Ask anyone about starting a financial process at work, and they will describe it as tedious. Other words often used to describe financial processes include monotonous, uninteresting, and mind-numbing. That is a lot of negative words for such a crucial aspect of business operations.

The misconception places a heavy burden on professionals tasked with handling financial processes. Executives must navigate these processes from start to finish, often dealing with various external parties such as vendors, consultants, auditors, systems providers, and other stakeholders. This complexity is compounded when working with multiple subsidiaries and colleagues from different countries, each with its own financial workflows or nuances—a potential nightmare.

Recognising the importance of standardising these processes, Azleen Waris took up the challenge. Since joining EDOTCO in early 2023, she has been overseeing Group Finance as the Group Financial Controller.

Her experience includes leadership roles as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in outfits under GLIC and GLCs. She also holds an MSc in Professional Accountancy from the University of London and is a fellow member of both ACCA and MIA.

When she first joined the Group, she saw the opportunity to streamline and standardise all subsidiaries, deemed National Tower Companies (NTCs), to harmonise collective data and optimise operations. Collectively with internal stakeholders, this working group spearheads process simplification efforts at EDOTCO, aiming to improve the end-to-end process and operational optimisation to improve process hygiene, data visibility, and robust decision-making.

Making sure the team is operating at their optimum level.

“The motivation was to fully optimise operations and improve operational excellence by removing duplicate processes and efforts, increasing the quality of work, benchmarking best practices by increasing agility, and achieving faster turnaround times,” Azleen explained.

“The outcomes we envision are a bionic organisation that is accountable, responsive, efficient, and dynamic as part of our growth journey to becoming a Global Top 5 Tower Company,” she added.

The group-wide process simplification efforts are a key part of this transformation. It is streamlining financial processes by aligning people, processes, and technology. The team implemented cross-functional design thinking and training to ensure team alignment. Process improvements included automating routine tasks and standardising procedures for consistency and speed by leveraging data analytics to enhance data accuracy and real-time reporting.

This integrated approach fostered collaboration, reduced errors, and expedited financial workflows, driving operational efficiency, and achieving strategic goals. There were multiple challenges in achieving process standardisation, including skills gaps, system limitations, and legacy processes.

“To overcome these, we upgraded our systems to be more flexible and scalable, conducted process reviews, and integrated best practices. This comprehensive approach ensured a smooth transition, enhanced efficiency, and fostered a culture of continuous improvement,” she shared.

As the Group Financial Controller, Azleen measures the success of these simplification efforts through service level agreements (SLAs), turnaround times (TAT), and key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics are consistently monitored to track process adoption, engagement levels, and efficiency improvement.

Looking ahead, Azleen plans to adopt robust technologies like generative AI to complement EDOTCO’s capable staff and accelerate operations.

“This will streamline workflows, enhance decision-making, and further improve process agility, ensuring we remain responsive and efficient in a rapidly evolving business landscape,” she noted.

Incorporating agility into finance.

On another note, Azleen was recently involved in a panel session titled “Incorporating Agility into Planning, Forecasting, and Budgeting” at the 4th Annual FutureCFO Malaysia Conference held on June 26, 2024. She was among the financial leaders and technology experts to discuss some of the pressing issues facing the finance industry today.

During her session, Azleen shared several key takeaways from her experience enhancing agility in finance, focusing on the 3Ps: people, process, and platform. Her insights emphasised leveraging these 3Ps to foster agility and drive financial excellence.

“Being agile in finance means being able to quickly adapt to changes using flexible and iterative processes. This approach ensures that financial planning remains relevant and responsive to market dynamics, allowing for real-time adjustments and continuous monitoring,” Azleen emphasised.

Besides that, Azleen reiterated that leveraging advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), predictive analytics, and cloud computing can significantly enhance the level of efficiency and accuracy of financial planning. These tools, such as PowerBI and PowerQuery, can help automate processes, provide deeper insights, and support data-driven decision-making.

Not to mention, finance professionals would also need to be resourceful and disciplined. One needs to be able to consistently utilise advanced technologies such as PowerBI for real-time data integration. This would enable the integration of real-time data, continuous monitoring, and predictive modelling.

“We believe that combining people and technology will create productive operations and dramatically increase the culture of innovation.” Azleen added.

Fortunately, the EDOTCO approach to transitioning to an agile approach involves practicing effective change management. For a streamlined transition, the company requires clear communication, strong leadership support, stakeholders' engagement, and phased implementation.

We are also committing to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), where our goal is to create a championship workplace experience for everyone with inclusivity, equality, and opportunity no matter who they are or what language they speak. Learn more about LIFE@EDOTCO here.

Interested in joining EDOTCO? Check out our available vacancies here!

##END##

Written by
EDOTCO Editorial