article
*This article was first published in Milestone Magazine, in the April 2021 Issue,
along with the profile of Karen Abramson, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. In the article she speaks not only about her journey within the Wolters Kluwer organization, from the Health DIvision to Tax & Accounting, but also about some recent innovative solutions and how the entire team managed to help customers navigate the new challenges, during the pandemic.
The rise of unified Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software solutions, based on Integrated Financial Data Models, has been steep in the last years. The anticipated benefits were to allow corporations to unify not only actual performance measurement with performance forecasts and predictive views, but also high-level decision making needs with detailed analysis and granular views of performance triggers.
Wolters Kluwer and its CCH Tagetik expert solution has promised those benefits to its customers a few years ago – how has the CPM vendor delivered? are its customers seeing tangible improvements in performance measurement and management attributable to technology innovations?
We hope to answer those questions from our experience in designing, configuring and rolling-out CPM processes and software solutions, one of the many being CCH Tagetik.
“I want all this covered by one single technology, in the cloud, integrated with my ERPs and my Business Intelligence platform”.
“I would like to plan my costs by category, each with own drivers, using as little data input as possible and as many driver- based calculations as possible”
“I want to plan sales by product and channel, using the result of an embedded sales price calculation engine and a bottom- up collection of sales volumes”
“Oh yes, and I want to plan Projects too and Capital Expenditure, and Cash Flows by drivers with an automatically calculated “Balance Sheet”
“And while I am at it, I would like to extract Actual data from my ERPs and calculate variances with “due-to” explanations”
“Finally, I want to consolidate the whole lot, produce analytic management reports as well as my IFRS-compliant external reports with all notes”
– those are the requirements Offices of Finance have today.
– then Information technology comes and says:
“I want all this covered by one single technology, in the cloud, integrated with my ERPs and my Business Intelligence platform”.
Back when the solution was conceived, CCH Tagetik was covering one need of the Office of Finance: the consolidation – and Satriun was there to design and configure such solutions. In time, the architecture and product capabilities evolved to reach one of the most complete vision for the Office of Finance – with the ability to execute it.
The most important innovation that unlocked the door to detailed planning, budgeting and analytical accounting has been the Analytical Information Hub addition to the platform. It basically opened the doors to cover large volumes of data intake, data cleaning and enhancements, very granular calculations with as many analytical dimensions as wished.
Coupled with the latest in-memory database technologies or leveraging pull-connections of Business Intelligence solutions, CCH Tagetik became in the last years one of the products that we at Satriun love designing and configuring for our clients.
Today, most of our CCH Tagetik projects cover at least financial planning, budgeting, forecasting and consolidation, based on one Integrated Financial Data Model, a coherent workflow and intelligence to automate calculations or allow driver-based calculations.
On top of such needs, many of our customers add to the platform dedicated but integrated modules for specific regulatory compliance (i.e. Lease Accounting), Account Reconciliation, Disclosure Management, etc.
Our conclusion is that Wolters Kluwer with its CCH Tagetik expert solution
is one of the very few CPM software vendors that has kept the unified Corporate Performance Management promise – with high ability to execute proven by many successful deployments at corporations worldwide.
Posted by
Casper van Leeuwen
Posted on
19.July.2021
Posted in
CCH Tagetik
News
Rob Fenne is the person responsible for ensuring Randstad’s financial reporting is reliable and on time – and that includes maintaining and updating their reporting systems. When it was time for Randstad to find a new and improved consolidation system, Rob was fearless in choosing the best tech and the best implementation partner. He chose lesser known brands over the some big names. And several years down the track, Randstad is still reaping the rewards. Here are 5 invaluable insights Rob shared with us on the call…
1. Functionality over familiarity
When choosing the new tech for Randstad’s reporting system, Rob kept a laser sharp focus on the functionality of the software. This led him to choose a lesser-known independent brand over some big players. His savvy approach led to impressive results. The number of days to close went from 10 days to 3 or 4. The new tech’s process cockpit delivered transparency in the closing process like never before. And the greatly improved accuracy of the software meant significant time savings. No more time spent fixing errors!
2. Getting the best out of tech benefits the whole organization
The above benefits mean that Rob’s team now has more time to focus on other value adding work. This has a positive impact on the entire organization. His team are now able to channel more support into operating companies, to continuously improve functionality and ensure the high performance of Randstad’s accounting systems.
3. “Consolidation in itself isn’t too exciting…”
So there it is. Rob said it himself. Even an expert leader like Rob inferred that consolidation doesn’t make his heart pound. Consolidation is something that needs to be done and done well, so that the other more exciting work can be attended to. Another reason to embrace the right tech.
4. Satriun “spoke our language, really understands issues in consolidation”
Choosing the tech is just the first step. It’s how it’s implemented that makes the difference. The people, policies and processes need to understand and embrace the tech for it to fully deliver. The implementation phase is all about people and that means you need a partner that speaks your language. That’s exactly why Rob chose Satriun, “they spoke our language and really understand the issues in consolidation”. Satriun delivered the project on time and within budget, leaving Rob “quite happy”.
5. Alignment and embracing talent at all levels is essential for roadmap success
Tech is moving fast and keeping an eye on the future is essential. Rob talked us through Randstad’s roadmap for the future, “Finance Forward”. He shared two pearls of wisdom for others looking to embark on a similar journey. Rob emphasized the importance of consensus. He invested a lot of time and energy in making sure that all CFO’s of the large operating companies were aligned. He also said that it’s important to make use of talents at all levels of the organization, highlighting the fresh perspectives of young talent.
And on that positive note, our call was done! Our thanks to Rob Fenne for his inspiration and insights.
Listen to our Calling Corporates podcast! Every couple of weeks we upload new interviews.
Posted by
Jeroen Vinke
Posted on
15.June.2021
Posted in
Cash Flow
Events
How has the pandemic accelerated digital transformation? What does this mean for your organization? Answers to these questions & more will be provided by digital thought leader Christoph Keese, CEO at Axel Springer hy, and industry expert Lotta Pöyhtäri, Head of External Reporting at Swiss Re, during the CCH Tagetik – Finance.Transformation.Empowerment online event. This unique event for finance leaders is supported by Satriun, as Platinum partner.
Use this opportunity to get inspired by leaders of change invited to the Satriun and CCH Tagetik TOP Event 2021 Finance. Transformation. Empowerment. Speakers will share best practices, expectations and experiences on how to manage disruption and get into lead. On June 10th, find out how Axel Springer adopted digital transformation and learn you can identify growth opportunities regardless of the industry you are in – Lotta Pöyhtäri will go through all the reasons behind Swiss Re’s transformation project and the impact on its finance department empowerment.
Agenda
SPEAKERS
Jérôme Vial
Country Manager
Switzerland
CCH Tagetik
Michael Krause
Executive Partner
Satriun DACH
Christoph Keese is one of Germany’s best-known thought leaders on digital transformation. As editor-in-chief and manager, he drove digital transformation at leading German newspapers as well as at Axel Springer SE and is today CEO of Axel Springer hy, a digital consultancy. His keynote provides insights into how new technologies and business models change every market today. Therefore, learn more about Axel Springer’s transformation journey from a print publisher to a digital mediahouse, how the media industry disrupted itself and needs to keep re-inventing in order to survive nowadays. This Axel Springer’s “success formula” does not only apply to the media industry but can be taken into account for general learnings in other organizations. Furthermore, Christoph Keese will demonstrate during his engaging presentation, how to identify digital disruption as well as growth opportunities and exploit them to one’s own advantage in order to stay relevant not only today but also in the future. And don’t forget: Take the opportunity to ask Christoph Keese your own questions in the Q&A session following this lecture.
SPEAKERS
Axel Springer hy, a digital consultancy
CEO
The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer. The organization decided to undertake a transformation journey to change to the proven CCH Tagetik solution. In this presentation Lotta Pöyhtäri, Head of External Reporting at Swiss Re, will provide you with an exclusive insight into Swiss Re’s implementation of the unified CCH Tagetik platform and how CCH Tagetik better fits into the bigger IT and reporting picture of the organization. Furthermore, she will share insights into the reasons for the change and why Swiss Re selected CCH Tagetik to empower the finance department. Lotta will also portray expectations and experiences that went with the transformation.
SPEAKERS
Head of External Reporting
Swiss Re
SPEAKERS
Jérôme Vial
Country Manager
Switzerland
CCH Tagetik
Michael Krause
Executive Partner
Satriun DACH
Don't miss this event!
When & where
10.06.2021 10:00 - Online
Given by
CCH Tagetik & Satriun
Events
Satriun is a proud sponsor of CCH Tagetik’s inTouch Online 2021 global conference. Achievements of both CCH Tagetik and Platinum partner Satriun were exceptional in the past year and the partnership has never thrived more. Come and learn from our experts and common customers about finance transformation and digitalisation of the Office of the CFO.
Attending this online event will provide you with the following insights:
Browse the event agenda here!
Don't miss this event!
When & where
19.05.2021 10:30 - Online
Given by
CCH Tagetik & Satriun
Events
Year-end close 2020 has been one of your highest priorities in January. But how to avoid surprises in your financial statements? How do you know your balance sheet doesn’t contain any unexplained items that may result in a P&L recognition going forward?
Account Reconciliations is a OneStream XF marketplace application that provides the functionality to reconcile data imported from the general ledger into the OneStream platform. Satriun consultants have extensive knowledge how to configure this marketplace application and to implement it as part of your close process. Reconciling accounts in OneStream XF increases the comfort and auditability of your financial statements. Join this webinar to see Account Reconciliations in action!
This webinar provides you:
Don't miss this demonstration!
Account Reconciliations Demo with OneStream XF
Register NowWhen & where
- Recorded session
Given by
Arjen de Boer
