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Finance and Accounting Outsourcing to Drive Innovation

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Finance and Accounting Outsourcing to Drive Innovation Issue 3 Finance and Accounting Outsourcing to Drive Innovation 1 Over the past few years innovation has Process – innovating for change Introduction become one of the most talked about Within the current F&A landscape processes topics in F&A BPO. But what does it really need to go beyond efficiencies and cost 3 mean and can buyers truly drive innovation savings, incorporating the wider business Order to Cash Incubator – An through outsourcing? context, customer needs and market drivers. Interview with Kay Dallmann In this way providers can not only address Although it has sometimes been dismissed current challenges but actively seek upcoming 4 as an empty promise, leveraging true ones. Value Driven Transformation – An innovation through a service provider is Interview with Jody Arebalo possible with a focus on People, Process This type of innovative approach allows the and Technology. 5 vendor to understand how the organization Fintech – A Lever for Innovation actually works and where to focus People - a partner that challenges improvements allowing them to solve for an 6 In order to foster a culture of innovation end state goal rather than a specific problem. A Conversation About FinTech within outsourcing relationships we need to see a shift from directive partnerships to a Technology – enabling business 8 more collaborative approach in which the transformation About arvato buyer and service provider jointly strategize Finance and Accounting Outsourcing and execute. Organizations are increasingly is evolving from traditional transaction 9 moving from the traditional function-centric processing (efficiencies) to smart FAO focused Fom the Gartner Files: approach to business processes, towards on business outcomes optimization and Magic Quadrant for Finance an outcome based approach, leading to a and Accounting BPO effectiveness (i.e. improving sales realization, trend towards buyers looking at end-to-end total cost of operations, working capital / processes and breaking down traditional cashflow, asset turnover, etc.). Providers need process silos. to not only deliver services, but to be sources of both descriptive and predictive insights that can impact overall business outcomes. For new and emerging technologies such as advanced analytics It is a core value of our business that all teams make it a priority to and RPA, proof of concept is critical. Vendors must be willing to run keep abreast of industry trends and best practices. Coupled with pilot programs on a smaller scale in order to assess the benefits of arvato’s speed and agility, this allows us to identify and begin to new technologies. Because pilot programs can be done quickly and understand developments in the F&A BPO industry and within client relatively cheaply this can drive innovation and add real value - fast. industries quickly, supporting the companies’ market understanding. Innovation at arvato This approach enables us to drive innovation throughout our arvato’s understanding of the market combines clients’ experience outsourcing partnerships. with industry best practices to go beyond the F&A BPO needs of buyers. We embed ourselves in clients’ organizations to develop The series of interviews that follow highlight our approach to an understanding of challenges and successfully adapt our service innovation and capabilities in the current Finance and Accounting offerings to ensure relevance. outsourcing landscape. Source: arvato Finance and Accounting Outsourcing to Drive Innovation is published by arvato. Editorial content supplied by arvato is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is used with Gartner’s permission, and was originally published as part of Gartner’s syndicated research service available to all entitled Gartner clients. © 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. The use of Gartner research in this publication does not indicate Gartner’s endorsement of arvato’s products and/or strategies. Reproduction or distribution of this publication in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website, http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp. 2 Order to Cash Incubator – An Interview with Kay Dallmann Kay Dallmann, Key Account Director at arvato on how arvato is enabling clients to respond quickly to dynamic market changes How do you see market developments What does this mean in practice? creating challenges in the F&A space? In practice this means that the incubator enables us to test out Well there are various ways in which collection and dispute resolution services on a small but significant this is happening but a key trend we’ve enough scale to allow business judgement on elements such as seen is around customer experience and service effectiveness (are we collecting better) and efficiency (is the interaction. Alternative content, mobile and collection cheaper). social engagements are all leveraging Big Data to customize the service offering towards their respective clients. With this data at hand we can steer the customer experience and However, when it comes to the post-purchase experience most clients we can forecast the actual delivery impact when a successful trial show very little difference engaging with the customer for sometimes is moved into production ensuring that resources are ramped for obvious reasons – insufficient system flexibility, knowledge about purpose on the principle: Pay for Performance. customer preferences, ability to determining the best way to engage at a small enough scale to allow for judgement calls. Should the service experience during incubation exceed prior established trial success criteria we allow the business owner to trade How is arvato working to address these challenges? internal resource commitment for a variable expense buying into arvato has created an Order to Cash incubator which brings together arvato’s elastic hub and spoke delivery model. three elements: Source: arvato 1. A collection workbench that enables to segment collection strategies by multiple dimensions: transaction value, biz model, customer type, payment type etc. 2. An analytical model that drives collection and suspension strategies based on statistical analysis to prioritize engagement strategies and simulate impact, for instance on DSO and or Collection Effectiveness. 3. An environment to capture the customer responses and satisfaction of these strategies to asses the efficiency of the prior established success criteria. 3 Value Driven Transformation – An Interview with Jody Arebalo Jody Arebalo, Transformation and Innovation Director at arvato on driving innovation through transformation Why are innovation and How does this approach benefit clients? transformation so intrinsically linked? arvato’s transformation solutions help our clients adapt to internal and It’s impossible to have one without market changes, comply with new regulations and become fierce the other, a shift towards innovation competitors in their respective industries. requires transformation and any valuable transformation process needs to We believe that one size doesn’t fit all. Each company, each business, incorporate innovation. each enterprise - is exclusive. We collaborate with our clients to focus on what is important to their business, and what will have the greatest At arvato we take a consultative approach to transforming business impact on their bottom line. Our goal is to help our clients change the processes, embedding ourselves within client organizations in order way they do business not just within the F&A organization, but across to assess challenges before utilising best practices and custom the entire Enterprise. innovations in order to improve business performance. We develop customized solutions based on proven best practices that How does innovation play a role day-to-day? help our clients uncover what needs to change, guide them through Through our Value Driven Transformation Methodology we have new organizational ways of working, and through the implementation embedded a culture of innovation in our daily lives. This method of the processes and technologies to support that change. incorporates Systems Thinking and Design Thinking principles to Source: arvato develop strategy that focuses on “what matters” to the client and delivers measurable outcomes bringing maximum value to the client’s Enterprise. Our unique approach to transformation is based on building collaborative partnerships, driving flexibility and agility, and streamlining operations. 4 Fintech – A Lever for Innovation Globally, investments in Fintech
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