Lenovo / Global finance transformation
Finance that works
across the world.
A global operating model connecting finance, shared services and AI-enabled innovation.
The challenge
One global business.
Many ways of working.
Lenovo's finance transformation addressed fragmented processes across regions and business groups. Manual invoice matching, inconsistent forecasting and repeated reconciliation work increased complexity and limited the value finance could provide to the business.
My work covered global operating-model design and product ownership of priority digital and AI initiatives. The aim was to shift effort from transactions into business partnering, forward-looking analysis and better decisions.
- Client
- Lenovo
- Work
- Finance transformation and global business services
- My contribution
- Operating-model design, digital and AI product ownership
- Design priorities
- Consistent processes, clear accountability and measurable business outcomes
01 / The operating model
Finance decisions and finance delivery
The design separates business judgement from repeatable delivery, with common process ownership connecting the two.
Business decisions
CFO leadership and business partners own priorities, performance conversations and investment decisions.
One way of working
Shared standards, decision rights, controls and scorecards connect finance across business groups.
Consistent service
Shared-service operations combine repeatable finance work with analytics, automation and continuous improvement.
02 / The global delivery design
Global scale with local connection
Accounting centres
Shared-service accounting in Beijing and Shenzhen, with other functions spread across geographies and business groups.
China and India
A finance and GBS design built around global hubs, standard processes and digital operations.
Europe and Latin America
Regional spokes keep the global model connected to business needs and end-to-end service outcomes.
The programme roadmap developed finance capability first, then wider business services. This is a view of the documented delivery design.
03 / AI, analytics and value
Digital capability inside the operating model
The programme connected an Analytics Centre of Excellence and a Value Realisation Office with operational excellence, robotic automation and AI innovation. This placed digital capability within finance's wider service and performance model.
Analytics
Business insight and performance reporting support finance decisions and process improvement.
Automation & AI
Digital initiatives sit within process ownership, controls and the wider transformation roadmap.
Value realisation
Scorecards connect service performance and innovation to business outcomes.
The corporate strategy underneath
A delivery model with a business purpose
Business Design
Clarify which finance capabilities stay close to the business and which benefit from shared delivery.
Market Model
Keep finance responsive to regional markets while building services the wider business can use.
Competitive Model
Use consistent operations and digital capability to release capacity for better commercial decisions.
How this work connects to my eight steps
- 01 / EducateEstablish the case for finance transformation.
- 02 / EnableAlign leaders and process owners.
- 03 / Big rocksFind fragmentation, manual work and data gaps.
- 04 / Business caseBaseline costs, service and business value.
- 05 / Scope & proveDefine retained roles and shared delivery.
- 06 / BuildSequence process and digital initiatives.
- 07 / ExpandExtend capability across service functions.
- 08 / ScaleGovern outcomes through scorecards and review.
Portfolio summary of my contribution to a collaborative Lenovo programme. Diagrams show the operating-model design; the eight steps connect this work to my current approach.
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