Interview with our colleagues: Monica Russo

Hi Monica, introduce yourself to our readers!

Hello everyone, I am an SAP Consultant in Finance, looking after all aspects of accounting, finance and treasury for the various clients I work for. The journey that brought me to this field is a long one. I have been working in the SAP world for about nine years. Prior to that, after graduating in Business Administration and Economics, I worked for a year and a half as an auditor for a company in Turin. During this experience I realised that I did not like this reality and I took a sabbatical year, during which I worked in a swimming pool as a children’s swimming teacher, following my great passion for swimming. I then started working in the reality of SAP.

How did you get into the SAP world?

Well, during my gap year I was contacted through Hindeed by Marco Ricca (the CEO of Overace Technologies) who was doing SAP consulting at the time and was looking for someone who knew the concept of double-entry bookkeeping and could read a balance sheet. So I started working with Marco, who introduced me to this world, taught me what SAP was and what it meant to work in SAP consulting.

What skills do you think a person needs to work in your field?

As far as skills are concerned, they vary a lot depending on the area of SAP. On the finance side, what allowed me to grow quickly were the concepts I learnt at university – such as budgeting, taxes, etc. – which formed the basis of my training. On the other hand, from an attitude point of view, I have always based my relationship with clients on transparency and openness, even if this goes against the consulting world, in order to build solid and lasting relationships based on mutual trust. If I do not have the skills to carry out a given task, I tell my client. In general, trust in people and colleagues is very important to me at work. With the clients I work or have worked with, I have always tried to develop a friendship as well as a working relationship.

Do you have a role model in your professional life or not?

Allore: As far as the world of work is concerned, the person who has inspired me the most and who I look up to every day to achieve what he has achieved in his career is Marco Ricca.

As for my personal life, I do not have a role model. However, in my life, when I was a girl, a person who helped me to be autonomous in my choices and the paths I took was my grandfather.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years’ time, I would like to be – very ambitious, I admit! – to be playing the role of CEO in a company. My greatest satisfaction and fulfilment will be the achievement of my professional goals, over and above my family.

What gives you the most satisfaction in your day-to-day work?

Every day my job is to solve problems: the customer calls the consultant when he has a problem to solve. When I manage to provide a solution to a problem in SAP (either technical or functional) and the other person recognises my contribution and effort and thanks me, I feel very satisfied. This is very satisfying because SAP is a very rigid software, so if you can provide a solution that meets the customer’s requirements and reduces their rigidity, that is the best for me!

What does Monica do when she is not working?

Swimming has certainly been a great passion of mine for 30 years of my life, and a sport that I have always practised, even at a competitive level: I would live in the water! In recent years, however, I have left this world, mainly due to lack of time, to pursue other hobbies. For about ten years now, I have been trekking in the mountains, also in tents. I am also passionate about surfing and travelling.

Sea or mountains?

Both: the sea for warmth in winter and the mountains for coolness in summer.

Your next trip?

I would like to visit two places: one is Jamaica and the other is Australia for a month to surf!

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

To read other people’s minds.

If you had to choose an animal to represent you, what would it be?

The panther!