SSON's global advisory board is full of some of the best and brightest people in the shared services and outsourcing business. Each year we ask them for their predictions on the challenges, forces and themes that will shape the upcoming year. See part two below and let us know how many you agree with! If you missed part one, you can find it here.
Maciej Piwowarczyk, GBS Expert, ex-Discovery
Talent re-invention will continue, and we must finally let legacy ideas go ... and follow what the talent wants i.e. outcome-based way of working aligned to the compensation model (I am not talking about yearly Pay for Performance but something real-time). GBS must flex our hiring corporate regime to better tap into tech talent- In addition, at a leadership level, particularly for transforming GBS, we need to leverage more interim GBS Leaders to do "the must" that the Head of GBS cannot or shall not do.
The tech revolution no doubt, is the key enabler to our end-to-end - enterprise wide - process reinvention. This process reinvention should be based on the customer. Lastly, hopefully, our 2024 GenAI obsession will not end with obsession only!
Deborah Kops, Managing Principal, Sourcing Change
True confessions: Most GBS Leaders will come clean and (proudly) admit they landlord in part.
No trumping offshore: the rumors of offshore death are greatly exaggerated. Some enterprises will pause but even Trump can't stop globalization.
Manoj Kalra, SVP and Head of GBS, DSM
The pendulum keeps swinging but GCC's/GBS/GES will continue to stay
India tops location preference however we will try out new locations (in India and other parts of the world).
The recognition of GBS as an industry and the focus from the government will increase
Power tussles between functional heads & GBS scope will continue
Arindam Mukhopadhyay, MD, Global Head of Finance and Risk Shared Services, Citi
GBS will go through a cycle of crisis because the old cost- and location-focused models have run their course. Focus on scale and low-cost locations do not feel excitable to boards at all in an era of AI.
Debate around landlording or ownership will be largely irrelevant, and backward-looking
GBS' which will underplay traditional measures of size and location, will boldly disrupt its model and experiment with the most important tech priorities of the board. GBS will survive and excel, but most likely NOT under the current wrapper of classic GBS. What shape it will take is anybody's guess.
Alexander von Thielmann, Global Business Services, O2C, Services, Siemens
Our customers have to change due to (disruptive) markets, technology, and geopolitical developments. Therefore, we also must change and accelerate the business transformation of our customers. Consequently, customer-centricity, co-innovation, and value generation is key.
Jana Vondran, Former SVP GBS, Ingram Micro
Cost focus will once again be taking center stage as economic and inflationary pressures and AI expectations are increasing.
An increased focus on digitalization of not only the processes but GBS talent will become more important.
GBS will continue to actively embrace AI to find impactful use cases and automate transactional work with GBS becoming the center for AI learning/ feeding, managing the algorithms, and exception management.
Shakti Jauhur, Former SVP, Head of Global Transformation & GBS, McDonald's
The cost of GBS will increase and US companies looking to set up GBS will have to navigate the MAGA environment with care to avoid any negative press releases.
Organizations thinking of pure cost reductions will look at leveraging GenAI and other technology advances; GBS will bring more value for the most advanced companies looking for innovation and talent.
GBS will become a talent hub and pipeline for their organizations, as the demographics continue to put pressure on talent availability (for example, 2027 will be the first time there will be fewer High School Graduates than the number of college seats available - apparent that the competition to get students is heating up resulting in the first decrease in college tuition fees in 2025).
More companies will go under due to the lack of a transformation mindset than before.
Dave Hughes, Global Business Services Executive, Excelera
In light of geopolitical change and global instability, cybersecurity will rise higher up the GBS agenda - providing a bigger opportunity (if ever we needed it) for GBS to be the leading light within the enterprise by providing risk mitigation services across E2E business processes.
"Cost out" as a driver for GBS expansion will increase in significance - inflationary pressures (real or perceived) are likely to result in more short-term bottom-line decision-making from the C-suite, which presents an opportunity for GBS.
Winning GBSs will be those that can pivot from being talent takers to talent makers - with increased investments in learning, thinking more laterally about career journeys, and cultivating a growth mindset in their people.
Sumit Mitra, CEO, Tesco Business Solutions
GBS will be pushed to drive more P&L value (margin & cash) over efficiency
There will be more use cases for Operationalising AI and hyper-personalisation of colleague proposition.
There will be more new in-house capability centers (GCC) in India.
Thanks for reading!