SAP FieldGlass Deployed to Improve External Workforce

Banking, a traditionally ultra-conservative industry, is embracing new technologies to help it take profits and customer experience to new levels. In the US, MUFG Union Bank, part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), has been working with SAP Fieldglass to improve its external workforce management, attracted by the platform’s proven capabilities in financial services and track record for providing excellent user experiences.

The initial relationship began in 2010 when the bank selected SAP Fieldglass to help them get a better handle on their contingent labour, which includes business resources such as accountants, auditors, business analysts and consultants as well as IT resources.

In 2014, an affiliate bank heard positive feedback about the SAP Fieldglass program and decided to implement an external talent management program as well. The SAP team worked with the new bank for six months to set up their program and later that year the banks were integrated, although maintaining different financial systems and some processes, such as onboarding.

SAP Fieldglass benefits include both transparency and flexibility. Business unit CFOs depend on the platform’s reporting for their forecasting with executives. As external labour metrics are key to the business, reports are provided to the Executive Committee on a quarterly basis.

Business groups each manage differently and they have been able to tailor the platform to meet their specific needs. “The advantage to working with SAP Fieldglass is the flexibility. We have had to ask for a lot of things to meet our needs, and the account support has been fantastic. We really feel that Fieldglass puts customers first. It’s been a great experience,” said Sandra Buhler, director, Contingent Workforce Management, MUFG Union Bank.

In addition to account support excellence, the bank is discovering how efficiently integrations can occur with SAP Fieldglass. Current integrations with HR and finance systems went smoothly and as planned. The integration also supports mandatory compliance training requirements for all contingent workers that have access to bank systems.

“We have had ongoing positive feedback internally about the SAP Fieldglass platform. We have a solution that will carry us into the future and support our global needs as we evolve,” said Buhler.

That future is starting now, with the bank beginning to implement Worker Profile, to provide them with visibility into resources doing work under a Statement of Work. The objective is to have a single system of record for all non-employees who have system, badge or network access. Next, MUFG Union Bank plans to work with SAP Fieldglass to automate the onboarding and offboarding processes for contingent workers, explore the services procurement solution to actively manage that spend, and expand their program globally.

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SAP implemented the solution, including accounting rules configuration, data integration and a full setup of the SAP HANA database environment, in just three months.

“Our growth necessitated a centralised accounting system, one that gave us visibility across regional lines of business,” said Max Fischer, vice president, Klarna.

“We were concerned that getting that visibility would take a substantial amount of time and resources, but with SAP we were able to do it in only three months and with zero lag time in operations. It’s had a positive impact on our business.”

The business can now run a centralised sub ledger solution to allow for rapid expansion into new regions and product offerings, while remaining compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US GAAP standards.

SAP said smart AFI replaces the classic AFI as the new flagship of the accounting engine in SAP Bank Analyser, developed and optimised for SAP HANA, and can handle multiple GAAP policies across different geographies.

Reno Sager, global head of services for financial services industries, SAP, said the project has shown “that good business outcomes don’t always have to be tied to multiyear, multimillion-dollar projects”.

“We learned that monumental change can happen in a short amount of time when there’s trust, close collaboration and a commitment to delivering the best technology and expertise,” Sager said.

A recent survey conducted by IDC Financial Insights and sponsored by SAP found that six in 10 global banks are open to partnering with financial technology firms.

The stud food that while the relationship between banks and fintechs is improving, banks still need to do more to implement key lessons learned from fintechs to achieve full digital transformation. Although banks might believe they are digitally savvy, the study found that most digitally transformative initiatives are still business-led “islands of innovation” only posing as digital transformation, rather than true business-wide transformation.

“The relationship between banks and startups is an interesting and nuanced one,” said Rob Hetherington, global head of financial services, SAP.

“Banks are in the midst of digital transformation, looking for ways to speed their time to market and to deliver new value or services to customers. Startups on the other hand are mobile, agile and built solely for the customer, yet they lack the regulatory know-how and customer confidence that large, global banks have. Both have something the other wants, and I anticipate that we’ll witness far greater collaboration, integration and – in some instances – acquisitions happening in the next year.”

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