Editor’s note: In today’s A Day in the Life, Justin Bullock and Yee Peng Nah, consulting director and managing director, respectively, at cbs Corporate Business Solutions, shares with FutureCFO audiences how a day in their life unfolds and how the outdoors inspire them for work.
FutureCFO: What does a typical day look like for you?
Justin Bullock (JB): No two days are ever the same, but what grounds my routine is making sure our people, our projects, and our clients are progressing together.
Each day is a balance between big-picture strategy and operational detail. I usually start by checking in with key team members to align on priorities and remove any blockers.
I’m often involved in setting direction for client engagements, reviewing project milestones, and ensuring that we’re delivering quality outcomes. Customer interaction is always a priority, and I stay closely engaged to understand their evolving needs and make sure we’re adding value.
A big part of my focus is creating a safe, open environment where people feel comfortable sharing ideas, speaking up, and contributing fully.
Whether it’s reviewing commercial terms or helping the team navigate complex decisions, I see my role as maintaining the engine that keeps everything moving while keeping purpose and impact front and centre.
Yee Peng Nah (YPN): There isn’t really a “typical” day, and that’s something I value.
My attention moves between three core areas: business development and sales, people, and delivery. These priorities are always evolving depending on what the business needs—and that’s what keeps things interesting.
Instead of a fixed daily structure, I rely on regular alignments—weekly or bi-weekly—with different parts of the business. These help us stay connected across countries and functions, and ensure we’re not operating in silos.
At cbs, we put a strong focus on staying aligned as a group, especially across our country MDs, so we stay focused on shared outcomes, not isolated wins.
We also keep our structure intentionally flat. We wish to make sure everyone feels they can reach out and be heard. On certain topics I try to stay close to the ground—not just to solve problems, but to understand what’s happening.
Whether it’s discussing market opportunities, delivery challenges, or team dynamics, I see my role as helping connect the dots and keep
us all pointed in the same direction.
Equally important is staying close to our customers. I believe in giving them a direct channel for feedback—both to strengthen trust and to ensure we’re continuously learning and improving.
FutureCFO: What excites you the most when you work with the Finance Function?
JB: I’ve always enjoyed working with finance leaders because they are deeply involved in shaping the direction of the business.
After more than 25 years in senior IT transformation roles, I’ve seen how critical it is to translate complex technology programs into outcomes that genuinely matter to CFOs and their teams.
It is not just about implementing new systems, it is about enabling faster close cycles, real-time financial visibility, and consistent reporting across entities.
These are the capabilities finance teams need to support strategic decision-making and respond to business demands with confidence.
One of the challenges I often see is that CIOs are ready to move to SAP S/4HANA, but CFOs find it difficult to see how the change will deliver measurable value.
Justin Bullock, consulting director, cbs Corporate Business Solutions
In many organisations, the financial data landscape is fragmented, reporting is inconsistent, and too much time is spent reconciling information from multiple sources.
With a proper expertise in finance transformation, a successful SAP S/4HANA migration allows finance to simplify the system landscape, standardise processes, and gain access to timely, accurate insights.
Beyond the technical benefits, what excites me most is helping CFOs clear away the noise, build trust in their data, and reshape their role as a forward-looking, insights-driven function. Supporting that shift is something I genuinely enjoy.
YPN: What excites me most is that moment when a CFO shifts from firefighting to foresight.
Despite the abundance of innovation available today, finance functions are often still grappling with delayed reporting cycles, painful group-level consolidation, and limited visibility into actuals—sometimes only weeks after month-end.
When we dig into the root causes, they’re familiar: fragmented systems, outdated or inconsistent master data, and inflexible reporting structures. What makes the transformation truly meaningful is when CFOs and CIOs come together—aligning business goals with IT capabilities.
That moment of alignment, when Finance and IT begin speaking the same language, is where the real breakthrough happens.
It’s not just about implementing software. It’s about enabling smarter decisions, faster responses, and shaping a finance function that actively guides the business with insight and agility.
FutureCFO: Can you share an experience which was key to your professional growth?
JB: One key moment was during my time as a partner and business change leader for The Value Creation Group between 2005 and 2007.
I was leading workshops with executives from diverse industries, and I quickly learned the importance of finding practical, customer-focused solutions. That experience taught me how to collaborate with clients, adapt to their needs, and meet requirements without overcomplicating things.
Later, in my 12 years as Vice President of Services Sales at SAP, I built on that foundation by staying resourceful, thinking creatively, and navigating large-scale programs by focusing on customer and stakeholder engagement. It was also a period where I had the opportunity to lead high-performing teams, fostering a culture of accountability, trust, and continuous growth.
At Deloitte, I spent two years helping organisations establish major enterprise transformations, which deepened my belief in persistence and structured execution.
Now at cbs, I bring all of that together. I lead with a collaborative and motivational approach, creating an environment where our people can thrive. This mindset also shapes how we engage with customers, and I am passionate about helping them solve real business problems through the effective and rapid deployment of technology.
YPN: One defining experience was definitely being directly involved to launch our business in Asia from the ground up.
We had no brand recognition, no ready-made customer base—just a belief that we could bring something different to the market: deep SAP expertise, a USP in SAP transformation projects, and a culture of integrity.
Building the business was a team effort in cbs. We had to market, sell, recruit, deliver, and manage all at once. But over time, our work spoke for itself.
We won the trust of clients, delivered some of the region’s most complex S/4 transformations, and built a team that know what we stand for.
What I firmly believe is that success in consulting isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about asking the right questions, staying close to the customer’s reality, being honest and transparent even when there are issues, and constantly learning alongside your team.
Yee Peng Nah, managing director, cbs Corporate Business Solutions
In fact one of our core values is integrity - "We keep our promises and generate trust among us and with customers and partners".
FutureCFO: Tell us something about yourself outside of work.
JB: Yes, I find a lot of inspiration in sport and the outdoors. I often think of leadership like being part of a team where everyone has a role that plays to their unique strengths.
It’s not about having all the answers yourself, but about helping the group perform together. Outside work, I enjoy cycling and going on 4x4 adventures with my family.
Whether it’s tackling a long ride or exploring off-road trails, those experiences give me perspective, keep me grounded, and remind me that success is just as much about the journey as it is about the outcome.
YPN: Travel is always a source of inspiration.
Being immersed in completely different, and sometimes uncomfortable environments forces you to observe, and appreciate diverse
perspectives—whether cultural, social, or even personal. It reminds me that there’s always more than one way to approach a challenge, which is a mindset I try to bring into my work.
Some of the most memorable moments happen when you least expect them: travelling to islands and realised it is off-the-grid, with no electricity or connectivity, striking up conversations with strangers who occupy a slice of your memory for years, or, as it happened once, meeting the former mayor of Reykjavík in a cozy local gin bar.
Travel reminds me how spontaneous and interconnected the world can be—and how important it is to stay open to the unexpected. Leading a regional business in a diverse part of the world like Asia, that openness is critical.
