Finance Team Manager at Kerridge Commercial Systems South Africa

About Job

Kerridge Commercial Systems is a market leader in the development and provision of trading and financial software environments for specialist Distribution, Wholesale, Merchant and Retail industry sectors, addressing single or multi-branch operations, as well as catering for organisations with 'point-of-sale' showrooms and warehouses

The PSG Department provides consultancy services to the Kerridge CS application software.  The Department also provides customers with a wide variety of other services including the installation of new software and customer training

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Support team members with business discovery, training and implementation of KCS systems mainly at customer sites, delivering consultancy services, focusing on ERP Implementations in particular.  

• Provide the team with the relevant support and mentoring to meet their individual needs

• Identify and replicate problems that require a software change by Development

• Work in conjunction with the Project Managers to plan resources and projects efficiently

• Work with other departments and customer, during the implementation to provide solutions to the customer

• Manage all aspects of the day-to-day operation of the team 

• Ensure the team provides customers with an efficient, professional high quality Service in accordance with the KCS Values

• Assist team to resolve problems and queries

• Build and develop good relationships with Customers and other KCS Departments

• Support, motivate and develop the team

• Ensure the team receive the necessary training

• The role involves travel to customer sites and may also include travel to our offices overseas. 

• The Team Managers main duties and responsibilities will be:

• Ensuring that the Team provides an efficient high quality Service in accordance with the KCS Values

• Pro-actively taking an overview of the Project Delivery  provided by the Team, addressing any issues as necessary

• Monitoring the Teams on a regular basis and in particular:
   - Ensuring that the team scheduling is accurate and planned efficiently
   - Reviewing all Team members performance on a regular  basis and offering guidance and advice where necessary
   - Ensuring the workload is evenly distributed amongst the team and the team members undertake a wide variety of tasks
   - Ensuring the team provides effective correct and prompt consultancy to our clients

• Identifying personnel with specific training needs or with the potential to develop further, and implementing a training plan 

• Developing the team members so they can provide professional Consultancy and Customer Training 

• Ensuring the team work together as a team and adopt a more pro-active approach to communicate effectively and building good customer relationships

• Ensuring that the Team provides the appropriate Consultancy assistance to the KCS foreign offices and other KCS departments,

• Ensuring the team follows and applies the standard KCS Procedures and Practices

• Pro-actively and regularly reviewing the skill base and composition of the team to ensure the optimum Service is delivered, making best use of resources and recommending changes as appropriate 

• Alerting the PSG Director and / or Project Managers as necessary regarding any Team issues or problems, and dealing with these when appropriate

• Pro-actively undertaking a wide variety of Consultancy work following the correct procedures and practices

• Continually and pro-actively acquiring and retaining knowledge of KCS products and systems and encouraging other Consultants to do this

• Pro-actively adding to and using the internal set of tools such as Intranet to gain and share knowledge and encouraging other Consultants to do this

• Improving relationships with customers, and when necessary acting as a key contact for customers, preparing for and attending meetings as required

• Effectively handling complaints and call escalation requests from customers, referring any serious complaints to the PSG Director and or Project Managers 

• Work with the other colleagues and managers to ensure that a consistent approach is adopted to projects at all times by all members of the PSG teams

• Pro-actively analysing the work undertaken by the team and identifying ways in which we can improve the efficiencies

• Assisting the management team to review implementations and revise or develop new PSG Procedures, ensuring that all PSG personnel are aware of these

• Assisting the PSG Director to recruit new PSG personnel 

• Alerting Senior personnel and the management team as necessary regarding any sensitive customer issues

• Taking the initiative and identifying ways in which the Implementations Department can be improved and work with the management team to implement new initiatives

• Undertaking any other projects as required by the PSG Director

Knowledge and Experience

• A minimum of 2 years’ experience working as an implementer for software house or senior experience gained in the relevant finance sector of business.

• Experience in managing an effective Finance Team

• Proficient in Microsoft Office and producing high quality documentation (consultancy documents i.e. Visit Forms, Visit Notes and business cases including business discovery and producing system specifications) 

• Extensive experience in a customer-focused role in a service oriented environment

• A good knowledge of Finance Practices

• Exposure   or qualification in PRINCE 2 or other recognised project methodology

• Experience of mentoring and/or assisting to develop PSG personnel 

Job Function Competencies

• Direction and Clarity - To provide clear roles and responsibilities to individuals and teams and aligning them with organisational goals and objectives.

• Planning - To create timelines for tasks and identify resources required and risks.

• Organising - To systematically arrange resources (human and other) in such a manner that planned activities can be achieved.

• Managing Operations and Budgets - To apply management principles and financial principles to optimise operational development areas.

• Team Working - To work collaboratively with others; building and maintaining relationships with team members; constructively resolving conflict; being respectful of others’ views and their contributions; meeting team commitments and targets.

• Communication - This competency involves conveying verbal and written information clearly, effectively and in an expressive manner; changing communication styles to suite the intended audience; maintaining suitable tone and speed; ensuring two-way communication through active listening and effective expression of information.

Personal Skills Required

• Strong leadership, motivational and coaching skills

• Ability to talk to all levels of customer (from end user to Directors)

• Possess good investigation skills to tackle unfamiliar problems using previous experience within the role

• Systematic and logical approach to problem solving

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate meaningfully at both board and end user level. 

• Be professional, organised and be able to prioritise and manage workload

• Adaptable, positive and pro-active

• Able to work under pressure

• Be calm under pressure and manage stressful situations

• Be organised and manage workload efficiently

• Strong customer service skills

• Ability to delegate and supervise activities and tasks. 

• Good listener

• Special Conditions: This role requires you to have a valid driver’s license and a suitable vehicle to drive long distances.