Introduction

Shared Services and Global Business Services are models for the delivery of support services that leverage technologies and scale, yet differ in many significant ways from centralized services, which can often include unnecessary bureaucracy and a rigid structure that may be disconnected from the needs of internal customers. Shared Services organizations need to be innovative, nimble, fast, and responsive to the needs of their customers while delivering services that are high quality at a low cost. To achieve these objectives, it’s important to think of Shared Services as a business enterprise within the business. For many, this means formalizing roles that exist in a standalone business including roles and responsibilities for Marketing, Business Development, Communications, and Customer Service.

Company Experiences

A Peercast discussion in Peeriosity’s Shared Services Leadership research area featured a panel of leading companies discussing their approaches to creating specialized roles in their Global Business Services organizations, with insights into the changes that were made and how the changes made a difference.  During the Peercast real-time polling was used to support the discussion, with additional comments and perspectives shared by Peercast attendees.

For details, Peeriosity members are encouraged to sign into the members’ area to view the complete presentation and listen to the recorded Peercast.

iPolling Results Review

Peeriosity’s iPolling was used to provide insight into the extent to which Peeriosity member companies include specialized leadership roles in GBS / Shared Services.

The first poll question asked about the status of the GBS / Shared Services organization having a formalized role in Marketing and/or Business Development.  While 68% of member companies have not considered the idea and 6% no longer consider a formal role to be necessary, 13% have implemented and another 13% are evaluating the idea.   The Peercast discussion explored the reasons and benefits of having formalized Marketing and/or Business Development roles; however, for those who haven’t considered the idea, reasons included not having adequate funding for the role, being in the stabilization phase where there isn’t bandwidth or capacity to add services, and having a record of success where the requests from businesses to take on additional services is already at a high level.

The second poll question asked about the status of the GBS / Shared Services organization having a formalized role for Communications and/or Customer Service.   These roles, and particularly a focus on Customer Service, are more likely to be considered, with 50% of Peeriosity member companies having either implemented, approved, or evaluated the idea, with 44% who have not considered it, and 6% who no longer consider the roles to be necessary.  Here is the detail:

Here are some of the comments from Peeriosity members:

• We have a Business Partnership role/team and a dedicated Communications team within GBS. The business partnership scope manages elements of business development and partner experience across GBS service lines.

• We are not big enough or mature enough to have a business development role right now. We have more demand to move work to our shared services team than resources to do the work.
  

• We have broadened the role of our Customer Experience team and they are actively involved in proactive communication. Also, we are implementing process improvement tools to adhere to customer expectations and improve their experience of getting disputes and concerns resolved in a timely manner.

Closing Summary

Formalizing leadership roles that exist in a standalone business is one approach Peeriosity member companies take to allow them to “run GBS / Shared Services like a business” that is responsive to customer needs, with a defined plan for growth and expansion of services to support efforts to deliver greater value to their company.   While a formalized role may not always be required, having a strategy that includes a focus on Marketing, Business Development, Communications, and Customer Service can have a significant impact on the growth and performance of your GBS / Shared Services organization.

Does your GBS / Shared Services organization have specialized leadership roles to ensure you are able to focus on customer needs and develop a defined plan for the growth and expansion of services?  How is your GBS / Shared Services organization different today from what it was prior to the implementation of GBS / Shared Services?

Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Peercasts” are private, professionally facilitated webcasts that feature leading member company experiences on specific topics as a catalyst for broader discussion.  Access is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from attending or accessing discussion content.  Members can see who is registered to attend in advance, with discussion recordings, supporting polls, and presentation materials online and available whenever convenient for the member.  Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, attendees can easily communicate at any time with other attending peers by selecting them from the list of registered attendees.

“iPolling” is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility of all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in iPolling.

Peeriosity members are invited to log into www.peeriosity.com to join the discussion and connect with Peers.   Membership is for practitioners only, with no consultants or vendors permitted.  To learn more about Peeriosity, click here.