Financial Controller to Business Solutions Consultant

Linda Kynoch joined Telefónica Tech 4 years ago as a Senior Business Solutions Consultant after a successful career in Finance. We caught up with her to find out her story.

 

What is a Business Solutions Consultant?

In my role as a business consultant I work with customers and assist them with the implementation, testing and training of Microsoft Dynamics AX finance modules. Then once the client has gone LIVE with the system my role changes to a support role, to help them get the most of the system and to continue to train and support them.

 

What is your Background?

My Background is in Finance. I worked for a couple of oil service companies as Financial Controller. I really found myself in finance by chance – when I left school my first job was an admin clerk, an opportunity came up in finance and I never looked back. I was career minded and was in the right place at the right time for promotions.

 

Why did you leave finance for a consulting role with Telefónica Tech?

It was time for a new challenge. My previous roles were very repetitive. The first 2 weeks of the month were month end, the next week payroll and then a catch up week before the routine repeated itself the following month. I wanted to try something that would challenge me and keep challenging me.

 

I had been a business user of a number of different finance systems including Sun, Great Plains and Microsoft Dynamics AX. I had been heavily involved in implementing these solutions as a customer which gave me the confidence to move over to a digital services company like Telefónica Tech.

 

Would you describe yourself as a techie?

Ha, not at all! I wasn’t technical when I joined and I am still not technical now. Telefónica Tech has a large technical community that I lean on whenever something gets beyond my knowledge base. My area is finance and that is predominantly where my role still sits.
I would say that the solutions we work with are so large and complex it is almost impossible to learn them all. I think having used them helped give me a head start but I had barely been scratching the surface with the functionality available.

 

What made you choose Telefónica Tech?

A couple of reasons;
Work life balance – I was fed up of working weekends and as a mother I wanted to spend more time with my family.
Supportive team – I had worked with some of the Telefónica Tech team before and I knew that they would support me. As I was going to try something completely different it was important for me to have people around me to help me transition into the new role.

 

How was the move to a consultant?

I was a bit nervous about it, I had never been customer facing before and having to stand up and speak was new to me, but once you try it a few times it becomes second nature.

 

I also quickly found that I was still mostly talking about finance, just like my previous roles. My job is about helping businesses with the financial side of things, advising them on the best way to improve their finance function through the technology they have, assisting them with the implementation, testing the system fits their needs and training their staff.

 

I love the variety and the challenge of the role, every day is different, you have a new customer with a new set of problems to solve and I get great satisfaction from driving value and helping businesses make steps forward.

 

Interesting in following in Linda’s footsteps? Check out our current opportunities.