sbs' cfo support solutions

Helping CFO’s makebetter decisions. Faster.

www.sundarambusinessservices.com

SBS' CFO SupportSolutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sundaram-business-services/

http://www.sundarambusinessservices.com/

CFOs, this is a reality check. 2020 spilling into 2021 has been a year unlike any other, it is not toosoon to think about your organization’s future plans. That’s why McKinsey has rightly called CFOs“crisis managers with a long term view”.


Understanding the expanded role of the CFOOver the years, the role of a CFO has undergone a complete transformation - responsibilities relating to efficiency, informationquality and consistency, internal controls, corporate governance, and finance talent management, are among the expandedbreadth of their role. As we tide through 2021, a recent study by Gartner has shown that the chief challenge for CFOs is toaccelerate growth and digital models while restoring the organization’s financial health. Today’s CFOs need to execute a muchbroader range of responsibilities than their traditional role as corporate accountants to add real value leaving them no time fortransactional accounting.

CFOs will have to reduce costs and fund growth

Average relative increase/decrease

IT/Technology

Mergers & Acquisitions

Corporate restructuring

Product development

Research & Development

Finance

Marketing

Human resources

Selling, general &administrative

0% 10%

Funding growth

Support investmentin new businessmodels to drivegrowth anddigitalization

Reduce costs

Still expect areduction in thecost of operations

As organisations emerge from this last tumultuous year, CFOs are actively seeking to boost theresiliency of their finance departments and return the business to grow. One of the primary lessonsfor all finance executives is to create flexible business models that can react quickly under anyconditions, while also being able to capitalise aggressively on opportunities. With a resilient andagile organization, finance teams will be well-positioned to address business continuity, takeadvantage of new opportunities and return the business to grow quickly.

Excerpt from McKinsey




Our solutions are poised for executing long term strategiesSBS’ robust operational framework, people expertise, insightful metrics and process efficiencies have helped CFOs to focus onmore value-added strategic priorities. With extensive experience on multiple projects across industries, our aim is to enablefinance leaders to improve business performance and shareholder value, while actively improving operational effectivenessand efficiency. SBS offers:

End to end support for In-house CFOs of corporates

Help corporates streamline their finance and accountingoperations by having an optimal headcount onsite formore strategic work and outsource transaction-intensivework in India.

Support Virtual CFOs that function as CFOs for theirclientsHelp accounting firms function as a virtual CFO with ascalable back-office in India helping them grow theirbusiness acquiring more entities and gain more facetime with clients.

Industry knowledge and experience that enables aseamless integrationOur outsourced CFO support services have a notable combination of business process management, industry analysis andoptimizing systems. With our expansive experience working with a diverse set of clients across diverse industries, we have adeep understanding of their unique nuances; we provide flexible bespoke engagement models to our clients adhering toindustry best practices to progressively build efficiencies in the processes.

Wealth Management Hospitality Healthcare Audit & accounting firms

Shopping, Diningand Entertainment

Manufacturing Infrastructure:Wind Energy, Gas Pipeline

Printing

Retail Residential propertydevelopment

Construction

Commercial Rentalproperty maintenance

Consultants

2.1.

Industry expertise




How we deliverIn our 17 years of experience working with corporates, we discovered that while most have identified finance transformation asthe elephant in the room – they do not know where to begin. So, SBS demystifies the dilemma through this structured 3 stepframework, where we handhold you through your finance function's transformation journey.

Identify andAssess

Assist andOptimise

Automate &Future-proof

Lean processdesign

Extended officesolutions

Processoptimisations

3 STEP SMART SOURCING FRAMEWORK

Identify andAssess

Step 1

The first step lays down the “As-Is” or current state process, identifies gaps, keeping in mind theindustry best practices and perfects the vision by providing recommendations for future stateLEAN processes through various approaches.

Illustrative reduction in steps for processes undertaken in

24%

38%

21%

15%

AccountsPayable

AccountsReceivable

ComplianceProcess

FinancialStatement

Preparation

LeanProcess

ExtendedOffice

Support

Automationthrough

RPA




Assist andoptimise

Step 2

Extended Office Support

Be-spoke models: 5 to 80 member teamsFully loaded cost - guaranteed monthly productive hoursSLA and Metrics-driven Secure IT environment working off client’s network with remotework-from-home working capabilitiesAccelerated remote transition

Value adds that stand out

50%-60%reduction in cost

15%-25%productivity improvementswith gain sharing

Processoptimisations

Step 3

Automation throughRobotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA addresses your top finance priorities

Achieve 100% accuracy with automation

AR automation alone can result in a 33% reduction in manual labour

2-6 day reduction in days sales outstanding

23% more frequent and accurate forecasting

CONTROLS

PRODUCTIVITY

CASHFLOW

REPORTING




Established Industry and Internal best practices Through our extensive experience in catering to a cross-section of firms across Australia, we keep ourselves abreast of theindustry best practices bringing increased productivity, through process standardization by creating Standard OperatingProcedures for all the processes. Processes are documented in the form of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and thesefunction as a repository of knowledge which helps continuity of knowledge when resources leave the system. For the client, hisor her throughput remains unaffected, eliminating the expensive and exhausting talent acquisition costs and the knowledgedrain associated with departing resources.

Readily available pool of skilled resourcesSBS understands that with continuous changes in the industry and its rules and regulations, it is necessary to have trainedstaff who can adapt to these dynamic needs and keep abreast of changes.

Software expertise, implementation and running finance functions on the accounting software are an integral part of all oursolution offerings to help you increase efficiency and gain quick financial insights into your business. Our well qualified andexperienced pool has hands-on experience in dealing with multiple accounting software aiding a seamless transition of theclient’s processes to SBS, with no valuable downtime lost in knowledge transfer. We also maintain a pool of skilled employeeswith shared expertise who can be leveraged to manage attrition and ensure the sustainability of the engagement without anyimpact on the deliverables whatsoever.

Quality, Transparency and Adherence to TATWith TAT and quality percentages consistently over 95%, SBS ensures timely delivery without any risks of missing deadlineswith no time lost in back and forth queries with the client.

Secure Seamless ProcessingPrivacy and security are paramount for every client we work with. The data is stored only on the client-server so there is nodanger of any external access to the information. Furthermore, for all cloud-based modules, our internal PasswordManagement Protocol or Stealth Login module ensures that user identities and passwords are not made available to the coreoperations team. They are encrypted and held by the IT team.

SBS has in place a set of policies and practices to comply with “Information Security Management System” standards (ISMS),designed to protect the security and confidentiality of customer data. ISMS Security standards accepted worldwide,demonstrate that SBS as an organisation has defined and put in place industry best-practice information security processesthat protect confidentiality, availability and integrity of data. What this means to our customers overseas is that their data neverleaves their land. SBS establishes connectivity through secure remote desktop connectivity protocols and works off customer’sservers and systems thereby ensuring complete data security.

Information Security and complianceISO27001:2013

Secure and privateVPN gateways

GDPR and AustralianPrivacy Law compliant

Post the outbreak of COVID-19 in early2020, we have a safe and secure work-

from-home (WFH) operating modelmimicking the infra of SBS office

Key highlights




Rapid Remote Transition (RRT)Given the current situation where there are restrictions to travel,the RRT Model entails a compressed and remote transitionprocess to help clients navigate a quicker transition of theirprocesses. A detailed step by step guide and a value-addedroadmap from “Transition” to “Go live” ensures organisation-widecommitment from both the client and offshoring provider and thishelps in status reporting to the key stakeholders. Through 2020,we have smoothly transitioned finance processes for multipleclients and in doing so, the businesses have been able to driveefficiency, reduce revenue leakages, build better controls,manage surge volumes and free up more time for high value-adding or customer-facing activities.

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)How we arrive at a Cost Benefit Analysis

Reduction in Headcount

Non-availability of skilled resourcesHigh staff costs Time spent on paperwork instead of strategic initiatives

SBS helps organisations with a scalable back-office to overcome the challenges of:

Reduction in Cost

Illustrative savings of the onshore-offshore model. Cumulative efficiency gains over 3 year period @ 25% with 20% gainsharing * Process in Australia ** irrespective of the size of the onsite team, the cost benefits are to the tune of 37% - 40%

Furthermore, as a result of process optimization, there is an expected reduction of the offshore headcount in Y2 and Y3.The quantum of reduced headcount can be utilized to support additional work with no additional cost. If there is no scope formore volume, the cost to the client is reduced to the extent of the reduced resources.




Case Study

Our client is an upscale 5-star property based in Sydney with aglobal presence in over 100 hotels and resorts around theworld.

The Client

Mismanaged Vendor Relationships - The Client was unable to manage their existingvendors and coordinate with them on a daily basis to source the best deal while ensuringthat there were no delays in customer service.

The month-end closure - This is an important task for the finance function as finalizingthe budget and the comparison of budgeted vs. actual figures can only be completedonce the books have been closed. The delays in the month-end close were negativelyaffecting this budget finalization and therefore delays in the associated activities.

A huge backlog of Wholesale emails - There was a huge backlog in the Wholesaleemails and this was affecting the day-to-day reservation process for the client.

Delayed Query resolution

High TAT for critical components

Challenges

Project management and organization is the key for remote transitions that are done without having to physically visit thelocation. It requires significant planning, anticipating pitfalls and suitable remedies and setting clear expectations and goals tothe internal stakeholders at each stage driven by metrics. Armed with this knowledge and a good understanding of existingprocesses and technologies, SBS remotely transitioned the finance functions F&A and the reservation functions successfullyensuring that seamless business continuity was maintained during the period between the time outsourcing was initiated andimplemented.

Finance and Accounting Functions: SBS conducted due diligence of a property in Maldives and creating the knowledgerepository of the finance and accounting processes. The same was used to transition work from Sydney without having to visitthe Sydney property.

Reservation functions: The SBS team underwent remote training and created a knowledge base of the process in detail.First, the huge backlog of emails was cleared followed by streamlining the entire reservations process and eventually handlingclose as 80% of the overall reservation work out of India.

Alongside, SBS set up the extended office model with the finance team in property consisting primarily of 2 Directors and 1Manager of Finance handling approvals and more strategic initiatives in the property. The dedicated team of accountantsworking out of India handled all transactional work covering payables, credit control, income audit and month-end activitiesaccessing systems of the property in a secure manner.

The opportunity and a one of its kind remote transition



https://sundarambusinessservices.com/blog/customer-acquisition-strategies/


Seamless management of remote vendors: The client had a hard time managing their 1500 vendors across the board fromdifferent parts of the world. SBS created an efficient process to manage all the vendors, allowing the client to focus on the coreobjectives of the business- building relationships with customers and other key partners.

Reduction of book closure from 5 to 2 days: The client was bogged down with transactional issues with the month-endprocess which delayed the post-completion tasks such as budget comparisons. To overcome this problem, SBS workedtowards reducing the book closure from 5 days to 2 days. They also maintained the credit recovery score at under 2% for theageing bucket of 90+ days.

Cleared backlog of emails: The client had a huge backlog of emails, especially in their wholesale department. SBS clearedout the pending emails with additional resources and got the engine back on track and chugging.

Built relationships with customers: With a proven track record of all the relevant know-how and cross-functional expertise,SBS seamlessly liaised with 300 bookers and over 100,000 bookings in a year for the client.

Decreased TAT by 50%: SBS brought about process improvements through innovations and let automation take care of therepetitive work that not only streamlined the operations but also set best practices across the organisation. The TAT wasreduced the turnaround time was down to a consistent 24 hours, prior to this, the time ranged from 2 days to a weekdepending on the flow of work.

Improvisation of processes: We created efficient processes centred on certain metrics for visibility and seamlesscommunication within the organization. We implemented standard operating procedures and FMEA (Failure Mode and EffectsAnalysis), this is a Six Sigma-based structured approach for discovering potential failures.

After-hours support in the Income Audit functions enabled timely submission of Management Pack first thing during the nextday morning.

ConclusionA study by Deloitte identified 4 faces of CFOs in relation to the critical roles that they play:Catalyst, Strategist, Steward & an Operator. More often than not, CFOs are always short on time and management bandwidthto make that shift from a Steward to a Strategist and for the most part they have to fulfil both of these functions and even more.Today’s finance function, which is pivoting from value stewardship to value creation requires finance professionals toconstantly drive performance and profitable growth by cutting costs wherever possible and discerning CFOs understand theROI of a long term strategic investment in technologies such as RPA.

Highlights of the Solution




Follow this linkUpon receiving your details, SBS will forward you a comprehensive questionnaireSBS will review the responses and set up a 30 min discussionSBS will submit the high level assessment that would include:

1.2.3.4.

Process maturity index of your organisationIndicative cost benefit analysis for a 3 year period Amenability of robotic process automation to your top 3-4 areas / processes of priority

“Sundaram Business Services (SBS) is a global business process transformation company building sustainablebusiness processes through Robotic Process Automation Solutions and Finance Outsourcing Support, servicingclients across Australia, New Zealand, UK and India.

SBS provides services to mid to large size corporates across various industries helping them embark, engage andexecute on their transformation journey through our technology and people-driven smart sourcing framework. Overthe last 15+ years, SBS has supported CFO’s of corporates, SMSF administrators, partners of accounting firms,investment & portfolio management companies, mortgage brokers and aggregators, hospitality & leisure industriesstreamlining their processes and help remain profitable.

We call ourselves a long term and scalable partner as most of our clients have been with us for over 10 years andcontinue to entrust us with more work year after year. We have helped many clients scale and grow theirbusinesses to greater heights.

Where do I begin?4 steps to a free assessment

About SBS

Free Business Process Assessment

We will be happy to have a conversation with you!

+61 418 572 592

[email protected]

HARISH RAO

+61 475 470 277

[email protected]

VARSHAMelbourne Sydney

https://sundarambusinessservices.com/contact-us/


sbs' cfo support solutions

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