For many of us, we look forward to the promise of a new year, of a new beginning. At Financeit, 2022 was a year filled with teamwork, collaboration and determination. Every accomplishment was a cross-functional labour of love that pushed new horizons for our business and valued customers.
As we look ahead to 2023, we recognize and reflect on all our achievements as a team that has contributed to the growth of Financeit in 2022.
To gain more insight into the lessons learned across our organization, we interviewed colleagues from the PMO, Operations, Marketing and People Success departments to discuss major milestones and projects completed in 2022.
Project Management Office (PMO)
Answers by: Tanya Gupta, VP, PMO, Shawn Fischer, Director, PMO & Charlotte Thumser Henner, Senior Manager, PMO
What were the major projects/accomplishments in your department this year?
A common theme that we focused on in 2022 was friction reduction. Across several different initiatives, the team got together and focused on reducing friction anywhere we could for both our Merchants and Borrowers, as well as streamlining our product and processes. We released significant and innovative changes to our existing Product with the ultimate goal of offering a better experience for our Borrowers and Merchants.
On the Centah side, in early Q4, we released a sandbox environment for Phase 1 of our Modernization initiative for a large Retail Client – this “Modernization” has been several years in the making, and 2022 saw us make significant progress. As we move into 2023, launching both Phase 1 and 2 of Modernization is one of the most important initiatives for Centah.
Why were these initiatives important to prioritize?
We strive to continuously improve the experience for both our Merchants and Borrowers so spending time and energy on reducing friction anywhere we could was definitely a priority in 2022, and will continue to be in 2023. The changes we introduced to our product and processes last year have been part of a long-term vision of improving and streamlining our product.
For Centah, the most significant catalyst for Modernization was the integration of Product Management Solutions with the PMO in Q1 of 2022. Collectively, we added a level of rigour and structure to this initiative that was not previously present by utilizing project management tools to build a detailed project plan with milestones that can be shared and tracked with the Client.
What do you think led to the success of these initiatives? What were some of the challenges along the way?
PMO helps bring the Financeit/Centah teams together, so the success was based on cross-functional teamwork and collaboration. The PMO’s purpose is to be a centralizing force for all the functions to partner and deliver on a common objective.
The challenge is often external factors. In addition to the merchant environment and being cognizant of our ultimate end user, like many other businesses, the macro environment and the economic conditions have impacted our product construct development and considerations.
How did this project(s) help the organization as a whole?
Removing loan friction was huge. With a more streamlined process, we saw loans getting funded quicker and with fewer touches. With this increased efficiency, we made it easier to fund loans, which benefited Merchants, Borrowers and Financeit.
The success we have made on our various Centah Client initiatives in 2022 has enabled us to maintain the confidence of our Clients to deliver within the scope and timelines we have committed to. This will allow us to continue to develop our services and relationships in 2023.
Marketing
Answers by: Sean Pollock, Marketing Coordinator
What were the major projects/accomplishments in your department this year? Why were these initiatives important to prioritize?
We implemented a number of key strategies in 2022 that enabled us to support the growth of the business. This included launching a new Point-of-Sale (POS) platform to provide dealers with marketing collateral to help advertise financing to their customers. Additionally, we launched a new goal driven rewards program as well as our first ever VIP Getaway, an exclusive trip where we hosted our top 30 dealers for two days of activities in Whistler, BC.
We chose to prioritize these initiatives as we felt they’d have the most impact in the market. Given the growth the company has experienced in the last 12 months, it was important for us to provide new opportunities for our partners to continue their growth as well. The VIP Getaway was much overdue and with government restrictions easing, it was the best time for us to plan and execute on that experience.
What do you think led to the success of these initiatives?
Complete buy-in from the organization alongside collaboration with the sales team led to these initiatives being very successful.
How did this project(s) help the organization as a whole?
These marketing projects helped the organization in a few ways. The VIP Getaway initiative provided the team with a platform to reconnect with our top partners after a couple years of zoom only meetings and was a great opportunity for the team to create marketing collateral which will be used over the next year.
Projects like the Rewards program and POS store provide the sales team with additional support in helping their dealers drive more sales and hit their targets, thus helping our organization achieve our goals in 2022.
Operations
Answers by: Clara Mendes, Director, Lending, Desiree Lashely, Senior Manager, Lending & Nick Cooke, Manager, Credit Operations
What were the major projects/accomplishments in your department this year?
Some key projects in 2022 involved strategic business initiatives to increase the team’s efficiency and reduce touch points along the lending journey. These projects included automating the review of void cheques and other documents.
As a result, Operations has reduced the number of loans that a single agent has to review, translating to a faster response time for our Merchants and Borrowers.
What do you think led to the success of these initiatives? What were some of the challenges along the way?
We had strong buy-in to support these initiatives across multiple business areas. This was primarily driven through cross-departmental collaboration, strong teamwork, and communication. Some challenges were figuring out how to meet various cross-departmental needs and ensuring that requirements satisfied multiple stakeholders. We wanted to ensure that what we built worked but also met the needs of Compliance to deliver excellent service.
While we improved our turn around time through reduced touch points in the lending journey, it was challenging at times to deliver new product offerings within limited timeframes. We balanced our time between multiple projects, initiatives and day to day tasks. This meant that other priorities had to shift a bit, but in the end, it all worked out.
How did these projects help the organization as a whole?
Our efficiency initiatives allowed the team to handle a high volume of applications with ease, while providing a more intimate service level to our Merchants, and ensuring agents didn’t have to rush through their work. This allowed us to maximize our delivery of service excellence to our valued Merchants and Borrowers.
People Success
Answers by: Petroula Tsiribis, VP, People Success & Bahar Zardouznia, Manager, People Success
What were the major projects/accomplishments in your department this year? Why were they important to prioritize?
2022 was filled with several critical projects for the People Success team. Some important accomplishments included the company moving to our new office at The Well, formalizing our hybrid workplace policies, showcasing our employer brand, and building out career progression tools.
Each project had its own unique prioritization strategy but the connecting piece was a focus on employee experience and retention. Our new office at The Well has been a work in progress for the last 2 years and it was important for us to prioritize building a new home for our employees in a way that showcased our culture, and our new approach to a hybrid working environment.
What do you think led to the success of these initiatives? What were some of the challenges along the way?
Team work, strong project management, effective change management, as well as open communication and cross functional feedback from key stakeholders all led to the success of these initiatives. Our general approach before launching major initiatives is to gather feedback from our employees, so this was a big part of many of the decisions we made.
As with any construction project, there was no shortage of delays leading up to the opening of our new office space. Transparency became critical amongst stakeholders and employees when delays offset opening plans. Ultimately we pushed through the challenges and landed in a great place with an amazing new office to show for it.
How did these project(s) help the organization as a whole?
Overall, these projects showcased our investment in employees, whose engagement, success, safety, and growth are always top of mind at Financeit. For the hybrid workspace, we were keen on prioritizing employees’ needs and providing agency in how they choose to work, and then creating an office that matched that. Our focus on career development gave employees the tools to help own their career, and growth within the company. Moreover, employment branding signified who we are as an employer, giving our employees a sense of pride in who we are and what we stand for, as well as helping us to attract talent that are inspired by our culture and what we’re building.
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