Video transcript - Transforming the global HR experience for the Kantar Group

Transcript

My name is Gordon Holtshausen, I work for Kantar and I head up Country HR Services.

What was the project with PwC?

The project that we were doing for the business was a major transformational project. What we needed to do was implement a new Human Resource Information System, in this case, Workday so that we could transform the way the business and the HR function worked. There was a global initiative - 77 countries, 28,000 people - and we had 9 months in which to do it.

Why did you choose PwC to help you?

When you do a project like an implementation of Workday you need to have a system integrator, you can’t do it alone. Why we chose PwC is we went through a number of system integrators and PwC were the one, a) from a price point of view who were competitive, but more importantly they understood our needs and the time deadline against which we were working.

What was the outcome?

The outcome of the project is we delivered it as we said we would on time and on budget, and with accurate data in the system. That was not something that was expected that we would actually achieve. Second thing is it has been fundamentally transformational for the business. We have approached things from a totally different perspective, now in terms of what is the role of the manager and what is the role of HR.

What lessons have you learnt?

In terms of the lessons learnt that we have learnt through this process was number 1 the change management component is by far and large is the most tricky and complicated component, and the second one is make sure that you get yourself a good systems integrator like a PwC who you trust to take you along the journey.

What do you value about your relationship with PwC?

I am really grateful for the expertise and the openness and the trust and the transparency and the relationship that they brought to the project because they understood what I was looking for, that we needed to deliver it by a certain date and that we needed to deliver it in budget and they were very clear about what we needed to do in order to make that happen and once you have got that foundation laid then you can work from there.