Lawson James
a Finance Transformation Leader

A Crisis Averted Through Foresight and Flexibility

They were in crisis

Lawson James was working with a large government agency’s fifteen-year-old financial system that was quickly approaching the end of its life. The heavily customized system covered Financials, Projects, Supply Chain, Human Resources, and Payroll processes would no longer be supported by Oracle. Two different system integrators who were hired to migrate them to the next supported release had already failed. The client realized that a Project Manager (PM)/Solution Architect (SA) was needed to provide an unbiased perspective for any future work regarding the system. Luckily, they found Lawson, the PM/SA they needed.

Lawson earned his degree in finance from Baruch College in NYC and started his career as a programmer. Over the years, he has been awarded multiple Outstanding Leadership awards. He complemented his education with various training and certifications programs, including Data Analytics, Oracle Project Management, and GAAP & FERC Accounting, along with a certification as a life coach through Accomplishment Coaching.

As a Project Manager and consultant who specializes in implementing Oracle Joint Venture Management and the suite of products within Oracle Project Management (Oracle Project Foundation, Oracle Project Costing, Oracle Project Contracts & Project Billing), Lawson James closely works with clients to understand their corporate goals and, where appropriate, assist them in moving to a project-centric culture. He has proven himself instrumental as a PM/SA in advising and servicing clients regarding financial systems and he leads day-to-day efforts to execute on-time delivery of projects of varying sizes.

Through the RFP process, the agency requested proposals for a single PM/SA to outline their approach, conduct a current state assessment, and ultimately lead the work. The PM/SA was to provide a perspective on how artifacts from the failed projects could be leveraged to fast track future work.

Lawson’s unique approach was what won him the client. He believes that a PM/SA should not only present the client with solutions as requested, but also, envision better options. The agency wanted to reuse old methodologies and artifacts onto a new project, but Lawson could see that simply reusing material could lead to a higher probability of another failure. Lawson realized the other consultants had failed because they tried to give the client what they asked for, rather than being straight with them about what they needed.

Lawson presented the client with facts. It would take months for one consultant to conduct an assessment, additionally, one individual would never have the specialized knowledge covering all subject areas.

He suggested bringing on a team of subject matter experts to conduct an assessment to evaluate the current state of each application, leveraging material when possible and revamping others to gain a better outcome. Lawson’s alternative presented the client with an unbiased path forward, with alternative options which varied in cost. When asked why he made such an ambitious proposal, he simply said, “If the client is well informed, they will, ultimately, make the right decision.”

Once the work began, the agency’s lead shared that they appreciated his response because Lawson’s response included other options and confirmed that the internal project team even considered some of these other options that Lawson provided that weren’t included as a part of the RFP request.

Yet the agency’s broader client team was skeptical that one consultant could make the difference that the other big name consulting companies could not. Lawson’s diverse heritage as an African American and West Indian, his time spent living in various red and blue states, as well as living and working in Asia, has reinforced his belief in the importance of listening and appreciating organizational and civic cultures while absorbing a diverse range of opinions when approaching any project or collaboration.

These are all deep-rooted beliefs rooted in the Jamaican motto, “out of many we are one.” Lawson’s consistent ability to work across the government agency, creative use of technology, and personal authenticity turned nay-sayers into advocates for the project and for Lawson. The project was completed on time.

Lawson shares that his aim is to always focus and prepare the client for what comes next, both internally, for the company, and for the industry at large. This involves being prepared for the continued advancements of cloud systems, which he believes hold a host of benefits for clients. These benefits include eliminating the need for companies to house their own infrastructure which ultimately reduces maintenance costs of these systems. More importantly cloud systems better position companies to accept new functionality as they are deployed.

Yet some companies have learned the painful lesson that they cannot simply take a lift-and- shift approach and assume existing processes will work the same in cloud-based systems. Cloud based systems offer so many configurable options that, for a project to be successful, great care must be taken in understanding the pros and cons of each option and the impact to associated business processes. Lawson adds, “It may appear to be daunting that a single configurable checkbox could have significant unintended consequences, but there are tremendous benefits for clients to implement cloud-based systems.”

While the government agency was not ready for the cloud given complexities around payroll processes, Lawson believes they will be in a few years. However, thinking ahead, he ensured the client was positioned to migrate to the cloud by eliminating the need for many custom processes and adopting standard ones wherever possible. This, he believes, has positioned them to be shifted easily when the agency is ready.

Lawson elaborated, “This level of flexibility is essential as clients, now more than ever, are demanding more from their IT consultants. The role of a consultant has changed.

Historically, the consultant focused on ‘clicking the buttons.’ But, with more and more businesses moving their ERP/Finance systems to the Cloud, clients now look for consultants to be coaches capable of speaking to their culture, their business processes, and industry best practices. Concurrently, clients are also seeking consultants who are experts in the systems being implemented who can speak to and align these processes to the intricacies of the technology being implemented. When consultants come in prepared with an open mind and a willingness to listen that they make themselves indispensable.”

We are sure that Lawson will continue to meet that challenge and provide cutting edge technology, with a keen eye to company culture, client success, and the future. Lawson’s dedication and commitment to client success will continue to serve his clients well as he progresses in his career. If you would like to reach Lawson, you can do so on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/lloydlawsonjames/