BELL FINANCE
adoption aspect of the transformation ) – “ so you want to make sure that they ' re bought in and brought in from an early stage and that you allow sufficient time in your program plan for that piece .”
He also underlines that finding the right people – those that are passionate about finance , data and analytics , but also about the vision and practicalities of organisational transformation – is key and that , with such a transformation , “ it ’ s critical to choose the right technology and advisors ( internally as well as externally ) to ensure that your vision is in-line with best practices in the industry and with best in class companies are doing so that , from a solution development and technology point of view , you ' re not finding yourself on an island .”
The partner ecosystem Beyond senior support and the obvious financial investment needed in bringing about such a transformation , partners are invariably vital to such a process .
For their finance transformation , a blend of a strategic-advisory type of partner , as well as technology partners were needed .
“ Ultimately ,” says MacEwen , “ we were looking for partners with a proven trackrecord and experience in the field that had demonstrated capabilities in being able to deliver some of the specific work streams on a roadmap – be it around data or new capabilities with reporting or forecasting – as well as wanting to make sure that they were involved from a technology perspective .”
“ We also have a core engine of subjectmatter experts that are helping to deliver a lot of the more technical elements of our finance transformation program . A big part of our strategy , though , is to try to scale up as quickly as possible by leveraging the full breadth of our finance function – and this is a great way to help ensure that we overcome some of those change-management and adoption issues that an organisation can encounter during such a transformation .”
In terms of technology capabilities and partners , Kirsten adds : “ And just as ease of use is important , the next consideration is ease of integration .”
“ In terms of this side of things , we wanted to pick technology that can speak to – and pull information from – our source
70 March 2023