Make the difference hub › Raymond Campbell
“One of the major advantages of working with KPMG on tech-enabled transformation in the Caribbean is that our people are not only professionally qualified and have local knowledge of the region, but they also have a vested personal interest in seeing their local communities and countries thrive.”
Discover why Raymond is excited about leading change and leveraging technology to make the difference across KPMG’s Caricom region.
Please describe your role at KPMG and the kind of work you do.
I lead the advisory and consulting business for KPMG in Caricom, which covers Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago. My role involves interpreting and leveraging the firm’s global strategy and applying it to the Caribbean context. On a daily basis, you will find me working very closely with my team of professionals to deliver the right solutions to our clients based on their unique needs.
How do KPMG teams use technology to drive value for clients?
Technology is at the heart of what we do at KPMG, and we use it in two fundamental ways to deliver value to our clients.
First, technology enables our team of professionals to work at a higher quality and standard and provide faster results and greater insights to our clients. Secondly, we implement technology solutions that strengthen our clients’ internal efficiency and boost their employee and customer satisfaction.
What are some of the challenges organizations might face when implementing digital transformation initiatives?
The truth is that all transformations face similar challenges. In my experience, some of the common obstacles that organizations encounter include: a lack of a clearly defined success, failure to measure progress, and uncertainty around the expected business value that a digital transformation project will produce for the organization.
From my point of view, you know that an organization may have challenges along its digital transformation journey if technology decisions are not based on priorities and there’s strong evidence of ineffective governance.
To overcome these challenges, it is crucial for clients to first build their confidence that “the new world” is better than “the old world”. This means that they must maintain sufficient pace of change to prevent the forces of inertia from sowing the seeds of failure while winning the buy-in of stakeholders to ensure that they too can manage the pace of change. That’s where we come in. Our diverse pool of expertise cuts through these challenges to set up our clients’ digital transformation journey for success.
What excites you most about leading our KPMG people?
For me, seeing our people embody the firm’s values of integrity, excellence, and courage, together and for better while delivering services to clients is highly satisfying, but if I were to identify just one thing that excites me the most, it would be having a front row seat to my team members’ growth and actualization. When Junior Associates join my team for example, and I coach them to achieve their developmental goals and they continue to rise through the professional ranks to become engagement leaders years later- as a leader, there’s hardly anything more fulfilling.
“The scope for improved outcomes in all aspects of lives across the Caribbean means that there is untapped economic growth, but that’s if we are brave enough to embrace the benefits that technology and digital transformation can bring.”
- Raymond Campbell, KPMG Caricom
It’s imperative for organizations in the Caribbean to embrace digital transformation, what’s your assessment of progress in the region relative to others?
In some ways the Caribbean is lagging the most advanced regions and countries when it comes to embracing digital transformation, but at the same time, we are in many respects punching above our weight. I think on balance it is safe to say we are not where we need to be, and that the scope for improvement in better citizenship and customer service is vast.
The scope for improved outcomes in all aspects of lives across the Caribbean means that there is untapped economic growth, but that’s if we are brave enough to embrace the benefits that technology and digital transformation can bring.
Why would an organization choose to work with KPMG on tech-enabled transformation?
I believe that KPMG is uniquely positioned to help clients with tech-enabled transformation.
Given the rapid changes in technology over the last decade, KPMG has invested heavily in the deployment of technologies such as AI, data analytics, automation, and cloud computing to deliver significant value to our clients and enhance their business operating models.
It’s not just the technology for us, our people drive all that we do and are our greatest asset. One of the major advantages of working with KPMG on tech-enabled transformation in the Caribbean is that our people are not only professionally qualified and have local knowledge of the region, but they also have a vested personal interest in seeing their local communities and countries thrive. With a presence in the Caribbean that spans over 100 years, our longevity has equipped us with a comprehensive understanding of the nuances and complexities of the region so that we can deliver real value to our clients.
Being a part of a global network that we can leverage at any time also works in our clients’ favor. What you find is that we have international standards, know-how, and technology solutions at our fingertips that help our clients to avoid many pitfalls and manage business risks when developing individual bespoke solutions.
