Rethinking Shared Services For 2020 And Beyond FoW pressures will impact Shared Services’ operating and service delivery models in a number of ways, at the same time presenting opportunities to leverage flexibility and critical capabilities. Cheap offshore gives way to low-cost onshore While cost may not drive operations offshore as much Develop your culture as a brand differentiator
The threat of other firms poaching your valuable employees is, of course, real. But you don’t need to be a victim to this. Firms can avoid falling victim to poaching by preemptively implementing measures to make workplace culture welcoming and nurturing. FoW provides ample opportunity to differentiate your corporate brand and its culture in a positive way. Offering flexible work hours and work locations may be commonplace soon, but rethinking rewards and incentives to reflect short-term goals as opposed to long-term employment; presenting locations that offer a positive work/life balance; offering improved training for critical skill sets; and providing ample opportunity to cut one’s teeth on new projects… will serve to attract and retain talented staff. Thinking outside the box and embracing FoW concepts will put you ahead of the game. New skills One key skill that has emerged in the the SSC industry is customer centricity; an extremely sought-after characteristic that will be hired wherever it is found. To support cultural affinity and understanding, it is likely that such roles may shift onshore. At the same time, cross-skilling will become a valuable element of employees’ development, providing the agility enterprises will come to rely on. Revisit recruiting and talent strategies Talent acquisition and onboarding needs to be rethought, starting with process. Personalization will cover things like work hours, location, and engagement to attract new talent. Shared Services are expecting marked changes in the way their teams are staffed, whether in the shape of gig workers or agile teams (see chart on next page). Moving work back inhouse and onshore is also in the cards, which opens up new career opportunities, multi-skilled resources and an improved talent pool. The future may be more gig-oriented than the past
as it did in the early 2000s, cost still matters. But the attraction of cheap offshore will fade given the opportunity for low-cost onshore . Today’s automation solutions are increasingly stepping in to take on work that would have been a candidate for offshore outsourcing in the past. What also counts today is a culture of understanding and alignment. This will be an advantage to US-based SSOs. Workforce: Less emphasis on cheap, more emphasis on highly skilled In the past, the ability to execute relatively mundane transactions meant decisions were driven by cheaper FTEs for the same work. That is no longer the case given standardization’s impact on efficiencies, as well as the ability of automation to take on some of this work. Today, the focus is on new skill sets that drive value. Automation skills rank alongside analytics, customer service, and problem-solving. Many of these are centralized in a Center of Excellence model, which supports far-flung business customers. Finding a market with a ready supply of graduates that offer these skills – with an eye on scaling up – will determine location.
Go where the labor pool is plentiful (and experienced)
Future human resource strategies may include flexible work contracts and on-demand staff, or even teams. What this means is that a reliable, experienced talent pool will dictate where Shared Services choose to set up. For, while the war for talent is real, the fact is that it makes sense for similar operations to locate in close proximity to each other. Just as many cities find car dealerships or pharmacies located across the street from each other, so too, does it make sense for Shared Services to cluster where the market is plentiful.
Future of Work: How to rethink the Service Delivery Model as a result of COVID-19
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