Meet the Innovator: Rob Letts

We’re pleased to introduce probably quite a familiar face to you all, Rob Letts, our Senior Project Manager.

As part of our Meet the Innovator series, we sat down with Rob to find out a bit more about his role, what drives him, and what he enjoys outside of Innovate Tax.

Q. Hi Rob, can you tell us a bit about your role?

Hello, yes, I work within the Business Operations team, where I’m responsible for helping plan, coordinate and deliver projects across the business.

A lot of my work is focused on projects involving tax determination, whether that’s implementing inFlyte or one of the third-party tax engines we work with, as well as e-invoicingElectronic invoicing - widely referred to as e-invoicing - is the exchange of a digital document between a supplier and a buyer. E-invoices are issued, transmitted and received in a structured data format that enabled automatic and electronic processing. They contain data in a machine-readable format so that an AP system can read an invoice without manual data entry, leading to faster and more efficient invoicing. and wider tax compliance projects.

I work closely with our Functional Consultants throughout these projects. They bring the specialist tax and functional knowledge, while my role is to make sure all the different moving parts come together – from planning and timelines through to resources, communication and delivery.

Q. What does a typical project look like for you?

There probably isn’t such a thing as a typical project, which is one of the things I enjoy about the role.

There are usually a lot of different stakeholders involved, both on the client side and within Innovate Tax, so a big part of my role is making sure everyone understands what needs to happen, when it needs to happen and who is responsible for it.

It’s also about keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Things can change during a project, whether that’s a new requirement, a change in scope or an unexpected challenge, so being able to adapt and keep the project moving is really important.

Q. What do you enjoy most about working on client projects?

I enjoy the variety and the fact that you can see a project develop from an initial conversation through to a solution that’s actually being used by the client.

For me, a successful project isn’t just about delivering on time. It’s about making sure the client feels supported throughout the process and that what we deliver addresses the problem they came to us to solve.

Q. What’s been one of your favourite projects or achievements at Innovate Tax so far?

Given I’ve been here for 8 years now, it’s getting hard to remember all the projects I’ve been involved in as there have been so many!

For one particular client, they were implementing the Oracle Fusion Cloud ERPEnterprise resource planning (ERP) is a type of software that organisations use to manage main business processes. across their business globally, which for us meant a multi-year and multi-country roll out. It was a great project to be involved in as we were able to collaborate effectively with both the end client and the System Integrator, and work on multiple streams of the implementation concurrently. Also having a project over that timescale fostered a great team atmosphere as we were working with the same team over several years, so we got to know each other well and the best ways of working together.

As the Project Manager for Innovate Tax, it required close integration on planning, as there were so many moving parts, that needed to work without impacting on timelines or creating blockers. We also had opportunities to visit the client site for particular stage gates and planning sessions, which is always a useful exercise when the majority of work is undertaken remotely.

It was great to be involved in a project of that scale, that ended with the client having a compliant and automated tax solution working with their new ERP across the globe.

Q. What are you most looking forward to in the coming months?

There’s a lot happening across the tax technology landscape, particularly with the continued rollout of e-invoicing and the changing compliance requirements businesses are having to deal with.

I’m looking forward to continuing to work with our clients across these projects and seeing how we can help them navigate what can often be a pretty complex environment.

Q. And finally, what do you love to do outside of work?

Outside of work, most of my time is taken up by my two children, so life at home is usually pretty busy! They definitely keep me on my toes, but I enjoy spending as much time with them as possible.

When I do get some spare time, I enjoy going away on my motorbike with friends visiting various parts of the UK, or going motorsport events – either 2 or 4 wheeled!