Shared Services Down Under: Queensland Poised to be Australia and New Zealand’s Analytics Hub

Australia and New Zealand have a relatively long history in shared services, so it is surprising to find that according to Dart Institute’s recent ANZ shared services visual data report, more than half of all shared services centres (SSCs) across Australia and New Zealand are still siloed within a single functional. However, 60% of the current multifunctional centers also house “other emerging functions” – an encouraging sign.

When we drill down into specific industries, we also find a far higher proportion of multifunctional versus silo centers in certain industries – agriculture, real estate and defense, for example.

Finance and Accounting and HR are still overwhelmingly the most popular functions serviced by ANZ centres. And while across the world we are seeing an increasing interest in data analytics, regional ANZ representation is still low. What stands out, however, is the leading role Queensland is taking in data analytics, with one third of all shared services offering analytics capabilities currently based there.

We also see an encouraging trend of nearly two thirds of Australasian SSCs providing higher value add services, as opposed to purely transactional. This shift to higher value adding work means that treasury, legal, risk, business planning, and also analytics are edging their way into the spotlight.

The government and healthcare sectors have long been enthusiastic adopters of shared services across ANZ. Indeed, according to Dart’s data, government has consistently accounted for the largest percentage of shared services across the region [21% in 2015].   

Find out more about shared services in the region, the shift toward hybrid models, and the growing popularity of India as a partnering location, in Dart’s visual data report.