Unum Finance Chief Stresses Importance of Advocating for Digital Transformation

Chief Economic Officer

Steve Zabel

talks about how the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based mostly enterprise received rid of spreadsheets, what he would like position candidates to provide and why finance chiefs participate in an important part in advertising automation attempts. This is the fifth aspect of a collection that focuses on how CFOs and other executives digitize their finance operations. Edited excerpts stick to.

WSJ: What are the important steps you took as a company to modernize your finance perform?

Mr. Zabel: The initial move we took was all around some of our actuarial dollars movement versions. We benefit from those to do pricing and forecasting and seriously every thing about [financial performance]. We started that back in 2013 and we have now cycled by means of all of our items and obtained [them] on a steady platform. Then, in 2017, we applied two points which were being genuinely handy. We introduced in a new standard ledger and we place in a [configurable reporting technology]. We do all of our money reporting off of that.

What that authorized us to do is at the corporate amount get rid of all the consolidation, all the spreadsheets. Move two has been to now search at the accounting processes that we have and commence to utilize far more precise automation technological know-how.

WSJ: What are your key goals?

Mr. Zabel: There’s a several factors, [including] the excellent of the operate that our individuals are executing. It’s them [having to] shell out fewer time compiling information for the intent of creating journal entries and also compiling information just to do fundamental reporting. So shifting them from that sort of get the job done to more analysis and functioning with our solution strains. It’s a quite aggressive surroundings for talent. Regardless of what we can do to make it a far more satisfying practical experience for employees is heading to assistance us in the extended operate.

WSJ: Is there an estimate how considerably time your employees preserve with these new technologies?

Mr. Zabel: I have a lot of practical spots underneath me and some of them are extra centered on the genuine economical reporting and journal entries than some of the other folks. On normal, these areas in all probability put in 70% to 80% of their time just receiving the transactions carried out and then receiving the facts again out of the ledger to be able to examine [them]. We have now moved that a lot more to 50/50. What we’d like to do is totally flip that [to] in which they only devote probably 20% of their time actually processing transactions.

WSJ: How are you aiding them do that?

Mr. Zabel: How we’re approaching it is we’ve brought in these applications and we’ve started to exhibit [our employees] what the tools are, but also give them case experiments of how they’ve been utilized.

WSJ: What’s still left to be done prior to you strike the 20% goal?

Mr. Zabel: There is a couple of regions that we however have to have to get the job done on. Just one is details. Any time you start off a electronic transformation, it all starts with the knowledge you have. Some of our knowledge is in genuinely good condition. [For] some of it, we even now have some operate to do. So I consider there’s some foundational parts exactly where the facts desires to be in a far better kind, but then it’s just developing the bandwidth for our groups to teach them selves on the applications and create the capacity for them to be ready to implement them.

WSJ: What is your head count in finance, and do you assume it to shrink as you automate additional?

Mr. Zabel: We have just more than 500 people proper now in the finance corporation, out of a overall staff foundation of around 10,000. What we’re truly making an attempt to do with driving efficiencies is not so much take head depend out, it is extra about redeploying people methods to solving more small business concerns for our company partners. I have no options to reduce head depend within just the corporation. I would somewhat invest those people resources and redeploy them to enable the business increase in unique means.

WSJ: What are you seeking for when you evaluate potential candidates?

Mr. Zabel: It’s quite critical that we have people that have a very good technological foundation. We have a great deal of formally educated accountants and actuaries within the group. We also have people that have a legitimate data science qualifications. Likely forward, what we’ll have to have much more of are people that can translate company processes into [automation opportunities]. [For] a good deal of the instruments that are available today you never genuinely have to be that tech enabled in your official qualifications. They’re very configurable.

WSJ: How would you explain your function as CFO in this?

Mr. Zabel: You unquestionably have to be an advocate for it. Taking the option when you can to highlight and admit when we have those people “ring the bell” times wherever individuals have applied know-how to increase their enterprise processes is definitely vital. I feel the other point is just keeping plugged into what we’re performing with our electronic approach extra broadly. I’m tied at the hip with the human being that runs our [information technology] office and also our electronic transform agenda.

Create to Nina Trentmann at [email protected]