Senior Living Group is the Belgian market leader in the private market of residential care centers. Their finance operations are largely decentralized in Belgium, into the residential care centers themselves or in hubs, in order to work closely together with the business. We talked to Wendy Genijn, CFO at Senior Living Group, about her experience with TriFinance.
“To be honest, I never supported the idea of working with consultants myself. Our business is quite complex. It requires quite some time and energy to fully induce employees. The return of investment would be too low in case of temporary support”, explains Wendy Genijn, CFO at Senior Living Group. “But we have grown quickly. As a result, you demand a lot of flexibility from your employees. If someone in the team drops out, for example due to maternity leave, you cannot ask them to take on extra tasks.”
Partnership
The first collaboration with TriFinance for temporary support started in 2019, with project consultant Elke Slegers strengthening the cluster in Brussels and Flemish Brabant as Financial Controller. “For me, that first collaboration was crucial for a possible sequel. If this went well, I would be open to a partnership ”, Wendy emphasizes. And so the collaboration continued. In February 2020 project consultant Kevin Bellekens started working as GL Bookkeeper at the head office.
In Kevin's first project at Senior Living Group, he focused on the tasks of the Corporate Bookkeeper, who took on a new role as Treasury Manager. “In addition to my daily tasks, I was also able to actively contribute to automation and (process) optimization. This first successful project gave me the opportunity to start a second project at Senior Living Group within the controlling team.”
Thanks to the size of the organization and the differences in the range of responsibilities, no two projects are the same. I started as GL Bookkeeper and progressed to Controller, fully in line with my ambition.
In this next assignment, his focus was on guaranteeing continuity within the controlling department of hub Geel. “As a Financial/Business Controller at SLG, you have a very exciting and challenging set of tasks,” says Kevin. Over a period of six months, he performed the monthly closing, reforecast and multi-year budget for seven entities under the supervision of the Senior Financial Controller. “In addition, the corona crisis put extra pressure on residential care centers. The controlling team took on all administrative tasks in the context of various Covid-19 governmental subsidies in order to the operational team was burdened as little as possible. ” With the support Kevin received from his technical mentor within TriFinance, he can look back on two successful projects.
TriFinance guarantees continuity and great flexibility. That is one of the main reasons why I chose TriFinance as a partner.
Continuity is crucial
At the beginning of 2021, Kevin started on his third project at Senior Living Group in the Noord-Antwerpen hub. “Kevin is starting to know how our company works. I see that as a major advantage. Moreover, he knows how to pick things up and we are satisfied with his work, ”explains Wendy Genijn. “But I realize that Kevin has opted for consultancy for the variety in his work environment. I understand that he will eventually want to discover new horizons. Fortunately, TriFinance guarantees continuity. That is also one of the main reasons why I chose TriFinance as a partner. ” For Kevin, who already has a first work experience in audit, this is a good furthering trajectory. “Thanks to the size of the organization and the differences in the range of responsibilities, no two projects are the same. Senior Living Group has offered me the opportunity to grow from GL Bookkeeper to Controller, fully in line with my ambition. ”
Power BI
TriFinance and Senior Living Group are no strangers to each other. In 2019, Senior Living Group partnered with TriFinance for the implementation of Power BI to give the Belgian management team more insight into financial and operational figures. This project is currently in its final phase.
