Future of Sourcing - Global Business Services (GBS) https://www.futureofsourcing.com/tags/global-business-services-gbs en Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS https://www.futureofsourcing.com/turning-the-corner-on-digital-transformation-with-gbs <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Turning%20the%20Corner%20on%20Digital%20Transformation%20with%20GBS.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Turning%20the%20Corner%20on%20Digital%20Transformation%20with%20GBS.png" title="Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-2040-I1bJveebhF0"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Turning%20the%20Corner%20on%20Digital%20Transformation%20with%20GBS.png?itok=9tHVxnbg" width="624" height="325" alt="Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/covid-19-highlights-procurements-continued-need-to-evolve-and-become-more-agile-and-resilient">COVID-19 Highlights Procurement’s Continued Need to Evolve and Become More Agile and Resilient</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The COVID-19 pandemic made an already challenging marketplace even more complicated, forcing businesses to seek out value in every corner of their operations&mdash;including in their extended networks. As a result, Global Business Service (GBS) organizations are increasingly investing in new capabilities, demonstrating to parent organizations their ability to improve business outcomes as a true strategic partner.</p> <p>To thrive in this uncertainty, GBS organizations should prioritize technology investments for several reasons: they boost collaboration, fuel innovation and help generate tangible value. Digital transformation is only growing in importance, and GBS organizations that are already ahead of the curve have provided a roadmap detailing all that digital technologies have to offer.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 1.385em; font-weight: bold;">Expanding Priorities</span></p> <p>The <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/shared-services-survey.html" target="_blank">2021 Deloitte Global Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey</a> revealed that traditional objectives such as improving efficiencies and reducing costs remain top of mind for GBS leaders. GBS is also taking on more than ever before as they outline for themselves newer, more strategic objectives. According to the survey, GBS priorities are evolving, with the top five being rounded out by business value, the digital agenda and capabilities development.</p> <p>Those incorporating this work into their daily operations are reaping the benefits not only for themselves but also their partners. Notably, the survey found that over 61% of GBS Organizations have defined acceleration of the digital agenda as one of their strategic priorities, underscoring the focus on digital investment and transformation, and 54% of these organizations have achieved their objectives.</p> <h2>Key Capabilities</h2> <p>There are many digital enablers already proving successful for GBS. Seventy-two percent of organizations have implemented robotic process automation (RPA)&mdash;the number one digital focus area for GBS&mdash;which is helping realize upwards of 40% in savings. Overall, more than half of GBS organizations have implemented RPA together with predictive reporting and process excellence.</p> <p>These enablers, however, extend far past RPA; a majority of organizations, for example, are prioritizing single-instance ERP and cloud solutions and cited them among their most important capabilities. Other enablers include varying AI platforms for self-service, virtual assistance, and more, as well as case management solutions like ServiceNow and predictive and customer analytics. As GBS looks to capitalize on digital investments in both the short- and long-term, 44% plan to prioritize analytics within their operations in the coming years&mdash;the number one expected capability investment.</p> <h2>Incorporating Talent</h2> <p>Any digital transformation journey is only as successful as the people involved, meaning GBS organizations looking to level up their operations must prioritize talent. According to the survey, GBS organizations are increasingly focusing on developing a culture of innovation and analytics to support a widespread digital mindset. Sixty-seven percent are building continuous improvement and innovation into talent programs, and a majority are leveraging contract and contingent workers to gain new expertise and skillsets as they expand capabilities, with others using gig workers as well.</p> <p>As the pandemic offers &ldquo;proof of concept&rdquo; for technology-fueled ways of working, GBS organizations are pivoting rapidly to continue innovating their talent models to meet the growing needs of their operations.</p> <h2>Breaking Down Siloes to Succeed with Digital&nbsp;</h2> <p>The survey indicated several key obstacles to achieving digital outcomes, such as siloed processes or unorganized approaches to AI. Another key issue is technical complexity, which has highlighted the importance of having a skilled and engaged workforce.</p> <p>Those who can navigate these challenges through open communication and collaboration organization-wide will be able to capitalize on the top three trends impacting GBS plans in the near-term&mdash;which all happen to be digitally focused: expanded work-from-home capabilities (87%), digital agenda acceleration (61%) and additional virtual practices (59%).</p> <h2>Moving Forward Post-Pandemic</h2> <p>The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we do business. GBS organizations are leaning into digital transformation and already reaping the benefits. To succeed in the long-term and emerge as leaders in a post-pandemic market, GBS organizations must continue to use digital enablers to support their new, evolving strategic priorities.</p> <p>Still, there is no one-size-fits-all approach given the vast possibilities with digital. Organizations moving forward should continually review and evaluate their priorities and investments to ensure they are pursuing the best possible pathways for their business.&nbsp;</p> <p>For a more detailed review or discussion of the survey results, please visit Deloitte&rsquo;s <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/shared-services-survey.html" target="_blank">website</a> and contact the report authors.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/2021-deloitte-global-shared-services-and-outsourcing-survey" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2021 Deloitte Global Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Transformation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/turning-the-corner-on-digital-transformation-with-gbs"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 17 Aug 2021 17:00:00 +0000 Brad Podraza 2040 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/turning-the-corner-on-digital-transformation-with-gbs#comments Managing Risks in a GBS Environment post-COVID-19 https://www.futureofsourcing.com/managing-risks-in-a-gbs-environment-post-covid-19 <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2844%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2844%29.png" title=" GBS Environment post COVID-19" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1765-I1bJveebhF0"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2844%29.png?itok=ruIwfe4Y" width="624" height="325" alt=" GBS Environment post COVID-19" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/4-ways-to-accelerate-your-impact-sourcing-strategy">4 Ways to Accelerate Your Impact Sourcing Strategy </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Risk optimization and mitigation are essential within any Global Business Services (GBS) environment to proactively protect the enterprise from potential threats and enable confident business decisions. COVID-19 has uncovered previously unknown vulnerabilities, which left business leaders and board members scrambling for solutions to plot a course to stabilization.</p> <p>During a prolonged crisis that creates a highly volatile economic landscape of uncertainty, it is a natural tendency to make reactionary decisions to merely survive. However, it is critical to scrutinize the immediate solutions and their deep-rooted implications that can expose the company to a new wave of risks.</p> <p>As you begin to plan for the transition out of the stabilization phase of this crisis, consider what changes should be made to your post-COVID-19 GBS framework as well as your Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Through the lens of risk exposure, carefully assess each operating segment and the options you have to strengthen your operating model. According to <a href="https://thehackettgroup.imagerelay.com/share/5652fdde15254bd1b1ece9e88e399915" target="_blank">The Hackett Group</a>, U.S. Companies had USD 1.3 trillion tied up in working capital in 2019. By accessing the excess cash within your company, this will enable you to implement new risk mitigation tactics within your GBS organization.</p> <h1>Process Auditing</h1> <p>Evaluate each business process and the importance of it to the organization in order to maintain business continuity. Ask yourself if you are currently able to meet all service level agreements that align with critical processes. If not, what are the barriers that prevent your organization from doing so? Is it the location of the service center? Supply chain disruptions? Lack of clear documentation? Inadequate training? Consider a <a href="https://www.liberty-source.com/hybrid-service-delivery-models-safeguarding-your-bottom-line-during-a-pandemic/" target="_blank">hybrid delivery strategy</a> where you utilize both onshore and offshore talent based on the importance of select processes.</p> <h1>People Management</h1> <p>Business must continue during a crisis, and your talent, both in-house and outsourced, is what can and will set you apart from your competitors as long as preparation is a priority. Consider your current people management approach from onboarding, training, learning and development. What tools were previously used, and what roadblocks are you encountering in this area right now? Are you and your outsourced partners able to effectively source and onboard new talent? How about the management and flexibility of <a href="https://www.liberty-source.com/mitigating-risks-with-third-party-partnerships/" target="_blank">dispersed teams</a>? Have your digital and human capital workforces been optimized to work efficiently together? Most operating centers are managed by having boots on the ground, and leaders often feel they need to be physically present to ensure employees are productive. Adaptability plays a vital role in the success of WFH mandates and developing an agile contingency plan protects the business from high attrition when the dust has settled.</p> <h1>Technology Infrastructure</h1> <p>In times such as a pandemic, your ability to provide employees with the necessary hardware and tools needed to do their jobs is crucial. Investing in versatile hardware products increases organization and productivity while also ensuring digital security. Does your business have the capability to move workforce locations easily, or is the equipment too cumbersome? Cyber-security protocols must heighten during a BCP event to prevent the influx of malicious cyber-attack attempts. Understanding the limitations and protocols within each segment of your GBS organization will better equip the enterprise with the tools necessary to support and maintain operations.</p> <p>The fundamental theme throughout the landscape of risk mitigation within a GBS environment is the realization that success relies heavily on the remote digital capabilities of an organization, its partners, and their collective ability to capitalize on those capabilities when it matters the most.</p> <p>Investing time in a well-rounded risk management plan minimizes the impact on the organization enabling peace of mind and permits confidence no matter the circumstance.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-mitigation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Mitigation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-optimization" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk optimization</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Managing Risks in a GBS Environment post-COVID-19 - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/managing-risks-in-a-gbs-environment-post-covid-19"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 20 May 2020 17:29:23 +0000 Cindy Gallagher 1765 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/managing-risks-in-a-gbs-environment-post-covid-19#comments FSSC Expert Interviews eBook https://www.futureofsourcing.com/fssc-expert-interviews-ebook <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>In an interview with the Global process expert source-to-pay at Clariant SE and the Head of Global Shared Services Finance &amp; Accounting Senior Vice President at Heraeus Holding GmbH, SSON collected some interesting insights about employees involved in change processes and the centralization of functions. Read all German language questions and answers here for free: <a href="http://bit.ly/SSOW-FSSC-Interviews" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/SSOW-FSSC-Interviews</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/shared-services" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Shared Services</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/source-to-pay" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Source-To-Pay</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/finance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Finance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/centralized-functions" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Centralized Functions</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="FSSC Expert Interviews eBook - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/fssc-expert-interviews-ebook"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 31 Jul 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Stefanie Ullrich 1251 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/fssc-expert-interviews-ebook#comments HRSSC Expert Interviews eBook https://www.futureofsourcing.com/hrssc-expert-interviews-ebook <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Enterprise or GBS model? Where on the RPA journey? Biggest challenges? More knowledge-based work? The SSON Analytics Live Polling at the SSOW 2017 among conference attendees brought some interesting insights into the Shared Services &amp; Outsourcing market. Read all the results here for free: <a href="http://bit.ly/SSOW-Polling-Results" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/SSOW-Polling-Results</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/conference" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Conference</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/analytics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Analytics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/enterprise-model" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enterprise Model</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="HRSSC Expert Interviews eBook - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/hrssc-expert-interviews-ebook"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 24 Jul 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Stefanie Ullrich 1250 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/hrssc-expert-interviews-ebook#comments Interview with Filippo Passerini https://www.futureofsourcing.com/interview-with-filippo-passerini <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/shared-services-and-outsourcing-week-2018" target="_blank">SSON</a> talked to Filippo Passerini, the former group president of GBS and Chief Information Officer at Procter &amp; Gamble about how GBS became relevant to the entire organization; what&#39;s important when working with BPO partners; and much more. Read the full interview here for free: <a href="http://bit.ly/SSOW-Interview-Passerini" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/SSOW-Interview-Passerini</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/shared-services" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Shared Services</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-process-outsourcing-bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/interview" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Interview</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/media-partnership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media Partnership</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Interview with Filippo Passerini - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/interview-with-filippo-passerini"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Thu, 19 Jul 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Stefanie Ullrich 1244 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/interview-with-filippo-passerini#comments Why Process Management is Key to Innovation https://www.futureofsourcing.com/why-process-management-is-key-to-innovation <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Promapp-Process-Mapping-Software-in-Action-624x325-624x325.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Promapp-Process-Mapping-Software-in-Action-624x325-624x325.jpg" title="Why Process Management is Key to Innovation" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-716-I1bJveebhF0"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Promapp-Process-Mapping-Software-in-Action-624x325-624x325.jpg?itok=Y0BpvsWz" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Today’s outsourcers and shared services operations are expected to deliver not just cost savings, but also innovation, agility, quality and growth. At the same time the bar has been raised when it comes to expectations with customers having lower tolerance for mistakes, delays or poor service. In fact, Gartner rates customer experience at the top of CEOs’ priorities for 2017. It is the ability for organisations to respond and adapt quickly to both customer requests and changing market circumstances that can provide that key point of differentiation.</p> <p>The dual pressures of delivering more for less <em>and</em> acting as an incubator for new ideas and efficiencies can be a tall order, especially if you are managing complex processes on behalf of multiple clients or departments across different industries or physical locations.</p> <p>So what steps can be taken to liberate time, make better use of resources and create that additional value? According to The 2016 SSON (Shared Services &amp; Outsourcing Network) State of the Shared Services Industry Report, ‘process excellence’ was identified as the area that will most radically improve the value that shared services will provide in the next two years. This was closely followed by data analytics and operational agility.</p> <p><em><strong>Room For Improvement</strong>&nbsp;</em></p> <p>If they’re managed effectively, processes can be a key enabler of consistent execution, business improvement and innovation. For large outsourcers or SSOs (Shared Services Organisations), ill-managed or out-of-date processes can have a ripple effect across the whole organisation - stifling efficiency, speed and the ability to introduce fresh and more efficient ways of working. To keep up or even better, stay ahead of the competition, processes need to be simple, accessible and reviewed and improved regularly.</p> <p>Even with advances in process management tools and technology, the management of processes is haphazard and process documentation is quite static in nature at many SSOs. At best, processes are recorded in packages like Visio. At worst, they are stored in people’s heads - so when someone leaves, so does their know-how and the SSO’s methodology. Commonly stored on shared drives, Intranets or in personal notebooks, many of these procedures are drawn up by project teams or continuous improvement specialists, but are rarely accessed by the teams that should be following and improving these processes every day.</p> <p>Most people these days have a multitude of apps on their phone, but if they are difficult to use or complicated then they get deleted—fast.&nbsp;SSO team tolerance for complexity and a poor user experience is low.&nbsp;The same applies to business tools: if a CRM system is cumbersome to access and update, then it will be ignored. Process management and improvement is no different…if it’s not a living entity that develops and grows over time, then best practice and ongoing business transformation simply die on the vine.</p> <p><em><strong>Community Spirit</strong></em></p> <p>For any transformation to work, it’s essential to get buy-in at both a senior management and grass-roots level. In our own experience of assisting multi-nationals who need to deliver Global Business Services (GBS) but are hampered because they do not have a strong process management and improvement discipline, it is often shared services leaders or heads of HR or Finance that look for a better way of doing things.</p> <p>Shared services leaders look for opportunities to improve agility, innovation and customer experience. For HR professionals, the emphasis might be on improving on-boarding, training or staff retention, or perhaps considering how they can re-skill staff with the trends of virtual working, AI or automation. Meanwhile, the motivation for CFOs is likely to be around cost reduction, revenue creation, internal controls or bottom-line efficiencies.</p> <p>No matter who is responsible for driving transformation, success or failure will almost always come down to team engagement. A process improvement culture can’t be something that’s imposed from above, it must be owned and fed by internal teams. Involving everyone as part of an organisation-wide process improvement community will mean that every employee can potentially have a say. The value of this crowdsourcing approach to create a melting pot of ideas should not be underestimated, as it is those at the coal-face—whether working in a customer contact centre or delivering bespoke IT services to end-customers or specific departments—who often have the best insight as to what works and what doesn’t.</p> <p><strong><em>Model Behaviour&nbsp;</em></strong></p> <p>The rewards of introducing a process improvement culture that is interactive and involves everyone can be realised sooner than you might imagine. Take for instance an IT outsourcing provider, who recently adopted cloud-based process mapping; within weeks they captured and reached consensus on over 200 new processes using the application. They can also use the platform to demonstrate to customers the different services they can deliver, the value they can provide and the SLAs they can meet. At the same, they expect to gradually reduce any type of process failure in their business moving forward.</p> <p>Mitigating the risk of failure and meeting compliance requirements can be a major benefit of standardising processes. Think about how this might impact a large outsourced contact centre or a global IT services provider. If there is an incident or emergency that needs to be addressed, whether a customer service or IT support request, there should be clear guidelines on what should be said or what steps should be taken. &nbsp;If necessary, approved process variants can enable teams to adjust the standard process to meet the requirements for different customers, countries or departments.</p> <p><em><strong>Global vs. Local</strong></em></p> <p>One size doesn’t necessarily fit all. On the one hand, you can reduce the costs associated with duplication and complexity of processes by standardising and streamlining them, but there is also a case for introducing bespoke processes for bespoke situations. &nbsp;We work with the shared services centre of a Canadian health provider where a single, standard process cannot meet the requirements of everyone, especially the unique requirements of different regions. &nbsp;What they need is a set of process variants that can be easily tailored for each individual region where health-related or payroll methods may be unique to that territory. &nbsp;This means SSOs don’t need to re-invent the wheel, they can leverage parts of the standard process that remain the same, but with the added value of ‘glocalisation’ where variants are required and applied.</p> <p><em><strong>Clarity of Purpose</strong></em></p> <p>With clearly designed processes that everyone can understand, access and contribute to, it is possible to create an unstoppable improvement culture where both value and innovation can thrive. Charles Araujo, principal analyst at Intellyx, expressed a similar sentiment in a recent whitepaper entitled <em>The Innovation Map: How to Create Disruptive Innovation in a Complex Digital World</em>. In it he notes, “It’s not a lack of creativity that stifles innovation, but rather fear, vagueness and ambiguity. When team members are unsure of how things work, they hesitate to take risks or suggest new ideas.”</p> <p>By making process management and improvement dynamic and integrated into every employee’s daily routines—from the CEO through to a Customer Service Advisor—true business transformation can start to occur. &nbsp;This is true even for the largest and most diverse of shared services organisations, providing an enabler for innovation and value to flourish at every level. With talk of AI dominating the future landscape, the role of outsourcing and shared services, and how they will be affected, is still up in the air. What is certain though is that any conversations around adapting to change will be centred on process.</p> <p><strong>Benefits of introducing a process improvement culture:</strong></p> <ul> <li> Transition new work into shared services organisations more effectively</li> <li> Improve newly transitioned work</li> <li> Enhance quality and help SSOs commit to and meet SLAs with standardised processes</li> <li> Get more clarity and accountability for who is responsible for what</li> <li> Eliminate errors and rework</li> <li> Enhance the customer experience</li> <li> Reduce training and on-boarding costs</li> <li> Minimise risk and meet compliance requirements</li> <li> Retain expert knowledge and intellectual property</li> </ul> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/human-resources-hr" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Human Resources (HR)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/shared-services" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Shared Services</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Why Process Management is Key to Innovation - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/why-process-management-is-key-to-innovation"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:22:49 +0000 Richard Holmes 716 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com Walking in a webinar wonderland... https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/770 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Another month, another great Outsource Talks webinar&hellip; This week it was my profound pleasure and privilege to welcome Vested&rsquo;s Kate Vitasek, KPMG&rsquo;s Don Ryan and &lsquo;Art of Procurement&rsquo; host Phil Ideson to the Outsource Talks sofa, where the hour fairly flew by in a wonderful discussion of sourcing business models, GBS, challenges facing CPOs, &ldquo;two-tier&rdquo; procurement professionals and much more.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As always with Outsource Talks I was blown away by the depth of the insight shown by my panel. If you&rsquo;re not yet familiar with the model (and if not, you&rsquo;re really missing out) the first half of the show is a series of one-on-one interviews on topics chosen by the panellists (enabling them to focus on the themes that are of particular interest to them right now) while for Act II we move to audience Q&amp;A and intra-panel discussion; on Wednesday I was especially pleased with how my panellists picked up on the themes they had each introduced in their one-on-ones and explored them further in the second half of the show, demonstrating their firm command not only of their own fields but of some of the issues driving change throughout the space (such as RPA, the frequent appearance of which in Outsource Talks is further evidence &ndash; if any were required &ndash; of how significant and far-reaching a development this is).</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">My intention with Outsource Talks is always to create a panel which offers a good deal of variety in terms of the origins of the panellists and the kind of work they each do, and to bring such varied perspectives to bear on specific topics is, I think, of real benefit to our audience &ndash; themselves a very varied bunch, reflecting the diversity of content Outsource offers across our channels. Seeing how Wednesday&rsquo;s panellists engaged with each other&rsquo;s chosen themes was a genuine privilege, and as always I&rsquo;d like to thank Kate, Don and Phil for their excellent participation: I&rsquo;m sure our audience, like me, picked up plenty from the show which will enhance and extend their understanding of what&rsquo;s going on in the sourcing and outsourcing arena today.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If you missed the big event, despair not: the recording of the webinar is now available to&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://bit.ly/2bqtJ33" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">download here</a>. I urge you to check it out and to pass that link on to any colleagues or connections you feel might benefit from hearing from three such fine thought leaders.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Following the show, the tables were turned somewhat: I was interviewed by Phil Ideson in a special &ldquo;after the show&rdquo; &lsquo;Art of Procurement&rsquo; podcast. At the time of writing, that podcast has not yet been published, but you will be able to check it out very soon (along with all Phil&rsquo;s other great shows) on his site:&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://artofprocurement.com/" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">www.artofprocurement.com</a>.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If you&rsquo;d like to hear more from Kate, as I mentioned on Wednesday I recently interviewed her for Outsource: you can read that interview&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://outsourcemag.com/qa-kate-vitasek-university-of-tennessee-vested-part-1/" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;while her regular columns for us&nbsp;are indexed&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://outsourcemag.com/author/kate-vitasek/" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Meanwhile, anyone interested in finding out more about the GBS Roadmap conferences which Don Ryan discussed in his one-on-one can&nbsp;<a data-mce-="" href="http://www.gbsroadmap.com/" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">go to the series homepage</a>&nbsp;for all the information they require, or can drop me a line at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a> (which is of course also where you can send me any feedback you may have on this week&#39;s webinar, suggestions for future guests, or any other thoughts you may wish to share - I&#39;m always on the lookout for great new contributors, so if you&#39;d like to discuss getting involved content-wise, don&#39;t be shy!).</p> <p style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Our next Outsource Talks takes place on Wednesday September 21 at the usual time (3pm UK; 7.30pm India; 10am Eastern; 7am Pacific) and I look forward to hosting another superb panel &ndash; and as many of you as can make it. See you there!</p> <p data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="line-height: 1.714285714; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><a data-mce-="" href="http://bit.ly/2bqtJ33" style="color: rgb(33, 117, 155); outline: none;" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD OUTSOURCE TALKS #6 HERE</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/podcast" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Podcast</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Walking in a webinar wonderland... - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/770"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Thu, 18 Aug 2016 22:28:23 +0000 Jamie Liddell 770 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com Sunshine, happiness and webinars https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/744 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The summer sun blazed down upon London today, a raging nuclear inferno of staggering power &ndash; yet it was as a mere birthday-cake candle when set alongside the brilliance of the panellists on this afternoon&rsquo;s Outsource Talks&hellip; Yes, today saw the fifth episode of our webinar talkshow, and if my introduction might be considered just a&nbsp;<em>fraction</em>hyperbolic we were nevertheless treated to a feast of outsourcing opinion and insight, wit and wisdom &ndash; and a few chuckles &ndash; which made for a fantastic hour&rsquo;s listening and, overall, a very worthy addition to the Outsource Talks catalogue.</p> <p>After the least auspicious of beginnings &ndash; a technical hitch leaving me muted but unaware of that fact &ndash; and then a decidedly more excellent appearance by my colleague Eleanor Winn, who popped in to talk about our GBS Roadmap events in Zurich and Copenhagen (more on that below), for today&rsquo;s main event I was joined in the Outsource Talks virtual studio by three stalwarts of the outsourcing space: long-time BPO and shared services advisor Howard Spode of BPOpronet; Mario Vollbracht, Managing Director at Alsbridge; and the legendary&nbsp;Mark Lewis of law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner. As usual, I spoke with each panellist in turn individually before moving to a group discussion and Q&amp;A &ndash; and, as is invariably the case with Outsource Talks, so much good stuff came up during those one-on-one sessions that we could easily have had an entire webinar with each of the three alone, and I found myself thinking once again how truly fortunate I am to enjoy the involvement and support of such superbly professional and perspicacious panellists.</p> <p>That good fortune, of course, was also shared by those attending the webinar &ndash; and I can now extend it to those of you who weren&rsquo;t able to join us today, as the recording of Outsource Talks #5 is now live. Therefore, if you&rsquo;re interested in hearing (among much else) Howard&rsquo;s opinions on technology, hype and the importance of focussing on what&rsquo;s truly valuable; Mario&rsquo;s investigation into the retail and consumer products sectors and what is (and isn&rsquo;t) driving outsourcing there; and Mark&rsquo;s thoughts on the significance of Brexit (a truly superb summary which I urge all of you to hear for yourselves regardless of where in the world you might be), or if you merely want to chortle at my realisation at the start that I&rsquo;ve been speaking into thin air, you can now do just that:&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/2agJ9rl" target="_blank">click here for the recording</a>, and feel free to share this link with any colleagues you think may also benefit from it.</p> <p>The next Outsource Talks takes place on August 17th at the same time (3pm UK; 7.30pm India; 10am Eastern; 7am Pacific) and I invite all of you to join me and my panel &ndash; including Vested guru&nbsp;<a href="http://outsourcemag.com/qa-kate-vitasek-university-of-tennessee-vested-part-1/" target="_blank">Kate Vitasek</a>&nbsp;and KPMG&rsquo;s Don Ryan &ndash; for another smorgasbord of outsourcing thought leadership.&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/29rYAv9" target="_blank">To register for Outsource Talks #6, click here</a>&nbsp;&ndash; see you there!</p> <p><em>(Talking of KPMG: as Eleanor told our webinar audience earlier, our GBS Roadmap events later this year in Zurich and Copenhagen are looking awesome and well worth investigating by anyone involved in global business services &ndash; wherever you&rsquo;re based. For more information, and to register, see the series website at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gbsroadmap.com/" target="_blank">www.gbsroadmap.com</a>&hellip;)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/advisory" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advisory</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-process-outsourcing-bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/brexit" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Brexit</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/technology" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Technology</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Sunshine, happiness and webinars - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/744"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Thu, 21 Jul 2016 02:55:00 +0000 Jamie Liddell 744 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com Putting the "G" into "GBS" https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/730 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>At a recent breakfast roundtable I hosted, one of our guests was discussing the transformation her organisation is currently undergoing, moving a significant proportion of its recruitment function into a central office collocated with a number of other back-office activities.</p> <p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shared service,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and they&rsquo;re calling it &lsquo;Global Business Services&rsquo; &ndash; but we&rsquo;re not really sure what that&rsquo;s supposed to mean. We&rsquo;re not recruiting globally.&rdquo;</p> <p>It struck me that I&rsquo;ve encountered such puzzlement regarding the GBS moniker several times over the last year or so &ndash; and that this could stem from the fact that there isn&rsquo;t one hard-and-fast definition of what qualifies a support services structure as being &ldquo;global business services&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;merely&rdquo; shared services or some other descriptor of a centralised services entity. Each organisation has its own understanding of what it means by GBS, and no two structures are, of course, the same, each catering to the very specific requirements and forms of their parent businesses.</p> <p>As most readers will no doubt be aware, Outsource has partnered with KPMG to present a series of conferences under the &ldquo;GBS Roadmap&rdquo; umbrella (the next two events are taking place in Zurich and Copenhagen, in October and November this year respectively: for more information see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gbsroadmap.com/" target="_blank">www.gbsroadmap.com</a>) and our partners have hit on the word which for me best sums up the philosophy behind the GBS trend: &ldquo;holistic.&rdquo;</p> <p>&ldquo;In our increasingly complex world,&rdquo; according to KPMG, &ldquo;firms find that taking a holistic view across their internal support functions can yield the greatest return. The driving forces behind global business services include:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Transforming business functions to align with new and evolving business models</li> <li>Improving capabilities to deliver insight and clarity for stronger business strategies and decisions</li> <li>Preparing the business for long-term sustained value by developing a holistic strategy across the enterprise.&rdquo;</li> </ul> <p>The key here is that holistic strategy. It&rsquo;s not merely about centralising functions and activities geographically, but also conceptually: considering support services as reaching right throughout the organisation and providing for the needs not simply of its various local operations but also and simultaneously for those of the business as a whole.</p> <p>With that in mind, &ldquo;global&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean &ldquo;covering the whole world&rdquo; &ndash; as our roundtable guest stated, her organisation isn&rsquo;t recruiting globally &ndash; it can also be taken to mean &ldquo;covering the entire organisation.&rdquo; Of course, in order for the GBS model to be leveraged fully, a certain geographical scale and scope does need to be attained, but that absolutely doesn&rsquo;t imply that an organisation needs to have a footprint in every country on Earth &ndash; or even every continent &ndash; before it can consider a transition to GBS.</p> <p>At our previous GBS Roadmap events (including last year in Stockholm and Amsterdam) the flexible nature of the model has been very apparent, with various different interpretations presented by the events&rsquo; speakers and many more emerging through workshops and general discussion. Indeed, our roundtable guest was perhaps approaching the question from the wrong direction when she said &ldquo;we&rsquo;re not really sure what that&rsquo;s supposed to mean.&rdquo; GBS isn&rsquo;t supposed to mean anything prescriptive, but is more of an operating philosophy, with specific structures being tailored to each organisation&rsquo;s own particular situation. As Tone Leivestad, Director, Shared Services &amp; Outsourcing Advisory, KPMG Norway said at last year&rsquo;s Stockholm event (a great highlights video of which you can watch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKuBcItRnAQ&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">here</a>): &ldquo;Most of all it&rsquo;s important to find your way; then you need to make it a journey, you need to mature on each level before you take the next step, and then you&rsquo;ll get the model that best supports your business.&rdquo;</p> <p>It may well be that GBS isn&rsquo;t appropriate for your own organisation, for whatever reason &ndash; but that reason shouldn&rsquo;t be that you aren&rsquo;t &ldquo;global&rdquo; in the sense of operating worldwide; of the many misconceptions currently swirling around the GBS model, that one seems to me to be one of the most basic &ndash; and, hopefully, one of the easiest to dispel.</p> <p><em>Registration for this year&rsquo;s GBS Roadmap events in Zurich (October 4-5) and Copenhagen (November 15-16) is now open: see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gbsroadmap.com/" target="_blank">www.gbsroadmap.com</a>&nbsp;for more details. Anyone wishing to discuss these events, or to share their own thoughts on the GBS model generally and/or how it&rsquo;s being implemented within their own organisations, can write to me at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a>; as always, I look forward to hearing from you.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/conference" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Conference</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/europe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Europe</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/nordic" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nordic</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Putting the &amp;quot;G&amp;quot; into &amp;quot;GBS&amp;quot; - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/730"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/europemiddle-eastafrica" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Europe/Middle East/Africa</a></div></div></div> Mon, 11 Jul 2016 20:33:24 +0000 Jamie Liddell 730 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com Q&A: Atul Vashistha, NeoGroup https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/941 <div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><em>Atul Vashistha is the CEO and chairman of global services and sourcing advisory firm NeoGroup, as well as the former (as of last month) chairman of the Nearshore Executive Alliance (NEA). Continuing our series of interviews from the recent SIG Global Summit in Orlando, Florida, we spoke to Atul about why he decided to found NeoGroup (and how the landscape has evolved since that decision); the ramifications of greater in-house capability; and the pros and cons of nearshoring - and why it&#39;s looking good for Mexico and Argentina...</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><em>Outsource: Atul, thank you very much for joining Outsource today at the SIG Summit. Can you start by introducing yourself and telling our readers a bit about NeoGroup?</em></p> <p>Atul Vashistha: I am chairman of NeoGroup, a company I founded in 1999; I saw this opportunity in the globalisation of services &ndash; I felt that what had happened to manufacturing was going to happen to services. It definitely wasn&rsquo;t the first one: companies like American Express, Texas Instruments, GE and Mitsubishi were already doing it. This was prior to Y2K and I felt like that might be the thing that took this trend over the edge.</p> <p>I was working for Fortune 25 companies, and I ran international for Cardinal Health, and I couldn&rsquo;t get my group&rsquo;s technology projects done in time. We couldn&rsquo;t find talent, whether it was in Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio&hellip;. I took a trip to India with my head of technology &ndash; I grew up in India but had been away for a very long time &ndash; and I was blown away by the development, and that led to me realising I could have my own business, helping companies figure out how to do this &ndash; how to take advantage of global talent?</p> <p>So for the last 16 years our primary business has been advising Global 2000 companies on the whole sourcing lifecycle. We have methodologies around what to source, where to source it, and how to manage it. Three years ago we realised that as companies had scaled up dramatically, that there were a lot of processes that if they were destabilised &ndash; if they were unstable because of strikes or just change in economic conditions &ndash; that would have a huge impact on their ongoing operations. So we took all the data that we&rsquo;ve been collecting on locations and supplies and created an application which has now turned into a cloud-based real-time monitoring of risk with your locations and your suppliers. This is part of the NeoGroup today, but it has its own brand called Supply Wisdom.</p> <p><em>O: What do you think have been the key developments in the international sourcing business services industry from when you first saw that opportunity to where we are today?</em></p> <p>AV: If I go back 16-plus years ago, it was project-orientated &ndash; so it was very discrete projects, it was very centric on the three &lsquo;I&rsquo;s: Israel, Ireland and India, and then India progressed dramatically because of scale. And it was truly remote, in the sense that there was very little interaction between the entities, between the client and the supplier. I think what&rsquo;s changed there is that the projects are now of scale, and more importantly they are ongoing business processes. If that outsourcing failed in the past, it didn&rsquo;t have a major impact on the company; today if engagement fails it can have a significant impact on the operations. I think that&rsquo;s number one. A huge part of business operations are outsourced today.</p> <p>I think the second piece is an equally large part that people don&rsquo;t realise is their own centres. So if you look at GICs (or global in-house centres) that operation is significant, and in fact the complexity of work that&rsquo;s being done in many of those is of very high quality, high risk or high complexity to the company. So the complexity of work is significant, it&rsquo;s ongoing.</p> <p>I think the other piece is there are a lot more locations where the work is being done and it&rsquo;s no longer about the three &lsquo;I&rsquo;s. In fact, Israel has become this technology centre, Ireland is a lot more of a tax centre &ndash; in fact some of these locations don&rsquo;t graduate enough engineers based on the need. And then now you have pockets of excellence I believe in every part of the world. You can go to Asia, and find great talent in Malaysia and the Philippines. You can go to Eastern Europe and find excellent talent in Hungary, Romania and other places; the same goes for Latin America, in locations like Guadalajara, Campinas, Bogota and Buenos Aires; so the number of locations has grown.</p> <p>Another thing is that 15 years ago most outsourcing was done by the very large global companies. Today you&rsquo;ll see from start-ups that literally are birthed from having a large part of their operations outsourced, to companies that are very domestic companies like Home Depot. Home Depot really is a company in the US and Mexico but outsources globally. I think that has been another big change.</p> <p>And finally, the reason I started the company is that I realised there was very little knowledge about this on the client side. Clients really didn&rsquo;t know anything about these locations, about the suppliers, about how to do business in this fashion &ndash; they may have known manufacturing but they didn&rsquo;t know services &ndash; and I would say today that they are significantly better informed than they were. Maybe some remote locations they may not know but they have five or ten years of experience now doing this, which wasn&rsquo;t the case before.</p> <p><em>O: So what about the way that you work with those clients? How has that changed over time? Because presumably as the client side has got more mature and more capable internally, the sort of work they&rsquo;ve required of you has become more complex.</em></p> <p>AV: Yeah, absolutely. So when I look back ten-plus years ago, we were doing significantly more education. We were helping bring them along in a large sense. We were probably making all of the decisions, and clients could participate, but not as much because they could only tell us about their company but not about some of their choices. The engagement sizes we were doing were significantly larger. It would take us a long time to do something: what we&rsquo;d do in the past that would take us 16/20 weeks, we&rsquo;d get done in eight weeks today, so it&rsquo;s at least 50% less time. From a consulting per engagement perspective, they are a lot smaller than they used to be.</p> <p>Also the clients play a much bigger role today than they used to, so we end up doing much more targeted activity. So for example, 15 years ago we would have gone to a client, we would have help decide what project was right for them, we would help them decide on location with suppliers. Today we may do an engagement where the client is very clear on what it is that they want outsourced, so we don&rsquo;t have to do any piece of work there. They also know where they want to be: they know they want to be nearshore versus India. They actually know a location pretty much.</p> <p>I remember doing an RFP for a very large oil and gas company. We started with 41 suppliers, there&rsquo;s not a single client today that would start with 41 suppliers. If they start with ten I&rsquo;d be surprised. We focus much more now on managing risk for our clients than just the benefit. The benefit is a given; it wasn&rsquo;t a given 15 years ago.</p> <p><em>O: You&rsquo;re also the outgoing chairman of the Nearshore Executive Alliance. Can you tell me a little more about that?</em></p> <p>AV: The company has been global from the very beginning, and in 2010 I pivoted my personal attention from spending time in Asia-Pacific to spending time in Latin America, and the reason I did that was that clients were not outsourcing their most critical projects to Asia-Pacific &ndash; and also as the movement towards e-commerce was happening, with a high amount of customer engagement, they were not getting the right amount of talent in Asia-Pacific. My belief was that that work would either stay within the US or it would have to be an area that could understand the context, which meant they understood the US in terms of culture &ndash; and then the second thing was that they would have to work real-time.</p> <p>And so there was no place other than nearshore, so I had to understand: could nearshore actually do it? I&rsquo;d been working in LatAm since 2003, but it was a specific project: our client said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking at Mexico City and we&rsquo;re looking at Sao Paulo, could you help us compare them?&rdquo; So we did these discrete projects, and I wanted to make sure that we, as a company, could claim that this was possible. Our approach has always been that before you help a client, you have to understand the market: what is the capability of the country, and then try to understand that capability in context. What is a trade organisation? What is a tax structure? Talent pool? Are they global suppliers? Are they regional? Are they local?</p> <p>So we basically started that process in an in-depth way, and what I realised by 2012 was that there was significant capability. It was fragmented but there was significant capability and in fact huge investments were being made. In 2013 I got a call from Mike Barrett, CEO of Unosquare, and he basically said &ldquo;I want you to come in: we&rsquo;ve founded this organisation and we brought together buyers, advisers, suppliers, we&rsquo;d like you to come in and see if this would be of interest to you.&rdquo; I spent some time there at one of their meetings and it was pretty clear that this was a group of motivated individuals who were trying to build a pie instead of trying to figure out what to claim. I think if you look at my 15, 16 years of involvement with associations, I&rsquo;ve always believed that we&rsquo;ve got to build the industry to benefit from it. Which means we all have to make sure we&rsquo;re spending time to make sure outsourcing stays successful. And so to me, the Nearshore Executive Alliance was definitely focused in the same way &ndash; so when they asked me to be chairman I took that on.</p> <p>The focus for the last three years has really been to make sure we provide people a guide. So if someone says &ldquo;Hey, I&rsquo;m looking at building my front end for my e-commerce and I really need creative people who understand user experience, where do you think I could go that&rsquo;s more cost effective than the US?&rdquo; Well I know two locations you should be looking at and five suppliers you should be talking to. Imagine making that possible for all parts of outsourcing. The goal of it is not really to be an advisor but to be a guide &ndash; because I think in-depth exploration has to happen by clients. Do events where this ecosystem actually comes together so people know each other not just virtually but also physically.</p> <p>Coming together with SIG is exciting, because all of these locations have been individual strategies. When people went to India they were literally &ldquo;going to India&rdquo;. I think what has happened with outsourcing is that a significant part of the client base is thinking about, &ldquo;where can my business be done best?&rdquo; They&rsquo;re no longer thinking individually; they are thinking about the whole piece: from a risk perspective, from a quality perspective, from a control perspective where should I go? And I think coming together with SIG exposes LatAm to a wider customer base and I&rsquo;m hoping that it adds to their global sourcing strategy, so they can no longer say, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ignoring nearshore, it&rsquo;s too risky, I don&rsquo;t know anything about it&rdquo; to now saying &ldquo;I can look at it, and I can understand what parts of my strategy should it actually fit, and I have a place to go and a council to go to, in order to learn more about it.&rdquo;</p> <p><em>O: Looking at LatAm as part of the global picture that we inhabit, do you see any locations that are going to be particularly hot over the next few years that we haven&rsquo;t really been looking at too hard up until now?</em></p> <p>AV: I think that Mexico is going to be hot, in the sense that it&rsquo;s a really easy place to outsource to for the US. The other good thing about Mexico is that it has multiple cities of scale. Scale is a big thing with outsourcing to any country &ndash; for example Costa Rica is a fantastic location for shared services, but Costa Rica doesn&rsquo;t have scale; if I wanted to set up a thousand-person centre right now, it would take me two or three years. A call centre I could probably set up, but if I added complexity on top of that then I couldn&rsquo;t do it. It&rsquo;s the same challenge that Eastern European locations have. I can&rsquo;t set up a thousand-person operation than quickly. So I think Mexico is going to be hot because the talent is fantastic. I think when you start looking at shared services, if I was looking for smaller shared services I think Costa Rica, it&rsquo;s always been hot.</p> <p>The one area that&rsquo;s ignored by a lot of people is Argentina. Argentina has a lot of creative talent, so if you go to a CIO or a CTO today and say &ldquo;tell me where you are reducing cost and tell me where you&rsquo;re actually spending money,&rdquo; what they&rsquo;ll tell you is in any kind of legacy applications they have, or any kind of big software they have, they are reducing cost. The area they are investing in right now is digital. And guess what? Digital requires context, it requires significant interaction, iterative development, which is perfect for nearshore, and places like Argentina specifically.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/advisory" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advisory</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-business-services-gbs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Business Services (GBS)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/manufacturing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Manufacturing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/nearshoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nearshoring</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/offshoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Offshoring</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Q&amp;amp;A: Atul Vashistha, NeoGroup - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/941"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 11 May 2016 13:19:00 +0000 Atul Vashistha 941 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com