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Dr. Daniel Spindler, head of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Services, responsible for the Siemens Finance and Accounting Shared Service Center in Brussels from May 1, 2009. Siemens, which first came to light in 1994. His area of responsibility includes different control functions for the industry to Regensburg, as well as Global Procurement and Logistics at Monaco of Bavaria. Two trips abroad in China and Canada, enabling cross-cultural experiences. In 2004 he received a PhD at theUniversity of Regensburg for his research in the field of fair value accounting under IFRS. From 2005 to 2007 he was responsible for the implementation of IFRS the Group Energy, Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group in Erlangen, and Siemens VDO Automotive Group in Frankfurt. Moreover, he was involved in preparing the IPO for SiemensVDO.
Prior to his appointment at Siemens Healthcare, has worked for more than two years for Audi in Ingolstadt, where he was inThe responsibility of the group in external relations. Addition, he was responsible for company-wide introduction of SAP-BCS consolidation system.
SSON: Siemens Healthcare Diagnostic Services (SHDS) has gone through a lot of changes, particularly with the post-merger integration. You might say a little 'program change?
Dr. Daniel Spindler: Siemens is generally very high standards and guidelines on compliance and corporate communications.There is a very intense following requirements in terms of monthly reporting to our headquarters in Monaco of Bavaria business. Siemens will also provide detailed post-merger, which covers new business, you become familiar with the landscape Siemens, there is a list of about 16 pages explaining what each company has implemented and respected. If implemented all instructions, and then followed a company is capable of that part of the world Siemens.
After the merger, people also needbe placed on the road. To achieve this goal, we have many meetings, how many days of welcome for beginners or Town Hall meetings for the whole team. Furthermore, it was for the understanding of culture Siemens' and values important to move towards the establishment Siemens regional companies in Brussels. Before the transfer we were not together by Siemens and still feel and behave like other companies. Now we can easily connect with all my colleagues, such as business services, Siemens Belgium andLegal, tax or real estate.
SSON: Daniel, what are the main drivers of change in the program, and as supported by Capgemini Consulting?
DS: The main driving force behind the change program was the change in mentality. There was a change in the direction of the world Siemens, and their IT systems, in which we have benefited greatly from the support of Capgemini Consulting. A major project was for example the implementation of the road Siemens' accounts (COA). Previously, we had theDade Behring CoA, but in mid-October 2009 was the go-live for the Siemens-CoA. Now we have in our system, local SAP, Siemens-CoA, and we need more from the accounts of the former Dade Behring, Siemens convert accounts. This was a very important step in meeting the basic requirements, such as Siemens calls on all units throughout the world for the use of this CoA Corporate.
Furthermore, we run through the 3D program, which means that all acquisitions that Siemens has madeover the past three years, the development of diagnostic activities, are migrated into single units. In each country concerned, the three former entities – DPC, Bayer Diagnostics and Dade Behring – must be combined. In this context, not just a series of mergers that must be made legal, but also for the finances of the side of the posts should be merged. We also have a lot of support from Capgemini Consulting in this project.
SSON: What processes have been standardizedacquired by Capgemini Consulting, Siemens, Bayer Diagnostics Division, Dade Behring and DPC?
DS: a high degree of standardization for financial and accounting matters as the implementation of Siemens-CoA and is the 3D program, the consultancy Capgemini with us to make this a success.
SSON: How much time is needed to integrate and standardize the two existing shared service centers, in Legacy LandActivities?
DS: The transfer of Global Shared Services (GSS) center, Siemens is not yet complete. The former Bayer Diagnostics, part of which is currently served by GSS, is carved up the middle of 2010.
SSON: Can you explain, which was established there and how long did it take to integrate and standardize on that?
DS: As mentioned, the three companies acquired by Siemens DPC, Bayer Diagnostics and DadeBehring until the end of 2007. After the acquisition is part of Bayer Diagnostics waiting GSS, while the former Dade Behring are contracting the Shared Service Center in Brussels. Now, almost two years later, we are still in the process of migration and integration. However, to make the top is usually the most important thing to integrate too, but it also offers the ability to standardize, and take this opportunity to do so now.
SSON: How long did it takeIntegration of shared service centers and legacy of contract action taken?
DS: To date we have worked on this about two years, and will be completed in 2010. If the 3D program was completed by all entities to operate an SAP platform. In addition, all requirements Siemens' compliance, and the requirements for SOA already in place.
SSON: I think this can be completed by mid 2010 – is thatcorrect?
DS: Yes, the 3D program yet complete, but there are still some countries that are still being migrated a. We plan to complete the hikes in June 2010. We wander from country to country, and that takes time, because everyone needs to prepare for migration and are being implemented. Overall, it takes about two and a half.
SSON: What are the biggest challenges have been here, and as Capgemini ConsultingHelp?
DS: The main challenges were the IT and financial adjustments, and secondly, the start-up phase associated personnel. As mentioned earlier, is essential for all facilities to meet the requirements of Siemens), but the acquired companies do not meet all these requirements in the past (eg, compliance rules very broad and rigorous. Siemens has offered a number of requirements Specific compliance and SOX404 and, as everyone knows, was received from Siemensvery hard time for bribery and corruption. In this context, Siemens has installed a very high barriers to prevent corruption and corruption in the future. This means that many processes are very strict and require a lot of paperwork, and many of the signing of permits. All for the implementation of this requires time and Capgemini Consulting has supported us, for example in 3D program.
SSON: Do you mean that the challenges were mainly technical and people related to(When I say "in connection with the people", I mean, change management)?
DS: I would say that the problems were all linked first of all very technical, but the changes were driven by people, so that the challenges were too many people are related. People need all the new technological requirements, which are mainly in SAP systems to understand very complex and complicated to be. In the early years, we have eConverter tool known as an interface between a manualour local SAP system and the Siemens SAP Business Consolidation System (BCS ie Esprit Siemens). As a result of this are technical changes, the people were, of course, trained and prepared, it was important to provide the required knowledge and background information. It 'been a difficult task, a lot of new people from different countries for training. Because of the enormous technical changes also had a strong impact on the people involved. One thing is connected to the others.
SSON: AndWill not be the greatest challenges in the negotiation of agreements on the level of service?
DS: We recently went through the process of updating our SLA, because they were obsolete after almost ten years in power. This SLA no longer meet the legal, tax or transfer pricing needs of Siemens. Therefore, we are currently aligning our SLA with Siemens and an initiative launched to update our SLA with the help of Capgemini Consulting. We have developed a new system of chargingModel for our taxes, which was agreed with our clients. In the past we had a model of all sales of clearing, as we now move to a volume or a transaction-based model. This model is a big change, and we expect large gains in efficiency out of it.
SSON: Daniel, how to avoid negative reactions in negotiations on the SLA?
DS: Above all, we all change and especially the model of charging is very transparent, we also made the marketComparison, when we analyzed the market prices of competitors. We also have our business in line with prices charged by the GSS Siemens. Therefore, we are now adapted to house prices and market prices. Our entire collection is more than our actual costs and provides a reasonable premium.
Overall, the amount of charge has no impact on the level of the Siemens group, because it is purely an internal investigation. With the new SLA, we just change the mapping between ourCustomers during the entire amount of discharge will remain unchanged. When you move away from a business based on sales of a model, for sure, some companies may increase in the future with lower fees, while the other charges. But in general, nothing changes for our division, it is only the allocation to the customer that changes. This leads to individual interviews with our customers, especially if they are ever more taxes in the future. Since prices are based on GSS andassessments of external market, are competitively priced and reflect the services provided.
SSON: How does the organization will look like now? I mean, what do tips for a smooth transition?
DS: Siemens has three different areas: Energy, Industry and Healthcare. In addition, there are cross sector services, where for example, GSS heard. Siemens has a lot of shared service centers in the GSS, which operates worldwide. GSSProvision of services for all sectors, as they are called cross-sectoral services.
SSON: For members of organizations who are reading this thinking of a merger with other organizations, what advice would you give for a smooth transition?
DS: I think communication is the key to success, because with a lack of communication, people are not just from what must be done knowingly and how. The difficulty is that our mergerthere was the former diagnostics companies and in this context, there was nothing to be involved in this – it was a newly created division of three companies acquired in different continents and cultures, and with three different IT systems. This new Diagnostics Division has about 3.5 billion euros in sales and over ten thousand people are at work now.
Because this area is fairly new, it's also very exciting. The diagnosis is very different from all otherSiemens divisions. In particular, the Minister of Finance is headquartered in the United States, while all other services are located in Germany. This means Diagnostics is a completely different culture and philosophy. And, as is always the case, it is important that all people work together more closely, especially in this situation, after the merger. It 'very important that all persons with appropriate knowledge and is not sufficient for only a few e-mail or instructions. It 'really important that peopleExperience with Siemens Skip to local sites and help implement all the rules.
I noticed that even after a year and a half ago, to understand some people are not completely to finish as the end of work processes. If you do not explain the whole process for you, as you know, might be wrong or missing in what part of the process? We have the experience of cases in which the parts of the standard processes are not yet implemented, which led to unnecessarily large amount of manualEfforts. Therefore, someone should be, until all the tools and processes available fully implemented and people are trained. Here again, communication is the most important thing, especially if one imagines that a small unit is a very large and complex company like Siemens. Certainly not so easy to contact the right people. There are so many different business functions and most of them are based in Germany. For the people is often difficult to find the correctContact person for questions.
SSON: Why decide to go to Siemens Diagnostics, and to take three different areas of the consolidated company?
DS: That'sa very good question, the strategy, Siemens, this business of the promise of an aging population the mega trend "and its increasing demand for health services is derived. Siemens has historically been very strong in the traditional business image, that is is, in vivo diagnostics and inWorkflow and IT solutions. In-vivo to photograph the human body, such as ultrasound or CT scan. However, an integrated provider of health care, it was also decided in the field of operation in-vitro diagnostics, ie, the substances from the body, such as fluids and blood are analyzed. Now, with images, and diagnostic workflow and IT solutions, Siemens can offer the full range of diagnostics. So come in vitro and in vivo diagnostics and to cooperateThis has the advantage that, for example, salespeople can also offer in vitro in vivo, and vice versa. With this approach, the sales department of each department access to many customers and clients across the full range of products obtained from a report.
SSON: What functions are consolidated in SAP?
DS: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, cash and banks, clearing and inter-companyFixed assets are surely the most important functions. The SAP also offers a full range of finance and accounting, procurement, logistics and sales. By Accounting & Finance are the main parts, based on SAP, while the only exception is a source of data for internal management reports, which is still different from other systems outside of SAP. However, it is our goal that must be handled with all the requirements of reporting in SAP. For example, we have our monthly one closinglocal SAP system, which is then loaded into Esprit. Esprit Group consolidated figures are then at the end.
SSON: It was easy to implement this?
DS: It seems reasonable to ask how difficult it was. It 'was quite difficult, actually, because all three companies had several ex-CoA. In addition, Siemens is already their SAP systems not specially adapted to the needs of a society for the special electronicDiagnostic needs of the book business. Although parts of the SAP landscape to what was Dade Behring are similar, there is still a wide gap between the systems. For example, not our local SAP system is not yet on the development of codes or functional areas. Besides these examples, there are outstanding issues which are needed: in the last stage – that is our objective, automated interface between our SAP system and SAP local BCS. Without this interface, we must convert the data andperform many manual adjustments within an interface called converter E. This can be replaced only a temporary solution and needs. With the second implementation phase of analysis, we also want to implement this interface automatically.
SSON: What are your priorities for shared services in the next five years? I understand that Capgemini Consulting Your partner has to change in the program – you see them support to achieve your futurePlans?
DS: Yes, we are very pleased with our collaboration with Capgemini Consulting. In retrospect, I can say that there is always a great need for advice, especially when we're talking about a very dynamic company like Siemens is a company with a lot of M & A activity, and therefore a lot of changes. I can well imagine that the current SAP platform diagnosis to the end of Siemens systems are already running on health services will be integratedSector. Currently, there are various SAP systems and different business models in the healthcare market, which must grow together.
SSON: And how long do you think you're going to be held?
DS: It depends mainly on how long the current SAP systems, which are tailored for diagnostics, are available, probably in the next two or three years.
SSON: So, if the SAP developed to enable work on the same platform –then you can be lifted and integrated?
DS: Exactly, and the Diagnostics Division in the business classic health supplement a common platform is the critical factor of success.
SSON: A long road ahead of them, but it seems you have done so much over the last two years anyway.
DS: We have much, but this is only the basis for new tasks to be done. Now we have to take the next steps, and a forthcomingbig step is to adapt to the current Siemens SAP systems. For cost reasons, it makes sense in the end, run on a platform Siemens SAP.
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