RMIG: A digitalisation journey with overview and transparency as the destination

Three weeks can make a huge difference when the course is set towards a digital transformation. This became clear to Jette Lykke Møller, CFO of the company RMIG, who moved from a lack of clarity in the month-end closing processes across borders to a comprehensive, digital overview. And the journey has only just begun. 

As you step into the reception at Industrivej 40 in Ballerup, you will find a large display of square metal plates. One plate has tiny round holes, another has wide square ones, and a third features expressive, almost cross-like holes. And it continues like this. A diversity in both decoration and functionality, revealing the expertise of the company at this address. Here lies the world's largest company in metal perforation ‒ a Danish industrial firm with over 100 years of history, named RMIG.  

Even though the company is experienced, market-leading and has production and subsidiaries in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and England, it has lagged somewhat in the digital field. Particularly, streamlining the internal controls in finance has been an area in need of an update.  

”If I am to be completely honest, I think the first time we talked about optimising internal controls was 10 years ago. It has been a bit of a troublesome ghost, and there has always been something else that needed prioritising and therefore received the attention.” 

These words come from Jette Lykke Møller, who, with her 23 years at RMIG, has truly witnessed the company's development. She began her career as a group controller in finance and has held roles such as finance manager and operations manager, before being appointed CFO in the summer of 2023. Shortly thereafter, digitalisation was pushed high up the priority list. 

”When I was appointed just over a year ago, I decided that we should embark on a transformation and digitalisation journey. We came from a somewhat old-fashioned setup. For example, if we had an overtime hour in production just a year ago, it involved writing an overtime slip on paper. We were not very digital in that respect,” she says. 

One specific area that required digital transformation at RMIG was the periodic accounting. Without streamlined processes and with different approaches at various locations across Europe, it was time-consuming for Jette Lykke Møller to maintain an overview of the internal controls in the closing process across the entire organisation.   

”When you have many subsidiaries, things quickly become somewhat siloed, with everyone doing things their own way. I really wanted to challenge this, and I wanted a better overview of the risks we had in connection with our monthly accounts."  

RMIG's transformation journey actually began with the magazine you are now holding. In an article about the digitalisation of the month-end closing process, Jette Lykke Møller read that embarking on a digitalisation process as a CFO does not have to be an overwhelming journey. In fact, three weeks can work wonders. And from there, things progressed rapidly.  

In three weeks during April and May 2024, RMIG, with the help of Basico's transformation consultants, conducted three workshops. Already during the first workshop, where financial managers from the Swedish, German and English branches flew to Denmark, Jette Lykke Møller could feel that the first major steps of the transformation journey were being taken.  

They sat down with a mixed list of about 80 different tasks and controls that constituted the existing closing processes across the entire organisation. It turned out that some were inherited from a distant past, some were home-grown in a subsidiary, and others were simply redundant work.   

”I certainly found out that there were quite a few people doing things in their own ways. Some had developed their own systems and Excel sheets and were doing things that were not necessary at all," says the CFO, continuing: 

”Already in the first workshop, we defined what was important and what was not, and we scoped that we ideally needed to use between 15 and 25 controls. From there, it was about identifying the most essential ones.”

For everyone involved in the process, digitalising internal financial processes can quickly be perceived as a tedious compliance exercise, conducted solely to satisfy management or auditors. Therefore, there is a good point in dividing the transformation project into short three-week phases. This way, work is done in manageable sprints, ensuring that motivation remains intact, and the process is efficient and energised. 

”I liked the idea of seeing what we could achieve in three weeks – just to set a framework from the start. From there, we could buy another three weeks if needed," says the CFO from RMIG.  

”After the first workshop, we left with a lot of energy and belief in the process. The elephant was not as overwhelming after all. We had begun the digitalisation journey in a positive way, and the most important thing was actually that the employees were included," says Jette Lykke Møller, who also emphasises that the entire transformation journey is a pure change management exercise. Engaging the employees is absolutely crucial for a successful process. 

”As a leader, it is really about including people. It has been very important for me to be open and receptive to their suggestions, so it does not become a corporate process. However, as a leader, you sometimes need to cut through, as it can occasionally turn into a bit of a discussion club," she says with a smile. 

On 1 May, RMIG went live with their new digital month-end closing system. The fact that they moved relatively quickly from workshops to system-supported transformation – and thus turned ambitions into reality – holds a valuable point. This approach prevented it from feeling like a big leap they had to gear up for when transitioning to a new digital system. And the fact that it did not work 100% optimally from the start was not necessarily a negative thing. On the contrary, it provided an opportunity to test the system, allowing for continuous optimisation and improvement. 

The choice fell on the system tool Impero, where employees now find a closing process consisting of 20 sharply defined controls. As CFO, the key word in this context is overview. Jette Lykke Møller emphasises this repeatedly – whether mentioning provisions, cash flow or investments.   

”It has really provided a good overview that we did not have before, and which is now documented via the system instead of on various Excel sheets. I have an overview of the risks and any outstanding issues. I can monitor whether deadlines are being met. For me, there is reassurance in knowing that we agree on the controls and are doing it the same way," says a pleased CFO, who also emphasises the importance of having external resources on board when undertaking a transformation.

”The entire design around the sprint process was important, but so was having a facilitator available. Having someone who looks at things objectively and asks the right questions when we, as a group of finance managers, are together is an incredibly important role. We certainly would not have achieved our goals in three weeks on our own," she says 

The digital transformation journey for the month-end closing process at RMIG is now a few months in. For Jette Lykke Møller, it has already provided many valuable insights and results, as well as ambitions for the future. Specifically, her goal is to push the reporting forward by one day – from the fourth working day of the week to the third.   

”My goal is that, in principle, we have all the hardcore facts and data by the third day. This gives me an extra day to conduct analyses, quality checks and challenge the figures. The aim is to achieve this before the year ends," she says, emphasising that it is about freeing up time to delve deeper into where optimisation and investment can occur.

”The point is precisely that we should not spend too much time on these practical, daily routines, but rather challenge and uncover the story behind the numbers.” 

Jette Lykke Møller dreams of using Impero in the future for other digital control tasks, such as IT controls, ESG reporting and self-assessment regarding product responsibility. In this way, RMIG’s digital transformation journey has only just begun and still has many exciting destinations ahead. For now, she is simply pleased that she was not daunted by the digitalisation journey as an overwhelming elephant.  

”Just the fact that we can genuinely say we have documented internal controls – for the first time in 10 years – is significant. And the fact that we have standardised and systematised it was another major part of it. So, I actually think we have already taken a big step. Maybe not in three weeks, but we are definitely well on our way."