Resources Connection, Inc. · NASDAQ:RGP
Resources Connection — Virtual CPE Webinar: Beyond Numbers: Putting People at the Center of Finance Transformatio (October 2025)
46 slides from Resources Connection's conference presentation, Oct 15, 2025
Slide 1: Beyond Numbers: Putting People at the Center of Finance Transformation
V I R T U A L C P E W E B I N A R Beyond Numbers: Putting People at the Center of Finance Transformation October 15, 2025 Presented by RGP & Veracity's Jennifer Jones, John Runberg & Tim Tickle
Slide 2: Meet the Team
Meet the Team. Jennifer Jones John Runberg Tim Tickle Chief Marketing Associate Director Senior Director, Finance Officer Strategy Transformation © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 2
Slide 3: Organizations rush to define the what and how before the why and who
Organizations often rush to define the “what” and “how,” before truly understanding the “why” and “who.” © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 3
Slide 4: Why Do Most Major Transformation Initiatives Fall Short?
So, Why Do Most Major Transformation Initiatives Fall Short? Common Challenges: ▪ Unclear Goals ▪ Lack of Management Engagement ▪ Siloed Initiatives ▪ Lack of Alignment Between Stakeholders Putting people at the center of transformation can lead to more ▪ Neglecting Digital Culture successful outcom
Slide 5: Companies That Prioritize People Outperform the S&P 500 by 2x
WHY H UMAN-FIR ST O RGA NIZATI ON S WI N: Companies That Prioritize People Outperform the S&P 500 by 2x. Published by the Oxford University Wellbeing Research Center © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 5
Slide 6: Every $1 Invested in User Experience Brings $100 in Return
WHY H UMAN-FIR ST O RGA NIZATI ON S WI N: That Every $1 Invested in User Experience Brings $100 in Return. Study Published by IBM © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 6
Slide 7: $30B/Year Wasted in the U.S. on IT Project Failures
WHY H UMAN-FIR ST O RGA NIZATI ON S WI N: $30B/Year is Wasted in the U.S. Alone on IT Project Failures, Many Due to Unmet User Needs or Poor Adoption. Source: PMI & McKinsey © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 7
Slide 8: Why People First Matters in Finance
Why People First Matters in Finance. 25% Greater Profitability 64% Finance Teams Think That Compared to Competitors Leaders Do Not Understand Finance teams are being asked to do more than ever—drive with Poor Employee Their Needs and Views transformation, manage risk, and navigate growing complexity
Slide 9: Our Learning Objectives
Our Learning Objectives. Learning Objective 1 Learning Objective 2 Learning Objective 3 Recognize why many finance Discover how fostering a human- Learn practical strategies for transformations underperform and first culture can enhance embedding human-centered how the current process- and employee
Slide 10: Warm Up Poll: Most Challenging Area
A Aligning leadership and culture WARM U P POLL: Which area do you Embedding human-centered B thinking into processes find most challenging C Understanding the needs of finance when it comes to teams and business partners putting people D Balancing human needs with business goals first in finance tr
Slide 11: Section 1: The State of Finance Transformation
SECTION 1: The State of Finance Transformation. Most finance transformations fail when they focus only on technology, but real enterprise value comes from putting people at the center.
Slide 12: Human-Centered Design in Finance Transformation
Human-centered design in finance transformation means designing financial systems, processes, and tools around the people who use them—not just the data or technology. It’s about understanding how finance teams, business partners, and leaders work, think, and make decisions, and then building soluti
Slide 13: Finance Transformation Trends
Finance Transformation 14% 93% Trends. Leaders categorize their Companies are on a finance finance transformation transformation involving efforts as “clearly automation successful” Finance transformation initiatives continue to drive greater value GARTNER SHAREDSERVICESLINK and efficiency for finan
Slide 14: Methodologies are Evolving
METHO DO LOG IES Methodologies Traditional Finance Transformation Human Centered Design Concepts are Evolving. Area of Focus Systems, Internal Control, Governance People, Usability, Ease of Access Design Approach Top-Down Iterative, Collaborative In recent years, finance transformation has increasin
Slide 15: How are Finance Leaders Incorporating HCD Concepts?
Co-Creation with End Users ▪ Conducting user interviews and journey mapping How are ▪ Creating personas for different finance roles (e.g., FP&A analyst, controller, AP clerk) ▪ Involving users in prototyping and testing tools or workflows Finance Leaders Example: Before implementing a new forecastin
Slide 16: Why Do Most Major Transformation Initiatives Fall Short?
So, Why Do Most Major Transformation Initiatives Fall Short? Common Causes: ▪ Poor Data Quality ▪ Technology Constraints ▪ Resistance to Change, Change Management ▪ Poor Process Standardization ▪ Talent/Skill Gaps ▪ Unclear ROI, Budget Overlays, Scope Creep © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confiden
Slide 17: Poll Two: Current Approach to Finance Transformation
Primarily data-driven and A efficiency-focused PO LL T WO: A mix of human insight and How would you describe B operational strategy your organization’s Human-centered, but not current approach C consistently applied to finance Strongly rooted in empathy transformation? D and human-first thinking E N
Slide 18: Section 2: Principles with People at the Core
SECTION 2: Principles with People at the Core. Exploring how a human-first mindset reshapes problem-solving in complex business systems
Slide 19: How Human-Centered Design Helps Finance Solve the Right Problems
How Human-Centered Design Helps Finance Solve the Right Problems Finance transformation is often driven by systems, processes, or cost pressures. But what really determines success is how people experience those systems. Human-centered design helps us see what’s invisible in data — the friction, mot
Slide 20: How Human-Centered Design Helps Us Solve the Right Problems
How Human-Centered Design Helps Us Solve the Right Problems Human-Centered Design is an approach that uncovers the invisible forces that shape outcomes — what people need, why they act the way they do, and where friction and meaning live. It’s how we stop reacting to surface symptoms and start solvi
Slide 21: Four Steps to a Human-Centered Design Approach
Four Steps to Taking a Human-Centered Design Approach. A human-first approach is one where decisions, systems, and experiences are intentionally designed around the real needs, emotions, and lived experiences of people—not just operational efficiency, legacy processes, or quarterly targets. STEP 1 S
Slide 22: Are You Asking the Hard Questions?
Are You Asking the Hard Questions? The real challenge isn’t knowing how to fix something; it’s being willing to ask questions that might reveal uncomfortable truths. It's how we unlock sustainable impact, the kind that lasts beyond the next meeting or metric. HCD APPROACH COMMON APPROACH “How does t
Slide 23: Designing Better Experiences: Financial Reporting Example
Designing Better Experiences by Starting with People: Example Financial Reporting HCD PROCESS APPROACH Traditional: “How do we improve financial reporting speed?” HCD Lens: Define the Challenge “How might we make financial reporting more intuitive and efficient for finance teams, ensuring accuracy w
Slide 24: Financial Reporting Example: Define Insights and Ideate
Designing Better Experiences by Starting with People: Example Financial Reporting HCD PROCESS APPROACH Look for Patterns: ▪ “We spend too much time gathering data, not analyzing it.” ▪ “I don’t trust the forecast because it’s always reactive.” ▪ “Our systems don’t talk to each other, so we reconcile
Slide 25: Financial Reporting Example: Prototype and Test
Designing Better Experiences by Starting with People: Example Financial Reporting HCD PROCESS APPROACH Start Small: ▪ Mock-up a new dashboard in Excel or Power BI. ▪ Create a clickable prototype of a new forecasting tool. ▪ Pilot an automated close checklist. Prototype (Make It Tangible Quickly) Eng
Slide 26: Excerpts from Many Finance Transformation Projects
Excerpts from Many Finance Transformation Projects Theme What You Might Hear What It Really Means Human-First Response Redesign reports to highlight only key insights People need simplified, Clarity “I don’t get what this report is telling me.” contextual communication. and next steps. Use plain lan
Slide 27: Poll Three: Most Helpful Human-Centered Technique
A Empathy and stakeholder research PO LL T HR E E: Co-creation workshops between B user and finance teams Which human-centered technique would most C Prototyping and testing new workflows or new technologies accelerate your finance transformation? D Ongoing feedback and iteration E All of the above
Slide 28: Section 3: A Practical Example in Finance Transformation
SE CTION 3: A Practical Example in Finance Transformation. Driving sustainable, cross-discipline, Procure-To-Pay improvements using a human-first transformation strategy.
Slide 29: The Situation & Objective
T H E SI T U AT I ON & OB J E C T I V E Situation A leading-edge multi-national technology company consistently struggled with improving its Procure-to-Pay Journey, both internally and with vendors. Previous ’Band-aids’ only increased complexity and pain. Client Objective Understand the real problem
Slide 30: Leveraging a People-First Approach to Change
Leveraging a People-First Approach to Change: Steps Taken: ▪ Understand the process and current knowledge (sponsor team) ▪ Discover and document the real-world process and experiences of three key audiences (admin assistants, business managers, and vendors) ▪ Validate the journey and discern the tru
Slide 31: People-First Methods
People-First Methods. Facilitate working sessions with the procure-to-pay team Conduct a series of follow-up interviews with Business and 01 to understand the process and current knowledge state of 05 Account Managers as well as Executive Admins to gain three Personas: the Payee, the Business/Accoun
Slide 32: A Participatory Discovery and Problem-Solving Approach
6 2 A Participatory Workshops Completed Hour Workshop Sessions Discovery and Problem-Solving Approach. 7 3 Persona Subjects Cross-Functional Interviewed Improvement Modeling Workshops © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com | 32
Slide 33: Persona interview quote
“Why does everything have to be hard? Every time I handle a new contract and supplier, it feels like I take on yet another job. It feels like a lot of work that could be avoided. My biggest concern is that I never know exactly what's happening. Is my new Supplier getting onboarded, or do they have a
Slide 34: Laura Smith Persona Narrative: Thinking and Seeing
P E R S O N A N A R R A T I V E Thinking Laura Smith It’s hard to think very positive thoughts about the Procure-to-Pay process. Onboarding and supporting the invoicing of a Supplier always seems to Business/Account Manager be challenging. My Supplier relationships are very important, and I’m trying
Slide 35: Laura Smith Persona Narrative: Saying, Doing, Hearing
P E R S O N A N A R R A T I V E Say + Doing Laura Smith Creating purchase orders, onboarding Suppliers, handling invoicing–I do it all. And that’s on top of my normal day-to-day work. Business/Account Manager My biggest challenge in P2P is spending so much time troubleshooting, to the point of triag
Slide 36: Procure-to-Pay Journey Stages
STAGE 1: STAGE 2: STAGE 3: STAGE 4: STAGE 5: Supplier ONBOARDING PURCHASE ORDER INVOICE MANAGEMENT [ RESOLVE ISSUES ] DELIVER PAYMENT Get Vendor Int o Micr osoft Cr eat e Purchase Order and Send t o Successfully Receive, Process and Resolve Issues as Required. Confi r Payme nt to Suppl ier and Cl os
Slide 37: Laura Smith Key Need Themes
Key Need Themes for This Persona: P E R S O N A N A R R A T I V E ▪ Clarity in the process Laura Smith ▪ Proactive communication ▪ Streamlined support Business/Account Manager ▪ Simplified (single) systems Need Statements for The Business/Account Manager ▪ "I need... to know where my Supplier is in
Slide 38: © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com |
© 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com |
Slide 39: © 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com |
© 2025 Resources Connection, Inc. Confidential | rgp.com |
Slide 40: Unequivocal Results
Rooted in Human Truth Unequivocal By understanding the impact of the experience on key employees and customers, we found the true problems to Results. be solved. Stakeholder-Led Solutions By approaching this project from a people-first Ideating cross-functional solutions drove collaboration perspect
Slide 41: Poll Four: Greatest Challenge to Embedding HCD in Finance
Executive mindset focused A only on efficiency PO LL FO UR: Risk aversion and B resistance to change What is the greatest challenge to embedding C Siloed teams and limited collaboration human-centered design in finance? D Lack of incentives to innovate Reduced understanding E of the HCD approach © 2
Slide 42: Wrap Up & Key Takeaways
Wrap Up & Key Takeaways.
Slide 43: The most important aspect of a human-centered approach
The most important aspect of taking a human-centered approach to transformation is that you don’t just change systems or processes—you change behaviors, mindsets, and culture in a way that makes transformation stick. Here’s the magic: People own the change, not resist it. When people are engaged fro
Slide 44: Remember the Why
Empathy-Led Decision-Making: Policies, processes, and products are shaped by actual human experience—not assumptions. Psychological Safety: People feel safe to speak up, contribute, and challenge. Co-Creation Culture: Employees and customers are active participants in shaping the organization. Remem
Slide 45: One Simple Way Finance Teams Can Start Using Human-Centered Design
O NE SI M PLE W A Y F I NANC E TE A MS C AN S TA RT U SI NG HU MA N -CE NTE R ED D E SI GN IS : Sit down with 3–5 internal stakeholders (e.g., department heads, budget owners, analysts) and ask: “What’s the hardest part about working with Finance?” This single question opens the door to empathy, rev
Slide 46: Thanks! Let's Connect.
| rgp.com | rgp.com Thanks! Let’s Connect. A red A red A red A red x on square play and button Jennifer Jones Chief Marketing Officer jjones@rgp.com A /jennifergardnerjones red John Runberg Timothy Tickle Associate Director, Strategy Senior Director, Finance Transformation jrunberg@rgp.com tim.tickl