Payal Maggo, Senior Manager, Technology Consulting, tells us about her role, why change management is so important to business transformation, and what she’s currently reading with her son.
“The biggest challenge to business transformation is change management.”
Hi Payal. What’s your role at KPMG – and what does it involve?
I run the operations for Powered Enterprise in the UK: that’s our unique approach to technology-enabled business transformation.
It’s my job to make sure we’re growing our business and delivering best practice for clients. I decide where to invest to grow the Powered business, and ensure we have the leadership and governance in place to make it happen.
I’m also taking on a new role as strategy and growth lead for our alliances. We have strong alliances with all the main technology vendors. So whether clients use Microsoft, Oracle, Workday or another, we have a ready-made methodology for the platform they’re on.
I work with our Head of Alliances to identify new vendors to bring onstream, and decide which of our partners’ propositions to focus on.
So, a big focus on tech transformation. What are the most exciting technologies you’re seeing at the moment?
For me, it’s the software-as-a-service cloud solutions that provide IT support infrastructure to handle the technical backend of a system.
This is the stuff that underpins any transformation. And it can provide scalability without incurring large investment costs in infrastructure. That allows companies to focus more on the value adding apps – the tech that will provide exciting customer experiences – rather than managing the backend aspect of the systems. So, for me, that’s really exciting.
In the work you do with our clients, what have you found they struggle with most when it comes to business transformation?
There are a couple of things.
The first is simply knowing where to start. That’s where Powered Enterprise comes in: it gives clients a starting point and a structure to their transformation programmes.
But I think the biggest challenge is change management. Organisations worry about the potential change that transformation brings along with it. For example, we’ll often see resistance from employees to learn new technologies or change their ways of working. And there may be some concerns over the impact on jobs.
Change needs to be embedded from the outset. But it’s often ignored early in the transformation journey. Once again, Powered helps here. We help our clients see that there's a bigger piece of work that needs to be done for their transformation to succeed. It’s not just about implementing the tech.
How does KPMG make the difference for clients in your view?
I think the difference is our people. They’re the reason why our clients keep coming back to us. And they’re the reason why KPMG is one of the most trusted organisations when it comes to transformation.
We’re transparent and authentic in our dealings with clients, and we stay true to our values.
If a project takes us into an area that’s beyond the team’s skills and expertise, we’ll say so, and then we’ll find a solution. We won’t pretend we have something we don’t. We don’t act as just a system implementer for our clients. We act like a true partner, by being part of their end-to-end transformation journey.
So, tell us about a project you’re really proud of …
I’m really proud of my current project, which is called Project Empowered.
We have a fantastic team of 300 people looking at the cloud-based transformation of multiple systems.
I've had the opportunity to play a few different roles on the project over the last two years – the one I’m on now being the most complicated and exciting. And I’ve also had the opportunity to work with a big team across multiple geographies, including the UK, Germany, Ukraine and India. So, I get to learn from people in different countries, in different time zones, facing different situations in their respective areas.
I’m learning a huge amount and it’s a really exciting project. The learnings from this project will be used to create a go-to-market approach and end-to-end implementation for similar projects externally.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
There are lots of things about my job that keep me motivated.
Playing multiple roles in the organisation is one of them. Working with great team members who live by KPMG values and demonstrate this in their day-to-day working life. Having a workplace that feels like a second home is a great place to be in. Talking to clients, helping them to solve problems. The satisfaction of keeping up with the organisation’s brand. Doing a good job. And most importantly, learning something new every day. Topmost in the list is the fact that KPMG allows me to be me, and manage my personal responsibilities well.
These things give me a strong sense of accomplishment and are my Ikigai!
Last question. What do you do outside of KPMG?
As a full-time working mum, I spend a lot of time helping my son with his studies. He’s learning new subjects in school, and I love to learn along with him!
We both read fiction books together – we’re currently reading C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.
I like to read my own stuff and sometimes write too. Besides this, talking to family back home in India and just taking one-day at a time.
