Flexibility and adaptability are core beliefs in his work. His successes have come in large part due to his ability to identify concepts that will transform markets. The companies he’s built – from ride-sharing businesses to sunglasses and eyewear brands – have benefitted from this mindset. As he continues to build his business portfolio, the beliefs will persist in guiding his work. 

“I believe that you have to understand that the world is changing so fast,” he said. “The markets, the appetites, the cultures -- everything changes.”

Alejandro Betancourt has used that ability to identify change and anticipate what it means for markets and consumers to develop an impressive array of business achievements.

Auro Travel Advances Ride Sharing In Spain

Betancourt is the founder and largest shareholder of Auro Travel, a Spain-based ride-sharing company. Betancourt founded the company after seeing an opportunity to compete with similar companies like Cabify and Uber. Spain requires such companies to have vehicle licenses to operate. The company aggressively began acquiring the licenses, which are in limited supply.

The company, founded in 2017, today has about 2,000 licenses, mostly in Madrid. It is the largest provider of private car services with drivers in Spain. 

While the move was perceived to be risky at first, the strategy has paid off. Auro Travel developed a division, Arrow, which licenses the licenses to other ride-sharing companies seeking to operate in major Spanish cities.

Betancourt takes a hands-on approach to the companies in which he invests or creates. At Auro Travel, for example, he is fully involved in strategic planning, selection of key management leaders, and the creation, testing, marketing and launch of the company’s mobile app.

Betancourt believes the ride-sharing industry will continue to evolve and grow, noting that several of the companies are now branching out into areas such as food delivery. With the fierce competition for market share in the industry, he believes there will be contraction eventually.  

A Career In Varied Industries

Alejandro Betancourt attended Suffolk University in Boston, graduating with a double major in international economics and business administration. He started his career working for Guruceaga Group as a new business manager for the international trade company. He later served as a director of trading and an executive trader for ICC-OEOC, an oil and gas company.

He served as a director of two energy companies. At BGB Energy, the Venezuelan affiliate of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, he oversaw sales origination throughout the country and was responsible for 13 turbines. He later served as a director of Pacific Exploration & Production Corp., a Canadian public company with operations throughout Latin America.

In 2012, Alejandro Betancourt joined O’Hara Administration. Today, he is the director and a controlling party of the asset management and investment firm. He oversees the firm’s fund-raising and investment strategies, working with European banks and institutional investors. He is the firm’s largest shareholder in private equity investments in technology, banking and oil and gas companies.

Bright Future For Hawkers

Hawkers began as a $300 investment by four friends, who bought 27 pairs of American sunglasses made by Knockaround. Reselling the sunglasses proved to be an instant success. The founders decided there was a market for affordable, high-quality sunglasses with a modest price point -- $20 to $40 at the time. A Kickstarter campaign netted them nearly €190,000 and Hawkers began offering a range of colours, frames and lenses.

The founders, however, faced operational and logistics hurdles that had led to shipping delays and frustrated customers. 

Alejandro Betancourt saw the potential in the young company. He and a group of investors put up €50 million for the eyewear company. In November 2016, Betancourt was appointed as company president for Hawkers. 

In 2018, Betancourt made an additional investment of €20 million. Today, he is Hawkers’ largest individual shareholder.

Betancourt used several innovative marketing strategies to grow Hawkers to the third-largest sunglasses brand worldwide. He relied heavily on social media and influencer marketing to begin using well-known web stars to tout the product. Hawkers gave the influencers free sunglasses along with promo codes they could share with their followers.

Betancourt also began using celebrities and signed promotional deals. Ford, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, PayPal, PlayStation and Smart are among the companies Hawkers partnered with. In addition, the company signed a marketing agreement with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. Celebrity partners included Steve Aoki, Lionel Messi, Ricky Rubio and Usher. 

Betancourt also launched a campus brand ambassadors program that has recruited 5,000 college students to date. The ambassadors, chosen due to their wide social media followings, host events on behalf of Hawkers in exchange for trips and festival and concert tickets.

Today, the brand has expanded across Europe to Asia, Australia and North America. For Betancourt, success is a never-ending pursuit. 

“Everybody wants success. Everybody's looking for success,” he said. “It’s a continuous pursuit of trying to achieve your different goals, which keep evolving. As long as you are in that race to continue to pursue them, you are on the road to being successful.”

Choosing a reputable broker is one of the essential things you should pay attention to. There are many brokers out there, and not all of them are created equal. Make sure to do your research and select a broker that is reputable and has a good track record. Follow US forex brokers to learn about brokerage firms offering traders great investment solutions.

Top 5 Tips On How To Become A Successful Forex Trader

Many people are attracted to the forex market because of the opportunity to make quick profits. By following these simple tips, you can increase your chances of achieving success in the forex market:

1. Develop a trading plan

A trading plan should outline your investment goals, risk tolerance, and strategy for achieving those goals. Without a plan, it will be difficult to stay disciplined and stick to your chosen strategy. 

Whether you’re a new trader or someone who has been trading the markets for years, you need a trading plan that should be your guide in everything you do.

2. Control your emotions

Keep your emotions in check. Greed, fear, and other emotions can lead to impulsive decisions that can cost you money. When trading forex, it is important to stay calm and rational.

Fear of missing out on a trade usually drives forex traders to jump into a trade without prior validation. And, at times, getting into a trade hastily can result in losses if it turns against you.

If you want to become a successful trader, it is critical you put your emotions in check as much as possible. So, before you hit the button to confirm a trade, take a moment to think whether the trade is the right one by considering the following questions:

3. Be a constant learner

Before investing in any currency pair, research the countries involved and understand the factors that can affect the currency's value. This will help you make informed trading decisions and reduce the risks of losses.

One thing that all the best and most successful forex traders have in common is an ongoing curiosity and the love of learning new things. So, if you want to be a successful FX trader, you need to constantly learn new things about trading and the market.

4. Be patient 

Instead of trying to make quick profits, focus on long-term success. This means being willing to take small losses in order to avoid large ones; remember that every trade has risk involved.

Anyone who has traded in the forex market will tell you that patience is a virtue. Currencies can move up and down rapidly, and it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of a trade. However, successes in forex trading come to those who take a long-term view and wait for the right opportunity to enter a trade. By adhering to these principles, it is possible to achieve consistent results in the forex market.

5. Have realistic expectations

To be successful in forex trading, it is important to have realistic expectations. Many new traders enter the market with unrealistic expectations of quick and easy profits. However, the reality is that forex trading is a complex and challenging endeavour. 

While it is possible to make money in the market, it takes time, effort, and education to achieve consistent success. For this reason, new traders should approach the market with realistic expectations and a willingness to learn. 

How do you help your clients with creating their ‘success plan’?

Every client is unique. They are the ones in charge of identifying what will define their success and how they’ll know they’ve reached it. And it’s not static. Creating a clear plan begins in our first coaching session and every session thereafter. The topics they bring are organic, and they change week to week. My role is to hold their larger goals in mind so that we’re in clear agreement at every step about how we define ultimate success. The Success Plan IS the coaching. And always, the progress is astounding. My clients are often surprised by how far they’ve come. They improve in places they never thought possible.

This is the beauty in coaching: the client’s evolution, flow and creativity. Each client has an innate wisdom, a radar for where they need to go. And if it doesn’t seem to line up consistently with their original goal, that radar always brings them to something deeper. They may very well find that the original objective they came in with may change between the first day and the last day of coaching. It is precisely this deeper awareness that leads to transformational change.

I ensure my client is on track to success by reflecting patterns they may not be seeing. I use their language. I highlight what they’re not talking about. I inquire gently about the inconsistencies in their story, and I help them identify what it is they’re believing about themselves that keeps them from being the leader they truly want to be. I stay out of the way. I hold up the mirror so that they see where they’re powerful - and where they play small. Every time this happens, the client becomes stronger, more self-confident and self-directed.

A great success plan begins with the relationship between my clients and me. We need to be transparent, comfortable and enthusiastic about all that is going to take place. A great coach-client relationship is the magnet for drawing forward great outcomes. 

What’s your take on New Year’s resolutions?

New Year’s Resolutions are a good start. But by themselves, they’re not enough to create sustainable change. New Year’s Resolutions tend to fail because there’s a poor understanding of the goal in the first place. There is always a ‘want-behind-the-want’ that we need to identify in order to successfully create change. Losing weight is never just about losing weight. The underlying desire may be about emotional fulfilment or self-love. Until you get to that deeper want, the goal will flounder on the rocks of distraction. It’s hard to stay focused on your New Year’s Resolution when something else (more interesting) comes along at the moment. When you are absolutely clear about what is driving your ‘want’, you are much better able to create change.

I do value reflection. Ideally, it’s something you do daily. “Am I on track?” “Does this align with what I most want in my business?” “What would be a huge win for me this year?” “What’s my intention for today?”

So while New Year’s is one opportunity to reflect, it should by no means be the ONLY time we think about what we want. I encourage all of us to take time to consider whether our actions align with what we truly, deeply desire. And if not, reflect some more on what needs to change – before the year is out!

Success in business is about much more than making the numbers work. It’s an expression of who you are. How you show up.

What are your top tips on leading a happy and fulfilled life – both at the office and in your personal life?

Actually, almost no one comes to me to ask for a happy life. They ask for what’s meaningful to them: improved follow-through, self-confidence, skills for navigating conflict in the workplace. It’s as if they’ve already intuited what positive psychology has proven leads to fulfilment: engagement, self-compassion, meaning, agency.

My clients know what they want. They may not know the exact concrete view of what they want, but they know that the yearning they experience is guiding them toward something more meaningful. They tell me that if they’re not living what matters, they’re not living.

My tips for leading a happier life would be to ask yourself these questions:

“Who do you want to be?”

“What needs to be resolved for you to be that person every day?

“What choices do you make when you feel afraid?”

“What are you NOT asking for?”

“What leadership qualities would bring about the results you most want?”

All of these questions are about personal agency. Agency is about putting your authentic self into action – actually doing what you know to do. It’s about taking what matters and creating something wildly innovative – for you, your family or your business.

Why should more business professionals consider working with a coach?

Success in business is about much more than making the numbers work. It’s an expression of who you are. How you show up.

Leadership is about being clear and confident. Walking the walk. Modelling for your team. Making sure you’re thoughtful about your actions so they align with your goals. Prioritising what actually matters in both the short and long term – fluidly. And acting on all of it at the best time. Powerful business professionals go further with less. Rather than reacting to the latest crisis, they act from their centre.

Being effective in all these areas – simultaneously – requires business professionals to be supremely self-aware and open to personal growth. Engaging a coach is an act of self-care - and it’s ambitious.

You get to work in a safe space to explore blind spots you don’t yet see.

You learn how to translate great ideas into great results.

You choose to increase your enjoyment of your work by learning how to stay out of the weeds and into inspiration.

You get traction in areas where you’ve been struggling, so you grow and learn.

You recover your agency so you feel calm, centred, and clear.

You learn to enjoy your work and your life because they complement one another.

Thoughtful, self-aware leaders look after their own inner systems. They create the best outcomes. Isn’t that the bottom line?

In 2015, David was awarded a sabbatical grant and had the chance to travel throughout Europe, receive spiritual direction and reflect on his future in the church, presumably to get all charged up for many more years in ministry. Instead, he increasingly became convinced that there was another career calling to him outside of pastoral ministry, this time as a coach. After returning from the sabbatical, David was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He realised that whatever life he had left was a pure gift and if there was another career out there for him, he had better start reaching for it now. “Within one year I had caringly said farewell to my congregation and enrolled in a coaching program,” David says.

Shortly after that, he created Coaching & Conflict Transformation, LLC. In addition to being a coach, David is a Certified Mediator and mediates two-party and complex multi-party cases in Washington state. He believes that his mediation experience does add depth to everything he does in the coaching space.

David added to his initial training by receiving specialised certifications from the Cancer Journey Institute which helped immeasurably in his work with cancer clients, and the National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach certification which is the gold standard for health coaching worldwide.

How important is one’s health and wellness when it comes to achieving success in the workplace?

The logic is easy to see. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have much of anything. Without it, you can lose your livelihood and almost everything else. I don’t think many would argue this point. The rub comes with seeing one’s life over the long run and in the big picture. It is so easy to let other things overshadow the importance of our health and wellness.

Our collective global attitude toward healthcare has created something of a crisis by suggesting that very soon we will have a pill to solve whatever health problem that may come our way. That pill will probably never exist. We borrow from a quick-fix mentality what only good health habits can create.

Why do so many busy professionals overlook their health and wellness?

So many of us avoid taking care of our health and wellness because we started building poor health habits as our careers began in our 20s and 30s. I should come clean here and mention that I did too. Too often I skimped on my sleep, sat when I should have exercised, and ate fast food when I should have eaten more vegetables. Many of us found that we could take advantage of our health. Those earlier decades are career-building years. We pushed to get ahead, and our bodies seemed forgiving. If we weren’t proactive about our health then, we may start to feel some repercussions in the late 30s and early 40s and beyond.

But in no way am I here to paint a gloomy picture. Life is open to so many possibilities for great things to happen at any turn. It is never too late to act on our health and wellness.

So many of us avoid taking care of our health and wellness because we started building poor health habits as our careers began in our 20s and 30s.

Why is it important to pay more attention to our health and wellness, especially if we’re living a fast-paced and stressful life?

You can look at health through the lens of your peak performance and the health of your most important relationships at work and home.

If you take a clear-minded and blatantly honest view of your own mental, emotional, and relational sharpness, you’ll notice when it falls off as fatigue sets in. It might also be helpful to have a trusted co-worker or partner help you evaluate your sharpness if that is possible. With this feedback in hand, you’ll discover your limits. You may have to take a couple of steps back from pushing yourself to the max and favour creating better health habits. You’ll discover when you aren’t getting enough sleep (most likely you’ll need between 7-8 hours, so get real about that) or enough exercise (about 150 minutes of movement/exercise per week) or taking the fast-food option too frequently (less than three meals a week is a good beginning target).

What are some little steps that can help busy people with improving their well-being?

I absolutely love this question! Little steps turn into big gains over time! The key is to work with your own motivational engine. It gets larger when we enable it to build on itself. Isolate one thing you want to improve health-wise, like taking a five-minute walk once a day for one week. Or, if you’ve already got walking down, choose to add one vegetable to your plate at dinner for one week. You get the idea. Think, simple, easy, doable, “I-know-I-can-nail-this-without-thinking.” And, then crush it! Then the next week, make sure you don’t add much. Just something little and crush it again. During your first month you should come away with incremental improvements, and each time: nothing but wins.

The idea is to keep working with the long game in mind. And (hint) it wouldn’t hurt to have a health and wellness coach. Remember, that you created habits over years, and you can’t undo them for good quickly. As you gradually and methodically add to your wins, you’ll reshape your attitude about what you can do and build confidence—your motivational engine—to replace bad habits with good ones. Ultimately, you’ll run the marathon, or whatever your big goal is, but the initial motivational work must come first.

Contact details: 

https://www.drkegley.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kegley-aa24b927/

https://www.instagram.com/davidkegley5/

From the time he was born in South Africa, Michael Parry was exposed to a very international life. His father was born in England, his mother in Poland and his sister in Cyprus. During his lifetime, he has visited about 80 countries across the globe.

After finishing high school and his compulsory military service in the South African Air Force, he completed five years of articles with the largest public accounting firm in South Africa at the time, Alex Aiken & Carter, which subsequently merged with KPMG. During his articles, he became the audit manager of two of the largest gold mines in the world, a large hospital, one of only two casinos in Southern Africa, banks, savings and loan institutions, manufacturers, retailers, hospitality and many other industries.

After spending over five years in auditing, Michael knew that he did not want to stay in the auditing profession. However, he was not sure what he wanted to specialise in. He left the public accounting profession and joined the second-largest chicken producer on the African continent, Festive Farms, as their Financial Accountant. After two years, at the age of 27, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer of the company. Shortly after this promotion, two things happened that would influence his career forever.

While Festive Farms was the second-largest chicken producer, they also produced and supplied about 95% of the commercial turkey demand in the Southern African market. With the vast majority of turkeys being consumed only during the Christmas season, all of their large chain customers would put tremendous pressure on Festive’s parent company, Imperial Cold Storage (ICS), to sell turkey at below cost so that these chains could use low turkey prices to compete for customers over the holiday season. The threat, from these big chains, was that if Festive Farms did not sell turkeys below cost, then the big chain stores would not buy other ICS products such as seafood, dairy, vegetables, ice cream etc. And so Festive, while very profitable on the chicken side, lost a fortune on the turkey business.

At his first management board meeting as CFO, Michael asked why Festive was in the turkey business? Most of the management made fun of his question. Why would any company give up something in which they controlled 95% of the market?  Fortunately, the President, James Abel, realised the significance of the question and a Board of Directors’ decision was made within a few weeks to exit the turkey business. All of the turkey farms were converted into chicken facilities and the results were dramatic. Within a year, the profit of an already profitable company quadrupled. It was this result that made Michael realise that he wanted to specialise in improving bottom lines significantly.

The other factor that had a significant impact on Michael’s future career also happened while at Festive Farms. The company was upgrading its phone system from an old plug-in board to one of the newest inventions at the time in Southern Africa, a large PABX system, and Michael was responsible for the purchase.

Two vendors were in the running. During the negotiations, one vendor was bad-mouthing the other vendor for not having any sales of the new PABX system in the Southern African market. This other vendor was one of the leading technology companies in the world at the time, the British GE, who had sold quite a few units elsewhere in the world, but not in Southern Africa. The cost of the new equipment was a lot of money back then – about 30 times Michael’s annual salary as CFO. Upon learning this information, Michael was able to turn GE’s weakness into a strength and negotiated the purchase of the PABX system from GE for free, but allowing GE to bring in one potential customer a week to look at the newly installed equipment at Festive, as long as one week’s notice of the visit was given. After GE made their second sale, they stopped bringing potential customers around. This experience was the start of Michael’s passion for negotiating win-win situations.

After Festive, Michael joined one of the oldest steel foundries in South Africa, Ferrovorm, that had recently been acquired out of bankruptcy by the construction conglomerate Murray and Roberts.  Within three months, the actions that Michael implemented, enabled Ferrovorm to return to profitability and, through positive cash flow, to repay Murray and Roberts their entire investment in acquiring Ferrovorm.

One day, after meeting the German Chairman of the Board of Dürr South Africa, Michael was hired as the CFO. Dürr South Africa had not made a profit in the South African market in the entire 10 years that they had been operating in the country. Over the next two years, the company had the best results in nearly every measured ratio in the worldwide group.

In 1985, at 32 years of age, Michael was transferred to the USA as the CFO to be a part of a turnaround team to salvage the US operations of the Dürr Group, which was achieved within a few months.

From the end of 1988 until mid-1997, Michael owned his own turnaround firm, proudly achieving the record of never having a client file for bankruptcy. In 1997, Dürr asked Michael to return as CFO, as they were going on an acquisition run and the North American CEO was going to retire in 2 years. Over the next few years, over a dozen acquisitions were completed and in 1999, when the CEO retired, Michael became president of Dürr Inc. (the US holding company) and he was the only US member on the Board of Directors of the US operating and holding companies.

In 2006, Michael left Dürr and moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Once again, he started his own firm, Parry, Murphy and Associates, but this time specialising in helping clients, on a pure success-fee basis, obtaining fairer pricing, mainly from their existing suppliers, without negatively impacting quality and/or service.

Through experience, Michael has learned that sellers generally quote the price that they want, not the price they will accept. Michael wants his clients’ suppliers to make a fair profit and to remain viable. His focus is on identifying and negotiating better pricing for his clients where the existing pricing results in unreasonably high profits for suppliers. He even guarantees financial results.

Over the years, Michael has developed 10 golden rules to achieve successful outcomes, when negotiating with suppliers.

1. Strategise, strategise, strategise

Avoid negotiations without a clear strategy. If you get caught unprepared, do not be embarrassed to say that you need to get back with the other party.

Do your research and identify:

• Where you are.
• Where you want to go.
• How you plan to get there.

Developing a strategy is like playing chess. Try to develop multiple “what if” scenarios for each point in your journey. Obstacles may develop as you progress with your strategy. If the obstacle is not what was anticipated, try to avoid making snap decisions. Negotiations with vendors is like going through a maze while playing chess at the same time. Try to identify an intersection in advance and what your options are at that point. The biggest difference though is when going through a maze, one can always go back to the last intersection. With vendor negotiations, that option is not so viable. You might have to dig a new tunnel.

If you use the same starting strategy with 100 vendors, by the time you are done, the course taken could be different for all 100 vendors. The better you are able to identify the deviation in advance and to anticipate your and the vendors' next move (or multiple moves), the more successful your negotiation will be.

Be careful of developing strategies on the fly. This art can best be improved through experience.

Have a trusted source that can play the devil’s advocate as you develop your strategies – see rule 10.

2. Do your homework

Try and find out as much relevant information about the supplier – website, blogs, internet searches, LinkedIn, credit reports etc. Be selective about what you let the vendor know that you have learned about them.

Prepare a key data sheet on the vendor and record what you regard as important information - e.g. size, strengths, weaknesses, advantages, disadvantages etc.

Get names of their customers and check references but bear in mind that while checking references can be useful, the vendor will unlikely give you the names of bad references, just like a job interview candidate. Through experience, there are certain questions you can ask where the way they answer will tell you a lot more than what they say.

3. Be truthful

You want to have a reputation of telling the truth. Once you have lost that reputation, life is going to be a lot more difficult, especially if your job involves negotiations.

Sometimes you have to be able to say that the answer is something that you can’t reveal. However, if you say that, in many cases, the vendor will try and analyse why you said that and then focus on other ways to get the answer (such as talking to your staff or the competition).

The best part about the truth is that it is easier to remember. More than likely, the biggest asset you have is your reputation. So hard to gain, so easy to lose.

More than likely, the biggest asset you have is your reputation. So hard to gain, so easy to lose.

4. Competition

One of the best tools to getting good pricing is competition. However, one needs to be careful that the competition is not working together in order to charge you a higher price. Not so easy to detect, but there are ways to avoid this. Where there is true competition, it is best to have competitors who have some sort of idle capacity. Make sure that you allow yourself the ability to negotiate.

5. Avoid getting cornered

Do not eliminate your ability to negotiate by saying to your vendor: “If you get your price to $x then you will get the order”. Because if they do get their price to what you ask then you will be obligated to place the order at the target price you set. Rather say: “If you get your price to $xxx then you will have a very good chance of getting the order.” The latter approach still leaves you with options such as to negotiate for a lower price with a competitor.

By fabricating a story, you increase the risk of being backed into a corner.

Try to anticipate the outcome of strategies two or three moves down the road in order to minimise getting trapped.

6. Keep Notes

Always maintain a written record of your negotiations, even if it involves sending yourself an email. Record the date, time and whom you spoke with and what the conversation was about. Also, record what the next steps and dates are. Always try to review these notes before you engage in additional negotiations with the vendor.

7. Avoid negotiating with the qualified low bidder

All things being equal, the qualified low bidder is generally going to get the order. Therefore, negotiating with the low bidder is not a good idea because even if they say no to everything you try to negotiate, they are still going to get the order. This will be to your disadvantage down the road if you try and negotiate with them again, as they will be more likely to keep saying no.

Therefore, we recommend that negotiations take place with the second and third lowest bidders. Once you can negotiate them below the lowest bidder, then you have something to negotiate with the bidder who was the lowest bidder.

8. Use the vendor’s weak points to your advantage, and theirs

Keep your ears and eyes open to try to learn what are the vendor's weak points are and look for ways to use it to your advantage. For example, if your vendor is having cash flow issues, you might be able to get a much better price if you offer better payment terms.

If the vendor puts pressure on its sales force to meet certain sales targets by certain dates, the vendor may be willing to offer certain concessions as the deadline nears. The loss of a major account will make the vendor more willing to be flexible in order to fill the void.

9. You do not have to know all the answers

Avoid falling into the trap of feeling that you have to answer all the questions posed to you by your vendor. You are not there to impress your vendor with the knowledge that you might be expected to know. Guessing what the answer is and getting it wrong will weaken your position when the truth comes out. Remember, it is better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Some vendors are very good at fishing to see how competent you are. Some preferred responses could be: “I need to look into that”, “I am not sure of the specifics”, “I am not at liberty to discuss that”.

10. Make use of an experienced, competent third party

In our experience, this is the most critical part of engaging in a successful negotiation that results in significant price reductions. The third party can be an outside specialist (such as Parry, Murphy and Associates) or an internal person or panel.

The third party needs the knowledge, experience and research tools to identify what savings opportunities are available. The buyer can use the third party as a sounding board or have the third party take the lead in the negotiation process while the buyer remains the “good person”.

For more information on Parry, Murphy and Associates, visit www.parrymurphy.biz

FinTech – financial technology – is arguably the most prominent of them all. FinTech is now widely used in both a consumer and business context; generally, it is applied to digital banking, be it online or mobile, as people have become more comfortable with using technology to access their accounts and manage their financial affairs. 

Yet, the term FinTech is not without problems. In fact, the same could be said for HealtTtech, PropTech, EdTech, InsurTech, RetailTech, GreenTech and every one of these phrases.

The problem is that they are broad, catchall terms. As a consequence, when we talk of FinTech, the conversation has become vague and jargonistic – the word itself only carries a loose meaning.

What’s in a word?

So, why does this matter?

Well, underneath the semantics, there is a pertinent issue: the advancement and adoption of technology is hindered by excessive use of general buzzwords.

We can look to the artificial intelligence (AI) sector as a clear example: according to a 2019 study by London venture capital firm MMC, 40% of European startups that are classified as AI companies do not actually use artificial intelligence in a way that is “material” to their businesses.

Popular technologies have a habit of, therefore, becoming a victim of their success. As soon as it is dubbed “the one to watch”, a field of technology is at risk of being inundated by jargon; lines become blurred; startups jump on the bandwagon; investors rush to back nascent tech that is yet to prove its worth, and businesses latch on to trending terms to sell products.

Is FinTech plateauing?

In contrast to the ever-increasing use of the term FinTech, an argument could be made that financial technology is failing to live up to the hype. Or, that the sector is starting to plateau.

The onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 promised to set in motion a period of significant change within the financial services sector. Over the past decade, commentators have been heralding the coming of the ‘FinTech revolution’.

The transition from traditional, cumbersome, offline processes to new and innovative digital solutions was meant to inspire a new look to the finance industry – one where customers would be empowered by choice, with fairer deals and more hassle-free experiences; meanwhile, an era of open data would see a more progressive application of data management so it could be better collected, stored, analysed and understood.

However, in truth, this revolution has struggled to make much ground in recent years. Outside of relatively basic online banking software, consumers generally have not experienced much of what financial technology has to offer. An understandable hesitancy surrounding regulation and the migration to new technology has meant that FinTech adoption has generally been cautious to date.

The coronavirus pandemic has already played its part in changing this, though. Yobota recently commissioned an independent survey among over 2,000 UK adults – it found that FinTech usage was 50% higher during the lockdown period between March and June 2020 than it was in 2019.

As social distancing measures were imposed, consumers and businesses became far more reliant on digital banking to manage their financial affairs. What’s more, the economic hardship brought about by COVID-19 has also driven more people to seek new forms of credit (namely loans and credit cards), which banks have now had to be able to provide while their teams were working remotely, and their branches were closed.

The need for cloud-based banking platforms, which can be accessed by customers and employees anywhere, has become clear. So too has the need to automate processes and use interoperable technologies – again, in the cloud – to ensure an excellent service can be delivered without financial services businesses needing to have entire teams in a physical location.

The next era of FinTech

The term FinTech is here to stay. However, now is the time to look beyond financial technology as merely being ways of accessing one’s account or quickly transferring money to someone else. We have to think bigger. Much bigger.

The fact that banking staff were on the list of key workers during the recent nationwide lockdown in the UK (allowing them to travel to offices and bank branches) is demonstrative of the fact that the FinTech era is not yet upon us. Many incumbent banks continue to operate on legacy IT systems that prevent them from delivering financial services from outside their workplace.

And yet, true FinTech is a fully digitised service. Theoretically, if financial service providers had fully adopted technology throughout their operations, then banking staff should have been fully capable of working from home without their customers being adversely affected. What’s more, with the right technology in place, neither staff nor customers would be unnecessarily exposed to the health risks posed by COVID-19.

Instead, the pandemic has instead laid bare the practice of using a banking app or website as a front for embracing FinTech, whereas, in reality, the adoption of tech has not advanced too far beyond this point. The next era of financial technology will see us move far beyond this; it will be defined by cloud-based platforms and open banking, by interoperability between different technologies and systems. This will provide the end-user with a joined-up service and a far better experience.

Moving beyond niche solutions for niche problems

Take the example of someone applying for a credit card; something that is likely to have become increasingly common over recent months, as mentioned above. There are various different stages that an applicant will need to pass through – identity verification; credit scoring; advice or product recommendation; application and assessment; and, if successful, creating the account.

Outside of relatively basic online banking software, consumers generally have not experienced much of what financial technology has to offer.

At present, credit card providers might have implemented tech (FinTech) for some parts of that chain. For the rest, human involvement is required. What’s more, the applicant may take on a new credit card with a bank they have not previously held an account with – they now have one more app or online platform they have to use to manage their financial affairs.

A more progressive approach to FinTech – that is to say, the true vision for what FinTech can enable – would ensure an individual can receive the credit card through an entirely automated process with as few clicks as possible. On top of that, they should be able to check and pay the balance on their new credit card through their existing digital banking platforms, rather than relying on several.

This is only possible through open banking, open data, cloud-based platforms and interoperable systems; after all, this was the promise of the FinTech revolution. As such, the industry would advance beyond the niche digital solutions that have been created for niche problems; while FinTech in isolation can deliver value, it is only when a more holistic approach is taken, and technologies are used together, that the financial services sector will truly innovate.

For all the hype and investment, FinTech is still in its infancy. People might be familiar with the term FinTech, but they are only experiencing the early stages of what it can deliver.

Finance firms cannot become complacent while legacy IT and on-premise servers continue to halt the progress of the digital transformation in the financial services space. Now is an opportune moment to bring about the next stage of FinTech’s development and push towards its true potential.

Ammar Akhtar is the Co-founder and CEO of Yobota, a London-based technology company. Founded in 2016, Yobota has built a fast, flexible, cloud-native core banking platform, which allows clients to create and run innovative financial products.

Professor of Corporate Finance, Sophie Manigart, and post-doctoral researcher, Thomas Standaert, found that governments that invested but had no input were more successful in stimulating growth in companies and providing more resources to the private risk capital market.

Whereas, the researchers found that governments that invest directly in a company and have complete control of all of the decisions tend to yield the poorest results. Businesses that raised funding this way did not grow faster than companies that raised no funding at all.

The research findings came from a previous study on both literature on government investments, but also from a dataset of 345 Venture Capital funds established between 1996-2017. The researchers analysed how a number of European companies developed after receiving venture capital through four different models, ranging from full government control, to government investment, but independent decision-making. The researchers compared the performances of each firm, up to five years after the initial VC investment.

The four key investment models that the researchers analysed were:

1. Direct and solitary – where a government invests directly in a target company and all decisions are made by the government
2. Direct but in partnership – the government invests directly in target companies, but in partnership with private investment funds
3. A passive government role – the government co-invests in target companies with private players who take all decisions. The government plays a passive role and is hands-off when it comes to most investment decisions; the government merely follows the private sector.
4. A government invests in a fund-of-fund and does not mingle in investment decisions – this goes a step further than the third model by having governments invest in private funds that are managed entirely by equally private fund managers.

Professor Manigart says: “Government intervention in the risk capital market is needed in Europe and worldwide, but governments should respect the role of private players and not become dominant decision makers. Governments who simply provide this funding, but let the firm work independently and autonomously are much more likely to see growth, which can only be a benefit for investors, the firm, and customers alike.”

"Governments who simply provide this funding, but let the firm work independently and autonomously are much more likely to see growth, which can only be a benefit for investors, the firm, and customers alike.”

The researchers state that governments need to apply the fourth method more often in order for the target companies to be more innovative and successful. A good example of this model being implemented successfully is the Canadian government, who pioneered this model with the launch of the Venture Capital Action Plan, which has resulted in over $900 million in private investor capital being added to the ecosystem.

Government aid is genuinely effective for businesses, even companies like Apple and Tesla would not have survived without government funding. If there’s no financial help, then it could be argued that there would be no high-tech developments and innovations in society. Therefore, it is important that governments look to invest in the most effective way possible for growth in these companies, so that high-tech, social projects and high-employment companies have the greatest chance of growth and survival.

However, while it is a significant factor, Mark Halstead, partner at business intelligence and financial risk firm Red Flag Alert, says Brexit can also distract from more fundamental problems with a business, such as unrealistic profit guidance given to markets, setting inflated expectations, poor management performance, unsustainable debts reducing ability to invest, or an inability to adapt to changing market conditions.

Financial Distress Has Increased

Of course, Brexit does have an impact on many businesses and is often a contributor to those in trouble.

Importers, for example, are suffering from the falling pound (at least those that haven’t been managing currency exposure) and the lack of certainty over a trade deal makes investment justification challenging.

Our own figures show that since the 2016 referendum, there has been a 40% increase in the number of UK companies in significant financial stress. And the number of those in ‘critical’ financial stress has increased 8% year-on-year. Businesses in the real estate and property, construction, retail and travel sectors have been the most severely affected.

Consumer Spending Remains Steady

However, if we look more closely at different sectors, we see that the impact of Brexit is more complex than it might first appear.

Take retail, for example. The sector has been experiencing a digital revolution that has seen the high street face stiff competition from the internet. At the same time, business rates and rents have increased, and consumer habits have changed.

Brexit has played its part by knocking consumer confidence, but some retailers are doing very well in this environment.

Clothing retailer Primark has no online sales presence at all, and yet it reported a 4% increase in sales earlier this year, while its mid-market competitor Next saw its full-price sales increase 4.3%

Both of these brands have strong value propositions: Primark is known for its heavy discounts on fashion, while Next had a reputation for its home delivery service long before online retail took off.

It’s also worth noting that consumer spending has actually increased during 2019. Although it may have peaked, it remains to be seen if the previous growth is set to continue.

Brexit can even present some opportunities. Low-interest rates have resulted in poor returns for investors, and so lending to businesses is now a viable alternative – helping businesses access capital for propositions that may have been unattractive to investors pre-referendum.

Builder blames Brexit

FTSE 250 housebuilder Crest Nicholson issued a recent statement outlining a decreased profit projection, and Brexit was the headline factor: “During the second half of FY2019, the Company has experienced a volatile sales environment in some of its regional businesses, driven largely by ongoing customer uncertainty relating to Brexit and the economic outlook in the UK.”

Two additional factors cited were a reduction in the value of some London property stock and a large cost associated with remedial works regarding combustible materials.

While Brexit uncertainty does affect housebuilders, it may be a stretch to blame it for huge reductions in profit. Perhaps Crest Nicholson were a little over-ambitious with original house evaluations, and Brexit has nothing to do with the £17m remedial works required to bring properties in line with government guidance.

While Brexit uncertainty does affect housebuilders, it may be a stretch to blame it for huge reductions in profit.

One could also argue that low-interest rates and weak sterling (both driven in part by Brexit) are helpful to housebuilders.

Beach the Brexit-blame

Another company blaming Brexit for not meeting performance expectations is travel retailer On the Beach: “This weakening of Sterling (driven by Brexit) leads to a significant increase in On the Beach prices versus full risk competitors; as a result, the Group anticipates delivering a full-year performance below the Board's expectations.”

Another interpretation might be that the company’s currency hedging strategy, or lack of it, wasn’t robust enough to maintain margins during uncertain times.

Lunar Caravans: Low Consumer Confidence or Overtrading?

Lunar Caravans is another business that has blamed poor performance on Brexit.

Until recently, the caravan, motorhome and campervan manufacturer had been profitable. In fact, in 2017 it reached a peak turnover of £50.6m from the production of around 3,400 units.

However, jump forward just two years, and the company was calling in the administrators, blaming a 20% drop in sales across the leisure vehicle industry caused by reduced consumer confidence due to Brexit.

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But once again, Brexit was only part of the story.

In 2016, the company’s profits were £1.6m; however, this dropped to £725k in 2017 when Lunar’s holding company had to buy back shares from three retiring shareholders.

Then, the company began to see a steady increase in its costs as the pound began to slip against the Euro.

With turnover increasing but profitability declining, the company was beginning to overtrade and struggling to manage its growth.

This reduced the value of the company by £1m and left it with fewer reserves to weather difficult times. And these difficult times soon came.

The company had invested heavily in new products, but several design issues in the new caravans saw a flood of warranty claims coming in from thousands of angry customers.

This further eroded profits, damaged the brand and added to the financial risk associated with the business.

With poor sales and spiralling costs, huge debts accrued, and the company was unable to pay its creditors – by which time the writing was on the wall.

Brexit Alone is Not Toxic

The impacts of Brexit are undoubtedly severe; however, they shouldn’t always be terminal, and Brexit alone doesn’t automatically equate to a toxic business environment.

In many cases, it represents a short financial shock that lays bare a company’s underlying long-term weaknesses and sends it spiralling.

But those businesses which are financially healthy and have competent management who can react to changes in the market stand a much better chance of being able to weather Brexit and maybe even achieve some growth.

A certified leadership coach, hypnotherapist and neuro-linguistic practitioner, Bianca is dedicated to energising and motivating ambitious individuals to maximise their impact. She teaches women that balance, joy and optimal productivity are all achievable through conscious and intentional living. Bianca empowers people to flourish as their best selves through wellbeing coaching, events and keynote speeches at global conferences.

Here she explains how alpha females could succeed in the highly competitive finance world without burning out.

There are very few industries as competitive as finance, not least because there are so many challenges from the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) technology ultimately reducing headcounts in addition to the challenges posed by compliance and regulation.

The good news is that diversity within the workplace is improving, as reported in the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter: Annual Review 2018 published in March 2019. As well as more women taking senior leadership roles, the report acknowledges that flexible working, leadership and development programmes, mentoring and sponsorship all have a crucial role to play.

Burnout is now such a significant workplace issue that it is a legitimate medical diagnosis, recently added to the International Classification of Diseases.

If you are a so-called alpha female, one who is highly competitive, has very high standards and is prone to bouts of hyperactivity, you may be extremely successful in the finance world but you will need to be more wary than most on the risk of burnout.

I know from my own experience that burning too brightly, too fast, can lead to a shut-down, and in my case, this meant an immune collapse. Having overcome this setback and now on track with a career I adore, I decided to share my experience in a new book, Flourish, published by Rethink Press, aimed at businesswomen.

Sadly, there are amazing women in the world of finance who aren’t burning brightly. They’re burning out and burning out young. Some are losing respect for themselves and their natural rhythms. In all of the drive to succeed and achieve, they’re also in danger of losing their sense of belonging and community.

Burnout is now such a significant workplace issue that it is a legitimate medical diagnosis, recently added to the International Classification of Diseases, published by the World Health Organisation's handbook that guides medical providers in analysing diseases.

That’s why I’ve developed the Energy-SCAPE model to help working women hop-off life’s treadmill and achieve rapid success in the areas of life that matter most.

I encourage deep self-awareness, conscious cleansing, positive habits and purposeful action, play and enrichment, teaching women how to honour their personal energy flow to unleash their best self.

So, where do you start? I believe that the most important thing in life is inner energy. I look at a productivity balance system with six elements that need to be addressed.

Sleep patterns – are they restorative or fitful?  Is there optimal nutrition in your diet? Do you rely on fake energy, such as caffeine? Do you know how to relax?  Do you experience emotional stress and what burdens weigh heavily on your shoulders? Are you prone to extreme productivity through overwork, over-exercise, overthinking and generally overdoing things?

Extreme productivity is an all-too-common energy crime committed by modern women every day and it’s something we, high-achieving women, are proud to have burnt into our psyches.

Extreme productivity is an all-too-common energy crime committed by modern women every day and it’s something we, high-achieving women, are proud to have burnt into our psyches. We almost don’t notice that we’re extreme. We consider it part of life’s plan.

All too often we trip head-long into frantic productivity through social conditioning born of competitiveness and goal obsession, with abominable disregard for other areas of our lives. It’s also a way of hiding from emotional stress.

Top hacks to improve productivity balance for alpha females

My anti-burnout advice includes guidance on how to redefine success.

I’ve recently read a lovely quote from Gemma White QC who was asked: “What is the best advice you’ve received?”. “Not to plan my family around my career”, she replied. As someone who has four children, including twins, this made me smile although you don’t need to have kids to love and appreciate family.

We need to be careful how we judge success because so often we create problems for ourselves because we are unrealistic and feel duty-bound to overachieve, such is the problem with alpha women.

In terms of actionable tips to create more time, energy, impact and happiness, I’ve focussed on some key areas below.

Sleep:

• Create a sanctuary in your bedroom.
• Beware of blue light from screens.
• Soak in an aromatherapy bath.
• Eat no food after 8:00 PM.
• Enjoy silence.
• Allow time for reflection.

Self-Awareness:

• Create space for yourself.
• Practice mindfulness.
• Keep a journal.
• Master the art of listening.
• Gain different perspectives.
• ‘Flip’ your limiting beliefs.
• Identify your values.
• Trust your intuition.

Enrichment:

• Stop, retreat and renew.
• Respect the necessity of taking a break.
• Be kind.
• Learn – lessons are everywhere, whether they’re presented as such or not.
• Follow your passion through work.
• Care about others.
• Have inspiring relationships.
• Feed your soul by capturing thoughts and photos that fill you with joy.
• Make your home a haven.

My book includes plenty of practical exercises to test your own self-awareness. When discussing the subject of ‘cleansing’, I encourage you to try Zapper Identification.

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, please think carefully whether there is any merit in maintaining the relationship and about how to set up some protective parameters around it, if it must continue. Of course, there are difficult relationships we might have to tolerate in the work environment but if you become aware of energy-zappers, you will be half-way to finding a solution.

• Is the relationship one-sided, in that you give and give and feel the other person takes and takes, rarely giving anything back?
• When you think of this person, do you feel immediately drained and your shoulders droop?
• Do you come away from conversations together feeling exhausted?
• Do they seem to enjoy being locked in their ‘circle of suffering’, enjoying the act of complaining almost more than the problem itself?
• Are they so self-absorbed that they never ask you about yourself or your life?
• Do that talk at you rather than to you?
• Do you get the impression they never listen to you? Does your advice fall on deaf ears? (Despite copious recommendations to help solve their problems, they never take heed and instead enjoy being stuck.)
• Do they love gossiping about others and share private tales you know are breaches of confidence?
• Do you rarely laugh together? This is critical as even the toughest relationship can survive as long as there are decent bouts of shared humour.

If your friend or associate has scored five or more yeses, you should evaluate whether you need them in your life or career and consider how to detach from them. If you must maintain the relationship, design a mini management plan.

A Zapper management plan could be as follows:

Expectation awareness: Don’t forget that time spent with a zapper will be focused on them. Ensure you don’t have any false assumptions that you’ll be able to share your latest problem, story or adventure. Go with a listening mindset, then you won’t come away drained and disappointed.

Time limit: Set limits on the duration and frequency of rendezvous. I have certain people in my life whom I love and respect, but I know time spent with them will be an exercise in tolerance for me, no matter how compassionate I’m feeling. To manage this, I minimise the number of appointments with them and when I call, I state that I only have X number of minutes before I need to be at another meeting.

Communication plan: If you know a phone call with a zapper will be thirty minutes of their download before they even ask how you are - if indeed they get to this at all – how about using text instead? Keep the exchanges as frequent as appropriate. This method allows you to maintain contact and say the right things succinctly while also sharing your news.

For further information, please refer to Bianca’s new book Flourish (published by Rethink Press at £12.99). In addition, the author runs courses and workshops, including a retreat in Portugal in September 2020.

Websites: http://biancabest.com/

https://www.yourlifehack.com/

Yet according to PwC, this form of fraud is the second-most commonly reported economic crime in the world, ranking above bribery, corruption and even cybercrime. The question is – who should lead counter-fraud efforts? This week Finance Monthly hears from Laurent Colombant, Continuous Controls and Fraud Manager at SAS, to explore the ins and outs of procurement fraud.

Worryingly, businesses seem unclear on the answer. Our latest research report, Unmasking the Enemy Within, found there was no clear leader or common approach to procurement fraud prevention across businesses. Indeed, almost a quarter (23%) of business leaders have no clear owner assigned to the task or can’t say who is responsible.

Finance in the firing line

What’s not in question, however, is who’s held responsible for the damages that fraud inflicts. While CFOs might not be involved in day-to-day anti-fraud operations, they are frequently first in the firing line when procurement fraud is uncovered. In 2014, for example, Sino-Forest Corp CFO David Horsley was fined C$700,000 by regulators for failing to prevent fraud under his watch. Furthermore, he was permanently banned from being a public company officer or corporate director, and was ordered to pay $5.6 million to the company’s investors following a class action settlement.

While they are unlikely to coordinate fraud efforts single-handedly, 31% of companies place ultimate responsibility for fraud in the CFO’s hands - more than any other role. That’s hardly surprising, given that fraud has a direct impact on the bottom line, with over half of businesses (55%) reporting losses of up to €400,000 per year.

While we are not arguing that the finance department should be the command and control centre for anti-fraud efforts, it’s clear that the CFO has a crucial role to play in tackling procurement fraud. They are the ones who guide purchase decisions, who oversee risk management or audits and, ultimately, have the final say in what anti-fraud capabilities a company is equipped with.

Even so, it’s unfair to expect the finance department to shoulder the entire burden themselves. Just as IT security in the organisation is everyone’s responsibility, so too must accountability and responsibility for fraud be embedded throughout the workplace.

Invest for success - modernising the detection process

Yet there is much that the finance department can do to help uncover incidents of fraud – not least conducting regular audits. Around half businesses (46%) claim to hold regular internal audits, but many of these exclude procurement fraud from their remit. More worrying still, more than one in 10 (11%) organisations admit to either doing nothing to audit for procurement fraud or are unable to say what they do. A further fifth (22%) fail to audit for procurement fraud at all.

That one in three companies aren’t actively searching for procurement fraud, or don’t know what processes cover it, suggests a blind spot that potential fraudsters could easily exploit.

Finance needs to look at areas where existing auditing process are letting them down. When we look at how organisations deal with procurement fraud, 29% validate procurement applications manually while a further 30% rely on staff to inform them of any wrongdoing. Both carry a high risk of human error, potentially minimising or masking the true scale of the problem.

Ultimately, the buck stops with the CFO, which is why they should consider a new approach to auditing based on continuous and automated detection. This is only possible with a strong foundation of advanced analytics that assists investigators in pinpointing the needles in the haystack. A company’s ability to identify and prevent fraud rests, to a very great extent, on the good judgment of the CFO in selecting the right systems to prevent fraud from happening in the first place and deterring anyone with ill intentions.

Continuous, data-driven detection represents the best way to fight procurement fraud and identify errors, enabling companies to pre-empt signs of fraudulent activity rather than discover it after it’s taken place. This limits costs, saves time as well as reputation and prevents losses.

Yet only a small minority of organisations are using advanced analytics (14%) and AI (nine%) technologies in their anti-fraud efforts. The most common obstacle to adoption is the perceived cost of the technologies, but this could well be short-term thinking on the part of the CFO. While there is an upfront cost implicit in any implementation, an effective fraud detection tool will quickly make its money back in the losses it prevents and the monies it helps recoup.

The finance department should not be afraid to make the case for investment in the latest advanced analytics and AI solutions. Procurement fraud is too serious and too costly to make short-term capex savings in favour of the long-term ROI offered by analytics-enabled security. After all, the buck stops with them.

1. Develop your emotional intelligence.

While numeracy and IT literacy are most often cited as key requirements needed to be successful in the finance industry, a high degree of emotional intelligence, or ‘EQ’, is just as, if not more, important. Ultimately, this is a people business, but a people business on steroids, i.e. full of big personalities. To make it in this industry, the ability to interact with people as individuals, as clients and as markets, all with complex behaviours that work on multiple levels, is essential. The ability to read a situation and respond accordingly is paramount, while at the same time, not losing sight of your own values or perspectives.

2. First impressions

While this might sound superficial – and one could argue that you shouldn’t ‘judge a book by its cover’ – perception is reality: you need to look and sound the part. Unfortunately, within the finance sector, as is undoubtedly the case in other sectors, there are plenty of people who think this is enough to guarantee success – a lot of mediocrity hides behind designer labels.

3. Back up your personal brand with

Do your research; don’t be afraid to bring a different perspective; articulate your views clearly and appropriately, and tailor them depending on the audience. Ultimately, act as business card agnostic. While there will be occasions where the corporate brand is paramount, in most instances business is transacted where people can empathise and have respect for the integrity, capability and personality an individual brings. Believe in yourself, continually build your brand and understand what you want to be known for.

4. Understand the basics!

On first impression, the finance industry can appear extremely complex and of course, many people hide behind this perceived complexity to bamboozle with acronyms. Ultimately, everything in finance can be distilled down to cashflows. Understand cashflows and the way in which they are generated and managed and you will be well-equipped for most situations. At the same time, don’t make the mistake of applying logic to all situations: as previously stated, this is a people business and ultimately, the logical outcome doesn’t always prevail – emotions, politics and egos can (and do) drive outcomes in very different ways. Be aware of this in order to influence these ‘softer’ considerations where possible.

5. Understand both the macro and micro drivers impacting the sector.

The finance industry is undergoing significant transformation, being driven in large part by technology (FinTechs, the Internet of Things, Distributed Ledger Technology, Machine-Learning and Robotics, for example); demand from customers, and continued regulatory scrutiny. The industry continues to grapple with the fallout from the Financial Crisis of 2008, whereby RoE remains either single digit (when talking about European banks), or low teens (when talking about those in the US). Of course, we also have Brexit and the European banking landscape to contend with. Stay relevant and up to date on how these dynamics inform and impact the industry.

6. Manage your time effectively and robustly…

…and don’t lose sight of what’s important to you. Make time for friends and family, but also carve out time to step back, think and reassess. As part of this introspection, prioritise and maintain a focus on outcomes rather than activities – never be a busy fool.

7. Apply a customer-centric lens.

The finance industry has finally recognised the need to place the customer at the heart of its thinking: delivering better customer experience is key to retaining and attracting customers. Siloed, vertical, functional models have in large part been replaced by horizontal, cross-functional models that best serve the end-to-end customer journey. Understand this holistic approach, and how the digital ecosystem has a significant and growing part to play in how financial services are designed, distributed and consumed, and you won’t go far wrong.

8. Encourage a collegiate, inclusive way of working.

A further manifestation of this holistic, end-to-end thinking is the changing dynamic between the front and back office. Previously, the front office was viewed as the profit centre and the back office as a cost centre. There’s now a recognition that profit made in the front office can very quickly be lost in the back office unless transaction flows are effectively managed front-to-back. This not only requires investment in systems, governance and controls but also requires a cultural shift whereby people work in a more collaborative, co-operative way and incentives are designed to embed the right behaviours. This way of working is a top agenda item across all sectors of the finance Industry.

In summary, the finance Industry remains a rapidly-changing and evolving sector with multiple, inter-woven dynamics, which present opportunities, threats, risks and dependencies in equal measure. There are numerous multi-faceted and nuanced influences that are now shaping the future; disintermediation, digitalisation, commoditisation, customer centricity, culture and ways of working. Being able to quickly assimilate, navigate and interpret them will be key to ensuring you remain relevant and progressive in this industry. Volatility is, after all, the industry’s mainstay. This all results in the finance industry being a sector that continues to grab your interest, provide rewarding work (not just financial) and deliver some fun along the way…arguably the three main components needed to be successful in any sector, finance or otherwise.

A recent Deloitte survey of global chief procurement officers stated that 78% of procurement leaders saw cost reduction as their top business strategy. A survey by Scout RFP shows that 77% of financial respondents from companies with more than 1,000 employees said that procurement makes finance and the enterprise more effective, a clear sign that procurement and finance are a match made in heaven.

How can finance and procurement work alongside each other to drive greater business impact for the enterprise as a whole? By investing in the proper technology, teams can easily integrate sourcing into more areas of the business and at the same time increase spend under management. Technology, in turn, must add value to the overall process.

 Invest in the proper tools

When companies invest in tools that provide greater transparency and allow collaboration between people they can bridge the gap between finance and procurement teams. A solution that integrates real-time sourcing more closely with financial planning can provide better visibility into strategic projects and spend under management. In turn, finance and procurement teams can source smarter, plan better, and align business objectives. This way, businesses strategically plan for the future without ‘looking in the rear view mirror’.

Proper sourcing solutions provide complete visibility into funding for projects, execution terms, and data points on cost streams.

Proper sourcing solutions provide complete visibility into funding for projects, execution terms, and data points on cost streams. Not only will this prevent future financial surprises, but will create a clear F&A roadmap, benefiting the company’s overall cash position. When the enterprise has complete visibility into the procurement process — including the stakeholders and suppliers — it can lead to more competitive turnaround times and allow teams to deliver more benefits to the business, without losing sight of projects and timelines. Full visibility for executives allows them to understand where finance and procurement are spending — and creating greater business impact — and report alongside the overall company goals.

More importantly, teams feel more valued and part of the larger enterprise goals when business partners see the business impact generated from procurement and sourcing efforts. Collaboration is the key component that elevates the visibility needed for procurement and finance teams to drive results for the enterprise as a whole. Through collaboration, teams can communicate their goals clearly, understand benefits, conquer challenges, and truly partner with suppliers, making this a winning strategy for all parties involved.

Scale the business with more savings

Anaplan, a pioneer in Connected Planning, utilised these key e-sourcing features to scale their business. Traditionally, Anaplan’s procurement team was known as the firefighting team — constantly putting out fires to satisfy 700 employees in a dozen offices around the globe. The continuous stream of requests put the company’s ability to scale at risk and blocked legal, finance, and compliance teams from accessing critical projects they needed to evaluate. There was no visibility into the projects and a lack of collaboration across the board. With dozens of contracts in the queue at a time, the procurement team was dangerously close to losing context on key decisions.

Levi Strauss & Co. is another example of a company combining the powers of procurement and finance. Since implementing a sourcing platform, the finance and procurement teams have been able to not only see where they are saving but how they can categorise the savings to communicate better results to the business partners.

The company knew it needed to invest in the proper technology to increase the procurement team’s efficiency to support their growth and make it easy to communicate sourcing’s impact on the rest of the company. Within just one year of implementing an e-sourcing platform, Anaplan grew to more than 1,000 employees, generated more than $240 million in revenue, and has 20 offices in 13 countries supporting more than 1,000 customers. Procurement and sourcing are now connected with all functions of the organisation, including finance, risk, and planning. Anaplan now supports contracts for more than 50% of their global spend because they are able to collaboratively source for the future thanks to these new capabilities.

Levi Strauss & Co. is another example of a company combining the powers of procurement and finance. Since implementing a sourcing platform, the finance and procurement teams have been able to not only see where they are saving but how they can categorise the savings to communicate better results to the business partners.

When companies utilise comprehensive sourcing tools, they can empower procurement and finance teams to drive company performance, source smarter, plan better, and align business objectives, ultimately leading to greater business impact and financial success.