How a global business flexed procurement and finance support while retaining valuable knowledge

The client needed practical support across connected procurement and finance activities.

Within procurement, this included improving approval workflows and matrices, resolving system issues and making Zip work more effectively around the organisation’s processes. An embedded procurement manager also helped strengthen ownership, governance and coordination across the function.

Alongside these improvements, the finance team faced an urgent capacity gap when a critical AP colleague departed with limited handover. Essential processing needed to continue while the client addressed its longer-term staffing requirements.

The level and type of support required changed throughout the engagement. The client needed a way to respond to these demands while keeping expenditure aligned with available budgets.

Denova provided embedded colleagues who worked within the client’s teams, supporting daily operations and improvement priorities.

Because these colleagues are full-time Denova employees, the relationship extends beyond an individual assignment. Knowledge accumulated during a deployment can remain within the Denova team when the client’s immediate requirement changes.

In this engagement, colleagues worked with the client for around six months, rolled off for a few months as budgets became constrained, and subsequently returned. Their understanding of the organisation’s processes, systems and stakeholders provided a valuable foundation for resuming support.

The client could adjust capacity and expenditure while retaining access to people who already understood its business.

Denova’s shadow buddy arrangement added another layer of continuity. An assigned backup colleague learns the relevant processes, helping reduce dependence on a single individual and supporting cover in the event of absence or departure.

The engagement depended on close cooperation between Denova colleagues and the client’s procurement, finance and wider business stakeholders.

Our colleagues worked with the people using the processes each day to understand where requests stalled, which controls needed attention and how changes could fit the organisation’s needs.

This collaboration helped connect system improvements with practical operational requirements. It also allowed colleagues to build the context and working relationships that remained valuable when they returned to the engagement.

Over the course of the relationship, Denova supported several needs:

• Improving procurement operations: addressing workflow gaps, approval routing and issues within and around Zip.
• Embedding procurement management capability: providing ongoing ownership and supporting the development of clearer governance.
• Responding to an urgent finance gap: deploying AP support following the departure of a key team member.
• Adapting to budget constraints: reducing deployed capacity when required and bringing familiar colleagues back when support was needed again.

The value of the relationship grew through this combination of operational support, improvement work and continuity between assignments.

The success of this engagement reflects contributions from both organisations.

The client worked with Denova colleagues to share context, establish priorities and make improvements practical. Denova provided people who took ownership, developed their understanding of the business and brought that experience back into later assignments.

Over just more than a year, the relationship has shown how flexible support and long-term continuity can work together. The client has been able to change the level of support it uses while continuing to benefit from the knowledge accumulated through the partnership.