Shared Services Shifting Away From Traditional Model Focused On Offshore Resources S hared Services’ traditional value-add is based on taking advantage of cost- and process- based advantages like: Thus, we can expect to see customer proximity in terms of an onshore presence, as well as more virtual collaborations, dictate the shape of the future. To get an idea of the influence onshore-based
● ● shifting transactional, manual work to low- cost resources offshore, trading ‘proximity’ for ‘cost’ (i.e. BPO) ● ● promoting continuous improvement methodologies to optimize ‘back office’ processes ● ● rolling standardized processes out globally, and ● ● taking advantage of low-cost, offshore, operating environments This approach has benefited multinationals for nearly three decades. More recently, certain innovations have accelerated the model’s value – specifically, the recognition that processing can be optimized and accelerated through automation; and that the immense volumes of data passing through Shared Services offer valuable business intelligence, have shifted the narrative. The disruption caused by COVID-19 has driven an urgent rethink of the service delivery model (people, places and technology) as it currently stands. Indeed, people and places have proved vulnerable, while t echnology has shifted center stage. This has also presented significant opportunities, however. People remain critical, but today it is their ability to understand the business (the customer) and align on solving business problems and challenges, as well as culture, that make them attractive.
Shared Services can wield, look no further than global mission and enterprise technology services firm CACI, headquartered in Virginia, which set up a 400-strong team in Oklahoma City. Based at the Jack London CACI Shared Services Center (SSC), the SSC supports CACI’s 23,000 staff and operations in 155 countries. Although CACI set up its center two years ago, it was already thinking beyond standard cost/quality/scale opportunities. Bryan Jester, SVP and Shared Services Officer for CACI explains that the objective was to ensure CACI had the quality of staff and skills to scale business operations quickly – and this included smoothly integrating acquisitions. “CACI has acquired 28 companies over the past 10 years, so developing the capability to support expansions by plugging new businesses in quickly was critical,” he says. “Our value proposition is leveraging economies of skill as well as scale. And we found those skills in Oklahoma City.” Enabling CACI’s business on a global scale is the Shared Services’ key responsibility. Jester understands this all too well, having transferred from a customer-facing role where he was responsible for deploying Shared Services solutions in the federal government (for example, leading the financial systems integration of the Department of Interior) before pivoting to set up CACI’s own Shared Services Organization.
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