Lately, change has been the single constant in business, especially in the Shared services (SS) and outsourcing industry. Everyone has been talking about the new trends shifting both, the demand and supply side in this sector. The globalization and increased competitiveness have only emphasized the need for constant improvement and transformation of the business. The pressure put on the outsourcing partners is even greater. Clients are expecting more, both in quantity and quality.
In my last article I introduced the five mega trends disrupting the Shared services (SS) and outsourcing industry[1]:
- Service delivery optimization
- Digital transformation
- Data analytics
- Automation
- New and evolving skills
In practice, service providers are successfully managing the initial steps of building the service support center and delivering standardized services. However, they hesitate to grow the delivered services towards a higher-value process. The real struggle comes at the very “service optimization” phase which if not reached can result in unrealized value.
KPMG in their report “Shared services optimization: Unlocking the value”[2] states that turning round under-performing SSCs can bring 15% to 30% efficiency gains for the client. According to Accenture[3], service providers with optimized service delivery have the ability to:
- Identify excessive costs
- Identify under-utilized capacity
- Incremental improvements in technology
- Improve the output of your IT and business operations
- Minimizing complexity and cost
- Minimizing redundancy
So, how to achieve this?
STRAETGY recognized for successful service optimization, primarily, is developing global business service center or partnering with a multifunctional service provider. “The ability and capability for higher ROI is always greater when you have a broader set of services” – says Michael Gretczko, Deloitte Consulting[4]. Next, expanding, not only the scope of services, but also the customer base and geographic regions have been also identified as key strategies for effective service optimization.
However, none of the above would be feasible without THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY. Service optimization actually translates into leveraging between digital transformation, data analytics and automation technology. The three buzz words not only in the outsourcing industry but in the business world overall.
Which of these trends is your biggest challenge?
Stay tuned, next week we tackle digital transformation.
