Our Client Work > Defining a Global Shared Services Strategy
Summary
A Financial Services company accelerates its deployment of shared services by clarifying strategic priorities, evaluating trade-offs, and developing a transformation roadmap.
The Situation
A diversified global financial services company that had grown through acquisition was committed to streamlining
and automating administrative processes. While they had implemented a global technology platform (PeoplesSoft)
and made significant progress in process re-engineering, HR still operated in a highly fragmented manner, staying
within business unit and geographic silos. To achieve cost reduction targets and build a platform for continued
growth, business leaders wanted to better leverage global capabilities and efficiencies through the implementation
of shared services. HR leaders anticipated that this plan would include transferring high volume transactions
to a service center in India or another low cost center.
How KCG Helped
KCG worked with team members from the Americas, UK/Europe, and Asia-Pacific to define a Global Shared
Services roadmap and implementation plan. A key component of this process was a global vision alignment
workshop where the team developed:
- Vision and Objectives: A definition of success and a common vision for HR Transformation. This included a set of objectives that were based on industry best practices.
- Decision Guidelines: Specific criteria to help the team make decisions about:
- Processes to include in the global shared services center
- The extent of global standardization required
- Trade-offs between competing initiatives
- Transformation Roadmap: A multi-faced implementation plan for defining global shared services priorities for the subsequent 24 months and the required supporting initiatives.
- Impact Analysis: A test of the feasibility of the plan and recommended adjustments. (i.e. What resources will be needed? Is the organization ready for change? Are there conflicts with other major initiatives?)
- Team Effectiveness: Operating principles for the global shared services team. (ie, what are the roles and responsibilities? Who needs to be accountable for what? How are progress and issues communicated? How are decisions made? How are they escalated if there is a conflict?)
Results
The global shared services strategy workshop helped make a complex and potentially daunting initiative
manageable by helping align a diverse team behind key goals and an action plan. The team left the
three day meeting with:
- A clear vision
- An integrated strategy and supporting tactical plan for global shared services
- Agreement and consensus with key constituents
- A process that is being leveraged across multiple businesses and functional areas