Old Mutual elevates finance team to strategic partner with Dynamics 365 Finance

With more than 100 companies across 12 countries, Old Mutual required a unified platform to provide real-time visibility and insights across the organization.

Old Mutual selected Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance to standardize financial processes, enhance visibility, and unlock new insights through automation and AI.

Old Mutual leadership now makes data-driven decisions with real-time financial reporting, while the finance team uses the time saved through automation to focus on strategic insights.

With more than 100 regulated companies across 12 countries (primarily in Africa), Old Mutual recognized an opportunity to unlock its full potential. A leading financial services provider, Old Mutual offers customers insurance products, pension and wealth fund management, investment, banking services, and more. The regulatory complexities and diverse cultural landscapes across these regions “makes things interesting,” chuckles Donald van der Merwe, Program Executive for Old Mutual Africa.

Recognizing the value of accurate, real-time financial data

“Traditionally, finance teams are often viewed as bookkeepers”, notes van der Merwe. But the wealth of data they manage holds immense potential to inform strategic decisions on a global scale. “When we examine decision making within an organization, it all comes down to the data, including the financial data,” explains van der Merwe. “However, without a seamless end-to-end view, without a golden thread that ties all the data together, leadership faces limitations in making fully informed decisions.”

Standardizing and modernizing

Faced with varying general ledger systems, internal processes, and standards across companies, Old Mutual’s leadership team saw a powerful opportunity for transformation. The solution? Bringing every company onto a unified financial management platform. This decision standardized key financial processes with a single design for the chart of accounts. The team also introduced automated processes across the organization, ensuring a seamless, end-to-end view of financial and performance data for more precise comparisons.

It became clear that we needed a single source of truth. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance provided a powerful, flexible, and configurable platform to meet this need.

Donald van der Merwe, Program Executive, Old Mutual

The vision was clear: real-time, accurate financial reporting to empower leadership with data-driven insights. “Standardization was essential to achieving this,” says van der Merwe. “It became clear that we needed a single source of truth. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance provided a powerful, flexible, and configurable platform to meet this need.” He adds, “A significant benefit of Dynamics 365 is the internal controls embedded within the system, ensuring consistent workflows, mitigating risks, maintaining compliance, and preventing fraud.” Automation has further enhanced accuracy, security, and transparency across the organization.

A significant benefit of Dynamics 365 Finance is the internal controls embedded within the system, ensuring consistent workflows, mitigating risks, maintaining compliance, and preventing fraud.

Donald van der Merwe, Program Executive, Old Mutual

Working closely with Microsoft Gold competency partner Braintree, Old Mutual successfully deployed Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance across all its businesses. Despite the complexity of operating across multiple countries, Old Mutual ensured careful adherence to change management best practices, completing the implementation in under four years.

Improving accuracy, gaining visibility

With Dynamics 365 Finance fully operational, Old Mutual leadership now enjoys enhanced visibility into the organization’s performance. “It’s like driving down a clear highway on a bright, sunny day,” says van der Merwe. “The ability to access near real-time data reporting and monitor business performance has been transformative. Knowing where we are and how things are running at any time is critical for strategic decision making.”

Dynamics 365 has not only elevated the role of finance to a strategic level but has also delivered impressive efficiency gains. Tasks such as uploading and reconciling bank transactions, which once took up to five days, are now completed in just half a day thanks to automation and integration features. "Now we’ve gained four and a half days to focus on surfacing insights for the business,” explains van der Merwe. This shift has freed up valuable time for the finance team to focus on more strategic, high-value activities that drive business growth.

As Old Mutual continues to benefit from this transformation, van der Merwe envisions the company further expanding its capabilities by integrating more AI tools. “Our next step is to use AI, predictive analytics, and forecasting to make even more informed, data-driven decisions.” With this solid foundation in place, Old Mutual is well positioned to continue capitalizing on future opportunities.

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