Finance Analyst

When the finance team was restructured, she saw an opportunity to put her experience and problem-solving mindset to a new test.

“I spoke to some colleagues in finance about the role and thought it sounded really interesting. A lot of it touched on areas I knew from my role and this was an opportunity to improve them and start asking ‘are we using these in the right way?"

For Jo, that’s what being a Financial Analyst is all about. It’s helping the business be more effective and more efficient by giving it the tools to understand what’s really happening. She works with huge amounts of data and rigorously interrogates it to understand how it’s being collected, used and then fed into better decision making.

"We’re constantly improving the way financial data is looked at and used.

"Because if that's right, then it can help the wider business to make the right decisions. If the data is wrong, then everything else is going to be wrong.”

On a day-to-day basis that means analysing purchase orders, codes and reports to build a picture of what’s really happening. But she can’t do this alone. The most important part of her role is communicating with every other team at DCC. She’s relied on by colleagues who come to her with their ambitions, challenges and suggestions to find solutions that enable them to do the work they need to.

“You've got to be involved and know what's going on everywhere, especially the bigger teams like the operational and programme delivery teams. They’re the beating heart of DCC that analyse and improve the network and get the meters connected.”

Jo sees the power of finance as being able to unlock other teams’ potential and as the business increasingly realises this, she’s able to help them more and more effectively. Without her and her team’s work, decision makers can’t understand what is really happening in the business, challenge the areas that need improving and ultimately deliver the service customers need and want for the value they expect. DCC’s huge scope and the impact on people’s lives drives Jo to keep improving.

"We’re basically changing the way we as society look at Gas and Electric. And hopefully, in time, we can progress with that and other fields.

"But right now, we're focused on transforming how we read these metres, how that data used in real time and giving all our consumers the opportunity to save money where they can.”

That purpose can be infectious. Jo wasn’t surprised that her old manager and team were so supportive of her moving into the new role because she sees that encouragement every day across the business. Even in her new role, Jo is encouraged to always ask questions and if no one can answer, to find it out for herself. Sometimes it’s hard, but like any true problem solver, that just makes it more interesting for Jo.

"If you like that fast pace, it’s amazing. You get that great sense of achievement.

"We know that when we come up against things, and we work as a team or as an individual, we’ll find the solution.”