Simon Charters

Experience

• 

  Tech Data

  Feb 1998 - Mar 2008

  Various Roles

  • Finance Director for new JV with South America, establishing new controls, reports, and commercial processes from the ground up, sourcing data on potential acquisitions, and conducting analysis and due diligence efforts.• Commercial Finance Director for Azlan Division, reconstructing all FP&A and reporting processes for post-merger utilisation and establishing a new business partnership with the existing pan-European business arm.• Project Director, Tech Data Group, leading successful SAP rollouts across 12 European countries on time and to budget with minimal business interruption and no lost working days.• Change Director, Azlan pan-European SAP implementation, accountable for program and change management planning and amendments.• Steered the streamlined post-acquisition integration of Azlan into the Tech Data Group.• Deputy Finance Director / Group Controller for Azlan, upscaling the Order-to-Cash process model to deliver a $1M per annum profitability increase. Show less

• 

  Leisure Connection Ltd

  Jul 2008 - Dec 2008

  Interim Finance Project Manager

  Prepared the Finance Department for a relocation to Bedfordshire, including embedding of improved financial controls, and conducted a full contract review to deliver £166K through a combination of increased recoveries and reduced losses.

• 

  Welcome to Yorkshire

  Jan 2009 - Dec 2010

  Finance & Operations Director, Company Secretary

  Re-engineered the finance function to support a new central funding framework for Yorkshire tourism and designed a portfolio of monthly FP&A, annual budgets, and cash management tools for the senior leadership team and primary funder.

• 

  Northgate plc

  Dec 2010 - Nov 2019

  • Created and implemented the global O2C framework, extensively simplified company billing policies, and upscaled the new ERP system to support new policies and provide an enhanced customer experience.• Dramatically reduced the monthly reporting cycle from 2 days to 2 hours to provide improved cash forecasting and allow the senior leadership team greater insight through increased data collection and analysis.• Led a total of 40 staff within the Credit Risk and Credit Services teams, conducting commercial credit risk evaluations of potential customers and facilitating debt collection.• Initiated prioritisation processes and Kanban boards and improved communications through the implementation of KPIs and clarification of objectives.• Introduced an improved workplace culture to stabilise the workforce and raise staff morale, and successfully reduced staff attrition rates from 33% to under 10%.• Drafted a suite of detailed monthly reports, including change proposals to address potential improvements, and served as an integral member of the SWAT team to identify business development opportunities. Show less • Headed a team of 4 BAs in the provision of ITIL-governed, enterprise-wide change management initiatives and process improvements and established the criteria for the selection and implementation of a new ERP system.• Steered the development of an integrated process model to deliver insight into internal business relationships, ultimately leading to the construction of an optimised Target Operating Model.• Prepared root cause analysis of key billing issues and identified problem areas to generate a 70% reduction in customer queries. Show less • Project managed the design, testing, and implementation of a Financial Shared Services Centre (FSSC) to save £.5M in costs per annum, and saved £100K per annum by establishing an e-billing platform with a subcontracted supplier.• I led the functional re-engineering of new ERP system and business processes to support FSSC.• Integrating / co-ordinating other projects including centralised administration team and workshop improvements project to ensure common aims and outcomes• Business Process re-engineering front end customer / sales through to back office collection, plus support (workshop) functions Show less

  • Business Transformation Lead / Head of Credit Services

    May 2017 - Nov 2019

  • Head of Process Improvement & Billing

    May 2014 - May 2017

  • General Manager - Customer Support Centre

    Nov 2012 - Apr 2014

  • Integration Manager

    Dec 2010 - Nov 2012
• 

  Arval BNP Paribas Group

  Jul 2020 - Jan 2021

  Billing Consultant (Interim Role)

  • Performed an extensive billing process review with RCA for this 150,000 fleet vehicle leasing company, collating issues across B2B and B2C markets and preparing detailed proposals for improvement.• Contract was extended to evaluate and make recommendations for improvements across the Billing and Collections process within the corporate customer base.

• 

  Tech Data

  Sept 2021 - Feb 2022

  ETA Program Lead

  Established a full and detailed programme to enable TD to improve the flow of ETA data from vendor to customer - setting KPIs and RACI to ensure sustained and continuous improvement and identifying a clearly defined set of process and system-based developments.

• 

  Festiniog Railway Company

  May 2023 - now

  Finance Manager