Hiring for your CoE

[pierre_kerkinni]

Hi,

My name’s Pierre Kerkinni and I am the Leader of Anaplan’s CoE, Anaplan on Anaplan (AoA).

I’m excited to be part of this group and am looking forward to learning more about your CoE journey and experiences.

I understand that many of you are looking to grow your team with members who will manage your Anaplan footprint and wear many different hats. I’m happy to share my experience in managing and growing our AoA team.

There are 4 characteristics that we specifically look for:

1. Strong Business Acumen: can they solve business challenges and provide insightful recommendations
2. Strong Technical Background: can they build a model (regardless of their level of Anaplan model building experience)
3. Attention to Detail: can they help spot data issues or inconsistencies
4. Soft Skills: do they embrace teamwork & collaboration, provide a strong yet respective work ethic, and communicate effectively

A case study (example available below) was developed to help test if the individual embodies these characteristics, and if they do, they will have a quick ramp up and will be ready to impact in your business.

To add a few more hiring learnings from my own experience:

• You’ll find more success locating the right candidates if you hire for “Solution Consultants” or “Business Operations Managers”
  • Previously, we’ve posted for “Solution Architects” positions and that led to candidates who were overly technical (engineers)
• Aim to have a diverse team with a wide range of backgrounds
  • The goal is to have members who can make up for each other’s deficiencies
• CoE Culture
  • Establishing a strong CoE culture is critical for the team’s growth  

I hope you found this useful in guiding you as you look to grow your Centers of Excellence with the right people!

Are there any other characteristics that you like to consider?  What are the hiring profiles that worked best for your business?

[Beauram]

Pierre - thanks so much for sharing your insight! This was a hot topic during our DigitalCPX CoE Group Session and I'm glad we have you and the AoA Team to share this learning. 

@derek_chen - We discussed this in length with @kirill.barshevs and @egroetch this week. I hope you found the information you need! 

[derek_chen]

Thanks for the mention, @Beauram! And thanks for publishing your findings, @pierre_kerkinni I hope to be able to share my own successes over the coming months.

[jim_ma]

Pierre,

I didn't see data integration skill/experience as part of your criteria. Do you think it should part of COE responsibility to oversee data integration flows? Just curious. Thanks.

[pierre_kerkinni]

Hi @JimP , great question. I think it really depends on the maturity of a COE and the broader organizational structure. For COEs that are at the point where they need to automate their integrations and don't have support from IT, having someone on the team that has experience with integrations is critical.

[JimP]

Pierre, sorry I think you have the wrong JimP