Company: IBM, Armonk, NY
Nomination Submitted by: IBM Finance & Operations
Company Description: IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud, AI, and business services provider. IBM help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Governments and corporate entities rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform, Red Hat OpenShift, AI, quantum computing, cloud & business services.
Nomination Category: Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Finance
 Nomination Title: IBM Company's 2021 Financial Achievements - Finance Business Controls
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated department since 1 January 2020, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
Finance Business Controls (FBC), an independent and global organization within IBM Finance, leads the IBM framework of internal control and owns compliance with Sarbanes Oxley. FBC has a critical role in supporting IBM’s financial and operational management, providing expert advice and complementary skills to review IBM’s risks and controls posture. FBC’s mission ultimately supports the timely and accurate submission of IBM’s financials.
Key FBC tasks include:
- Supporting process improvement required to respond to changes in regulations, the business model, or the internal/external risk profile
- Performing independent pro-active end-to-end process reviews (PPRs)
- Providing education on controls and risk management
- Coordinating and assisting with the quarterly controls assessments and certifications
- Validating enterprise level controls
- Challenging risk-related matters; facilitating problem solving
- Providing consultative/advisory support for internal/external audits
Historically FBC teams were dispersed and managed across finance, with limited interaction between respective FBC teams. The 2020 FBC survey identified the following pain points:
- Workload: duplication of work effort, too much time spent on low-risk areas, overcomplicated processes, and need for better work prioritization
- Tooling: standardization of metrics, improved tooling, automation, and better analytics required
- Collaboration: lack of teaming, knowledge sharing, and unnecessary communication
- Skills: minimum opportunities for skills and career development
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 236 words used.
- FBC organization (country, business unit, corporate FBC) was re-aligned to report directly into FBC Vice President’s organization, creating ‘One Team’ with harmonized mission, enabling better management of global FBC resources, improved work prioritization, and global knowledge sharing.
- A Transformation project launched to change the way FBC worked by focusing on:
- Enhancing FBC’s Data Analytics: developing automated control metrics dashboards; integrating advanced risk assessment methodology and analytics into IBM’s PPRs. The team executing the advanced risk assessment method conducted education sessions to the FBC community.
- Enabling FBC by Collaboration
- 7 “Knowledge sharing sessions” and “Getting to know each other sessions” conducted for the FBC Team
- Improved communication channels deployed: Transformation blog; FBC Help slack channel; FBC Communication email.
- Improving the Risk Management Culture
- Clarification of FBC’s roles and responsibilities and how FBC fits with other IBM Risk organizations, allowing FBC to better focus on high priority areas
- Establishing FBC management cadence structure
- Quarterly Peer Recognition Program launched, empowering individuals to nominate peers for new innovative risk management behaviors, increasing FBC’s awareness of these best practices.
- Growing skills and organizational capacity: upskilling, talent management and better leveraging the global FBC resources
- New Focused Risk Reviews (FRRs) introduced: limited scope deep dives, allowing FBC to focus on high-risk areas within a process rather than reviewing the full end-to-end process
- FBC implemented an Agile Accelerate journey
- 8 Agile champions trained and support 18 Squads, enabled by Agile education and tooling
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
- FBC’s achievements in 2021 have significantly improved our ability to support IBM’s financial and operational management, by improving our efficiency, our global expertise (46% increase in time spent on education) and teaming, focusing our work on high-risk areas (26% PPRs in plan are FRRs), enabling more pro-active risk reviews (10% increase in PPRs) and increasing our productivity. FBC is now positioned to leverage its global resources to better support IBM’s financial and operational risk management.
- Agile tooling and practices enable FBC to better monitor workload, collaborate and share knowledge to tackle any blockers, increase work quality, reduce task time (average cycle time reduced by 18%), better prioritize high risk complex tasks (13% reduction in low complexity work and 17.5% increase in high complexity work) and subsequently drive business value. Within squads we share and solve issues on stand-ups and retrospectives, support each other on projects and work together in sub-groups on specific items.
- The improved alignment of FBC’s reporting structure, the clarification of FBC’s roles and responsibilities and the implementation of Agile practices has broken down our legacy silo-ed working, promoting global teaming and knowledge sharing.
- FBC received above average NPS score in April 2022. This showed significant improvement and acknowledgement of support FBC provides.
- FBC’s culture has been changed from both Tone at the Top communications and organically by empowering individuals within the global team to speak up; nominate their peers; network more freely; readily upskill; get involved in global Transformation projects and create an Agile working environment.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 5 words used.
Refer to attachment - ppt
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