Published: December 15, 2023
Lonneke's journey has been incredibly exciting, to say the least. She embarked on her career in Digital Finance Consulting, transitioning from a basic financial background to obtaining a Certification in Management Accounting. She mastered another legacy CPM tool before joining AMCO and initiating her journey with OneStream. Her adventure further extended as she transitioned from one country to another. Lonneke continues to inspire all of us to embrace change and take on challenges!
Can you tell us briefly about you and the path that led you to your career in AMCO Solutions?
When I started studying I had no idea what I wanted to be, I knew I liked the beta classes in school and social interaction. Therefore I started my Bachelor Technical Business administration and later on followed by my Master International Business.
Directly out of University I got a job offered by my previous employer as an EPM Junior Consultant. I honestly did not know exactly what it entailed, but I did know that it had my interests of technical challenge and using my social skills.
I did not have the strongest financial background when I started in the EPM field, but I gained a lot of knowledge through working & training, which led me to get my Certification in Management Accounting.
I now have been in the EPM field for over 9 years, it’s an area that is constantly evolving, which means you never stop learning and feeling challenged.
What is the most fulfilling part of your role as a CPM consultant?
I love that I can geek out in my work and be socially challenged. Not a single customer or application is the same, that means it’s never a copy paste and it feels like solving a new puzzle each time.
We work very close together with our customers and therefore build strong and genuine relationships, we really become part of the team. Getting to understand their needs and struggles and to transform those into solutions that ease their daily job.
How does your current role at AMCO compares to previous roles you’ve had before joining us?
I feel my previous roles have been a natural sequence, with each step in your career you just gain a bit more responsibility and require some more technical knowledge.
I did switch to AMCO 4 years ago, the EPM software I was working with was going out of support, which required me to change my focus and learn a new tool anyhow. I had the possibility to stay within SAP and make a small jump or do a bigger jump towards OneStream. I felt OneStream was way more ahead and I wanted to get on that moving train. Furthermore I always wanted to work more internationally (I did study international business for a reason), which was never a possibility at my previous employer. A soon as I started at AMCO I straight away had my first project in Ireland, shortly followed by a project in the UK and many more.
Aside from working international projects I now got the opportunity to trade the Benelux entity for the Danish entity for a year. Which allows me to switch countries, but stay within the comfort of my own working field and like minded colleagues.
As a CPM Consultant, how did you find the switch from one tool to another, in this case from SAP BPC to OneStream?
I was expecting it to be harder than it actually was, I did switch software and coding languages. It feels like finding the new ways when you move to another city, you know in basis how things should work, but how and where is something you still need to discover.
When I started I went straight into the basic application training which helped kick start my journey, afterwards I got a lot of support from multiple colleagues to make OneStream my own. Today there is even a full training course available from AMCO, so I assume that nowadays the transition would be even smoother.
Can you highlight some of the notable projects you've worked on at AMCO Solutions? What have you learned at your job… and how have you grown as a person?
I was lucky enough to be part of a wide range of projects, both planning and consolidation. I started at AMCO with my planning project at Carbery in Ireland, which allowed me to get to know OneStream better, without having to get into major technical solutions straight away. After Carbery I was part of the first phase of the Cytiva project in the U.K., this was a really big and complex project, where I had the opportunity to work alongside very experienced colleagues from design to implementation. The next project after Cytiva was Nutreco, a Dutch customer which whom I had worked with in the past. As projects progressed my roles within each projects grew, at Nutreco I worked very closely with the financial controllers to implement parts of their consolidation solution. Before my move to Copenhagen I got to be part of the large project at KLM, KLM had been a running project for multiple years and therefore the challenge was to absorb all the project knowledge as fast as possible, at KLM I was responsible for various planning solutions like Capex en Crew related costs.
AMCO really tries to give me projects that are beneficial to my carreer path and short term goals I have set for myself. Aside from projects AMCO also give me the opportunity to do more, like being involved at the global onboarding of new employees, support my personal projects as an active member at JCI (Junior Chamber International).
What is the company culture like, and how does it resonate with your own values? Anything fun that you’d love to share?
If I would describe the culture in 3 words I would say: Teamwork, Caring, and down to earth.
I really feel like all of us are working together, people are happy to help out even if you are not on the same project, people are busy but never too busy to not help another person out.
Especially during the pandemic I got to experience the caring side of AMCO, I only had worked there for 6 months when the pandemic hit. I am such an extrovert and therefore I hate being alone, the amount of personal messages I received from both direct colleagues and the management is very heart warming. People checking in if you are okay.
Down to earth, people are all equal no matter where you are from or what your position is. Your opinion and ideas matter and you are allowed to speak out and they will take it seriously. I have the tendency to have outburst of ideas, in my first month I suggested a ski-trip and I offered to organise it, long story short, in march we are leaving for our 4th AMCO ski-trip. I also had a suggestion about facilities I thought we needed at AMCO (prayer room, breastfeeding), they investigate and implement it straight away.
Especially during the pandemic I got to experience the caring side of AMCO, I only had worked there for 6 months when the pandemic hit. I am such an extrovert and therefore I hate being alone, the amount of personal messages I received from both direct colleagues and the management is very heart warming. People checking in if you are okay.
Down to earth, people are all equal no matter where you are from or what your position is. Your opinion and ideas matter and you are allowed to speak out and they will take it seriously. I have the tendency to have outburst of ideas, in my first month I suggested a ski-trip and I offered to organise it, long story short, in march we are leaving for our 4th AMCO ski-trip. I also had a suggestion about facilities I thought we needed at AMCO (prayer room, breastfeeding), they investigate and implement it straight away.
What is the benefit of working here that not many people know about?
AMCO is in one of the best OneStream partners for a reason, we have a bunch a very talented smart people. Also the more seasoned colleagues are never tired of learning new stuff or gaining new insights from everybody, the goal is always finding the best solution.
As an example coming from SAP I had sometimes a different way of setting up solutions, instead of saying that it was wrong, it was always investigated, sometimes my ideas were better other times the AMCO standards.
Due to this mindset I think you get a wider understanding of all the possibilities within in the software and why some things work and why other things don’t.
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