Establishing an Automation Center of Excellence (COE) for a Multinational Personal Finance Company

A multinational personal finance company initiated its automation journey with high expectations - equipped with a top-tier automation platform and a modern IT environment. Yet, due to data silos, spreadsheet-heavy workflows, and limited integration across non-critical applications, automation adoption in the finance department remained low during the first year.

• Low ROI in Year 1 – Limited success despite having a leading automation platform
• Unclear Use Case Identification – Difficulty quantifying costs, benefits, and aligning leadership support
• Resource Constraints – Competing priorities made it difficult to dedicate staff, time, and budget to automation
• Integration Complexity – Automating across fragmented systems demanded significant technical training and support

• ✓Define the scope and strategic purpose of the COE to align with business needs
• ✓Establish a governance model for decision-making, funding, and leadership involvement
• ✓Define roles and responsibilities for COE members, including leads and SMEs
• ✓Create success metrics to track COE performance and automation impact
• ✓Communicate the value proposition of the COE across the organization to drive buy-in and innovation

The Xalta team engaged deeply with the client to design, build, and operationalize the Automation COE - conducting readiness assessments, delivering training, and implementing a structured intake-to-delivery process.

This engagement helped transform automation from a siloed initiative into a strategic capability - one that fosters innovation, efficiency, and measurable business value across the finance function.