6 Steps to Plan For GBS Success

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Editor Coda
Aug 5, 2014

If you’re from a global company with an annual turnover of $1bn or more, what can you do to ensure your shared services operation is truly supporting the business?

Make the move to Global Business Services.

Not only are companies leveraging GBS considered to be more profitable than the average business, but they also reap the benefits of greater productivity, cost savings and in-depth insight into the market – and this goes a long way to support future plans for expansion.

But while it makes sense that a shared services organisation should reflect the business’ ambitions and make the transition to Global Business Services, the path is never that simple.  

If you’re considering making the move, here are the six steps you need to get right if you want to ensure a successful GBS model:

1) Higher Value Functions
It is key to move away from any kind of ‘silo mentality’ and prepare to totally engage with the business in order to drive the most valuable service. And, to get there, it’s imperative to:

  • Begin reviewing your current processes and seek the insight and best practices of third parties and organisations that are already leveraging these higher value activities
  • Investigate the available technology that will help you to get there

2) Culture
A true GBS upholds a service-led mentality and gets there by recruiting new talent, retaining their best employees and creating a robust staffing contingency plan. You can begin planning your culture-shift by:

  • Identifying key stakeholders and understanding their needs
  • Re-engineering roles where needed and establishing staff training programs to ensure adherence
  • Incentivising your staff to adopt the desired behaviour

3) Tools and Technology    
In order to support their super-efficient processes and operations, true GBS’ leverage the most enabling technologies, reconfigure their ERP platform and platform service technologies and incorporate analytics into the process. In order to achieve the right tools and technologies it is key to:

  • Start with an automation strategy planning session, looking for areas of duplication and identifying manual processes for an automation analysis
  • Consider the process as a whole, benchmark and don’t rush! You should always ensure the technology you opt for is the best fit for your specific organisation.
  • Enlisting the advice of experts is always a good idea

4) Leadership
Successful GBS organisations know that leadership is vital to help drive change, influence business strategy and on-board multiple stakeholders across the business. This ensures consistent and frequent communication between the GBS and the business as well as a firm governance of the GBS structure. In order to drive the right leadership for your GBS you must:

  • Acquire c-level executive sponsorship and ensure that senior leadership plays a role in the selection process.
  • Attract new leadership by showcasing GBS as a progressive career move
  • Ensure your GBS leadership is made up of strong and consistent communicators.

5) Structure
Think about what you want your GBS to look like. What activities can you consolidate that leverage skills, cost efficiency and time zones? It’s always worth:

  • Deciding, far in advance, which processes must be outsourced and which will stay in-house
  • Considering which core activities need to stay close to the business, and which need consolidating

6) Perception
A true GBS doesn’t just think and act like a GBS. The rest of the company must view it as a value-adding, efficiency driving business partner and this can only be achieved by:

  • Adopting a true, service culture mentality
  • Leveraging the best skills
  • Cutting costs significantly
  • Ensuring c-level buy in

It is incredibly important to remember that undergoing such a complex transformation requires research first, and change second – which makes it key to consider and strategize every aspect of your plan before sweeping into full scale-implementation.

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