A case for deploying global business services in medium to large organisations
Context
To optimise support functions and keep up with the pace of change, public and private business leaders need to develop flexible organisational structures and operating models; in that respect, shared services stand out as an imperative.
Shared services are organisational units that manage certain activities of the support functions with the aim of providing the highest standards of quality and efficiency, and in particular, obtaining economies of scale. They are split into two categories, namely regional and global, the former making sense for very large organisations dealing with offices located worldwide, in different time zone. It is worth pointing out that even major corporations, especially those in technology, have opted for global shared services; we will therefore focus only on this latter category.
Some organisations have outsourced such services; however, based on experiences such as the spin-off of the procurement arm of a major Swiss bank leading to the dissatisfaction of employees with poorer work conditions/salaries or very low value-added interactions with remote offices located in Asia, Middle East or Eastern Europe, we understand why many have chosen to keep their shared services in-house and have developed…
