Providing front-end travel services for trip reservations and the back-end processing of completed expense reports is an increasingly common responsibility of Shared Services. Not surprisingly, because frequent travelers include senior-level employees, investing in improvement solutions for the travel process can be a high priority, even if the actual dollar savings are difficult to quantify. With […]
While it has been well over a decade since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was put into law, the ability of companies to ensure their compliance in an efficient and effective manner can still be a challenge. As is the case with many challenging activities and processes, a significant opportunity exists for Shared Services to […]
The pervasive use of local manual checks for everything from employee recognition awards to urgent vendor payments has been the nemesis of Accounts Payable organizations for decades. Difficult to control and manage, and costly to administer, the hope was that with the introduction of improved processes and efficient centralized payment systems, the need for local […]
When we look at the lifecycle stage for our member companies, while 14% consider themselves “New & Emerging”, another 78% report they are either “Fully Operational” or “Mature”. So if you’re like most of our members, there is every chance that it’s been years since your company’s Shared Services organization was first created, and there […]
Since the introduction of the Shared Services model almost 30 years ago the term “self-service” was touted as a masterful way to reengineer work processes by having originators of transactions, whether they be employees, suppliers, or customers, complete a simplified set of tasks to yield a transaction for Shared Services that was otherwise fully automated. […]
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the “Term of the Year” that, if you believe all of the publicity, might be a strong candidate for the “Term of the Decade”. While there are some pure-play Robotic Process Automation providers, if you attend a conference or take a look at anyone’s updated marketing materials, you would get […]
A key tenet of HR Shared Services is to be able to significantly increase productivity through automation, process optimization, consolidation, and standardization, while not sacrificing customer service or quality. Being able to measure the success of that effort can be challenging since widely diverse processes are typically found in an HR Shared Services environment. One […]
While a significant number of companies have transitioned the Supply Chain function to a Shared Services type design, others have been less willing to do so for a variety of reasons. One aspect of the Supply Chain area that is conducive to consolidation is the related Finance & Accounting activities associated with this critical process. […]
The organization that ultimately owns a work process provides clues for how the process is both managed and integrated. While one size doesn’t fit all, there are lessons to be learned by better understanding the approaches of your peers. For example, the use of a credit card product by employees to buy travel services, or […]
Making improvements in the cash application process using automation can significantly reduce labor costs, increase cash flow, and improve external customer satisfaction. Many Shared Service organizations are having success in improving Autocash matching rates and eliminating inefficiencies in the cash application process. A recent PeercastTM in the Accounts Receivable (O2C) research area featured a global […]