How GBS Can Read Data ‘Tea Leaves’ for Better Decision-Making

At SSON Research & Analytics we collect, collate, consolidate and create content that comes out of a monumental amount of data. The reason for this is that it helps GBS decision-makers better understand the lay of the land, particularly as they prepare for a global recession.

We run a number of surveys in a year and in each piece of research, over 1000 people must fill out our surveys, at a minimum. We collect our data globally and include information across different industries and business sizes. What this degree of focus on the quantitative side of the information does is it really validates the qualitative conversations that leaders have on a day-to-day basis with different members of the GBS and shared services community.

If you want to read the data “tea leaves” watch what GBS content creators are focusing on

Barbara Hodge, Global Online Editor at SSON and Host of SSSONext, sat down with Jordan Mullins, Head of Editorial at SSON, and Co-host of the SSONext podcast to take you behind the curtains into how to deconstruct data for better decision-making in GBS.

Jordan confesses, “I use it (SSON Research & Analytics) for everything. Whenever I put together an online event and produce it, that's the first place I go to. In particular, I look at some of the visual analytics workbooks that we put together. Even as an insider who knows the background, it really helps me set the tone of the key priority areas and the key hurdles of the topic at hand that we're covering.” 

Each year, in the fall, we deploy the “The State of Shared Services and GBS” survey. To provide an outlook for 2023, our current survey covers the broad industry factors, to serve as a benchmark. Once the responses come in, we at SSON analyze it and turn the data into a report for the consumption of GBS leaders, and those interested in the industry.

Further, we use that data throughout the year in our SSON online events calendar. The themes feature at our live events which are coming up in Lisbon, Orlando, and more. We share the deck with our speaker line-up at these events so that the speakers can anchor their messages to what's actually happening currently in the industry. Knowledge translation to the industry is key. It’s important for shared services and GBS leaders to know that when we collect surveys, it's feeding into material that is useful to audiences consuming the end content such as a report or a webinar from us at SSON.

GBS research - essential action list for 2023 (ie: What’s important for the GBS market?)

So, what do we think the GBS and shared services market is wanting to hear going forward? 

Let’s begin with an essential list that can help shared services and GBs practitioners:

1. Please review the 2021 surveys, particularly the "Future of Work” survey. The responses to the pandemic that we collected in this body of research gave us so much great insight into the way people were centralizing their shared service operations and how investment decisions are being made. The core goal for 2023 will continue to be the need to be more business-resilient through a recession. 
2. Benchmark year-over-year. Most of SSON’s surveys, particularly the ones relating to digitization and post-pandemic impacts for shared services and GBS, are run yearly. “Use the research to become excited to see your own answers to similar questions and see what the changes are in a year. Getting insights will be such a great way to compare your own growth in a year. Knowing what people in GBS have been up to, and how their priorities have changed, will provide a really important reflection and insight into where we're heading,” says Barbara.

How GBS executives can optimize data via storytelling

Often when people are at events, whether ours or external, we see a lot of data shown on screen. Do you ever wonder, “Are the audience really understanding what it means or are we all stuck squinting our eyes and trying to read the tables?” This is where leaders - both in GBS and in other industries - agree that there is priority value in data storytelling as a skill. The skill of being able to tell a story with your data is incredibly valuable. The ability to decide which data points you've come across this week are important and worth remembering, retaining, and quoting as well as knowing how to share that data and how to use it to back up a business case or to argue a business case will become more and more vital as we head into a recession.

Leaders of all levels must learn to capture people's attention and tie things back to the numbers that they're trying to present. Connecting data to a story, a mission, or an outcome that you're trying to demonstrate is crucial because the end goal is to make the numbers serve you in the most helpful way possible rather than trying to throw numbers at a problem to demonstrate evidence or to obfuscate an argument.

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Enjoy the audio medium? You’ll find a lot more detail in this full discussion between Barbara Hodge and Jordan Mullins here on Spotify or Apple Music.