Intro/Outro (00:01):
Welcome to Digital Transformers, the show that connects you with what you need to build, manage, and operate your digital supply chain. Join your host in a timely discussion on new and future business models with industry leading executives. The show will reveal global customer expectations, real world deployment challenges, and the value of advanced business technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotic process engineering. And now we bring you digital transformers.
Kevin L. Jackson (00:32):
Hello everyone. It’s Kevin L. Jackson of Digital Transformers. We’re here on the road at Orlando at SAP Sapphire, having the opportunity to meet some of their leading customers who have been leveraging S four HANA in order to implement digital transformation in their companies. Clemencia, how you doing today?
Clemencia Vera (00:57):
I’m doing great, thank you.
Kevin L. Jackson (00:58):
Oh, thanks for joining me here. Can you tell me a little bit a about, uh, you, you,
Clemencia Vera (01:03):
I’ve been with nine dot a year exactly. Uhhuh to, to the day. Um, and it’s been a wonderful journey, uh, with them and developing the entire finance function for them.
Kevin L. Jackson (01:11):
Wow. What prepared you for this? Where did you, uh, you know, you must have had a pretty successful career to get to where you are.
Clemencia Vera (01:19):
<laugh>. Thank you. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities. Um, my, my career started in the typical accounting and finance space. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and moved into energy, uh, by accident, I say, and I’m purposefully staying in it now, <laugh>. So I had the pleasure of working with, uh, Brookfield most recently and was part of their digital transformation initiatives. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and worked with a lot of world class collaborators and, um, saw what it takes to create a greenfield space of technology and why it’s important to, not just the digital footprint, but for the operations of the organization.
Kevin L. Jackson (01:56):
How does, how does this really been affected by the transition and move, uh, towards green energy, uh, with respect to your customers, the goals of the organization and, and how you manage the, the, the finances?
Clemencia Vera (02:13):
Yeah. We’re, we’re a purpose driven industry, so we’re, we’re lucky in that sense. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but we are very complex and even at a young stage, like my organization, yeah. We’re, we’re only a couple of years old, but we’re small and complicated very quickly. And what we need is to really start to build a foundation for growing that organization and having tools that help us with agility and scalability that will prepare us to go from a team of 10 to a team of 50 and how to use wow. People in a smart way have where they can add value and really leverage the automation cap capabilities that exist with products like, um, Ana,
Kevin L. Jackson (02:56):
So your, your business model must be to be really intimate with your customers and, and clients. How, and you leverage us for Hana from SAP for that. How does it help you in, in, in that area?
Clemencia Vera (03:09):
I think being able to have really reliable data that we can call upon and have comfort and confidence when we speak with customers and give them visibility and transparency into what we’re doing for them, how we’re doing it. And finance is, is my area of expertise. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So get, knowing that I am a hundred percent sure and, and the reliability of what we’re giving them and, um, what they’re ultimately looking for us is really helpful in developing that co, uh, relationship with them, especially in early stages when we’re just meeting them for the first time.
Kevin L. Jackson (03:43):
Well, you said you have a very, you know, complex and it sounds really complex of what you’re doing, but you must have a lot of partners that you, you work with. How does this, uh, sort of fold into your digital transformation plan?
Clemencia Vera (04:00):
We, we are lucky that we have so much support right now mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the government space and in the policy space. There’s also still a lot of questions. And so having, having the ability to use something that’s very agile when we have guidance from, um, the government at X mm-hmm. But tomorrow can be Y <laugh> or maybe it’s Y 1.2.
Kevin L. Jackson (04:25):
Yeah. The government doesn’t really, uh, tend to not change. They change things often, don’t they?
Clemencia Vera (04:30):
They do. They do. And so I feel really good that we’re building a foundation in the finance area that we can pivot if we need to, but we’re still using best in class standard solutions out of the box that aren’t gonna require a high level of customization later mm-hmm. <affirmative> to meet our needs. And so for me, that’s important because I know that I can take my team and we can be self-reliant in a way, having those partners that help us get there and that help us continue to move, but that we’re not, we’re not stuck with a product that won’t be able to move with us.
Kevin L. Jackson (05:07):
You mentioned government, the first thing that popped in my mind is compliance. Because if you’re working with anything, it has to do with, with the government, the, the very first thing they’re gonna ask is, how are you compliant with X, Y, Z? Um, I could imagine in the financial space that could be nerve wracking
Clemencia Vera (05:25):
<laugh>. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think for, for me, that’s one of the reasons that complexity stands out in, in my space. Yeah. Because it’s complexity and compliance. It’s complexity in transactions, it’s, uh, complexity and execution. So when you are dealing with that many variables, it’s so important to be able to have a reliable framework and backbone of the organization to be able to, um, drive the business that you’re trying to do for the purpose that you’re trying to do it, to get the customer’s needs met that you’re ultimately trying to do at the end of the day.
Kevin L. Jackson (06:02):
So this, this must, um, actually mean a lot with respect to your relationship with SAP and how you leverages for hana. When, when changes come down the pike, um, how does that affect your use of, of the software, uh, and your relationship with sap? Is it something that Yeah. Causes friction? <laugh>? I can,
Clemencia Vera (06:27):
Yeah. No, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s a good point because I think the, the partnership with, uh, with sap Oh, okay. It’s super important. They, I think mutually we understand that we need different things. Yeah. But we need to come together and communicate at the right time with the right cadence. And so communication is very important to me with both SAP and our external third party partners that also help us with implementing the different products that we’re looking at for, for, um, the organization. Uh, so it, it can get, there can be friction mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I think having that well established line of communication and knowing that we’re in it together is really what helps us drive forward and kind of prevent those hiccups. And when you, when the hiccups come up, you work through them.
Kevin L. Jackson (07:15):
Yeah. Like I said, it’s, um, as long as you have a partner that you can work with, it seems like no challenge is really insurmountable.
Clemencia Vera (07:24):
I agree. I agree. That’s very core to who nine.is as well. We, we are a team environment, and I think anything that you approach with that mentality, and we do that with, with sap mm-hmm. <affirmative> with any other partners that we work with very closely. It’s, uh, it’s not a one man show. And so it’s really gonna, it takes, it takes the partnerships that we’ve developed and cultivated to get us to what we need to do
Kevin L. Jackson (07:48):
From a geographic point of view. Where does Nine Dot operate?
Clemencia Vera (07:52):
We’re New York centered. Okay. So all of our projects right now at the moment in Pipeline is in New York City. We’re urban focused and, um, one of the leaders in New York City right now with energy storage, uh, products, uh, and projects that are hopefully coming online, um, in the coming years. So it’s, um, a long term investment and commitment to the city of New York. And, um, I’m very proud of that, living in the city and knowing a little bit more when I turned on my lights. What’s going on behind the scenes? <laugh>?
Kevin L. Jackson (08:24):
Yeah. I mean, I used to live in Manhattan for a while and worked on, uh, at JP Morgan Chase, but, um, so, uh, I really enjoy living in the city, <laugh>, to be honest. But that’s very high pace. And New York is actually known for leaning forward in the, in, in energy, um, is at a very, um, high stress business environment that you’re, you’re operating in. They, they must expect a lot from you.
Clemencia Vera (08:51):
It, it, it can be, um, it, it can be stressful. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it’s, it’s stressful because there’s so many components to what we’re doing. And, um, I guess back to the partnership part, right. Point of view, we have so many different partners, both within ourselves, within the city of New York, external to New York, private public sector, individuals that we work with. Um, so the pace is fast mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but we are very centered in the values that we have at the organization, and we like to think that we are kind of the innovators in the space for the city. And it’s a, it’s a driver for a lot of the people that I work with and work alongside. So it’s, uh, it makes the pace a little more bearable.
Kevin L. Jackson (09:32):
<laugh>, do you consider yourself a born in the cloud company, or,
Clemencia Vera (09:36):
Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I had the pleasure of seeing what that, what that looks like in an organization. We did. We had a green greenfield space. Yeah. So, um, IM driving that conversation in the organization and really posing a lot of questions to how we wanna do things and how we wanna innovate. Obviously in the finance space, that’s where we’re starting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and that’s a very logical place. We, we went from nothing to sap, and it can be a little jarring, uh, if you are not used to that type of structured environment and tools and, um, uh, partners that to work with. But I think that everybody’s been very open and receptive to seeing what does digital mean for nine point. And, uh, it’s a journey that we’re, we’re on right now. <laugh>,
Kevin L. Jackson (10:24):
Continuous journey.
Clemencia Vera (10:24):
Continuous journey.
Kevin L. Jackson (10:26):
Yes. Say so. Um, you know, last night I was at a reception and somebody asked me, when you, when someone says sap, what do you think? And one of the first things that sort of jumped in my mind was complexity. How, but if you’re working a complex business like you are, you, you kind of need that complexity,
Clemencia Vera (10:48):
Both of you. Yeah. I, I think, um, I, I share that. I, I do think when, I think sap complexity is a common word, <laugh>, um, but we’re used to it at nine point, I suppose, Uhhuh. So, um, to me it was comforting and knowing that we, we are putting in hard work at the front end and at the beginning to then get to reliable, repeatable processes that will then allow the people that I work with think big and to focus on the ideas and, and the value outside of what the day-to-day is and continue to enhance.
Kevin L. Jackson (11:19):
So as a born in the cloud company, what does digital transformation mean to you? <laugh>, you’re not going from Yeah. You know, a, uh, paper and pencil environment, uh, you know, the legacy type of, of platform. Many people think digital transformation is about going from legacy to some new world. But what does it mean to you? I mean, you’re, you’re, you’re clearly doing it.
Clemencia Vera (11:45):
It’s, uh, maybe, maybe the better term for us is a digital formation.
Kevin L. Jackson (11:49):
Ah, okay. That’s better. I like that term. I
Clemencia Vera (11:51):
Think it’s, uh, we’re lucky that we’re not having to go from something to something else. Uhhuh. It’s also hard to do that because now you’re also combining something that’s very tangible and execution focused. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> with the ideas. And it’s, it’s a marriage of those two things, of being able to have the vision of what you want to build in the organization, and knowing that you have a lot of freedom, but having the framework in place that you’re gonna be able to use to create something from nothing, and really leverage it to scale and to be agile as you’re trying to build a company as well.
Kevin L. Jackson (12:32):
So does the, the structure that SAP sort of, um, overlays your, your ideas and, and your vision is, do you feel that, you know, restricting in any way or restrictive, or is it, um, sort of like, um, a framework, a template that helps you do things better and faster?
Clemencia Vera (12:55):
I like the idea of a framework as a way to describe it, because that’s, that’s really what it, it offers us mm-hmm. <affirmative> and with so much ambiguity when there’s nothing, having something to lay down and work around Right, right. Is, is useful and helpful to, um, not only the people in the finance function, but to the whole team at nine point who is really, we’re relying on each other to be experts in our space. And so having, having SAP help us Yeah. Be good at what we are doing gives us a, a bit of a relief in, in the day-to-day.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:29):
So they truly are a partner to you?
Clemencia Vera (13:31):
They are. They are.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:32):
Okay. So what would be your recommendation for, uh, another company, maybe in the energy field or in a another industry vertical that, uh, trying to maybe transform from a legacy, legacy platform, uh, in order to become all digital? What would be your, your suggestion to them?
Clemencia Vera (13:56):
I would, I would say to really start with understanding what your, what your purpose is for your organization. Okay. What are you trying to accomplish and goal? What’s your goal exactly. What are, who do you wanna be when you grow up and who can help you get there? And really understanding what type of partner you need is key because there’s, there’s a lot of solutions in the space, and there’s a lot of different industries for the energy industry specifically, because we’re so complex. Having a, a solid framework that is very out of the box focused while still allowing you the flexibility to use when you’re young in, in your life lifetime of the org is, is important because it, it brings you, um, a a sense of where you can get to and a path that you can follow at different stages. So understanding that if you are already big, yeah. Then that you’re gonna stay big, likely. But if you are an organization like mine, like nine point where you’re starting very small and hope to become very large, having the foresight to know what those different stages are gonna look like and what you’ll need is gonna be really important to make sure that you’re choosing the right, um, cloud partners, the right implementation partners, and asking yourself the right questions as a business of what’s, what you, what you need and when you’re gonna need it.
Kevin L. Jackson (15:23):
This may be a little, um, I guess off script, but, uh, many people that have tried to go to the cloud, the big issue is not the technology or really the business, but it’s the people, uh, shifting a, a mindset. Yeah. Uh, did you, did you notice this or, uh, as you are trying to, um, yeah. You know, uh, adopt, or not really adopt, but, but formation, uh, uh, digital formation.
Clemencia Vera (15:53):
Yeah. Um, I, I’ve seen it where I am now. I’ve seen it in, in my last, um, uh, roles, uhhuh. And it’s really combining the, the technology people and process together. And you can’t ignore any one of those three from the triangle. And I, I do think that understanding, understanding your people and where they’re coming from helps you guide the conversation how it needs to go. I’m working with individuals that have never done any sort of digital transformation, so making sure that I have that foresight and that I build patients amongst the, the team mm-hmm. <affirmative> is important. Um, so that they have an, an ability to know what’s coming when, and that it’s not all gonna happen overnight. And also focusing on what are our processes. It’s, it’s not the tool that’s gonna solve all of our business complexities. It’s gonna help us to then overcome those complexities through additional processes and putting in, um, opportunities for us to build new ways to do things. So, um, thinking outside the box like nine do likes to do, that’s
Kevin L. Jackson (17:00):
What it
Clemencia Vera (17:00):
Is, huh? That’s exactly, it’s, uh, thinking outside the box is what helps us really leverage all three of those, those things together. But, um, I, I appreciate you bringing that up because it’s, the technology is, is paramount, but without the people and without the processes in place, it’s, it doesn’t, it could be the best solution and it doesn’t work well.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:21):
Wow. I, I love your, your vision and your enthusiasm <laugh> for what is obviously a, a a difficult task and difficult job. So, um, and, and wrapping up, how can their audience, you know, learn more about nine dot, uh, and maybe even reach out, reach out to you and, and learn more about how you have managed to, uh, to, to accomplish these feats?
Clemencia Vera (17:47):
Yeah, absolutely. I, I welcome everyone to visit our, our, uh, webpage and to reach out that way. And I’m always, the, the beauty of being small is every message gets to you <laugh>. So, um, happy to take any questions. And, and I do love talking about it because I’ve, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly, and you get through it and it builds camaraderie amongst your, your team. So it’s a beautiful way to do it.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:11):
But thank you very much for coming by and, uh, spending the time and what obviously is a very, uh, busy week. Absolutely. So, absolutely. Thank you for having me. No, thank you. Uh, learn more about nine do by visiting their website. And, uh, I guess you’re on LinkedIn. That’s
Clemencia Vera (18:28):
Right. I’m on LinkedIn as well.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:29):
Uh, and check out CIA on, uh, LinkedIn. Uh, with that said, uh, thank you very much for, for joining us on Digital Transformers, and we’ll see you at our next opportunity to talk, uh, to a digital transformation or digital formation leader <laugh>. Have a great day.
Intro/Outro (18:50):
Thank you for supporting Digital Transformers and for being a part of our global supply chain now community. Please check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com. Make sure you subscribe to Digital Transformers anywhere you listen to or view the show, and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Digital Transformers.
