Have you read about roles in HR or Finance Transformation but have no idea what it might entail? We explain what HR and Finance Transformation really is and the 5 reasons you should think about changing roles.
Transformation [noun] the process of changing completely the character or appearance of something in order to improve it.
An HR and Finance Transformation Programme is needed when a business is suffering from inefficient processes that no one understands or likes, a lack of appropriate and usable technology, time wasted on administrative tasks that do not add value to the business, or all 3!
Of course, there is much more to it than a simple formula. You need to consider which people will be impacted and how to support them, how far the business wants to standardise their processes, how you will manage common programme risks, where you should locate the programme…the list goes on. But ultimately, a transformation programme is designed to either resolve risks or issues for a company or make them more efficient and future proof by implementing better processes, insight, behaviour and technology.
Veran is an HR and Finance Transformation consultancy and the roles we support clients with fall into 6 key workstreams;
1. Programme or Project Management
2. Business Design including Process & Organisation
3. Change Management
4. Data
5. Testing
6. Technical
Within each function there are plenty of roles to get your juices flowing, starting with Analysts who we train straight from education, through to Workstream Leads.
The Project or Programme Management stream designs and manages the overall plan, holding each workstream lead and all suppliers to account to ensure they deliver their activities on time and on budget. Meet Lesley Smith, one of our most rigorous and structured PMs:
“The key to good project management is being meticulously organised and reporting back regularly to the client so they know what progress is being made and what obstacles and risks they need to help resolve.”
Process Analysts, Functional Leads (like a Core HR Lead) and Solution Leads work in the Business Design stream. Becky Dobson joined us from a Recruitment role and says “I love showing businesses how to improve their processes and drive more employee self service using mobile – it can save days of time every month that HR spend entering and checking data, plus employees love it!”.
Or what about a Change Lead? Meet Louise Michael, who recently worked with a Government department to identify the changes that new processes and technology would bring and created videos to communicate this to managers and employees and prepare them for the future “Change often gets neglected on programmes but without it, people don’t see the benefit, won’t use the system, and even worse, disengage”.
Do you see yourself as an Excel expert? Meet Rob Dean, our Data guru who has been mastering HR data with us for 7 years. Rob has helped to collect, cleanse and migrate data for over 100,000 employees from old systems into new Cloud technology, gaining valuable insights into how to improve performance, why people leave, and how to better reward and recognise people.
“Data is the likeliest cause of failure for a project, but also the biggest driver of success. Gathering rich and accurate data in a SaaS-enabled system allows HR and Finance to measure the impact, cost and effectiveness of their work and generate real-world benefit for the business”.
The Testing team pick apart the new system and try to break it! Joe Forrest is a junior Test Consultant and says “every design decision that gets made has to be tested to make sure it’s been built correctly and that the business are confident it will meet their requirements. It requires attention to detail and is incredibly satisfying to find and then help fix a defect."
The leader of the Technical workstream is a Solution Architect; a Solution Architect looks at the big picture to ensure the new system, processes and data link to all other business systems in the most efficient, accurate and secure way whilst connecting to other valuable technology like Automation and Chatbots. Meet Ellie Homan, one of our tech fans; “one of the first things we do for a business is draw a ‘spaghetti’ diagram of all their existing systems and spreadsheets. Our job is to simplify that, and ‘untangle’ the spaghetti to reduce cost and risk and future-proof their technology".
If those testimonials aren’t enough, here are 5 reasons why we think you should consider a career in HR or Finance Transformation.
1. You get to work with people.
If you enjoy working with people, then a career in HR and Finance Transformation could be for you. You’ll spend your day working with colleagues and clients with different preferences, experience and opinions and a key part of transformation is helping teams to agree on a single vision and plan.
2. It’s a role that’s full of variety.
Working in HR and Finance Transformation involves working in an ever-changing environment. You’ll take on a variety of tasks to keep you motivated and engaged and unexpected twists and turns will keep you on your toes. One day you might be hosting a workshop and the next you’ll be reviewing a Process Map.
3. You learn A LOT!
Whether you’ve worked for 2 or 20 years, transformation is guaranteed to teach you something new. Everyone in your team will bring different experience and lessons to share with you. Plus people and business challenges change every year (think Black Lives Matter, Brexit and Covid-19!) and our role as transformation consultants have to evolve and develop with the world in which our clients are operating.
4. It’s fast moving
If you like working at pace and creating documents and presentations on the fly, transformation could be for you. There is always an upcoming deadline and never a dull moment if agility and reacting quickly excites you at work.
5. You can work with interesting and important organisations.
At Veran we work with fascinating and sometimes very well known businesses on big challenges that are news-worthy and a great reason to get out of bed in the morning!
To apply for Veran’s transformation roles, click here, or to talk about whether a career in transformation might suit you, contact Bernard Amankwah in our Recruitment team via bernard.amankwah@veranperformance.com