In the ever-evolving landscape of global business operations, Shared Services and Global Business Services (GBS) have emerged as pivotal models for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs and driving innovation. As organisations navigate the complexities of a post-pandemic world, the future of Shared Services and GBS is poised for significant transformation, influenced by technological advancements, changing workforce dynamics and the continuous pursuit of operational excellence.

We are so proud of the 2024 winners and runners-up. Last night was another memorable #SSOW moment! Steve Rudderham, Jackie Crockford, Richard Williams led the way under the Estoril Casino's sparkling lights as we celebrated the remarkable accomplishments of the most inspiring teams who are tirelessly pursuing excellence, innovation, transformation and continuously raising the bar for Shared Services and GBS success. Stay tuned as we'll be sharing the case-studies behind these wins!

Coming to you live from #SSOW Europe 2024, we're thrilled to announce that EY has solidified a 3-year partnership with Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to innovation and collaboration in the Shared Services & GBS arena!

The 2024 Maturing & Future-Proofing GBS & The Shared Services Operating Model Benchmarking Report is out now! Explore exclusive insights from over 100 Shared Services Experts! Get your free copy here.

In this weeks blog, we give you an exclusive look at who is attending Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe 2024!

As we approach Q2 2024, the momentum of this transformation is set to escalate even further. Acknowledging this impending shift, the SSOW team has curated a comprehensive 25-page guide: "The Ultimate Guide to Generative AI for Shared Services and GBS Leaders".

The brand new 'A Beginners Guide To Shared Services & GBS Excellence' has just been released, and you can download your copy here.

The anticipation builds as the Shared Services and Outsourcing Week Europe 2024 unveils the nominees for the highly anticipated SSON European Impact Awards. Set to take place in Lisbon this coming May, the awards ceremony promises to celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions of industry leaders across Europe.

We are excited to announce that Mika Häkkinen, the legendary two-time Formula 1 World Champion, will join the SSOW Big Ideas Stage this year and take us on an exhilarating journey into the world of motorsport. His story has much to teach us on driving performance at the highest level.

In the realm of shared services and GBS, there exists a community of outstanding individuals who spearhead innovation, promote collaboration, and steer the industry's future. These pioneers, visionaries, and respected authorities continuously push boundaries, guiding organizations towards enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, and triumph. And now, they're making a triumphant return, driven by popular demand!

The last three years have been marked by unprecedented challenges and saw the shared services & GBS industry not just adapt but thrive. Leading the charge at this pivotal juncture are the women we interviewed at last year’s SSOW Europe.

The 2024 'State of the Shared Services & Outsourcing Industry Europe Market Report 2024' has just been released and you can download it now.

The brand new report; 'A Human-Centric Approach: Integrating AI in Shared Services for HR Leaders' has just been released and you can download it now.

We're thrilled to announce that the 'SSON Analytics Report | Europe: 2024: The Key Trends Defining GBS Expansion' has just dropped, and the insights within are too ground-breaking to miss!

We are thrilled to announce the latest expansion of our shared services community, introducing over poised to enlighten, inspire, and redefine the way we approach shared services & GBS!

We had the pleasure of speaking with Jackie Crockford, VP Global Business Services, AstraZeneca, about the true measure of progressive GBS leadership, key areas AstraZeneca are looking to invest in over the next 18 months, her advice/words of wisdom for someone starting their shared services and GBS journey, and her favourite parts of SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with our SSOW Europe 2023 Inspirational Keynote Speaker and Rugby World Cup Legend Jonny Wilkinson, about how shared services and GBS leaders can apply vulnerability, openness and the power of presence to running their organisations.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Carlos Guimaraes, VP GBS Operations, adidas, about his greatest challenge with retaining and managing talent in the new ways of working, his strategy to overcome this challenge, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years, and his biggest highlights from SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Rudderham, Head of GBS, Carrier, our chairman at SSOW Europe 2023, about how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years, topics he'd like to see on the 2024 agenda, as well as key takeaways, insights, memorable moments and highlights from SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Bobby Abraham, Global VP, Finance Architecture, Change & Transformation (FACT), AstraZeneca, at SSOW Europe 2023, about his greatest challenges over the last 12 months within shared services and GBS, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years and his advice/words of wisdom for someone starting their shared services and GBS journey.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Deborah Kops, Managing Principal, Sourcing Change, about the best approach to effective stakeholder management, the key areas practitioners should be investing in over the next 18 months, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years and the key takeaways and insights she gained from the panel discussions, roundtables or workshops at SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Turan Sahin, Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Services, about the vision behind Allianz Services 'transformation engine' to drive customer excellence, innovation and best-in-class services, the key challenges they encountered with this approach and how they overcame these, the tools or areas they are looking to invest in to support their 'transformation engine', how they see this approach evolving over the coming years, as well as Turan's most memorable moments and highlights from SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Gabriela Stanakova, Senior Director, GBS Source To Pay Global Operations, Kimberly-Clark, about the key areas Kimberly-Clark are looking to invest in over the next 18 months, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years, her advice/words of wisdom for someone starting their shared services and GBS journey, and the key takeaways and insights she gained from the panel discussions, roundtables or workshops at SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Kamila Grembowicz, Head GBS Delivery Excellence and Transition, JTI, about the key areas JTI are looking to invest in over the next 18 months, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years, her advice/words of wisdom for someone starting their shared services and GBS journey, and the key takeaways and insights that she gained from the panel discussions, roundtables or workshops at SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Maria Kirillova, Regional Director of Financial Operations, EMEA, Mars, about her greatest challenges within shared services and GBS, key areas Mars are looking to invest in over the next 18 months, how shared services and GBS will evolve over the coming years, and her favourite parts of SSOW Europe 2023.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Priest, SVP Global Shared Services, IFF, about the true measure of progressive GBS leadership, the key areas IFF are looking to invest in over the next 18 months, his advice/words of wisdom for someone starting their shared services and GBS journey, and his favourite parts of SSOW Europe 2023.

SSOW has a long experience of sharing the stage with champions. Since our live return in 2022, our all-star panels of Shared Service and GBS leaders have already been joined by a world cup-winning footballer and not one, but two, record-breaking distance runners. Those legends taught us much about what it takes to reach the top of your game – and then to stay there – building the resilience, humility and focus that characterises those performing at the very highest level. Raising the bar on last year was always going to be tough, but if anyone can, its Jonny Wilkinson

Explore how GBS can be utilised to strengthen sustainability initiatives across an organisation, and how to communicate and measure sustainability practices to ensure these programs are a success in this brand new report!

This May, in Lisbon, we'll be celebrating the best of the best in the shared services & GBS arena with the 2023 SSON Impact Awards, hosted by the 23rd Annual European Shared Services and Outsourcing Week. View the 2023 SSON Impact Awards Nominees >> 

The Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe 2023 is firing from all cylinders and we're excited to share a small sneak peek into who's onsite this May at the Estoril Congress Centre in Lisbon, Portugal.

Download our resource bundle of this year's most popular GBS & Shared Services content!

We have 3 exciting updates for you on the upcoming & highly anticipated Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Europe 2023 (22- 24 May | Estoril Congress Centre in Lisbon, Portugal)

Explore how GBS and HR leaders in Europe are redefining their operating model, repositioning for purpose, leading with growth, operating with agility, and delivering value through intelligence in this brand new industry report.

Discover key learnings from Vanessa Gleason, Head of Strategy, Process Excellence and Innovation at Takeda, on the key drivers for people and purpose, the changes they are experiencing in their organisation as a result, how they are developing diversity and inclusion as part of their GBS agenda, what the roadmap for the future of GBS looks like and best practices.

A comprehensive report where Thomas Moons (Global Head of Customer Experience (CX) Excellence at Shell), shares his story for getting digitalisation right by utilising a human-centric approach, to ensure digitalisation efforts have a bigger stakeholder uptake.

Brand new insights from Maria Saggese, Global and EMEIA GBS Lead Partner, EY, about how companies can help define their purpose through work and the outcomes when they do, why organisations need to make diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) a priority in their GBS and best practices to rethink or reframe service delivery models.

In this report, explore the current state of service management and orchestration in the industry and read a pioneering view from Frank Schueler, Managing Director Global Service Center (GSC), DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, on how to drive value, purpose and scale-led transformation in your organisation.

Explore the greatest challenges and opportunities facing European business services operations in 2023 and beyond in the NEW '2023 SSON Analytics Report: European Shared Services & GBS Organisations Key Trends & Insights'.

Take a sneak peek at what's in-store for this years Shared Services & Outsourcing Week 2023 - Europe's No.1 Shared Services & GBS event bringing together the largest community gathering every single year.

Ahead of the SSOW Europe 2022 event, we included 10 stats from the SSON Analytics Report 2022 on Global Business Services (GBS) maturity and scope expansion, to help you drive growth, profitability and value for your organisation. 

SSON announced this week that it has confirmed Ernst & Young (EY) – a Big Four finance and consulting firm – as Lead Partner for their flagship Shared Services and Outsourcing Week (SSOW), which returns to Lisbon in May 2022.

Uncover some of the most noteworthy statistics gathered from SSON's annual report to help you benchmark your shared service organisation alongside industry peers.

Nadia Hutchinson, Global HR Operations Director at Kantar provides her advice as to how shared service leaders can ensure their employees can keep up with the demands of the coming decade.

The introduction of automation is a key priority for many shared service organisations, however, it is not a venture to be taken lightly. Read on to uncover some of the factors leaders must keep in mind as shared by Kathleen Terjensen, Head of Global Business Services at Bose.

In 2020, Shared Services and Outsourcing Week Europe celebrates two decades with the business services industry. Read on to uncover the key themes, speakers and opportunities that will be found at the event.

Providing shared services customers with an experience that prioritises excellence can yield significant benefits for the business. Read on to discover the five key components for creating an exceptional SSO customer experience.

Kamila Grembowitz, SVP of Global Business Services at Adidas, provides a detailed insight into her experience of doubling the size of the organisation in just of 10-months.

Sebastian Ziess, Vice President of the Lean Management Competence Centre at Deutsche Tekelom shares an insight into how they are using a holistic approach to address the business' needs.

On this episode of the SSON podcast, Beju Shah, Head of Data Collection & Publication, Digital Platforms at Bank of England explains why having no data is better than bad data. 

As Brexit nears, HR & Talent Director Edward Gumm pens an open letter on how the UK business sector can remove uncertainty and support the European workforce.

With insight from the 2019 SSON State of the Shared Services and Outsourcing Market Report, we explore some of the key challenges that European SSO leaders are facing.

Last year, the Service Delivery Centre of integrated oil company OMV Petrom took home not one, but two SSON awards. Here, the centre's managers share a glimpse into what led to their success.

Last year, Mondelez Business Services at Mondelez International won the SSON award for Excellence in Automation. Here, SVP Caroline Basyn shares an insight of their journey.

With insight from SSOW speakers Thomas Haseneder, Global Head GBS Finance Services, Ingram Micro and Lóránt Besnyi, Head of Accounting & Tax, MOL Group, we explore the realities of pairing finance with shared services.