The Client

Innovating for Healthier Communities

As one of the world’s largest and most diversified healthcare products corporations, this U.S.-headquartered perennial Fortune 50 enterprise has focused on creating solutions for infectious diseases, improving global health equity, and developing pharmaceutical products to enhance the quality of life worldwide. 

The Situation

Supply Chain Initiative Uncovers Finance Expertise Gap 

In the midst of the global pandemic, this healthcare leader was forced to reconfigure business operations, which included transforming its supply chain. However, the corporation’s supply chain and finance leaders discovered they had a finance expertise gap.

Although the corporation needed an experienced subject matter expert to fill the gap rapidly, the Director of Finance for the pharmaceutical supply chain division determined traditional full-time hiring, management consulting firms, and temporary staffing models were too slow, inflexible, ineffective, and costly.

‍The Solution 

Leverage a Proven On-Demand Talent Model 

To address this challenge, the Director decided to take a fresh approach. After evaluating alternatives to traditional staffing models, he decided to pursue Graphite’s proven on-demand talent acquisition model to locate and onboard an appropriate subject matter expert in a matter of days.

Upon contacting Graphite, the Director was matched with an experienced account manager. The healthcare corporation’s dedicated account manager explained how Graphite’s platform could seamlessly connect the corporation with 2-4 curated finance experts from a pool of over 9,000 independent experts with deep finance expertise at a range of Fortune 500 enterprises, including healthcare, logistics, and related industries.

Key requirements identified

Keen to onboard the right expertise quickly, the Director and account manager partnered to determine the project’s scope, as well as fine-tune project specifications. Key project requirements were: 

• Digital-first corporate finance expert
• Zero-based budget expertise at complex organizations
• Ability to work in partnership with non-finance business leaders
• Financial modeling, management and reporting
• Proficiency with Alteryx, Foresight, PowerBI, and Tableau
• Experience in manufacturing, life sciences, transportation/logistics sectors
• 9 month project commitment

AI-driven, personalized assistance for rapid expert selection

Once the corporation’s needs were determined, the account manager used Graphite’s AI-driven platform to identify multiple candidates. Next, the account manager filtered the list, met personally with the most appropriate candidates, and, within 48 hours, presented the Director with the top two independent experts who offered the right expertise, pricing, and availability.

Next, the Director, along with a panel of key corporate stakeholders, conducted live virtual interviews with the candidates using Graphite’s in-app messaging and meeting room features. 

Meanwhile, the Graphite account manager simultaneously collaborated with the corporation’s vendor management team to establish appropriate contracting arrangements. A managed services agreement (MSA) was selected, which ensured the chosen independent expert could begin working rapidly and compliantly.  

Ultimately, the Director and his colleagues selected an independent expert with over 15  years of experience at respected enterprises such as Cardinal Health, CIT Commercial Bank, and American Water.

‍The Results

Facilitate Global Supply Chain Transformation 

With the experts selected, the corporation’s account manager introduced the Director to his dedicated Graphite Customer Success Manager, who facilitated onboarding. This was completed within 12 days of contacting Graphite.  

The independent expert immediately began adding significant value to the supply chain transformation team by utilizing her competencies in order to:

• Apply advanced analytics to supply chain and logistics transformation needs
• Complete complex finance modeling to facilitate project and investment decision making
• Develop business driver-based financial forecasts in Foresight for financial planning & analysis (FP&A)
• Utilize zero-based budget principles for daily finance management tasks
• Conduct project accounting activities
• Prepare monthly and quarterly financial statements help the business achieve targets
• Engage successfully with non-finance line-of-business and executive leadership
• Deliver appropriate presentations to various stakeholders

Throughout the duration of the engagement, the Graphite account team regularly gathered status updates from the expert and the corporation to ensure that all was proceeding appropriately, milestones were met, and goals accomplished.

Smooth, professional, cost-effective experience end-to-end

Over the course of the project, the healthcare products corporation realized multiple benefits from partnering with Graphite, including:

• Acquire and onboard the right talent in a matter of days.
• Gain an experienced corporate finance professional with over 15 years of experience.
• Enable business transformation by receiving exceptional digital-first, analytics-powered finance support.
• Achieve significant cost savings with Graphite’s proven, streamlined on-demand talent acquisition model.
• Tap into a 9,000+ pool of fully-vetted independent experts for immediate and potential expertise needs in the future.
• Receive detailed project tracking on the Graphite platform, including deliverables completed, tasks performed, and work hours submitted.