers opportunities to gain competencies in an international corporate environment.

It also offers very attractive prices for its clients.

“As a country, we have low costs and high skills, and clients appreciate that.

However, the salary level alone is not enough for us,” says Maciej Taberski.

“We continuously strive to ensure that the delivery process, process automation, staff skills and development are at the highest level, as these are the only things that will ensure our competitiveness in the long term.”

The Center in Toruń serves Scandinavian and German clients in the nearshoring mode as well as numerous Polish companies. It is also the shared service center of OpusCapita’s parent company Itella Corporation.

“Our employees work with systems.

Each of them is obliged not only to

process information but to actively control, monitor and shape it. Our employees are engaged in the risk analysis part of document circulation, process optimization and provide suggestions for automation solutions.”

“But as a services company we do not restrict ourselves to working with numbers alone. Clients have specific expectations and our task is to satisfy them. This requires open communications, interaction, and frank and competent discussion with clients.”

The OpusCapita Center dynamically increases the scope of its competences which covers not only basic operations but also complex accounting processes in the general ledger and controlling for OpusCapita’s clients.

“We do not intend to compete with the prices of India or other Asian countries.

Our path is to develop a competence centre offering high quality services,” stresses Maciej Taberski.

“After years in the overly competitive working culture in Warsaw, I enjoy the warm and supportive atmosphere here,” says Katarzyna ­Wojdyła.

> Data security OpusCapita pays special attention to data processing security issues. OpusCapita Polska implemented an Information Security Management System based on ISO 27000 and ensures security in all areas of data confidentiality, integrity and accessibility as well as on all levels of physical, organizational and system security. The same principles are applied to the Polish and the nearshoring international clients. One of the security principles implemented states that an employee of any level has access to systems and information only on a need-to-know basis and that all activities in the IT systems and also in the workspace where documents are kept are monitored and analyzed.

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news and events >>

OpusCapita to manage Lindorff’s international bank connections

MORE news at www.opuscapita.com

OpusCapita will deliver an international bank connections management solution as a service to Lindorff Group AB. The agreement covers the comprehensive management of Lindorff’s bank connections under a single service level agreement in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. The service will be flexibly im­ plemented in stages on a country-by-country basis. The service package includes global SWIFT connections.

Founded in 1898, Lindorff Group is a European receivables management company that provides a full range of management services. The company’s headquarters are in Oslo.

Ahlsell is preparing for the future with OpusCapita They have kept their promises and delivered on a daily basis, year after year. The great thing is that they have been willing to develop together with us, which is important when a company expands the way we have done. Our strategy for the future requires us to have a partner who understands our needs and who also has the drive to continue evolving,” says Pär Eriksson, Manager, Accounts payable department at Ahlsell.

OpusCapita provides services and software to Ahlsell in relation to both accounts payable and receivable processes.

Ahlsell is the Nordic region’s leading trading company in installation products and tools and machinery. The head office is situated in Stockholm.

Photo Ahlsell

Ahlsell has signed a new five-year contract with OpusCapita on a next generation workflow system which will ensure efficient processing of purchase invoices.

The scope of the cooperation includes a sol­ ution for one of the most advanced purchase invoice management processes in the Nordics, with an annual volume of more than 1.1 million purchase invoices and 3,000 users.

With OpusCapita’s Invoice Manager solution Ahlsell will ensure future development within the accounts payable department, which is already rec­ ognized to be on the level of “best practice” within its industry.

“OpusCapita has been a reliable and trustworthy partner from the beginning of our cooperation.

Ulla Hemmi appointed Country Manager in Sweden OpusCapita is reinforcing its team in Sweden by appointing Ulla Hemmi as Country Manager. Hemmi has held various management positions in the IT sector and has extensive experience in outsourcing in both supplier and customer management.

3SKey removes the final obstacles in switching over to cloud services OpusCapita is the first in the Nordic countries to offer SWIFT’s new information security solution for authentication of electronic banking connections. 3SKey digital identity solution in practice replaces all previous bank-specific and product-specific authentication systems. Authentication with the 3SKey technology brings companies considerable benefits in terms of costs and processes. It also removes the final obstacles in switching over to cloud services.

“OpusCapita’s strong market position and its cloud-based cash management platform fit very well with SWIFT’s global bank connections service,” says Senior Account Director at SWIFT, ­Jan Heinsbroek.

Robust authentication is an absolute necessity for any company using global cloud services for its payment transactions and cash flows. 3SKey is a secure personal key for accessing OpusCapita’s cloud service.

Financial and purchasing decision-makers are increasingly interested in lean principles, and the Nordic countries can provide many good examples of the development of purchase-to-pay processes based on lean principles. Lean principles include the optimization of workflow and the minimization of backlogs and loss at every stage of a process. The idea is to prevent mistakes at the source, which in the case of purchase invoices is the supplier.

“If we can receive their invoices in an electronic format according to the purchasing system, the invoices can be matched automati­ cally,” says Björn Strömberg from Agree2.

extra Read the article in full at www.opuscapita.com/financial

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Process your invoices on a tablet or smartphone OpusCapita has developed mobile Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone solutions. With the mobile version of the Opus­Capita Invoices application, you can browse, approve or reject invoices with just a couple of taps.

OpusCapita was the first to develop advanced universal solutions for the Windows 8.1 environment.

Photo Aila Välikoski

E-invoices work for lean purchase-to-pay process

Finger on the pulse During the past months we have met thousands of our customers at many different events in many different countries. Thank you to everyone for the interesting discussions!

International payment transactions and the associated challenges, purchase-topay solutions, freeing working capital and

managing risks in financial management were topics that interest people in the Nordic countries and elsewhere, as well as the evolvement of CFOs into business strategists.

find out about upcoming events at www.opuscapita.com

[ NEWS AND EVENTS ]

21

inside stories There are 2,100 OpusCapitans at your service. Meet some of us!

Bente, Norway

matti, Finland

ulrika, sweden

I am Bente Lie, Senior Project Manager, Norway.

I joined OpusCapita in June 2008, and now work as a project manager for F&A cases, development and migration lead of new companies to our business with personal transfer or knowl­ edge transfer. This is an exciting area, because no project is standard, and I, together with the project team, can solve different situations. I also like OpusCapita’s way of organizing its employees globally, because it gives me lots of experience with the cultures of other countries, both internally and externally.

In my work, I travel quite a lot, and that gives me the opportunity to read lots of books. On days off, I like to be active and go cycling, running or walking with my dogs. I have been married for 24 years and we have two daughters. The family hobby is old motor bikes and cars.

> Feel free to contact me, if you need information about customer cases, how to run different projects or nearshoring.

My name is Matti Toivonen, and I am Head of Customer Service, Finland. I manage our Customer Service team and I am responsible for the overall Customer Service operations within Finland. I joined the company about four years ago and worked in Service & Quality Management and Business Development before my current position. When I started I felt that I had something to offer the company and vice-versa, and the situation remains the same today.

As a person I’m active, easy to approach, rela­ tively extroverted, and eager to learn and develop new things. At the moment the most inspiring part of my work is seeing happy customers and

how our people are motivated by the positive feedback. Our focus for the future is to harmonize our Customer Service operations and develop communication and speed to secure an easy and excellent experience for our customers.

On days off, I try to exercise as much as possible. As a home-owner, I am trying to develop my handyman and gardening skills using the trial-and-error method.

I am Ulrika Nergård, Director of F&A Service Delivery in Scandinavia.

I am a person with plenty of energy and motivation, driven by the desire to influence and to push changes forward. I like to cooperate and see how people work together to achieve great results.

I am responsible for our service delivery within Finance and Accounting (F&A) in Scandinavia including BPO and Digitizing services. I enjoy being part of developing new business services and this is why I joined OpusCapita.

When I started in 2010, BPOs were only offered in Finland and efforts were made to expand the

outsourcing concept to Scandinavia. During my first year, I could support sales teams to sign contracts with our first outsourcing customers in Norway and Sweden.

I enjoy cultural events, but time is usually a little scarce for a mother of three children. Therefore it is easier to find free time for running or skiing. In our family we also enjoy travelling.

I am Nadja Brisch, Teamleader Accounts Payables in Hanover, Germany. I’m a teamleader in accounting for two different customers and most of all I like my varied tasks.

I have worked for this company in different departments for 12 years. My colleagues say I’m

> OpusCapita provides financial process automation – either outsourced or as a service – to more than 10,000 customers in over 50 countries.

opuscapita users worldwide

> Feel free to contact me, if you have issues or development ideas regarding our Customer Service.

> Feel free to contact me, if you have any questions about our BPO business in Sweden/Norway. Over the last couple of years, we have run quite a few projects and change management is a daily part of my work.

helpful, humorous, caring and appreciative. In my spare time I like to go shopping and on city trips with my friends. > Feel free to contact me, if you have issues in accounting.

Part of Itella Group

OPUSCAPITA HEAD OFFICE OpusCapita Group Oy, Keilaranta 13, FI-02150 ESPOO, FINLAND, Tel. +358 20 452 3000 Fax +358 20 452 9271, www.opuscapita.com, information.fi@itella.com

ESTONIA OpusCapita AS, Tartu mnt. 43,10128 Tallinn, Tel. +372 6519 000 FINLAND OpusCapita Group Oy, Keilaranta 13, 02150 ESPOO, Tel. +358 20 452 3000 GERMANY OpusCapita GmbH, Büttnerstr. 21, D-30165 Hannover, Tel: +49 511 336 30 2777 LATVIA AS OpusCapita, Mūkusalas iela 41 b, 1004 Riga, Tel. +371 7 066 500 LITHUANIA UAB OpusCapita, Užubalių k., Avižienių pšt., LT-14180 Vilniaus r. sav., Tel. + 370 5 278 0330 NORWAY OpusCapita AS, Frysjaveien 40, 0884 Oslo, Tel. +47 22 72 84 70 POLAND OpusCapita Sp. z o.o., ul. Poleczki 35, Poleczki Business Park, Building A1, 02-822 Warszawa, Tel. + 48 22 461 25 00 SLOVAKIA OpusCapita s.r.o, Elektrárenská 4, 831 04 Bratislava, Tel. +421 2 4961 9200 SWEDEN OpusCapita AB, Englundavägen 7,

Nadja, Germany

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171 23 Solna, Tel. +46 8 475 28 00

> Contacts firstname.lastname(at)opuscapita.com

[ CONTACTS ]

23

WE SEE - A PERSON ENABLING BUSINESS IMPACT IN THE ORGANIZATION - AN EXPERT IN CHARGE OF STREAMLINING THE LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

YOU SEE A CFO

- A PROFESSIONAL STRIVING FOR OPTIMIZED WORKING CAPITAL AND COST REDUCTIONS - A LEADER WHO CAN IDENTIFY THE RIGHT GROWTH STRATEGY - A VISIONARY UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE BY AUTOMATION

Part of Itella Group OpusCapita provides financial process automation – either outsourced or as a service – for more than 10,000 customers in over 50 countries. The company operates in nine European countries, employing 2,100 professionals.

In 2013, net sales totalled EUR 263 million. Company headquarters are in Finland. www.opuscapita.com

You see we see_Ilmoitus_195x255.indd 1

Passion for financial management

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