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Introduction Given the many changes the Shared Services & Outsourcing industry has experienced as technology
makes networked platforms accessible, data turns into insights, and services support global operations,
SSON recently canvassed its global membership to ask them how they were reacting. In this extensive
survey, we’ve unearthed investment and automation priorities, and identified how SSOs rate their impact
on the business.
Barbara Hodge
Editor
Shared Services & Outsourcing Network
Rochelle Hood
Global Head of Communities and Process
Shared Services & Outsourcing Network
This report was written and edited by:
SSON would like to thank everyone who
invested the time to share the details of their
business services strategies with us.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE FULL REPORT
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE FULL REPORT
What do Shared Services Look Like Today? An analysis of the organizational set up, sourcing model, and geographic reach of SSOs today.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE FULL REPORT
Solid percentage in the 1-3 year maturity category:
Lots of potential for growth
As SSON has been tracking the Shared Services sector for
nearly 20 years, it’s not surprising that about half of
respondents put themselves in the “mature” or “greater than 5
years” category. The second largest category came from the
“new” or just launched segment (1-3 years). The market still
has a lot of potential for growth, which, as is shown later, will
impact investment and technology decisions. Interesting to
note that 14% put themselves in the Planning and Launching
stage, meaning that nearly half of respondents are in the
growth and expansion phases.
What maturity are you currently at?
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Where are your Shared Services located? North America and APAC “most dominant”
location –Europe still strong As the SSO model expands, North America and APAC
are still the most dominant locations for centers,
ahead of India, Central & Eastern Europe, and Western
Europe. Noteworthy that a quarter of our global
respondents run centers in Europe, offering client-
proximity and the all-important language element to
the multi-cultural client base across that region.
Sourcing options broadening for nearshore delivery
The Middle East and Africa is emerging as an
opportunity to provide French, Italian and some
German services to Europe; as well as support growth
across Middle-East markets.
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A third of SSOs operate in single-function The discussion at conferences and in online forums has been
all about the shift to multi-function for the past five years. This
is reflected by our data, with 60% of respondents defining
their SSOs as multi-functional (providing more than one
functional service), just over a third of which have also shifted
to a Global Business Services model (meaning global process
ownership or accountability beyond regional/functional). The
increasingly holistic interpretation of the Shared Services
model is supported by growth of a move toward the GBS
model.
What it means
Whether GBS or not, we would expect to see the trend towards
multi-functional centers increase, as companies roll additional
service lines into an established and proven model.
Multi-Function
GBS: Multi-Function
Single Function
*10% Single Function moving to Multi-Function
* 8% GBS: Single Function
*
Which describes your SSO?
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While F&A (Finance and Accounting)processes still outrank
other service lines, HR is notably catching up, and the
percentages of single vs. multi-functional SSCs listed here are
a good indication that we may see a continued expansion in
scope into non-F&A activity.
Tip: shift to revenue-generating processes
While the adoption of Procurement is no surprise, the
percentage listing Sales and Marketing, as well as Customer
Service, marks a positive step forwards in terms of SSOs
supporting revenue-generating processes. Similarly, Sales &
Marketing are emerging as service lines, reflecting more
interest in leveraging Shared Services for the customer facing
business processes, a trend we are also hearing more about
in discussions with practitioners.
Expanding scope led by HR, Procurement with customer facing services emerging
Which services does your SSC provide?
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While BPO providers have geared themselves up to take on more work, there’s a good chunk of the market that is holding out. The
question remains whether this segment will be persuaded by the increasingly flexible and attractive options promoted by providers
– or whether their concerns around control and customer-centricity will keep them firmly in the captive camp. A relatively low
percentage of Shared Services are banking on outsourcing as their primary model.
43% of market continue to operate as a Captive model
Is Outsourcing Right for You?
The potential for SSOs to increase flexibility,
technical capabilities and scalability
through outsourcing is enormous. Political
decisions, as much as sourcing strategies
influenced by desire to maintain internal
control will weigh in on the final direction
this takes. The extent to which we’ll see the
hybrid market come down on one side or
the other is challenging to forecast. The
survey represents a slower trend
embracing outsourcing more holistically,
with the focus still on piecemeal processes.
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The Decision Around Location Sourcing decisions take into account, skills base requirements, proximity of emerging customer markets,
language and time zone support not just pure labor arbitrage.
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Shared Services’ Impact on Organizational Performance
Shared Services impacts the business by saving on cost, supporting customer needs, and offering flexible
resources or scalability. Increasingly the model is also recognized for its potential impact on revenue growth..
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Process Improvement is a Priority The majority of Shared Services are making innovation, or process improvement in support of innovative
business services, a priority. Process improvement allows cost to reduce while delivering a constant service. It
also drives additional value (eg through analytics) to the business via data based insights, or analyzing
business units’ service consumption patterns.
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Talent Management is Core Talent management is becoming increasingly important as the work taken on by Shared Services shifts
towards data analytics, advisory services, and process expertise – thereby requiring a differentiated skill set
compared to the traditional, transaction-oriented role.
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Data Analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) Shared Services are well-situated to take on the role of mining, sorting, and analyzing data to deliver the
business insights and intelligence that a company needs to make better decisions in future.
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How is Shared Services leveraging industry specific expertise?
Given process standardization, value is now driven by the kinds of differentiated services that set individual
industries apart, for example relating to regulation, or employment.
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What are Technology Priorities? Enterprise platforms make it easier for Shared Services to operate – but it is in the emergence of enabling
technologies and cloud-based solutions that we are seeing quantum leaps. Add to the mix the shift to digital
business and mobile applications … where do you stand?
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Customer Considerations Now that Shared Services has cut costs and established robust processes, the focus is on providing the kind
of support that positively impacts customer experience.
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The Future Nothing stands still. We are in the midst of economic, operational, and technological changes that are shifting
businesses’ priorities. And the Shared Services center is a core facilitator of this change. How are you tackling
the challenge?
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Note: Demographics of Respondents
While survey respondents represented a broad variety of industries including Public Sector, Life Sciences/Healthcare,
Technology and Telecommunication and Retail. The largest segment came from Manufacturing and Banking & Financial
Services. These industries have been early adopters of the shared services model and many also have a focus on defect
reduction, waste removal and quality outputs. Quality assurance, continuous improvement and process control focus are well
paired with the Shared Services model. A keen demographic to note is the strong increase of Public Sector Shared Services in
Australia.
To provide some perspective on demographics, we asked respondents to identify which function they represented. Finance &
Accounting is the function with the greatest representation. HR, including Talent Management, Recruitment, Learning and
Development, represented with the second largest population. Multi-function centers and roles ranked as third in the
demographic data.
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About SSON
The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) is the largest and most established community of shared services and
outsourcing professionals, with over 78,000 members globally. We provide the roof under which key industry experts and
organisations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and SSO practitioners connect with others all over the world, face to
face and online.
SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, content, tools, and networking opportunities. Our staff
members work from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg, Berlin, Brazil and Dubai to
research current trends and developments in shared services.
You can access complimentary access to exclusive interviews, industry reports, survey results, webinars and whitepapers and
more. To join for free, visit www.ssonetwork.com.
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The full report is available on www.ssonetwork.com for SSON Premium Members or through one of the global Shared Services &
Outsourcing Week websites in your region.
US: www.sharedservicesweek.com | Europe: www.ssoweek.com
Australia: www.sharedservicesweek.com.au | Asia: www.ssoweekasia.com
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