Process for performance

The guiding policy of the TomTom finance organization is to be a leading, future-proof partner to the business.  

In an industry that changes incredibly fast, being future-proof means combining technical excellence with the correct levels of flexibility and adaptability; to know how to act swiftly.  

Complex processes slow us down, hinder innovation and take the joy out of the finance profession altogether. 

This said, we need exemplary processes to achieve our ambition. 

Lean processes as success factors

Change is constant. Whether zooming in or out, the same rings true for our industry – Location Technology – and our company. With change comes complexity, which can threaten to kill growth. 

In this context, looking forward and helping the business make decisions based on financial insight can be a challenge. Often the urgent overwhelms the important. This approach may work in the short term, as it temporarily releases the pressure of deadlines. However, it is counterproductive in the long term, where taking incremental steps in achieving a goal carries more weight than short-lived gains.  

As part of the Great in Finance initiative, we pulled together a task force whose mission is to keep all finance processes lean. The team ensures processes are articulated, published and constantly scrutinized and revised with an eye to simplification. To reduce waste and legacy, to reflect the present and to enable people to focus on activities that add value and have the biggest bang-for-buck.  

Financial processes use cases  

These three use cases demonstrate process improvements achieved through this task force.  

Centralized processes  

It has been a couple of years since we simplified our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. All our transactional and reporting processes were migrated to one single system and one (the latest) software release.  

Finance operations sites were also reduced from more than ten to three, which strengthened our control environment and improved communications by having less layers, larger span of controls, all in the same location. 

Better, faster decision making 

The team introduced a revamped investment memo submission and approval process, enabled in SharePoint, which made decision making faster and more transparent.  

Enhanced purchasing processes 

Our suppliers and internal teams have benefited from a simpler purchasing experience since last year. The implementation of a best-in-class process automation software contributed to eliminating repetitive work and streamlining the purchase order creation process for our vendors. 

Optimized processes fuel performance 

Getting our processes sorted is a tedious exercise, but nonetheless essential. It is a means to an end: achieving our vision of a robust and fit-for-performance finance organization that is future-proof and a leading partner to the business.