Making a Difference in Finance Transformation
Blog: Capgemini CTO Blog
Imagine it’s a few years ago and you were visiting a manufacturing company in mainland Europe. Maybe you were an important business prospect, or perhaps you had simply applied for a job. A senior executive showed you round and then took you to his office for a meeting. He offered you coffee, and his secretary brought it.
Although this is a fairly common business scenario, what you don’t know is that it was CRT Glass Plant—an international glass manufacturing company in Poland—and I was that secretary. I’ve moved onwards and upwards since then. I’m now a senior transformation director at Capgemini Poland, leading projects for globally recognized brands, and I’m writing this blog post to tell you how the path I’ve traveled since those early days has made a difference not just to me, but to the organizations we serve here at Capgemini.
Looking for variety?
Of course, I’ve had some luck along the way. My first boss at the glass company was open to my request for promotion and a role in supply chain. No one in Poland really knew what supply chain management was at that time, and in a sense I was creating my own role. I grew to understand that it wasn’t just about improving margins, but about maintaining a local presence and good, long-term supplier relationships—and as my remit grew beyond Polish borders, I was able to expand and consolidate my approach across the organization as a whole.
It was around then I had my second stroke of luck. I met Capgemini. The area of business it operated in looked really interesting to me. Here was a company working on different projects with different people, bringing the benefits of its experience to every one of them. So I applied for a job and got it! Actually, two jobs—I first joined Capgemini Consulting, and through learning about the organization as a whole, I became interested in the colourful world of business process outsourcing and made an internal transfer to Capgemini’s Business Services.
What I especially liked about my new life at Capgemini was how the organization was beginning to change the way people thought about business process outsourcing (BPO). Until then it had been seen by many as low-level and functional, but our role was now taking on more significance. We were becoming transformation partners for our clients, bringing improvements not just to the services they outsourced to us, but to the business as a whole—a role that is now widely recognized.
Want to make a difference?
The projects in which we’re engaged are integral to the efficiency and value of processes across the finance and accounting (F&A) function. We’ve developed bespoke approaches that are highly streamlined and automated, and which deliver real and substantial benefits. I’m proud we’re seen as equals, working alongside our clients’ own senior management teams to bring about global change. And it’s good to know our clients appreciate the difference we make.
It’s good, too, to see the effect of business transformation not just on the organizations we serve, but on their individual team members. For instance, one of our client’s local finance controllers became a global process owner, blossoming in the bigger group environment created by our transformation project. And I’ve seen employees at a major manufacturing company benefit from a financial process we helped to introduce. It’s a new, performance-based culture to which everyone can contribute and from which everyone can potentially achieve recognition.
It’s also nice to feel you’ve made a difference personally. I see our major brand clients on TV and think, “I helped them do that!”
We’d love to hear from you!
I’ve come a long way since I was a secretary. I’m living proof that it doesn’t matter where you start if you show you’re keen. I’m having a fulfilling career, I’m given a great deal of support as a working mother and I feel my role is really contributing to the business organizations I work with.
It’s good for the companies we serve, it’s good for Capgemini and it’s good for me too. And if we meet, watch out for the person who brings you coffee. He or she may, like you, have a great future in store!
So, whether you’re reading this as a potential client or as a potential colleague, if you like what you see please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you! Click here for more information about working with or for Capgemini.
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