Industries are embracing technology to reap the benefits of improved productivity, higher efficiency, and increased cost savings. Finance and Administrative departments at Oil and Gas companies often operate on multiple legacy financial systems, with fragmented and unstructured data, excessive interfaces, and duplication of tools and systems, and are burdened by manual, time-consuming processes prone to errors. This impacts their ability to timely and accurately reflect financial reports and hinders the overall organization from making strategic decisions. To become successful, Finance and Administrative departments are becoming very dependent on advanced digital transformation initiatives to handle large volumes of data, automate processes, and provide real-time insights for decision-making. 

What are the key success factors to make the digital transformation successful? What are the key skills required to lead such initiatives?

With over 13 years of experience and deep expertise in Digital and Business Transformations, Christoph Makar has been successfully driving digital transformation for finance and other organizations in the energy industry. Specialized in developing and implementing digital and automation-focused transformative procedures and tools, Christoph currently serves as the Business Transformation manager for a market leader in the Oil and Gas industry in Houston.

He has a strong track record of leading business and digital transformations in Finance, Sales HR, and Treasury, and he understands the challenges and has proven that deploying the right digital technologies, coupled with the proper planning, creation, testing, and implementation, makes processes more efficient, and will unlock significant value. Recently, he was voted in the worldwide top 25 of thought leaders in digital disruption by thinkers360.com.

Today, you are such a highly specialized, successful business transformation leader in the global energy industry. Tell us a bit about your background.

Christoph: I was born in Belgium, with roots in Egypt. I earned a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Antwerp before earning a Master of Science degree in advanced Economics from the prestigious Catholic University of Leuven. During my initial academic career, I started experimenting with technology and further developed my interest in digital technologies.  After a short stint at the Belgian National Railway Company, I earned my Master of Advanced Finance from the Antwerp Management School and then started my career at a market-leading Oil and Gas multinational, where I am still employed. Currently, I live in Houston with my wife and two kids after I was asked to move to Houston based on my expertise.

Why did you choose to work for the energy industry?

Christoph: I always liked that it is a global industry, which means there are opportunities to work in different countries and regions around the world. I was born in Belgium and have roots in Egypt. I lived for six years in Norway and studied in Canada. I have always had a passion for living in different geographies.

The oil and gas industry is known for investing in cutting-edge technologies. As I was always interested in technology, I wanted to work in an environment where I could experience this.

In 2019, you were asked to move to Houston to be part of the Global Financial Transformation project due to your understanding of finance processes and your deep understanding of the latest innovative technologies. Can you tell me a bit more about that project?

Christoph: Together with my project team, we implemented a new financial system (SAP S4/HANA) and formulated global digital strategies to transform end-to-end financial processes, leveraging digital automation, robotics, and predictive analytics. This laid the foundations for current digital innovations and future opportunities in the financial and administrative area.

Why is digital transformation such a hot topic for organizations today?

Christoph: Digital transformation is such a hot topic because it is no longer optional but has become a necessity for businesses and organizations. With rapidly evolving technologies, changing consumer expectations, and new market entrants, organizations must adapt or risk becoming obsolete. Digital transformation allows companies to stay competitive, improve customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive innovation.

It's clear that digital transformation is critical, but what are some of the major challenges organizations face when embarking on this journey?

Christoph: Absolutely, while the benefits are significant, the challenges can be formidable. The key challenge I see is not having the right culture and mindset. In a recent article on the platform Medium, I phrased it as follows: "Digital transformation is more than just technology. It is important to instill a culture of innovation so that enterprises can take their people along the journey! Fosering a culture of innovation is a way to unlock the potential of digital transformation!"

Which digital transformation initiative are you most proud of?

Christoph: In 2021, I was working as a Global Financial and Workforce Advisor after we had just formed a new organization. I noticed that we had no tools to manage and steward our workforce. There was no insight into how many employees we needed in which positions and regions. This led me to develop an industry-leading global strategic workforce planning tool, leveraging the latest technologies (SQL, Business Intelligence software, and others). The tool enabled senior management to plan and steward the workforce in real-time through data centralization and data transparency.  The tool was later used to identify +200M USD of benefits.

I am mostly proud that a Deloitte senior manager in Strategic Workforce Planning with more than 15 years of experience called it a best-in-class tool for the industry.

Christoph, your ability to build and implement automation processes and tools on a global level, thanks to your business expertise and technical skills in the global energy industry, you have made yourself an asset to any organization. Tell me how you got a proven track record of digital transformation initiatives.

Christoph: I have a feeling that my success in business transformation can be attributed to a combination of dedication, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Beyond my regular job duties, I took on additional responsibilities that proved to be instrumental in achieving success. For example, in 2017-2018, I headed the cash management organization of our regional treasury center. We were handling 2B USD on a daily basis, but my team had no proper tool to forecast our cash balances at the end of the day. Any inaccuracies in cash forecasts left a lot of money on the table.  Because of my drive to implement cutting-edge digital tools, I embarked on a journey to develop and implement a new Cash Flow Forecasting tool. The result of this was that we were able to improve our cash forecast by a whopping 35%! The year after, I was moved to Houston to embark on the large-scale Financial Transformation project.

What is more important, according to you, 'digital fluency' or being excellent at working with people?

Christoph: That's an excellent question. Digital Fluency, for me, is the capacity to go beyond using technology to achieve certain goals. Since the start of this year, I have been responsible for change management activities related to the company's business transformation activities. Being 'digitally fluent' has obviously helped me get into this position. One needs to be technically fluent to drive and understand today's business transformations. On the other hand, you cannot drive transformations if you're not excellent at working with people.  While technology enables digital transformation, only people can make a transformation successful!

What advice can you give to people who embark on digital transformation journeys? Did you face any barriers, and how do you try to overcome them?

Christoph: When I developed the strategic workforce tool, it was not initially noticed by senior management. In a large, global corporation, it is not easy to be recognized and to 'get things done.'

It was only when a manager showed the tool to a senior Deloitte manager that the ball started rolling after he classified it as 'best in the industry.' It takes trust in yourself, time, and effort to complete digital transformations. I do take great pride in the fact that, until today, this tool is still being used and has set the example for other developments.

Christoph, Thank you very much for this engaging interview!

Christoph: You are welcome!