Full Speed Ahead with Shared Services…

One of the bottle necks in your organization maybe it’s administrative functions in human resources. As more companies automate and streamline these administrative processes, HR is gaining the opportunity to invest more resources into strategic initiatives that drive organizational value. Rosemary Collins of talent acquisition firm HROToday, writes in ‘Shared Services/Inside Out’, “The shared services model has remained a successful constant throughout the evolution of HR service delivery because it provides a consistent customer experience supported by common enabling technologies across business lines, supports data and process integration across functions, and can be managed under a single governance organization. Importantly, it provides a solid platform for transforming HR into a strategic human capital management organization.”

Implementing and leveraging Shared Services Solutions provides firms with strategic opportunities for growth, prompting the professionals at Deloitte to ponder, “Beloved classical compositions have a magical combination of instruments playing in orchestrated harmony. Organizations that effectively embrace shared services exhibit a similar flawless synchronization, turning complex movements into exceptional execution. With such shining examples around, why don’t all companies embrace or expand the shared services model?”

Business consultants McKinsey & Company, publishers of the management magazine ‘McKinsey Quarterly,’ expound upon the idea of how Shared Services can benefit an organization in ‘How Shared-Services Organizations can prepare for a Digital Future' stating, "To complement their efforts to build innovative customer experiences, companies should consider ways to digitize back-office functions and optimize company performance."

As Shared Services Solutions and the advantages they offer continue to evolve - from the early objectives of providing efficiency and cost effectiveness through centralized services; to a strategic role in the companies resource allocation and planning - organizations are looking for ways to optimally leverage these systems to deliver ever greater business advantages.

More companies are moving to Shared Services as part of an overall HR Transformation, so that HR can make contributions aligned with the corporate strategic goals and strategy.

Supporting the business in this manner helps enable HR to rapidly start new initiatives that align with corporate strategic targets; these might include functional areas like sales and marketing. Support of key functional areas, new there’s nothing to stop these initiatives from extending both internally across the workforce – and externally to customers and prospects – for optimal performance and competitive advantage.