Overview
A multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company, and the maker of a vast range of consumer, medical and industrial products, had a clear target – to reduce the cost of its finance functions in line with its peers.
To achieve this, given the scale of its existing international site network, it needed an advisor with global expertise and a deep understanding of implementing shared services strategies – so it commissioned Novo Altum.
Now in the final stages of a pilot project, we are managing the successful transition of staff to a new offshore facility, and developing the client’s on-going vision and strategy, to establish further shared services centres for all finance functions across the globe.
The Challenge
The reality of cutting the cost of finance was that cost savings of 20% would need to be found.
With finance activities taking place in all of its 100-plus sites worldwide, it was clear to us that a shared services approach would be the best way to optimise productivity and establish process enhancements. However, rationalising all the various finance functions across every continent would be no small task.
The Solution
In close consultation with the client we decided to conduct a pilot project to demonstrate the effectiveness of moving finance operations to shared services centres, both in terms of the service delivery improvements achievable, and successful transition management.
Our strategy was two-fold. By providing an experienced ‘migration’ manager to oversee the recruitment, training, and transition of staff to the Shared Service Organisation we could provide the intensive, on-going support the client needed throughout the process.
As this process evolved, we then started to lead them through developing the next stages of the migration strategy, designing the vision for sustainable change management, testing concepts, and delivering future ways of working for the various finance functions in each area.
Results
With the pilot project on course to successfully deliver a highly trained, cost-effective finance resource at a new shared services centre in India, we are currently supporting the client through the next phase of strategic planning ahead of the global roll-out of the programme.
