Sweet success for Mondelēz International's finance team

Mondelēz and Genpact have always worked as one team, driving innovation and delivering exceptional outcomes across the enterprise. Our journey so far has laid a strong foundation to reimagine finance, moving from decentralized, fragmented, and manual processes to a global service center and center of excellence operating model. This transition has been significantly enhanced by process automation and AI/ML capabilities, leading to greater efficiencies and a reduction in finance costs.

To date, these changes have resulted in material savings of more than 50%, which Mondelēz International reinvests in its brands and brand acquisitions.

And we're still on the journey, continually sweetening systems and processes.

An organization the size of Mondelēz International needs a finance function that operates seamlessly across multiple geographies. But before its partnership with Genpact began, that wasn't the case.

Fragmented finance systems and policies – with nonstandardized, country-specific, and manual processes – resulted in lengthy close cycles and planning procedures. Not to mention high running costs.

Stuck in a silo, compliance wasn't optimal. Genpact released it by instituting a global vision to automate and assimilate controls.

Finally, productivity needed a boost. Employee time was consumed by manual activities. Genpact worked with Mondelēz International to empower employees with digital skills that help them evolve alongside business needs.

Creating value by modernizing operations

Genpact helped Mondelēz International transform the finance function by applying modernizing, standardizing, and digitizing principles to financial processes. Here's how we did it:

Optimized operating models: Using our proprietary blueprinting tool, we benchmarked operating model performance against industry best practices. From here, we created a roadmap to standardize operations, such as consistent ways to manage balance sheet reconciliation, manual journal entries, intercompany reconciliations, and fixed assets.

We also standardized policies and technology to establish a global – rather than multiregional – operating model. Together with Mondelēz International, we united finance operations from over 70 countries into just two delivery centers.

A framework for efficiency: Using Lean Six Sigma methodology and continual improvement tool kits, we created a framework to increase efficiencies across the finance function. This included a global reconciliation policy, standardized journal templates, and automated reporting.

Leveraging technology, data, and AI:

1. We deployed technology like BlackLine, intercompany workflow tools, Nakisa Lease reporting tool, and SAP for enhancing operational efficiency

2. We enhanced enterprise resource planning and engagement with:

• Cross-organizational workflow tools
• Automated month-end reporting
• Touchless system extracts
• Multiple robotic process automations (RPAs) and quick process automations

3. We improved data reliability, reporting, and delivery through touchless extraction, ingestion, validation, cleansing, and reconciliation

4. We created a hyperautomated, industry-first cognitive accounting platform using our artificial intelligence capabilities, which resulted in a 35% reduction and 60% automation in manual journal entries

5. We established the Digital Controller's Cockpit, an insight hub for financial controllers to evaluate performance and deliver insights to regional teams. This platform now informs Mondelēz International's growth strategy for people, processes, and digital transformation. Acting as a single source of truth for controllership management, it provides enterprise-wide data insights, improving financial reporting health, offering near real-time visibility into risks and remediation status, and supporting collaboration and action during stringent close cycles.

6. We improved the employee experience with data visualization and insights delivered via intuitive, self-service analytics dashboards. Featuring prescriptive and predictive capabilities that enable real-time data access, these dashboards allow users to drill down for more details, personalize views, and share information easily.

7. We built a gen AI-powered virtual assistant solution, based on Genpact Cora Knowledge Assist and retrieval augmented generation techniques. It easily guides users through complex procedures and scenarios, reducing the need for external support. Using natural language, users can quickly find specific actions within standard operating procedures and receive accurate recommendations in an instant. The intelligent solution also improves user experience by referencing past conversations and prompting users to refine queries for better outcomes.

The Mondelēz International finance function is now a global system that delivers business value through enhanced compliance, improved employee experiences, efficiency gains, and reduced costs.

With 70% of finance processes, policies, and procedures standardized and simplified, the business has significantly enhanced timelines, accuracy, compliance, controllership, and reporting.

Our cognitive accounting platform set an industry benchmark of more than 50% digital penetration in a core record-to-report account. And we've improved the finance employee experience by reducing 700 reports to just 40 digital dashboards. To date, more than 1,000 users have adopted the financial dashboards, which receive more than 50,000 views annually.

Looking ahead, our two teams are building a vision for the future that puts digital, data, and business value at the core of our journey. The perfect recipe for sweet, lasting success.