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amcham connection may/june 2012

business breakfast
Finance Transformation
Sponsored by AmCham members
During a fnancial crisis, most
companies undergo increased
pressure for cost effciency and
performance excellence and
therefore look for possible cost
reductions and optimization. The
AmCham Business Breakfast, held
on May 10, 2012, at Hotel Crowne
Plaza, Bratislava, offered its mem-
bers an overview on the Finance
Transformation, including Expert
Insights on Shared Services and
Outsourcing.
Alica Pavkova, Partner at PwC,
and Ale Fojtk, Manager at PwC,
presented key fndings of the
Shared Service Centers (SSCs)
Survey Evaluation of the Shared
Service Center Life Cycle. The
objective of the survey was to
determine the performance level of
existing SSCs in Slovakia and the
Czech Republic and classify SSCs
using the SSC assessment model
developed by PwC (the SSC Life
Cycle Model). Important key sur-
vey outcomes:
Customers are generally satis-
fed with SSC services, which
is verifed via customer surveys
at least annually by a majority
of SSCs.
Cost reduction still remains a
key objective of SSCs, although
quality and transparency
improvement objectives have
risen signifcantly in importance.
A majority of SSCs report im-
portant cost savings as a result
of SSC implementation.
SSCs focus on continuous
improvement, although the use
of special tools is rather rare.
Working conditions in SSCs are
seen as good or very good by
a vast majority of employees,
which results in relatively low
staff turnover ratios.
The education ratio proves that
SSC staff are highly qualifed
and aim to achieve professional
certifcation in due course dur-
ing their employment.
88% of SSCs will continue to
operate and do not plan to
scale down processes; 92% of
survey participants are planning
to or are already consolidating
their SSC.
Among preferred criteria for
SSCs are workforce availability
and acceptable labor costs.
Marcela Torokov, Head of the
Business Development Depart-
ment of SARIO, introduced the
Business Friendly Slovakia project
and highlighted the decisive
factors for investors who choose
Slovakia as a business location,
specifcally in the sector of SSCs.
During the presentation, Ms. Torok-
ova underlined the importance of
SSC for FDI infow to the Slovak
Republic. At the moment, there are
34 SSCs/ ICTs altogether, employ-
ing more than 20,000 profession-
als in Slovakia. SARIO currently
registers six new SSC projects of
potential investors. A crucial factor
for any SSC is the quality of its
employees. Slovakias high edu-
cational level provides a very good
pool of quality employees. For this
reason SSCs in Slovakia are used
as regional centers, which are
able to operate in various markets.
The next speaker was Katerina
Beneov, who introduced the
ACCA (Association of Chartered
Certifed Accountants) survey on
Finance Transformation, which was
conducted in 2011 in cooperation
with over 20 multinational com-
panies operating in the SSC/BPO
model. The nine features of the
outsourcing concept are defned
as follows:
1. There is no turning back from
shared services and outsourcing.
2. Different approaches to fnance
transformation are evident.
3. Correlations between transfor-
mation ambition and sourcing
strategy are evident.
4. Cost remains the starting point
5. Finance leaders differentiate
between provider capabilities.
6. Finance transformation success
rests on change management.
7. Retained function capability is
the prime driver of value, yet it is
still a missed opportunity.
8. The client-provider relationship
continues to be misaligned.
9. Service and service delivery
Another interesting case study
was presented by Wade Baze, Ex-
ecutive Director of Finance at Dell
Slovakia. He explained why Dell
chose Bratislava 10 years ago and
the development Dell Slovakia has
gone through since then. Mr. Baze
underlined the important role of
qualifed talent that enabled the site
to develop from a call center to a
multi-task site with global functions
operating in 16 languages. Mr.
Baze stressed that development
is still at the heart of Dells agenda
to ensure the balance of the best
cost value and high value-added
services at the center in Bratislava.
The last speaker of the morning
was Nick Butt, BPO CEE Lead at
Accenture. He spoke about the
importance of meeting current
challenges such as outsourcing,
which is now an option being
considered by many CFOs as they
seek to make a positive impact
on their organizations. Apart from
cost savings, BPO leaders are
achieving measurable business
outcomes, such as reduced speed
to market, increased revenue and
improved customer satisfaction.
Mr. Butt also acknowledged the
CEE location as a place for innova-
tive development of outsourcing,
where more advanced tasks are
replacing transactional work.
Photo: Andrej Klian
Marcela Torokov
Head of Business Development,
FDI Section of SARIO
Kateina Beneov
Head of ACCA Czech Republic,
Slovakia and Hungary
Wade Baze
Executive Director of Finance
Dell
Ale Fojtk
Manager
PwC
Nick Butt
BPO CEE Lead
Accenture
Alica Pavkov
Partner
PwC