Separating common IT systems and finance service center, rebuilding systems and outsourcing finance services to new service providers
Kesko Oyj sold Indoor Group Oy’s business to Sievi Capital Oyj, three franchising entrepreneurs from the Sotka chain and Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company. In the transaction, Kesko’s and Indoor’s common IT systems and finance service centre needed to be separated. Indoor’s finance services were outsourced to new service providers and many of the systems were rebuilt. For business continuity purposes, there was no room for mistakes. The project was very business critical.
The project was approaching a midpoint, when Indoor felt that they needed to strengthen the project management. Therefore, Midagon was contacted for an experienced M&A project manager. There were about 15 different vendors involved in the project, and a need for joint detailed planning, testing and rehearsing was apparent. The new systems were cloud based, which complicated the project as there were major infrastructure changes implemented at the same time and some of the problems risen were unprecedented to the vendors. The project was a multi-country project with local differences in processes and systems landscapes. The manager had a key role in managing not only the project, but the overall change around it.
The cutover was successful and in planned time. Business was able to run without any hiccups. The budget was slightly exceeded since the full complexity was properly understood only after Midagon project manager joined the project. Midagon’s experienced project manager brought discipline to the project team. He kept the vendors in sync and involved early if any territorial bouncing or disputes were noticed. He managed the steering group reporting and board reporting, which clearly allowed the management to make prompt, fact-based decisions and reduced the potential noise of unawareness.
