Creating a Customer-Centric GBS: Focused Goals, Feedback & Vision

Our April CX and Service Excellence for GBS Virtual Summit 2025 has now concluded. Our speaker lineup this year did not disappoint, bringing us key insight into the world of service excellence and how to get your GBS into customer-centric gear. In this session, ‘Creating a Customer-Centric GBS: Focused Goals, Feedback & Vision,’ Isabella Kosch, Former Head of GBS Service Management at Swarovski, revealed key frameworks and her top tips for creating a customer-centric GBS that keeps customers in the long term. 

Avoiding the ‘Silent Rebellion’: 

Kosch highlighted that there needs to be a necessary shift in Global Business Services, to transition from being simply tolerated by customers, to being fully trusted. Whilst there has been a large focus on making sure processes are efficient, Kosch calls for a mindset change that goes beyond just SLAs and workflows, to keep being chosen actively by customers. The key is to avoid the ‘silent rebellion’, which Kosch highlights is subtle but very real. Customers will naturally disengage if customer centricity does not move beyond superficial standards to incorporate real assessment of the current gaps and flaws in user experience. Utilizing valuable customer feedback can put GBS on the path to rebuilding trust and relevance within the market. 

Evolving from Service Providers to Strategic Partners:

Kosch emphasized the need for GBS to evolve from service providers to trusted and strategic partners. This can be done through GBS's aligning their values more with collaboration, rapport building, and being providers of intuitive solutions, not just the efficiency of the process. She introduced the ‘CARE Framework’ for rebuilding trust with service users. Confront, Anticipate, Respond, Eliminate. Ultimately, Kosch encourages GBS to incorporate these principles and build trust with user audiences, as these are key drivers of GBS's relevance and organizational success. 

Focus on User-Experience: 

Kosch continued to emphasize the importance of leveraging customer feedback for positive outcomes. She highlights the need to evaluate outdated processes that no longer add value, urging GBS to invest in popular services and processes that enhance and streamline user experiences. Services provided to customers should be made more intentional, anticipating user needs that, in turn, foster collaboration and build on existing service provider relationships. 

These are simply just a few highlights from the session. To listen to the presentation in its entirety, you can view the session on-demand above. If you would like to see more great insights from SSON, join our next online event, our Finance Transformation Virtual Summit.