Agenda

Wednesday, 13 October
19:30 – 22:00 Welcome Reception  |  Meston Suite
Thursday, 14 October
08:00 – 09:00 Registration and Breakfast  |  Reading & Writing Room
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome and Opening Remarks  |  Ted Fernandez, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Hackett Group  |  Gladstone Library
09:15 – 10:00 Keynote  |  George Chappelle, Chief Operating Officer, Solo Cup  |  Gladstone Library
  Recipe for a Successful Business Transformation
  After leading business and information system transformations at Heinz and Sara Lee, George Chappelle will share his "recipe" for success from the COO's perspective, including proven practices on how to dramatically improve your business operations across the enterprise. Specifically, he will address business performance management, creating a performance-based culture and important lessons learned. Mr Chappelle will also explain how these ingredients are helping Solo Cup manage through the volatile business environment.
10:00 – 11:00
Plenary  |  Keith Robbins, Managing Director, Europe & Asia Practice Leader, The Hackett Group
Sean Kracklauer, President, Advisory Services & Research, The Hackett Group		  |  Gladstone Library
  Excelling in a Volatile Business Environment
  Today's business climate has rendered "business as usual" a thing of the past. World-class organisations used the disruption caused by the recession to transform their operations. As a result, they optimised their businesses to deliver more future-focused and responsive services at a reduced cost. This softened the short-term impact of the recession and created the agility required to adapt to changing conditions and deliver long-term business value. This session will examine how world-class organisations are excelling in today's volatile business environment. Learn how they generate more value; how they make more effective use of cash and how they deliver greater predictive capabilities for the business.
11:00 – 11:30 Networking Break  |  Reading & Writing Room
11:30 – 12:15 Plenary  |  Harry Wauters, Director, Global Financial Shared Services Centers, International Paper  |  Gladstone Library
  Business Agility: International Paper's Strategy for Success in the Age of Volatility
  Ten years into its journey, International Paper is still finding new ways to deliver added value. Harry Wauters will discuss the evolution of its shared services centres, including the past, present and future. Specifically, he will address moving beyond cost cutting and continuous improvement with a focus on value creation. Mr Wauters will also share critical success factors, lessons learned and the results achieved.
12:15 – 13:00 Plenary  |  Dr. Rainer Schwarz, Head of Corporate Controlling, Bayer AG  |  Gladstone Library
  Creating a Cash Culture: The Working Capital Initiative at Bayer AG
  In 2008, Bayer AG began a comprehensive initiative to optimise working capital across the organisation. Dr Rainer Schwarz will discuss its approach for achieving sustainable results by creating a cash culture. Specifically, he will explain how the programme was developed and challenges that were overcome as well as measurement and incentives. He will also share critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch and Networking  |  Reading & Writing Room
14:00 – 14:45 Breakout Sessions
Session 1  |  Philippe Mathieu, Chief Financial OfÞcer EMEA, Oracle Corporation  |  Gladstone Library
  Oracle's Business Transformation: Becoming an Integrated Solutions Provider
  Mr Mathieu will share Oracle's current transformation strategies, from the integration of Sun and optimisation of its supply chain, to the company's adoption of single global instances of critical business applications. Attendees will learn how the four principles of Oracle's transformation - simplification, standardisation, centralisation, and automation - can help any enterprise improve performance, achieve sustainable compliance, and realise real bottom-line benefits.
Session 2  |  Rémi Tersiguel, Vice President Human Resources International, Covidien  |  River Room
  HR Service Delivery: Covidien's HR Transformation Journey
  The promise of major cost reductions and expedited services drove Covidien to consolidate its HR delivery across business and geographies. The company was formed when Tyco spun off Tyco Healthcare in 2007, where growth was driven primarily through acquisitions with little integration of common processes. To develop a successful transformation plan, the company took a critical look at its current operations and charted a course for improvement. Rémi Tersiguel will share highlights from Covidien's journey, including critical success factors, lessons learned and the results achieved.
Session 3  |  Robin Shanani, Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, American Express  |  Meston Suite
  Procurement Transformation: Supply Management Discipline and Strategic Vision at American Express
  The Global Supply Management (GSM) function at American Express is a critical element of Global Business Services and a partner with the broader organisation - supporting and reporting on the full range of relationships with its suppliers, many of whom are also customers. It aims to provide the company with a competitive advantage through superior service, best-in-class capabilities, and operational excellence, which will enable American Express to increase shareholder and customer value. Robin Shahani will share his organisation's transformation journey and end-to-end process mindset, including how it enables them to achieve these goals. Specifically, he will discuss procurement as a shared service, assessing the outsourcing of procurement-related activities, its WASTE framework, as well as critical success factors, lessons learned, and anticipated results.
14:45 – 15:00 Networking Break  |  Reading & Writing Room
15:00 – 15:45 Breakout Sessions
Session 1  |  Per-Olof Ahlstrom, Director, Risk Control & Internal Audit, Everything Everywhere Limited  |  Gladstone Library
  Outsourcing: Enabling Everything Everywhere's Strategic Vision
  Everything Everywhere runs two of Britain's most famous telecommunication brands - Orange and T-Mobile - with 30 million customers in the UK. Behind the scenes, the company oversees the growth of the two brands, seizing the opportunity to do things differently and make a difference for its business, its employees and its customers. P-O Ahlstrom will discuss the transformation challenge and how outsourcing has played a critical role in transformation programmes as well as how it's strategically enabling its journey to provide customers with instant access to "everything, everywhere." Mr Ahlstrom will also explain how the transformation and outsourcing programme for the T-Mobile Finance function was developed as well as share critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
Session 2  |  Tony Chauhan, Senior Research Director, IT Executive Advisory Program, The Hackett Group |  River Room
  IT Excellence: How World-Class IT Is the Great Enabler
  Changes in the global business environment have had far-reaching implications for the way IT provides services to the business, how it is funded, and how its performance is assessed. Against this backdrop, the CIO is charged with retooling the IT organisation to better support the business in an environment of high risk and volatility with resources that have been permanently reduced. Strategic priorities include infrastructure virtualisation, function reorganisation, application portfolio consolidation and improving portfolio management capability as well as continued cost reduction. Mr Chauhan will share how world-class IT is the great enabler and how you can leverage those insights to excel in a volatile world.
Session 3  |  Mélani Flores, European Procurement Advisory Practice Leader, The Hackett Group  |  Meston Suite
  Procurement Excellence: How World-Class Procurement Delivers More Value
  Changes in the global business environment have had far-reaching implications for the way procurement provides services to the business, how it is funded, and how its performance is assessed. Against this backdrop, the CPO is charged with retooling the procurement organisation to better support the business in an environment of high risk and volatility with resources that have been permanently reduced. Strategic priorities include managing supply risk and leveraging process and technology improvements to reduce costs even further and free up resources for higher-value procurement work. Ms Flores will share how world-class procurement delivers more value and how you can leverage those insights to excel in a volatile world.
15:45 – 16:15 Networking Break  |  Reading & Writing Room
16:15 – 17:00 Plenary  |  Andrew Keating, Director of Group Finance, Bank of Ireland  |  Gladstone Library
  Weathering the Storm: Bank of Ireland's Transformation Journey
  Bank of Ireland embarked on its finance transformation journey two weeks before the global liquidity crises hit in 2007. Andrew Keating will discuss how the finance function helped the bank to weather the storm to emerge stronger. He will share how the finance organisation overcame the existing structure and mindset to improve its core business support and create lasting change. Mr Keating will address key insights gained through centralising the finance organisation, standardising the general ledgers and support systems, and building enterprise standards. Specifically, he will provide critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
17:00 – 17:15 Closing Remarks  |  Gladstone Library
18:30 – 22:00 Dining Experience and Networking at Altitude 360  |  Sponsored by Capgemini
Friday, 15 October
07:30 – 09:00 Breakfast and Networking  |  Reading & Writing Room
08:00 – 08:45 Oracle Workshop  |  Nigel Youell, Director, Product Marketing, Performance Management Applications, Oracle  |  Meston Suite
  Profitability and Cost Management
  With cost reduction and margin improvement remaining firmly at the top of CFO priorities, finding reliable and robust ways to understand, model and analyse the cost and profit drivers of customers, products, services or channels across a business is still a very hard, and sometimes overlooked, piece of the performance management agenda. This interactive workshop will present ways in which Oracle Enterprise Performance Management applications are helping customers today to address their cost and profitability management requirements. During the workshop we will give you the opportunity to debate topics such as: How are people measuring profit and performing cost allocation today and across which dimensions? What business decisions are underpinned by this and what outcomes are people experiencing - good and bad. How to link profit and cost analysis effectively to your long range and annual planning processes.
09:00 – 09:45 Breakout Sessions
Session 1  |  Michel Janssen, Chief Research Officer, The Hackett Group  |  Gladstone Library
  Delivery Excellence: How World-Class Organisations Deliver More Value
  Unprecedented levels of economic volatility and competitive pressure are forcing companies to fundamentally redefine their service delivery strategies. This imperative is not limited to individual functions or processes, or isolated dimensions of performance such as cost, quality or alignment, but touches the entire enterprise and all aspects of performance. The financial rewards in terms of cost reductions are substantial, but the greater yield comes from the ability to add more value. Legacy delivery strategies cannot support 21st-century business, as they do not fully realise economies of scale, scope and skills. Today, delivery strategies must successfully reconcile seemingly conflicting demands: to establish a model that is both agile and flexible at industry-leading performance levels for cost, quality and cycle time.
Session 2  |  Nicki Perrott, Head of Procurement, Sainsbury's Supermarket Ltd  |  River Room
  Procurement Excellence: Sainsbury's Journey to World-Class Performance
  After conducting a procurement benchmark in 2008, Sainsbury's, the UK's oldest major food retailing chain, realised that a high level of efficiency was not the only area in which the function could add value to the business. Hence, they embarked on a transformation programme that enabled them to achieve world-class performance in 2010. Nicki Perrott will share some of the key areas addressed by the transformation, such as the increase of spend covered by the function, the close alignment to the business, and the focus on talent management. The transformation programme, known as Project Darwin, has achieved a high return on investment together with excellent internal customer satisfaction ratings. She will also discuss critical success factors, lessons learned and the results achieved.
Session 3  |  Joel Roques, Managing Director, European Advisory Services, The Hackett Group  |  Meston Suite
  Finance Excellence: How World-Class Finance Delivers More Value
  Changes in the global business environment have had far-reaching implications for the way finance provides services to the business, how it is funded, and how its performance is assessed. Against this backdrop, the CFO is charged with retooling the finance organisation to better support the business in an environment of high risk and volatility and with resources that have been permanently reduced. Strategic priorities include improving enterprise performance management and forecasting capabilities, implementing global standards and processes, and continued cost reduction. Mr Roques will share how world-class finance delivers more value and how you can leverage those insights to excel in a volatile world.
09:45 – 10:00 Networking Break  |  Reading & Writing Room
10:00 – 10:45 Breakout Sessions
 
Session 1  |   Martin Babilas, Chief Financial Officer, ALTANA AG
Andrew Row, Finance Director, Auto Lubes Europe & Africa, BP
Moderated by: Stephen Loffler, Director, REL 		 |  Gladstone Library
  Achieving & Sustaining Working Capital Improvements
  This panel discussion will examine sustainable working capital improvement programmes to enhance cash flow, cut operating costs, increase service quality and reduce operational risks. Specifically, panellists will share overviews of their programmes and discuss the five areas of a business that must be aligned, strategies for producing lasting change - including techniques to help people embrace new working practices - as well as "quick wins."
Session 2  |  Gaby Deußen, Head of Shared Service Centre Bratislava, Henkel  |  River Room
  Expanding Shared Services: How Henkel Integrated Functions to Yield Greater Benefits
  Gaby Deußen will share how Henkel set up its shared services originally for finance and is now extending the services to include purchasing, human resources, and other administrative functions. By integrating functions into its centres and leveraging best practices across the enterprise, Henkel has been able to yield substantial benefits. Ms Deußen will discuss effective governance, process standardisation, consolidation and automation along the journey. She will also impart critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
Session 3  |  Rob Pritchard, Group Director of IT, Britvic plc  |  River Room
  IT Agility: How Britvic's IT Organisation Enables M&A Synergies
  IT agility drives business agility, and business agility drives profits. With technology underpinning most critical business processes today, IT organisations must be agile enough to respond efficiently and effectively to changing conditions, including the ability to reduce capacity during a downturn and quickly ramp up to support growth during an upswing. Rob Pritchard will talk about Britvic's IT service delivery strategy and how it has changed its sourcing model to enable greater flexibility and business agility. Mr Pritchard will also share critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
10:45 – 11:15 Networking Break  |  Reading & Writing Room
11:15 – 12:00 Plenary  |  Mike Taylor, Director, HR Transformation and Systems, Vodafone  |  Gladstone Library
  Leading in Turbulent Times: How Vodafone's HR Organisation Delivers Added Value
  Whilst a defensive posture may help a company survive the economic downturn, it represents a losing strategy for those that want to excel during changing times. Mike Taylor will explain how Vodafone's HR organisation is adding greater value and positioning the company for growth during the recovery ahead. Specifically, he will discuss talent management, change management and organisational effectiveness. Mr Taylor will also share critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
12:00 – 12:45 Plenary  |  David Drillock, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Cytec Industries Inc.  |  Gladstone Library
  Cytec's Journey: The Transformation and Shared Services Lift-off
  After years of growth and acquisitions, Cytec foresaw a strong downward trend in the economy in 2008 and its business activity. As a result, Cytec recognised the opportunity to optimise its cost structure and tap excess working capital to invest in the businesses that would shape its future. David Drillock will explain the bold steps the company is taking to consolidate activities, beyond transactional processes, into a more streamlined global service delivery model that will position Cytec to achieve its full profit potential. Mr Drillock will share how they built the business case for change, critical success factors, important lessons learned and the results achieved.
12:45 – 13:00 Closing Remarks
13:00 Packed Lunches and Departure

Topics to be included
  • Business agility
  • Cost optimisation
  • Enterprise analytics
  • Forecasting
  • Global business services
  • IT return on investment
  • Megatrends for globalisation
  • Sourcing outsourcing
  • Supply chain management
  • Talent management
  • Workforce development
  • Working capital
6th Annual European
Best Practices
Conference

Questions

Call: +44 20 7398 9018
E-mail: Helen Barnes, Event Manager at The Hackett Group.

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