A day in the life of… Luke Thomas

The journey began roughly two and a half years ago with a call from a recruiter named Dan. Dan called me with an opportunity as a financial analyst in the shared service department of The Charmer Sunbelt Group. The opportunity sounded intriguing on many levels, most notably in that it was an innovative atmosphere that would allow me to leverage my SAP, financial, and analytical skills. I scrounged the world-wide-web for information about The Charmer Sunbelt Group only to come up short. Their home web page, which has since been redesigned, offered only the obvious information - that they were a wholesaler of beverages that operated in multiple states. About ten minutes into the interview, I knew that this was a perfect fit for my skill set and interests. *Read more 'A day in the life... ' articles It took me weeks to explain to family and friends that The Charmer Sunbelt Group was not the local tool rental company and that I actually did work in a corporate environment. Within the first week, I was tasked with developing a T&E audit process, learning how to use an OCR system that integrates with SAP, and taking ownership of quarterly and monthly scorecards for the shared service organization. Although I was familiar with T&E audits, I had only vaguely heard of the terms OCR and scorecards. OCR (optical character recognition) and scorecards were just the beginning of the ever-changing process improvement and metrics world that I had been thrown into. I was suddenly using the analytical skills that I had honed through years of education and professional experience. I was tracking cost per transaction, error rates, transactions processed, and strategic sourcing savings for the scorecard used by key decision makers for the shared service organization. As I have shifted roles to be a part of the evolving Information Technology team of the shared services organization, each day offers new and different challenges. My first task was to create a similar scorecard metric system incorporating IT metrics such as tickets closed versus tickets opened; resource utilization; investment by functional area; and change requests by functional area. As part of a SAP implementation team, my shared services experience is taking on a whole new shape. The IT function of shared services demands a more balanced approach to offering customer service to the different operating units, while also satisfying the goals and metrics laid out by IT management. "At times it can be frustrating to have multiple bosses; however, it has helped develop interpersonal skills that are invaluable." At times it can be frustrating to have multiple bosses; however, it has helped develop interpersonal skills that are invaluable. The daily status updates, status meetings, hours tracking, and never-ending email correspondence can be tedious; however, all of these things combined allow key decision makers to address issues and resource allocation needs. These combined with an expected level of customer service, help shape the perception of IT as well the entire shared service organization. The perception of shared services is essential when dealing with users from 15 different states, including varying time-zones. Outside of the daily challenges and constant change management surrounding a shared service organization, The Charmer Sunbelt offers a diverse and exciting culture. The activities committee offers events such as the annual Halloween costume contest, pot luck lunches, and the annual crab feast. Yes, we do have an activities committee! The diverse culture coupled with evolving daily challenges make the shared services organization of The Charmer Sunbelt Group an exciting place to work.

A day in the life of… Luke Thomas

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