In an interaction with Industry Outlook, M Subash, Senior Director – Finance, Dell Technologies shared his insights on the major challenges organizations face while implementing financial transformation initiatives and more.
Subash is a qualified chartered accountant with over three decades of experience in IT, ITES, and manufacturing verticals. Prior to joining Dell in 2007, he successfully handled key financial functions in companies such as Philips Lighting, TVS Electronics, Standard Charted, and Aviva Global Services.
What are some of the major challenges organizations face when implementing financial transformation initiatives?
Firstly, you need to know where you start, followed by ascertaining if that is the right place to start and understand how it is connected to your business. This is because, at the end of the day, finance too is a support function that exists for the sake of business. Thus, it is paramount to analyze the benefits that it brings to the business before implementing any kind of transformation in our financial processes. No organization must initiate transformation just for the sake of doing it seeing all others do it. This to me is one of the key challenges that currently persist among finance companies with regards to their process transformation.
Cost is another barrier that most financial service businesses face today due to diverse array of investments that the transformation process demands. While analyzing the cost factor, the company must keep in mind that transformation is an ongoing journey and not a destination, where you must always be on the lookout for new ways to optimize your business functions. Also, managing the necessary budget allotment for transformation is an uphill task for many organizations today.
Suggest a few measures that organizations must have in place for the successful execution of their transformation initiatives in line with their goals and strategies.
Lastly, you need to do thorough research and clearly identify which technology to implement into your transformation process and just include any new technology that is causing disruptions in the market. Also, transformation can also be process-oriented and not necessarily be always in terms of technology being leveraged. As a result, the company must have a detailed plan of action to even train/upskill its employees with the new technologies that are being introduced into the existing processes. Once you have the plan ready, it must be executed in a structured way spearheaded only by the concerned personnel who are the key decision-makers of the company in this regard. This way, it is easier to take decisions more quickly and even make periodic changes in the process if necessary.
Before implementing any new process or technology into its operations, it is very important for the company to have clarity about the various advantages and benefits that this change might bring-in to the business as a whole. Also, since the primary objective for any successful business is to serve its customers, the company must also take into consideration the impact that this new process shift might have on its customers. Thus, it is important to make sure that any transformation that is being made within the organization stays aligned with the company’s mission, vision, and future aspirations. This approach also enhances the success levels of the transformation while simultaneously driving the company towards staying ahead of its competitors.
How can businesses measure the success of their transformation initiatives?
Since each organization has a different objective for implementing transformation, the ways of measuring the success of their transformation journeys varies from company to company. In terms of measuring the success of transformation initiatives in a particular organization, one must compare the outcomes of the transformation process with the predefined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of that company and then do a detailed analysis of the before-after scenarios to get a clear idea about the level of success of a transformation initiative.
Explain the importance of communication and change management in every financial transformation journey.
I strongly believe that clear communication and an efficient change management strategy are key ingredients for the success of every transformation plan. Since it is the people who play a key role in the transformation process, having a clear line of communication across the entire organization enables it to make sure that all employees stay aligned with its vision/mission statement and work collectively towards achieving the same. Along with proper communication, the organization must have effective training programs in place to make sure that all its employees are suitably skilled at handling the newly incorporated functionalities. This is an integral part of change management strategy in any organization.
