Introduction

Almost 10 years ago, Robotic Process Automation quickly appeared with the promise being a “game-changer”, that would either quickly support employees shifting duties to focus on more value-add activities, or drastically reducing the number of employees needed to complete many routine tasks, and then with the addition of AI assisted RPA, also many of the more complex tasks that are common in Shared Services/GBS.   At first, the hype far exceeded the reality for how companies were using these new tools, but after a few years the benefits achieved at many companies were substantial.  The world did not change to the extent some were predicting, but there were significant benefits.

Today, with the introduction of more advanced AI and GenAI technologies, the impact is expected to be more revolutionary, dramatically changing many work processes.  While the impact is expected to be significant, how are these new tools being deployed and used in Shared Services/GBS?  What will the adoption rate be?  What processes are the best candidates?  While early adopters are building custom solutions, is there reason to wait and purchase the tested solutions that are likely to quickly appear?

Company Experience

On a recent Peeriosity-100 Peercast, a large global company with over $50B in annual revenue and a GBS organization with more than 5,000 employees, discussed their experience with advance AI and Gen AI technologies.   The discussion featured an Information Technology Senior Director and the Director with direct responsibility for building out their AI and GenAI capabilities for their large GBS organization.   In the hour-long presentation they discussed candidly their experiences, lessons learned, and plans for the future.

Finance Use Cases

Examples of finance use cases focused on three types of impact.

1. Productivity – something that is expected to impact every employee with GenAI assistance for many common tasks; for example, using Chat Assistants.
2. Big Bets – AI transformation initiatives including AI powered end-user support, AI data analytics & insights, and knowledge management.
3. High Value Use Cases – examples include master data cleanup, translation, product standard cost setting, contract analysis, and a touchless forecasting process.

The complete presentation and Peercast recording are available for Peeriosity-100 members in the member’s area of the Peeriosity-100 website.  Peeriosity-100 members can follow up directly with the feature presenters and with other Peercast attendees as needed for additional discussion and experience sharing.

Polling Results Review

A poll was created to support the Peercast.  The first question looked at the status of using GenAI in Shared Services/GBS. Interestingly, the split showed 27% of member companies have started to implement, 27% have approved, but have not yet implemented, and an additional 27% are evaluating the opportunity, but have not decided.  The remaining 19% have not yet considered the opportunity.

The second question looked at the level of satisfaction for the member companies who have implemented GenAI.  The results suggest that everyone is in the very early stages, with no company indicating they were very satisfied, 25% indicating they were satisfied, 13% indicating they were neutral, 0% indicating they were dissatisfied, and 62% indicating that it was too early to tell.

Here are some comments from members:

• We have integrated our company Chat Agent with some GBS reference materials for facilitation of user search/inquiries. AP LLM-enabled chatbot under review.

• Shared Services has used technology created by our technology partners and other third party providers to utilize their AI services, invoice scanning, expense reimbursement etc.

• We are learning our way forward and have internally developed tools. These are being leveraged within the service lines for chat, document/knowledge search, invoice reading, etc. We have several Proof of Concepts underway.

Closing Summary

We are in the very early months of companies exploring ways to implement GenAI solutions in Shared Services/GBS.  So far, many of the early implementations have been highly custom, with the member company deciding independently how to leverage the technology and then building a custom solution.  This preference for “home-built” and custom is expected to change over the next year as purchased solution options become more readily available, and consulting firms look to monetize the benefits of successful implementations where the methods and tools are repeatable.

How is your company planning to leverage use of GenAI for Shared Services GBS?  Do you have a ready network of peer companies where you can quickly and easily learn from their experiences, and share lessons learned?

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

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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-100 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-100’s integrated email system, Peer Mail, attendees can easily communicate at any time with other attending peers by selecting them from the list of registered attendees.

 Polling is available exclusively to Peeriosity-100 member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility to all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity-100’s integrated email system, Peer Mail, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in Polling.