IMC’s success is founded on an entrepreneurial spirit, innovative culture, and the use of cutting-edge technologies. This has enabled technologists and traders to team up to explore, design, and develop software, hardware advanced networks, and algorithms to help drive the group’s highly automated systems and progressive trading strategies.
With ambitious growth plans, IMC recognized the limitations and constraints of its legacy systems in 2012, when it had just 400 employees. It was at this time the group began its journey with Workday. The successful introduction of Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) was quickly followed by Workday Recruitment, Workday Expenses, Workday Procurement, Workday Adaptive Planning and, more recently, Workday Extend.
“One of the main reasons we chose Workday is that it is a fully integrated system that is built from the ground up,” says Tim Hall, the company’s global head of Group Operations. “We wanted a solution that would not only align with our own technologies and the dynamic nature of our business, but that would also provide flexibility and positive support as the business scaled up. That’s precisely what we’ve achieved, so we’re very happy we chose Workday.”
Positive support for a growing and dynamic business.
Innovation is very much part of the DNA for IMC and great care is taken to encourage and foster a “flat” culture that is supportive of an innovative and empowered mindset. This applies to both the trading and technology areas of the business and has provided the cornerstone of IMC’s successful growth.
Having one source for financial, people, and operational data that is used by all offices has supported the company as it has grown. “Knowing we have a consistent and reliable support system that will flex and grow with us is very reassuring,” says Hall. “We are now nearly four times the size that we were when we first introduced Workday. However, every stage of our growth over the past decade has been progressive and seamless without the inevitable upheaval or disruption caused by major operational changes or service transformation.”
It is no exaggeration to say that Workday has not only supported our commitment to continuous improvement and corporate expansion, but has also actually helped our business to grow.
Tim Hall, Global Head of Group Operations, IMC Trading
Technology-led efficiency gains at the heart of the business.
IMC is a technology-driven business that develops its own trading strategies, pricing algorithms, software, and high-speed networks to trade on the financial markets across the globe. Consequently, it recognizes the value of data and insight and is already capitalizing on AI and machine learning (ML) to maximize trading efficiencies. It is the same story when it comes to financial management and HR.
Here, the company is using Workday to leverage similar advantages and continues to explore operational gains from new technology-led capabilities. The Workday journal insights feature within Workday Financial Planning, for example, uses AI and ML to provide invaluable extra insight such as identifying any data anomalies.
The company has also taken full advantage of system upgrades that provide clear operational benefits for such a global business. The HR and finance teams routinely monitor and assess forthcoming updates and, according to Hall, it is now much easier to stay ahead of the technology curve.
“It is important to know what is on the horizon so that you don’t have to play catch-up or miss anything that could make a very real and immediate difference. Upgrades were a nightmare with our legacy on-premise systems, as it could take up to 2 years to test everything and there was always a risk of disruption. With Workday, we now have everything in the cloud and we enjoy a close working relationship with the Workday support team, so the introduction of any new functionality is painless and a productive and positive step forward.”
Having the finger on the pulse of continuous forward planning.
Keen to overcome the limitations and challenges of an annual planning process as well as gain competitive advantage, IMC introduced Workday Adaptive Planning in 2014 to automate and streamline this area of the business. The new business planning process is continuous and far more dynamic, greatly improving the agility and responsiveness of the group. IMC can react quicker to potential risks and market changes because plans are easily adjusted and updated in real time to reflect new data insight.
Whether its budget forecasting, scenario planning, workforce planning, or ensuring that the right resources are deployed at the right time, Workday Adaptive Planning has transformed the enterprise planning process for IMC.
Everyone is benefiting from the increased operational agility provided by Workday Adaptive Planning, and it has certainly helped maintain our competitive edge in a demanding business environment.
Tim Hall, Global Head of Group Operations, IMC Trading
Related Content