Katharina Herzog, SVP Group Finance & Tax, Hugo Boss

Self-described “passionate Boss woman” Katharina Herzog knows a thing or two about how to keep at the cutting edge of digital finance transformation:

“I’m always digging deeper into what the future of finance is going to bring, and where we want the business to go.”

We sat down to hear more about how she’s positioning the digital finance function at Hugo Boss for tech transformation success. 

Leading the charge for digital change

You could say Katharina was ahead of the curve when it comes to the hype around digital transformation in finance:

“I was very into new technology as far back as my uni days: I did my thesis on e-procurement more than twenty years ago! But I quickly learned digital finance transformation isn’t just about the tech. It’s first and foremost about winning people over.

That realisation led Katharina to switch from tech consultancy to the client side of finance transformation, and - crucially - her first leadership role at Hugo Boss. 

“Besides numbers, my second passion is definitely leading people. Getting my team to go on a journey and understand the deeper meaning behind digital finance transformation has been key to making a meaningful impact on the corporate ecosystem at Hugo Boss.”

That’s not to say making the jump from external consultant championing change from the outside, to intrapreneur delivering transformation within a business was easy:

“An external consultant is mandated by someone else, whereas when I switched sides to deliver digital finance transformation internally, I had to motivate people and really drive digital change from bottom to top, not from top to bottom - by far the most difficult part!”

Tackling change fatigue to keep your team from checking out during any digital finance transformation is no mean feat. But over the years Katharina has honed her technique for keeping the momentum flowing: 

“As a young leader I was very naive. I thought it was as simple as outlining the change and going from there without the need to repeat the narrative. I’ve since learned you absolutely have to keep communicating over and over why change is necessary. You’ve got to be the one to reignite the spark if it ever threatens to go out!”

Reimagining the digital finance function

It’s all well and good feeling geared up to take on finance transformation in your own department. But what about when the rest of the business isn’t so convinced? 

“Business functions are afraid of collaborating with finance!”, says Katharina. “They think of us as number-crunches who can’t really add any value to the business. Because of that we’ve kickstarted some storytelling and communication initiatives to show our internal customers who we really are which has been fun.”

For Senior Finance leaders looking to rewrite the narrative, a little self-promotion can go a long way to setting up the digital finance function as a powerhouse of change:

“As finance people, marketing isn’t exactly in our DNA! But for finance to make an impact on the business, we’ve got to be involved from the beginning of any new project. Make yourself visible and perceived as a valuable contributor - that definitely involves some self-promotion.”

From implementing robotic process automation to using bespoke LLMs, digital finance transformation has revolutionised the way the finance function delivers value at Hugo Boss. But working in a fast-paced, forward-thinking environment for tech implementation has its challenges:

“I’m lucky to work for such a dynamically growing company, but it’s a challenge to keep up with all the changes while running at full-speed. It can be tough to maintain the energy needed to have a lasting impact, all while serving the business with high quality financial insights.”

For Katharina, taking on that challenge begins with the people at the heart of the problems you want to solve:

“Where I’ve seen finance transformation fail is when the focus has been entirely on the technology, not on the process.. If you really want to make a sustainable change, you have to start with the people because they know their processes best and what the right solution is for them.”

Community-driven transformation

A passion for people isn’t just personal motivation for Katharina, it’s also a measure of business success:

“We set up a digital finance community within Hugo Boss promoting what we do and it’s helped us to expand our team rapidly. People buy into compelling stories, and the overall employee engagement rate in my team is above the company average as a result.”

“At the end of the day, we’re finance people so of course KPIs are clear indicators of success. But so is the level of engagement, passion and inspiration we’re seeing through our global finance community at Hugo Boss.”

The power of community is in part what inspired Katharina to coin the phrase “passionate BOSS woman” to describe herself, coupled with a belief that having a career and a family at the same time should be attainable for all:  

“I’m part of the Hugo Boss family and have been for years. I lead a team of eighty people and serve on the supervisory board, and I do it all while being a mother to a very energetic six year old! That’s where the deeper meaning behind a passionate Boss woman comes from. I want to be a voice for a new era of female leaders.”

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