Bridging both sides: from client to consultant in financial services

When Saara Sanamo joined Capgemini through the Ignite Graduate Program, she brought with her years of experience in the financial sector — and a growing passion for data. After working in sourcing and supplier management, she decided to pivot toward consulting to explore data management and governance more deeply. Today, as a Business Analyst, she helps financial organizations turn complex regulatory and data challenges into smarter and more resilient business solutions.

How has your background shaped your professional journey?

I spent nearly five years in data procurement and supplier management as a sourcing manager in a banking & insurance company. During that time, I gained solid experience in stakeholder engagement, negotiation, and understanding how data management impacts organisations from top to bottom. Those years taught me a great deal about the practical realities of managing complex relationships and competing priorities.

Alongside my professional work, I’m also pursuing a PhD focusing on contract management and regulatory frameworks. This is essentially a hobby project driven by genuine curiosity about how things could be done more efficient, trustworthy, and systematic ways. The research is about managing contracts on a portfolio level with existing B2B agreements and relationships, the factors triggering the need for amending contracts, including regulatory changes, and how contract portfolio management could be used as a tactical-level tool to ensure the organisation’s strategic objectives are being advanced as planned.   

This mix of practical and academic insight helps me view data and regulatory challenges through both a business and framework-level lens, always aiming to build systems that are not only functional today but resilient for the future.

“This mix of practical and academic insight helps me view data and regulatory challenges through both a business and framework-level lens, always aiming to build systems that are not only functional today but resilient for the future.”

What inspired your career change into IT Consulting in Financial Services?

I joined Capgemini through the Ignite Graduate Program, which was refreshingly welcoming also to career-changers. In the past few years, I had become increasingly drawn to data management and governance. I had also been considering a career change to consulting.  Capgemini’s Ignite Graduate Program represented the perfect opportunity to have some dedicated training time to deep dive into data management alongside with the actual consulting work.

As promised, I’ve been able to deepen my expertise in a structured way, while still drawing on my previous experience managing complex RfP (Request for Proposal) projects. The key in sourcing projects is helping the business stakeholders clearly define the problem they are trying to solve by procuring something and what the ideal solution would look like. Not too different from consulting!

Since I have a solid background in the financial sector and wanted to build on that in my “new” career, the Capgemini Financial Services team welcomed me in very quickly. In our very first meeting, they asked me what I was genuinely interested in. The team truly listened and made sure to act on it. Besides, it has been interesting and rewarding to experience the financial sector from a new angle, and I’ve had loads of extremely interesting conversations with new colleagues. I also love being back in a global company — exchanging ideas and collaborating across borders from day one is something that matters to me personally.

How does your previous experience help you in client work?

Having worked on both sides of the table — first as a client collaborating with suppliers and now as a consultant — I can usually quite quickly get to the bottom of what’s actually causing problems. I understand the pressures clients face because I’ve experienced them, which helps us get on the same page faster and identify root causes more efficiently.

This matters because the faster you develop that shared understanding of what’s genuinely challenging, the faster you can move into productive work that creates real added value. That benefits everyone — we can focus our efforts where they’ll make a difference from the start.

“Having worked on both sides of the table — first as a client and now as a consultant — I can quickly get to the bottom of what’s actually causing problems.”

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

What I find most rewarding is creating conditions where stakeholders feel safe to share what’s really happening and the actual issues they’re trying to solve. You’re often working with stakeholders who have different priorities and viewpoints: IT focusing on technical implementation, legal and compliance looking at risks, and business teams wanting practical usability. Getting honest input about where the real challenges lie is essential for building solutions that actually work.

I enjoy facilitating that kind of open conversations that tackle real concerns with structured solutions. It takes both structured thinking, understanding the regulatory and technical constraints, and the ability to create psychological safety so people share their real concerns and obstacles. When you get that right, you not only solve the immediate issue, but also build trust and a foundation that makes future challenges easier to navigate.

The fundamental challenge in the financial sector is that regulatory requirements will keep evolving. New regulations like DORA require substantial effort to first check where an organization is compliant already and where there are gaps that need closing, followed by a company-wide project plan and team(s), and only after that, you get to the actual work of closing those gaps. Also, case rulings (e.g. Schrems II) can suddenly invalidate existing processes and mechanisms. This isn’t an exception — it’s the norm. Regulatory evolution is a permanent reality in the industry.

Organizations need systematic approaches that can adapt to regulatory changes rather than treating each new requirement as a one-off project. Solving these challenges on a case-by-case basis is time-consuming, and arduous to manage. The companies that will navigate this well are the ones investing in proper frameworks, processes and platforms now, rather than waiting for the next regulatory deadline to force reactive changes. Not an easy challenge to tackle, but extremely interesting!

“Regulatory evolution is a permanent reality in the industry.”

Bonus question: What is your favorite industry-specific term or abbreviation?

Definitely DORA! After being overloaded with DORA contract negotiations and the various tracking methods for that work in my previous role, I just kept thinking that there must be much easier and more efficient ways of doing this. DORA was basically the push I needed to get my thoughts together around my PhD themes, and now I have a clear and distinct approach and research plan. Now I only have to execute that plan!

Also, as DORA began to enter discussion a few years back, it was quite entertaining to witness people googling “dora” during meetings and then just being confused because the search results showed just the children’s cartoon series “Dora the Explorer”.