Christopher Global

Problem Statement

Amex's Global Commercial Products team was spearheading an initiative to update their outdated Sales and Performance System (SPS) and transfer data to a cloud-based, SAS platform called Cornerstone. Due to Amex's worldwide reach, the migration of sales and performance data needed to be done gradually across regions, with the support of local product, program, and business teams. While no single region could serve as a model for the migration process, each region drew from past successes and faced unique challenges due to the diverse operational environments. Therefore, establishing governance to oversee program management standards and execution was crucial to guide the strategy for each regional transition.

Purpose

The objective of this program focused on modernizing and migrating regional data to establish Cornerstone as the primary system for storing sales performance and incentives data. Through transferring the data to the Cornerstone data lake, leaders across various regions can instantly access raw data and conduct interactive analysis to evaluate regional performance.

Custom Solutions & Actions Taken

Christopher, a highly skilled EPMO Consultant, delivered enterprise program management advice that enabled American Express to achieve its objectives through the implementation of the following solutions:

• Implementation of the project management plan, including risk, communication, resources, and testing, along with change reviews and the UAT testing strategy.

• Design and development of the EMEA program’s communication schedule, training plan, and change management strategies for all stakeholder groups, including field teams, business partners, and general managers.

• Introduction of EMEA program governance standards and execution strategies across five regional development teams, encompassing product and sales.

• Communication of project status and data through program and executive-level updates and stakeholder reviews.

• Evaluation of project goals, status, resources, and interdependencies by identifying risks, issues, and progress.

• Consultation and collaboration with product leaders as a subject matter expert to apply best practices and drive program solutions, ensuring adherence to critical paths. 

Conclusion 

Amex modernized its sales and performance system by implementing Cornerstone OnDemand as its system of record. This new data management solution empowered Amex’s Regional General Managers to assess their performance against necessary metrics instantly. By leveraging EMEA as a model, Amex successfully transitioned to other regions like LATAM and Asia, establishing governance and standards to ensure smooth execution of future regional migrations.