meet-affendi | Roche

Tell us your name and what you do and when you joined Roche.

I am Affendi Zakaria. I joined Roche Services and Solutions (RSS APAC) in February 2020. Currently, I am the Global Business Process Specialist (GBPS) for Management Accounting (MA) in the Business Process Management (BPM). Prior to this, I was the Accounting Manager at Roche Diagnostics Malaysia (RDMY) for 3 years. In totality, I have been with Roche for more than 6 years.

Tell us a little bit about your journey at Roche before joining the BPM team.

I started my career with Roche as the Accounting Manager having the full view and responsibility of RDMY accounts and transactions. Therefore, I am accountable for the figures being reported in the financial statements and audits. With such accountability, I would need to thoroughly understand the business reasons and financial guidelines that govern these transactions. In addition, using my background as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified, I have organized and completed a few major improvements in RDMY. Among those improvements are the elimination of the manual claim process (before Concur), the improvement of balance sheet reconciliation with Excel tool that drives transparency and increased financial performance and a few others. I had the opportunity to be part of the successful pilot of a few global initiatives such as RSS standard scope and RAMP.

Having these exposures, drew me to my next career path in Roche which is the GBPS. This is a natural move from an executioner to the governance of financial processes and guidelines in Roche. GBPS in BPM is responsible to uphold the global business processes that have been standardized and harmonized. Therefore, the roles and scope have changed for me from a local perspective to a much broader global perspective. I am currently more involved with global projects and initiatives such as RSS-Affiliate Model Program (RAMP) and ASPIRE.

What are the things you like the most about working with the BPM team?

Being part of the BPM team, I love the diverse composition of the team. We consist of people across the globe with different cultures and backgrounds. Having this diversity allows me to learn more about other cultures and helps me to adapt better to others. Moreover, this diversity
encourages openness and acceptance. This harnessed great collaboration among the team members. Due to the nature of engagement in BPM, I had the opportunity to meet many new people in Roche to extend my network. BPM allows me to practice flexibility in working. As a global team, it is difficult for everyone in the group to meet up or work together at the same time. This flexibility provides me with a great work-life balance. A better work-life balance produces better quality work. Compared to a typical repeating month-end closing activity, the task in the BPM role is not bound to a repetitive nature. The leaders in BPM are among the leaders in RSS who are very passionate and supportive. They accept criticism, opinions and feedback openly. In addition, they provide great guidance and assistance that allows me to perform well and grow as an individual.

Why is your job important to you? What is the value you generate for Roche’s patients?

In Roche, we prioritize patients first by doing now what patients need next. BPM drives value to Roche by making processes more streamlined and efficient by eliminating waste and non-value-added tasks. This allows processes in the backend to be more effective and efficient which ultimately reduces the turnaround time for patients to receive care from Roche. With BPM, processes would be as optimum as they should and without this, it would risk the results to the patient. This could jeopardize not only the patient's health but also Roche's reputation as a healthcare organization.

What would you say to someone who is considering joining the BPM team?

To those who are considering joining the BPM, this is the right team to join for you to have global exposure in Roche. It is a good platform for you to continue applying your knowledge and experience in your previous business role or to start your learning journey to better understand Roche's processes. BPM is always a good place to learn and develop before taking the next step.