Employee in the Spotlight: Meet Jason, a Senior Lead in Process Excellence who puts people first

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Jason Jacobs, born and raised a Kiwi (the bird, not the fruit😉). I moved from New Zealand to the Netherlands when I was 12 years old. Being in the Netherlands for 25 years now I can say I’ve turned pretty Dutch. I’ve been married to Dominique for nearly 9 years and we have 3 kids together.

What drew you to IG&H?

I was looking for an opportunity to work in - and with - different companies. However, I was a bit cautious of the consultancy stereotype: You work so hard you don’t have a social life anymore and to succeed you’re going to have to participate in the "elbow culture". I am aware this was a stereotype I had in mind, but regardless of the industry, I was simply trying to avoid these things.

The conversations I had with IG&Hers were so laid back and interesting, I thought I must be doing something wrong. The people first and caring & daring values pulled me in and nowadays I’m even a bit of an IG&H ambassador. I will definitely put my name to stating that we live out these values!

What does a typical day at IG&H look like?

My day can contain all sort of things: Deepdiving into a new business process architecture we’re setting up for a pension fund or global retailer, having coffee with a (former) client and hearing about what’s going on in their world at the moment or putting together a proposal for a client that will show how they can boost their operational efficiency with a process and data focus.

What is your role & what does it involve exactly?

I’m a senior lead in our Process Excellence team and proposition-owner of our ‘Process driven IT-implementation approach’. I love being in between business and IT, balancing the language and culture needs of both groups. So, for some who might struggle with "Exactly what do these Process Excellence people do?" Here an example of what we're conspiring with respect to a global leader in athletic footwear, apparel, and sports equipment:

The company wants to push for operational efficiency to lower their costs as times are tough for them now. They are currently transitioning to the latest version of SAP (SAP 4 HANA) which should give them some new technical possibilities in comparison to their current SAP version which is over two decades old. Our team has supported them by mapping their end-to-end processes like "Distribution Center to Store" but if we stop there, we've just created a snapshot of how things work. What we want is to go from a BPMN-flowchart to real-time operational steering by using tooling to bring the process flow and the real data together; which is what we call process mining. Through analysis, this will show us where the real operational hiccups are so we can set up a process optimization roadmap. Previously, we have helped a global dairy trader reduce their operational costs by 30% within 1 year.  

That makes sense for retail. Can you share another example of how you use business processes, maybe from a different sector?

Another cool initiative we're working on is for a Dutch pension fund; creating a digital twin of the organization they are setting up from scratch! The fund's vision is to be their own pension-administrator to completely tailor their services for their members instead of being dependent on a pension administrator. They want to implement IG&H's AllVida pension solution and establish their own organization all at once. This is a project full of complexities and moving parts. Business processes are central here for various reasons:

-          The organization doesn't exist yet so the way-of-working (process) has to be thought through

-          Processes are used to estimate how many FTEs are needed to recruit

-          Processes will guide the whole organization through end-to-end integration testing as well as giving clarity on what the chain reaction can be of certain actions

-          For compliance reasons, processes are important to prove to auditors that you know what you are doing

Processes are important for compliance targets. However, there is much more to do from a risk & control level. Months before go-live, the new organization will have to prove to the DNB (Dutch central bank) that although they've never done this before, they know exactly what they're doing and have mitigated all possible risks. Besides risks, a financial organization must also show they are compliant with all Dutch (pension) laws & regulations.

With the digital twin, we will be connecting (amongst other things) Processes with IT-applications (& AllVida components), roles & functions of the organization and also incorporating a risk & control framework which will enable them to see which controls/processes/applications check off specific regulatory requirements.

What do you enjoy most about working at IG&H?

The people. What gets me going in the morning is the opportunity to brainstorm with others, observe and appreciate how others can think so differently; but by doing so, bring insights to the table I would never have thought of.

Another aspect I like is our mentor-mentee setup where everyone has a mentor who is focused on helping you achieve your personal goals and being the safe space where anything can be said or discussed.

What has been your proudest moment at IG&H?

Leading a team of 8 colleagues on a project for a global sports company made me proud because it was heart-warming to hear feedback from my own team (and also laugh about some of my own stuff-ups). On top of that, the client was ecstatic about the work we did and how we became "one of them", seamlessly merging into their culture. Together with the team, it looks like we've achieved a long-term client relationship with a major name in sports.

What do you like most about your role?

I  get energized when I'm around other people. Everyone has their own story, strengths and weaknesses. I love being a mentor to my mentees and also leading a team in a project. We are all pretty complex (just get married and you’ll find out very quickly how complicated someone else is - let alone yourself!). I enjoy working with people, discovering the pieces of their puzzle and by doing that, try to inspire, help and grow others. And especially for (mostly and typically) all the men out there: listening is also a good quality 😉