TriFinance delivers medicine for increased profit in corona times

"The corona crisis makes Profitability Improvement a hot topic. A lot of companies have had to adapt. Especially in the first lockdown, a large part of their revenues disappeared. Economic life partly came to a standstill because many were waiting to see what would happen," explains Client Partner Filip Ceulemans. Business Manager for the Financial Institutions Sector Stéphanie Struelens adds that many companies were showing a lot of creativity. "Like restaurants that offered takeaway meals. But looking for new revenues is not so easy in the existing context. For the financial institutions, you also have to add to the corona crisis the negative impact of low-interest rates."

That double starting point: existing revenues are falling and finding new ones is not an easy task that makes many companies look at their cost structure. They ask themselves where they can save money. This is where TriFinance comes in. The approach revolves around four clusters: reporting transparency, cost optimization, revenue optimization, process redesign and process mindset.

To further strengthen its approach, TriFinance combined forces and services. The international network organization consists of several entities, Blue Chip Boutiques: Transition & Support, operational support - CFO Services - Financial Institutions - MI&S, Management Information and Systems - Public Sector - CroXcon, which connects systems and predicts difficulties - Tri-ICT. Together, they provide a unique combination of operational support and pragmatic consulting services.

Holistic approach in three phases

Filip: "In search of more profit, we analyze the customer's cost structure and tackle it holistically. We take a close look at the cost drivers and make the whole transparent, among other things by benchmarking with competitors and peers. We expose where the flaws lie and propose solutions. Under the umbrella of that holistic approach are specific offerings such as Source2Pay, Product Costing, Overhead cost, Service costs, Finance closing processes, credit management, inventory and insurance management."

TriFinance works in several phases. Stéphanie: "Before the project starts, we check with the customer whether there is a sufficient basis for the assignment and whether the proposed goals are realistic. If so, we move on to diagnosing the situation. We analyze how everything is organized, how teams work together and communicate with each other, how data flows through the organization, how reporting is done, and what the key cost/revenue drivers are. Thanks to our knowledge of the market, we can determine where the customer is not doing as well as others. We then look for the underlying causes, which we help eliminate."

Quick small changes or more structural improvements

Once the diagnosis is established, the medicine to be administered comes into play. That depends on what the customer wants. Filip: "That medicine can be small and fast changes. If needed we advise the customer to take broader action. The larger work is often structural, involving a reorganization within the company and the introduction of new systems and processes." He emphasizes that TriFinance does not only have experts in Finance. "It also involves, for example, specialists in IT, operations, risk and change management. All are particularly expert at adapting underlying processes."

Filip and Stéphanie explain that they use five dimensions when changing processes to generate more profit. First, they look at governance, the organizational model. Then they analyze the processes themselves. What about their interdependence, standardization, automation? Dimension three has to do with the data: their quality, detail, analytical capability. Are they aligned and predictive? How is the reporting done? The systems are the fourth dimension and in particular the area of the Tri-Team 'Technology Enablement': MI&S, Tri-ICT and CroXcon. Tri-ICT analyzes the architecture of the systems. CroXcon reduces operational tasks through workflow automation, discovers risks in time, and even prevents them.

Last but not least, dimension five is the people. "Do they have the right competencies and skills? The changes are likely to create new needs. If so, we provide training and coaching," Filip points out. "We must certainly not lose sight of the 'people aspect'," Stéphanie stresses. "It is a key element because getting people on board in a change process is a condition for success. We also make sure that when we leave as Project Consultants, the client has a mindset of continuous improvement."