Previous transformation projects have focussed on the internal workings of finance — professionalising the function and improving processes. The current programme looks at finance as part of the wider functional ecosystem — building internal skills, processes and capabilities to enable better collaborative working with HR, commercial and digital functions.
Creating clarity around behaviours was a crucial first step. Through this and a better understanding of process outcomes, decision-making can be sped up, employees are empowered, and any convoluted governance procedures identified and removed.
Capability building programmes are an important response to the rising impact of technology on finance roles. Career development is a priority, with new career frameworks defining roles and setting expectations. Data literacy, skills and capability are essential to maximise the return on technology investment.
“We need data literacy, we need digital skills and capability, and we need to be able to do that to be able to support technology. There’s no point bringing the best technology in the world in if you don’t have people who are sufficiently data literate. They can’t easily work with data scientists and they aren’t going to make the best use of the analytics.”
Tim Wheelhouse, Head of Finance Technology
The importance of digital skills to the future finance function has driven a greater diversity in recruitment. The new strategy aims to bring in skills from different functional areas and reposition development paths away from the traditional focus, which in the past focussed heavily on professional finance qualifications. For some roles, technology training combined with practical finance experience will aid the development of a broader, cross-disciplinary skills base.
“It’s about attracting people to come in with different skill sets and different capabilities and bringing them into the finance family. They might not be the typical finance person, and that’s fine because there should be no such thing as the typical finance person.”
