For corporate finance executives, few professional experiences are as adeptly converted into social currency as those manifested inside the realm of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
It seems that regardless of whether a finance executive has been involved in one deal or 40, they are usually able to quickly share a takeaway or two. For finance leader Natalie Laackman, the latter would be the case—or, rather, the latter times two, as she estimates that she has been involved in 75 to 100 such transactions.
Thus, perhaps it goes without saying that when we had the opportunity to sit down with Laackman at NetSuite’s SuiteWorld 2023 tech conference in Las Vegas, we couldn’t resist asking her for one enduring snapshot—that is, a specific M&A experience that has refused to fade from her corporate backdrop. Laackman did not disappoint us, and what she shared reveals as much about herself as it does the human side of enterprise. Now Read the article on Forbes.com
Made Possible By
- CFO Natalie Laackman discusses the importance of empowering and enabling operational teams to identify ways to add value to clients, especially in the face of escalating costs, and how this approach helps in building client relationships.
- She shares her experience of being involved in 75 to 100 M&A deals during her career and highlights the intellectual stimulation and strategic thinking involved in such transactions.
- CFO Laackman emphasizes the significance of building credibility, gaining the trust of peers, and providing leadership not only in finance but also in running the business effectively.
- The conversation touches on the evolution of technology in finance, including the application of AI and big data analytics, as well as the importance of focusing on inventory management and supply chain optimization amidst challenges like the pandemic and supply chain issues.
CFOTL: Tell us about MedSpeed … what does this company do, and what are its offerings today?
Laackman: We are the leading provider of same-day logistics for the healthcare industry, where we have transformed the approach to delivering supplies, pharmaceuticals, lab specimens, and so forth. Our bigger vision is to enable better healthcare through re-imagining its logistics to focus on high-quality delivery by more effectively utilizing our size and scale to benefit service providers—and ultimately create patient care.
“On the practical side, we look at our business as time and miles.” -Natalie Lacckman, CFO, MedSpeed
On the practical side, we look at our business as time and miles. Like many companies, we’re still early-stage. About 3 years ago, we started building our data foundation and a strong analytics department. Building a big data lake—getting this foundation of the right data—is very important now because in order to embark on the AI journey, we need to make sure that we are describing the right scenarios of base business. We need all of this, for example, in order to explore how we can effect more efficient routing.
Read MoreWith the speed of today’s technology, we can do so many iterations so quickly now in order to find out how we can help to improve the timing of our service to our clients. We also value our messaging around sustainability and are always looking for ways to improve it. The fewer miles we drive, the more sustainable we are as a partner in the communities that we serve.
Another big idea that we started a year ago was the electrification of our fleet. Some of this AI will help us to understand battery range, the trade-offs of really long routes, and how we can help to meet sustainability goals in which our clients are very interested. This is a very important topic in the healthcare sector.
jb
MedSpeed | www.medspeed.com | Elmhurst, Illino